Onlive has recently made some pretty astounding inroads in to the seemingly magical realm of cloud gaming. It’s launched in the US and the UK – and it really works, as if driven by pixie dust. Its premise is simple; instead of buying expensive console of PC hardware all the time, you have a web client or mini console that streams the game you’re playing – running on Onlive’s bountiful servers – off the internet in real-time.
David Perry, formerly of Shiny Entertainment and current head of competing cloud-gaming service Gaikai says it would be “insane” if next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony didn’t include Cloud Gaming Features.
"You don’t want to be a console that doesn’t," he said to Gamasutra. "This future is coming, trust me. We’re well-funded. This is going to happen. OnLive is already making it happen. You need to be prepared for that." Perry feels that gaming – especially console gaming – has lost that pick-up-and-play appeal that made it so accessible, and that cloud gaming could help bring it back to its roots.
I don’t like the idea of Cloud gaming, to be honest. I prefer clutching physical media in my grubby paws, though it could be useful on next gen consoles for game trails and rentals. What I do like, is Cloud saving - allowing you to keep your saves online in case of drive failure or easy access between multiple consoles – a service that’s available on the PS3, iOS and soon, the Xbox 360.
Last Updated: October 13, 2011
