Are Video Games Heading to the Cloud?

If you were born after 1975, you have been a first-hand witness to the rapid evolution of video gaming. Beginning with simple, large pixelated games like Pong, video games quickly grew to feature 8-bit characters with distinguishable faces, which would later progress into 16-bit realms that resembled animated cartoons. Today, gamers experience worlds that frighteningly resemble our own, except with added blockbuster-like special effects.

These innovations have required users to constantly purchase new hardware; from new consoles every few years, to different mediums for the games themselves (cartridges, discs, CDs, DVDs, and now Blu-Rays). Today, we?ll discuss where the future of the industry is headed, and how the cloud will play a pivotal role in the next evolution of gaming.

In June of 2010, the video gaming community was introduced to?OnLive. OnLive is an entirely cloud-based gaming platform that only requires you to purchase one piece of hardware: its console. Once you have the console wired into your television, you?ll be connected to a world of gaming options through OnLive?s exclusive interface.

From there, you will be able to stream a plethora of games without any downloads or discs required; everything is streamed from its server in the cloud straight to your TV. OnLive has been around for almost two years now, and has been slow to catch on. In fact, it?s almost more famous for introducing the world to the concept of streamed gaming on a console, than it is for selling its product.

In the same vein as OnLive, Microsoft?s Xbox 360 and Sony?s PlayStation 3 feature many games you can download or preview through the stores featured on their respective interfaces. Most of these games require a full download to play, and they are frequently not as impressive graphically than the games you can play off of a disc.?However, rumors have been swirling that the Xbox 360?s successor will not include any sort of disc-drive. If this turns out to be true, this will make it an entirely cloud-based device; accessing games and other media only from its online store.

As heavy hitters like Microsoft begin to move their gaming platforms solely into the cloud, the rest will surely follow. It?s really undeniable that the cloud will make physical copies of games nothing more than a luxury for collecting enthusiasts. Hardware is fragile and will eventually wear away.?As we?ve learned with your computer, hardware is only temporary. The?personal cloud is (sorry for the sap) forever.

Source: http://inthepersonalcloud.com/2012/03/27/are-video-games-headed-to-the-cloud/

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