by Reed Brecklein on March 30, 2009

cloud computing, Codemasters, Command & conquer, console, EA, future, Gaikai, gaming, MMO, onlive, TF2, Ubisoft, World of Warcraft, wow

The concept of cloud computing isn’t new. You take a service or program that normal lives on a computer on your desk and move it to the Internet. Amazon, Microsoft and a few other companies have already launched various cloud computing services, and recently a few game-centric companies have announced their intention to bring ‘cloud-computing’ to the video-game industry.

Virtually everyone that is even remotely interested in gaming has heard of OnLive, which presented it’s console streaming service during last weeks GDC in San Francisco. Hot on the tail of OnLive is Gaikai, who was planning on waiting for E3 for their announcement, but didn’t want Online to steal all the thunder. Together, these two companies poise to change gaming as we know it, but what does this mean to the humble gamer and how might it change (if at all) our tea bagging ways? To be honest, I’m a wee bit excited about a whole new dimension of gaming, but I’m not ready to be an OnLive or Gaikai fanboy just yet.

The possibility of playing any game I want devoid of console types and computer hardware is has always been an alluring proposition, and both of the companies with their clusters of poofy digital clouds seem to hold a silver lining. OnLive’s website is far more mature than Gaikai’s and, unlike Gaikai, Onlive has already aligned itself with a number of companies (EA, Ubisoft, and Codemasters, to name a few) and have compiled a tiny, but promising list of games its system is capable of supporting. Gaikai is beginning to seem kind of like the underdog, but right now it is aiming slightly askew and hoping to pin its hopes in the realm of MMOs and allow its users to play everything from EVE Online to World of Warcraft all contained in the browser of your choice.

Oddly enough, the very first thing that pops into my mind concerning OnLive is that’s going to receive ample support from publishers that deliver their content to PCs as opposed to consoles. Could it be they have finally discovered a DRM solution? Let’s consider Spore and the dreadful DRM that EA deployed with it to flummox legit customers and stump crackers. I was ignorant enough to purchase the game, and I still regard it as one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made concerning a game; at every point I felt like EA was punishing me for being daft enough to buy it. But now, EA might see a glimmer of light at the end of that very bleak and dark DRM tunnel. If you and I don’t actually have the software and it’s aloft, floating in some incorporeal cloud summoned only by OnLive, then the evil minions of would-be crackers cannot work their dark magic to become the Robinhoods of the digital age.

But what about those normal people who drink hard, game fast, and crash often? What if I want to edit the .ini file of a new Command & Conquer game? What if I want to create and add custom sprays to TF2? Where will my screenshots go? What about mods? What about custom maps? Or what if I want to swap games with a friend of mine? Perhaps worse yet, in the case of Gaikai, what is going to happen with the countless add-ons that WoW players can scatter over their screens? How much can I really do with a game that is drifting in the clouds?

Both developers have the potential to make our lives a little easier and a little less complicated, but you know what? My life is easy enough, and I don’t mind learning what I need to in order make it less complicated.

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