Remote game services (OnLive, Gaikai, etc.)

I wonder if they are planning to rent the Office programs as well

The question really becomes: Can you freely install any programs to your remote OnLive Windows desktop (download from the Internet like usually and install using Windows installer), or do they block all installations and force you to buy all the applications from the OnLive store. That would limit a lot, since majority of Windows application developers would not want to develop a special OnLive version of their application (and of course would limit all professional use based on custom applications).

 

How do the OnLive prices compare to prices from other sources, like Steam sales or sales at big box stores?

 

http://www.onlive.com/games/featuredgames

 

Hmmm

Remote win 7 desktop for iPad this friday. Comes with ms office!

http://m.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-7-OnLive-Streaming-Microsoft-Office-iPad,14482.html

 

Hmm, $40 for AC Brotherhood, a year old game? I got it for $10 from BB.

 

Yeah, they probably will adjust the price, and prove their business model as they go. It's still very early.

That remote Windows desktop for iPad looks interesting. I might use it once in a while for a quick session and then download + delete my data right away (like those Kinkos pay-per-use PC). Probably won't subscribe to it, or use it for long term serious work. Afraid of malware and other funny business. Who knows what goes on at the server side.

EDIT: If they charge it cheap enough, it may be useful for people whose PCs are hopelessly infested with malware. There are many people out there like this. I could only help a handful of friends and strangers when I have the time.

 

Cloud gaming service Gaikai coming to Facebook http://gamasutra.com/view/news/39681/Cloud_gaming_service_Gaikai_coming_to_Facebook.php

As I understand, the WoW demo is only a tech demo. WoW is not going to FaceBook:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/gaikai-bringing-wow-to-facebook-6348681?tag=newstop;title;1

 

Crytek Announces GFACE - Closed Beta Test Open for Applications
http://www.incrysis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=969&Itemid=1

 

Microsoft challenging licensing of OnLive's Windows 7 virtualization for iPad
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...nlives_windows_7_virtualization_for_ipad.html

 

Gaikai has been pretty active in GDC and recent weeks too:

Gaikai takes Warner MMOGs to the cloud
http://www.edge-online.com/news/gaikai-takes-warner-mmogs-cloud

Game signs Gaikai deal
http://www.edge-online.com/news/game-signs-gaikai-deal

David Perry on Gaikai and LG
http://www.edge-online.com/features/david-perry-gaikai-and-lg

 

Gaikai vs OnLive: Digital Foundry article

For those interested, Digital Foundry did a comparison article for 2 cloud gaming services: OnLive and Gaikai. They both have different business models. OnLive is more like a retailer and Gaikai is utilized by publishers but will be allowing full game streaming soon.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-face-off-gaikai-vs-onlive

Graphics settings/Image quality: Gaikai is the clear winner due to maxed out graphics settings

OnLive is running games on low settings. Only plackpack titles can be maxed out.

Gaikai is running games at max setting, which can be adjustable.

Framerate and Performance: OnLive is the winner due to encoding video at 60FPS.

OnLive is smoother since the video is encoded at 60FPS.

Gaikai is less smooth and framerate dips are much more noticable due to lower video encoding rate. However, Gaikai mentions running their games at 60FPS in the datacenter in many articles. http://www.edge-online.com/news/gaikais-perry-cloud-latency-not-concern

Compression Quality: Gaikai is the clear winner. Gaikai is using x264 software compression and OnLive is using a custom hardware encoder although both are rendering h.256 video.

Gaikai seems to encode the game at a lower framerate in order to allow more video bandwidth for a boost in video quality. However, Gaikai did state that they were running games at 60FPS in the datacenter (http://www.edge-online.com/news/gaikais-perry-cloud-latency-not-concern). Also, Gaikai can use more bandwidth than OnLive however, it does hover around 5mbps on average from my personal test.

Latency: Gaikai is the overall winner due to the varied location of their datacenters. However, there are some cases where OnLive can match the latency of Gaikai. Although, Gaikai was actually able to match console latency in some test concerning Bulletstorm (133ms).

Overall, I would have to go with Gaikai for this Face-Off. However, both services can't beat the local PC experience.

TLR: Gaikai is running games at max settings (which are adjustable)and has better latency than OnLive. However, OnLive has a much more stable framerate since they are encoding the video at 60 fps. OnLive has been running certain Playpass games on low settings like Assasins Creed. Also, OnLive has recently been in the habit of launching games at lower graphics settings than increasing them months after launch. I beleive this has to do with server capacity issues. This has happened with Batman Arhkam City and Saints Row The third. However, users can adjust graphics settings in Playpack subscription games.

 

But what are the business models of the 2 services?

Onlive seems to work on lower-end hardware, requires subscription and purchases of certain games at full retail prices?

