“Cloud Gaming Is NOT The Future” – Sincerely, Nintendo
Wednesday, 6th February 2013Posted in Industry
Tags: cloud gaming, future of gaming, nintendo
Written by: Paul Nyhart
It was less than a year ago that Sony forked over close to half a billion dollars for cloud gaming provider Gaikai (former guests of the Jace Hall Show, no less). That, coupled with the rumors that some next-gen consoles will require an online connection, has led many skeptics to predict cloud gaming is the future of gaming.
Not so fast says, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata:
A cloud is an attempt to process information online on a server, as opposed to doing so on individual machines in the hands of the users…What this implies is, since the time to transmit data over an Internet connection is never negligible, there is always some latency before you receive the result of your input.
So basically, games – particularly of the action variety — can’t afford the latent delay caused by streaming games over the cloud. Continue reading ““Cloud Gaming Is NOT The Future” – Sincerely, Nintendo” »
Cable Companies Want To Take On Gaming Consoles, Meanwhile My Internet Doesn’t Work
Wednesday, 26th September 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: cable companies, cloud gaming
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the big three (and also the only three) cable companies think it’d be neat to get into the video game market, which may or may not have anything to do with the 200,000 users they lost last quarter.
AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and other corporate money whores responsible for robbing thousands of hours of your life, are in the process of developing their own cloud based gaming systems to deliver retail games around 2013.
Neowin.net posits that these Cloud Based games will go beyond current offerings like Angry Birds, which the above carriers allow their consumers to access. The technology can bring games from startups such as Agawi, CiiNow and Playcast Media Systems. Continue reading “Cable Companies Want To Take On Gaming Consoles, Meanwhile My Internet Doesn’t Work” »
This Week in Gaming: Nintendo Power Shuts Down, OnLive On Life Support, and a NEW Donkey Kong Champ
Thursday, 23rd August 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: cloud gaming, Donkey Kong, final fantasy ii, gaming, nintendo power, prototype, this week in gaming
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
Follow @originalPSP
Time for another look at This Week in Gaming. Here’s a rundown of this week’s headlines.
Nintendo Power Shutting Down
News broke this week that Nintendo Power magazine is shutting down after more than 24 years in print. The last print issue is slated for December.
“That will show them!” said a thirty-something Nester. ”It only took 24 years, but I showed them! I am the NES master! Suck it, Howard!”
As of press time there was no confirmation that the publishers decided to shut down Nintendo Power rather than having to say “Wii U” out loud for 5-8 years. Continue reading “This Week in Gaming: Nintendo Power Shuts Down, OnLive On Life Support, and a NEW Donkey Kong Champ” »
Sony Acquires Gaikai for $380 Million To Create “New Cloud Service”
Monday, 2nd July 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: $380 million, Andrew House, cloud, cloud computing, cloud gaming, david perry, gaikai, ps3, PSVita, sce, service, Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, streaming, Streaming media
Written by: Craig Hunter
Follow @jordankahn
Sony announced this morning it has purchased Gaikai for $380 million with big plans to launch a new streaming service, likely integrated with its existing network services.
Although details on what exactly Sony plans to do with Gaikai aren’t really clear, the PR clearly states that “SCE will establish a new cloud service” as a result of today’s acquisition.
Gaikai is of course a cloud gaming service, or was, (originally seen on Season 4 of JHS below) so the deal certainly implies that Sony will at least be making use of Gaikai’s tech for implementing a new cloud service for streaming of games. Continue reading “Sony Acquires Gaikai for $380 Million To Create “New Cloud Service”” »
Gaikai To Stream MMORPGS From The Cloud Starting With LOTRO
Monday, 12th March 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: cloud gaming, gaikai, MMO, streaming
Written by: Craig Hunter
Follow @jordankahn
With all the talk of Steam and Valve in the media over the last week we now turn to the cloud gaming platform Gaikai (via Gamasutra). It seems the digital gaming company has announced an agreement with Warner Bros. to stream Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons.
The titles will be available to stream directly in the browser on their respective sites without the need for any installation or download.
“Today I’m really excited to announce that Gaikai has partnered with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Turbine to make Continue reading “Gaikai To Stream MMORPGS From The Cloud Starting With LOTRO” »
Is Steam Working On A Physical Console? Take A Look For Yourself
Monday, 5th March 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: apple, cloud gaming, console, patent, steam, valve
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Somehow, the super secret news that Steam was working on a console managed to say far enough on the radar, to where photos of Steam’s possible gaming device have hit the internet to many people’s surprise. Steam has taken a rather large share in the PC GAMING market, yet the release of a console could cut into 360, PS3, and possibly Wii sales, as well.
