Technesstivity

Some of you may already be familiar with cloud gaming services such as Gaikai or OnLive. These services let you stream games to your TV, tablets, Macs, PCs or even smartphones- all you need is a suitable controller and you’ll be all set to play high-end games on almost any of your devices. Most people’s initial response to this is, “what’s the catch?” Most people are right to ask that. Cloud gaming is basically having the actual console somewhere far away from you where it has to stream the gameplay to your device’s screen and receive your commands online. The problem here is that a lot of our ISP’s don’t offer the speeds necessary for smooth gameplay so obviously there would be some issues. However I’m just naturally skeptical when such convenience is offered for a reasonable price. I would recommend looking into the services to see if it would work for your device and/or internet speed.

In related news, Sony has just acquired Gaikai, the cloud gaming company mentioned above. Sony cashed out $380 million for the acquisition which has strong implications of a game streaming feature for the Playstation. Andrew House, the Sony Computer Entertainment president said, ”SCE will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices.” Naturally, there has been talk of Microsoft acquiring OnLive also, in the spirit of competition in the gaming industry.

I’m looking forward to how Sony and probably Microsoft will use these services to influence our gaming habits. Some believe that the development of cloud gaming could do away with the need for physical consoles. I don’t know how I feel about that though. I won’t miss the 5-6 yearly emptying of my saving but I’ll miss the anticipation of a new console. It might mean less things for me to write about on here! Nevertheless I’m still excited for the future.

Demolu Dabiri

Demolu Dabiri is a freshman doing the Liberal Studies Program at New York University. His curiosity is piqued by anything even slightly technological but gaming is his forté. If you want to contact me about anything game/technology related or just say hi: Tweet me @aydabiri or find me on Facebook.

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