Gaikai requires better hardware, requires subscription and full retail price for games?

 

Here's a detailed explanation taken from this thread:
http://onlivefans.com/showthread.ph...sons-debates-tech-discussion-and-such-IN-HERE


Onlive:

For consumers, they are primarily a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company selling games and offering demos directly to the consumer. OnLive doesn't require a subscription. There is an optional subscription for back catalog games. OnLive offers free 30 minute demos for the majority of their titles. However, the are now partly an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)/Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) company due to their OnLive desktop Service.

They are working on getting their OnLive client integrated with HDTVs, tablets, smartphones, bluray players, etc in addition to the PC/Mac. We have not heard about the OnLive client coming to Linux (for those who care).

For publishers, OnLive is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) company. They allow hosting of games for demo and sale. They also get ad revenue from publishers when users play demos. OnLive gets around a 30 percent profit from direct sales to consumers. They also have created instant demo, probably in response to Gaikai, which launch directly into games. It seems that Onlive does not share ad revenue, and they do not have affiliate sites to host links to their instant demos. OnLive offers a SDK to enable various features. However, some games have been ported without the SDK.


- Centralized gaming platform to compete with other distribution platforms (consoles/steam/d2d)
- Community based
- Aimed for consumers

Gaikai:

For consumers, they do not offer any services directly. They just deliver technology that enables users to play games through the cloud. Gaikai is not a centralized platform for consumers, and you cannot buy games directly from Gaikai. They are working on getting Gaikai-enabled games working on HDTVs, tablets, smartphones, etc (basically anything that has a web brower or streams video) in addtional to PC/Mac/Linux. Consumers are able to play demos powered by Gaikai embedded on many sites such as www.gaikai.com/games and www.eurogamer.net/gaikai

For publishers, Gaikai is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) company with an advertising slant. They allow publishers/developers to host games for demo and for sale (requires private cloud hosting). However, they do not get profit from the sale. That profit goes directly to publishers/developers/retailers. They primarily get profit from ad revenue from publishers when users play demos and the cost of hosting private clouds (which facilitates full game streaming and free2play games) for developers/publishers. Gaikai shares ad revenue with affiliate sites that host links to their instant demos. Gaikai offers a SDK to enable various features like touch controls, etc. However, they emphasize that all games can been ported with no effort from developers/publishers.

They allow publishers/developers to host full games and free to play games by creating private clouds, which can integrate into the publishers/developers storefront. Gaikai does offer payment services if the publisher/developer wishes to use them. Gaikai does not take a cut of sales.

For retailers, Gaikai is like an advertisement company that can supply demos and redirect users back to the retailer site for final sale. Obviously, Gaikai will also generate ad revenue from the retailer as well. Also, Gaikai will allow full game streaming on retail sites very soon after they launch a portal on Facebook. The retailer will have to pay for the number of permanent instances needed to host the full streaming games.

For gaming websites/affiliates, Gaikai will share ad revenue (50/50) for Gakai enabled game demos users play on your site. All you need to do is add a snippet of code to your website to enable Gaikai demos.

- Alternative distribution system for publishers for demos or full games
- You will not be purchasing or demoing games from Gaikai, you will purchase them from the game developer's (or publisher's) website
- Not a centralized platform like Onlive (you will need to visit each publisher's site to use their streaming version of the game)
- Not a product for consumers. It is a product -only- for game studios to purchase and utilize. Regular customers will never have access.
- Not intended to compete with any current gaming platforms (consoles/steam/d2d/etc) It's simply another way publishers and developers can get their game out there on their own.
- Partly ad driven with profits going to both Gaikai and the affliiate websites (Eurogamer, Escapist) that host links to Gaikai enabled demos

 

I see nvidia is back to its old habit of lying like crazy.

That graph only shows geforce grid winning over consoles due to it having half the game logic time (e.g 60FPS vs 30FPS), it is unlikely that it will run all games at 60FPS (and lets not forget that not all console games are 30FPS).

Somehow the "cloud gen 1" has twice the network latency of geforce grid, bar the fact it has nothing to do with nvidia and everything to do with how far away you are.

They even go as far as to claim that the decoding takes longer on "cloud gen 1" than geforce grid

 

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/geforce-grid/

 

So network latency is reduced because there will be more data centers.

 

Hmmm confirmation NV not in a next gen console? Get locked out of consoles => market the competition

 

And? Firms like Akamai have hundreds of thousands of servers on almost every ISPs on the planet. With GPU virtualization you can use the hardware much better and bring costs down.

 

Virtual GPU? How does this work, you throw a bunch of GPU's in a server and let it rip through 100 of simultanous games running at the same time?

Considering that you need a 680 to run some games at a constant 60hz in HD that is going to either be low quality graphics or alot of GPU's.