The announcement isn’t entirely a surprise, considering that Valve filed a patent for the device last March (photos below).
Valve Co-Founder Gabe Newell recently told Continue reading “Is Steam Working On A Physical Console? Take A Look For Yourself” »
Netflix Officially Drops Out of the Video Game Business
Friday, 27th January 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: cloud gaming, gamefly, neflix, qwikster, rental, video game
Written by: Jeff Nau
In case you hadn’t heard, Netflix had plans to jump on board the video game rental train last year, right alongside the Qwikster plan. Netflix had plans to offer games for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii.
This was all until the Qwikster and PR debacle that all but tanked the company and thus sent the company back to the drawing board. Continue reading “Netflix Officially Drops Out of the Video Game Business” »
OnLive Brings Cloud-Based Windows 7 To iPad with Access to Word, Excel
Monday, 9th January 2012Posted in Apple, Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: ces, cloud gaming, iOS, ipad, on live, windows
Written by: Craig Hunter
Today at CES, 2012 OnLive made a couple of announcements (via SiliconFilter), one of which being a new iPad app capable of accessing a virtual Windows 7 desktop. The free app will essentially allow you to access Windows 7 stored on OnLive’s servers, giving you access to apps like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and other Windows-only apps that haven’t made their way to iOS yet.
The best part is the app will be available completely free with up to 2GB of storage. However, OnLive will also launch a Continue reading “OnLive Brings Cloud-Based Windows 7 To iPad with Access to Word, Excel” »
OnLive Brings Super Laggy Console Games to iPhone, iPad, and Android
Thursday, 8th December 2011Posted in Apple, Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: android, cloud gaming, console, droid, iOS, ipad, iTunes, mobile gaming, onlive
Written by: Craig Hunter
OnLive has just dropped a press release announcing new mobile apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad that will effectively bring their “console-class” cloud gaming experience to over 500 million mobile devices in the UK and US.
You’re probably already familiar with OnLive’s game streaming service previously only available to Macs, PCs, or a dedicated OnLive console.
However, while most of the 200 games in their library will be playable on mobile devices via a wireless controller, 25 of those titles have also been ported with touchscreen controls. It isn’t just the smaller titles Continue reading “OnLive Brings Super Laggy Console Games to iPhone, iPad, and Android” »
Gamestop to launch OnLive Competitor “Spawn”
Saturday, 20th August 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming, Technology
Tags: cloud gaming, competition, gamestop, onlive, Penny Arcade, spawn
Written by: R Bryant Francis
courtesy of www.penny-arcade.com
Looks like Gamestop’s smelling the dying days of its abilities as a retail store. The company’s announced its newest spin-off cloud gaming service that intends to compete with streaming services like OnLive: “Spawn.” Here’s the catch for “Spawn” though–unlike OnLive, which is currently restricted to PC gaming titles (That can admittedly be played on more than PCs)–”Spawn” plans to stream Xbox games, PS3 games, AND PC games. Continue reading “Gamestop to launch OnLive Competitor “Spawn”” »
PIRATES AND CHEATERS WILL BE BEATEN BY—Cloud based gaming?
Sunday, 17th July 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: cheating, cloud gaming, culture, piracy, tech
Written by: R Bryant Francis
Well that was anticlimactic. Venturebeat posted yesterday an article discussing what will cause the death of piracy–it’s not gonna be new laws, the internet police, or your Mom shutting off your internet connection, it’s gonna be cloud-based gaming.
Here’s the lowdown: Right now, it’s easy to pirate games because they need to at some point exist as your file on a computer, right? But what if you never need to buy that file? What if you just subscribe to a service like Onlive and played your games through there? You can’t steal a game if the game is never released…(on that note, you’ll never OWN your games again. Kind of scary!)
Onlive CEO Steve Perlman was quoted as saying that in “10 years,” we’ll be seeing only cloud-based gaming–you’ll be able to play your game anywhere you want, but you won’t have the actual file. This means all you’ll need to play the game is a high-speed internet connection and a processer powerful enough to handle video Continue reading “PIRATES AND CHEATERS WILL BE BEATEN BY—Cloud based gaming?” »
OnLive on Facebook: Yo dawg, we heard like to have games in your…social networks…
Friday, 8th July 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: cloud gaming, culture, Facebook, gaming, onlive, tech
Written by: R Bryant Francis
Alright, so Xzibit wouldn’t be proud of my failed attempt up there. Still, check this out. Onlive has just secured a partnership with Facebook to bring their content to the Facebook platform. Meaning that instead of using Onlive on your PC to play games–you’d….be able to use your Facebook? Huh?
Where you GAME?
Wait, back it up, there’s some sense in this. You still need some special Continue reading “OnLive on Facebook: Yo dawg, we heard like to have games in your…social networks…” »
OnLive CEO solves everything. World Peace Now Declared
Wednesday, 29th June 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: cloud gaming, onlive
Written by: R Bryant Francis
Significantly MORE exciting!
Eh, or not. Close enough though. We talked about OnLive a couple of days ago, and while some of you seemed a bit skeptical, here’s reason for you guys to sit up and take notice. Their CEO, Steve Perlman (who also founded Rearden Companies, of which OnLive has spun out of ), gave a presentation at Columbia recently where he announced that his company basically broke Shannon’s Law, possibly sound the death toll for dropped calls, slow wireless in population-congested aeras, and other limitations on wireless communication.
Okay, there’s a catch—they didn’t break Shannon’s Law, (which states there’s essentially a finite speed at which wireless radio can travel.) They essentially found a way around it. Since I’m not exactly a wireless engineer, I can’t point out the details, but maybe you can Continue reading “OnLive CEO solves everything. World Peace Now Declared” »
GAMING – More News from the Future: OnLive Coming to 360 and PS3?
Tuesday, 28th June 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: cloud gaming, consoles, onlive
Written by: R Bryant Francis
By R. Bryant Francis
Oh hell yes! OnLive’s Joe Benteley today, while speaking with Computerandvideogames.com confirmed that they’re in talks to get OnLive on the PS3 and Xbox 360. While nothing’s official yet, this could open up a whole new world of gaming, and a new way to think about who owns the game, and where you can play the game.
For those not in the know, OnLive is a video-game streaming service that you can access with your P.C or Tablet computer right now. It’s a subscription service, so it ain’t free, but it means your computer from 2001, so long as it has a high-speed internet connection and can basically play a Youtube video, can play high-powered games like Borderlands or Crysis.
The system works by streaming the video of your play session to your computer, so the actual computing for the game is being handled by a computer somewhere far, far away. Instead of putting a CD in your computer (which, hell, thanks to Valve, I haven’t done in ages Continue reading “GAMING – More News from the Future: OnLive Coming to 360 and PS3?” »
Is The Death of the PC Upon Us?
Monday, 4th April 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: cloud computing, cloud gaming, cloud girlfriend, gaikai, ipads, pc world, post pc world
Written by: Paul Nyhart
[like]
By Paul Nyhart
The Post-PC world: it’s the trendiest concept to hit computers since y2k (except this is supposed to actually happen). Not to be confused with the Post apocalyptic world, the Post-PC world is supposed to mean two things: 1) The arrival of cloud computing and storage and 2) The death of the PC–in that order.
Those tedious days of hooking wires up to a computer and waiting for your product to sync are apparently coming to a close. Soon, everything will be in a cloud above us, waiting for us to purchase it with money we probably don’t have, onto a handheld device we seemingly won’t be able to let go.
But how does this kill the PC? First off, it doesn’t, at least not yet…it merely hints at our future reliance to wirelessly sync everything that we own, contained in a universal nest that’s accessible anywhere. This is where the clouds come in… Continue reading “Is The Death of the PC Upon Us?” »
Jace Hall Show Season 4 Episode 16: “Rage and Gaikai Envy”
Monday, 28th February 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: cloud gaming, david perry, donald faison, gaikai, gakai, id software, rage the video game, video games
Written by: Paul Nyhart
This week’s episode gives more exclusive access into one of the latest video games to hit the market. From the people that brought you Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake comes the latest FPS from id software, Rage. The game is scheduled to be released this coming September, and will take place in a post-apocalyptic world. Jace keeps the lead designers honest, and gets a feel why this game will be different than id software’s Quake and Doom franchises.
Actor Donald Faison stops by and plugs his prospective web-series, requesting 50,000 bucks in the process. Jace counters and tries to get the 50 bucks that Donald owes him (which Donald supposedly smoked).
Speaking of smoked, that is exactly what David Perry and Gaikai intend to do to the video game competition, as he continues to discuss with Jace the future in cloud gaming. Companies are already investing big money in other cloud gaming ventures, wouldn’t it be nice if gaming companies started investing in gamers, too? In other words, might it be possible to play video games AND make money off of them? Gaikai intends to make that happen with the ability to embed games into your own site, view how they intend to pull it off in David Perry’s interview with Jace.
Continue reading “Jace Hall Show Season 4 Episode 16: “Rage and Gaikai Envy”” »
The Jace Hall Show: Season 4, Episode 15 “Fuzzbuddy Friction”
Monday, 21st February 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: cloud gaming, dc universe online, duke nukem announcement, duke nukem forever, randy pitchford, steam software
Written by: Paul Nyhart
The latest episode of The Jace Hall Show has its fearless host getting destroyed in one of the latest MMORPG video games to hit the market, and if that’s not enough, pubed by a child who isn’t old enough to drive his own car (or Duke Nukem Forever Hummer limo, for that matter).
Jace and Tood were up until 7am working on this episode, and despite the dubious distinctions above, it offers plenty of hilarity, and of course, some insight into some of the latest games and features about to hit the game industry. Have you struggled trying to buy games online or even downloading products/updates to your console (in other words, are you one of the 30 million people who actively use Steam?) Video game consoles have been common ever since, well, video games, but does the future hold something else different in its card? Could we be playing and downloading all of our games in the future from a magical “cloud” that is just one click away? Considering it took this writer two days just so that he could procure his own copy of a game he bought via Steam, I’m certainly not against any improvements.
“It’s like YouTube for video games?”
Something like that. What it might ultimately become is the proverbial panic button that drives traditional video game consoles into their respective corners trying to figure out how they don’t end up falling through the clouds (streaming Netflix is cool and all, but…) Speaking of panicking, Jace takes on Chris Gao, Studio Creative Director for DC Universe Online, in an ultimate video gaming battle that has Chris talking some serious smack.
And how could we mention anything about all-nighters without talking about the show’s’ swift trip to Vegas, talking DNF with Randy Pitchford of Gearbox (it was a work trip). The two talk about the upcoming release of Duke Nukem Forever, which is now being announced on everything from Hummers to Nightclubs (so it’s official, right?). However, the unofficial announcement that it’s the birthday of Randy’s son, via a “phone call,” is unfortunately a Jace Hall exclusive.
Pubes!
The Smoking Jacket Guy has something he wants to let out, while Cung finishes off some more ninjas (and we do mean “finish”). Steam goes under the microscope as a digital platform–is it causing too much friction for consumers, or does the heat just come with the territory? Prank phone calls, 7-hour Vegas Vacations, industry exclusives, and, oh…Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem, and more Duke Nukem! It’s the latest episode of The Jace Hall Show. Try not to panic, people.
“OnLive Game System” Gets 40 Million Dollar Investment
Tuesday, 8th February 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: cloud gaming, htc invests in onlive, onlive game system
Written by: Paul Nyhart
What would you do with 40 million dollars? I’d use it to buy myself a new desk-chair, maybe fancy up my room a little, and if I had enough leftover, put it towards my college loans. If you’re the Smart Phone developer HTC, you invest 40 million bucks in what you hope is the future of of more seamless mobile gaming. The OnLive Game System was one of the first batch of companies to bring the concept of Cloud Gaming, the ability to play games on your PC, Mac, TV, or mobile device, without the need of a disk, to mainstream audiences. The system comes with a wireless controller and it’s own console which hooks up via Ethernet to your internet connection.
The irony is that the relatively new company, which controller and console models itself in the same fashion as an Xbox 360 or PS3, is beginning to dedicate more of it’s influence towards gameplay on mobile devices, which would seemingly make the console and wireless controller almost moot. The investment by HTC helps solidify the assumption that the OnLive Game System may be focusing on being more of a mobile based system. It’s not exactly rocket science, with the influx in devices that we hold in our hands, including the recent announcement of the iPad 2 perhaps being on the horizon, investors are bound to continue their investment in mobile gaming
Early critics of the OnLive Game System have pointed out that the system is reliant on a high speed internet connection (usually 10mbps or above, and even that can be spotty). The fact that the console also has roughly the same titles that you find on the major consoles, seems to also reduce much of the need for the device, especially since the console has yet to make the shift towards being a predominant system for mobile gaming. How, or if, this changes the way other consoles “interact” with mobile devices, is something that will be interesting to see as the future of gaming continues to evolve.
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