Cloud Gaming

I have long suspected, but recently had it confirmed to me, that soon 'Onlive', or a similar technology is going to take over the world.

For those who are unfamiliar with Onlive, it is a gaming service that changes the way that games are played and interacted with. The user has an Onlive console/modem plugged into their TV, and a control pad connected to that, not unlike a normal console. However rather than putting a disk into this console, it connects via the internet to the Onlive servers, where the games are hosted, and you play them, literally, online. The console sends your controller inputs to the Onlive servers, where the game is updated, and then receives back the pictures to put on the TV. All that the box under your TV does is send the controls, and receive back raw images to display, no actual processing takes place at all. This means that you can instantly play any game on the Onlive servers, and never have to upgrade your hardware. New games can be played as soon as they are available, there is no waiting for DVDs in the post or waiting for game files to download off Steam. Updates and patches are taken care of immediately, and you never have to worry about having to run that game at anything other than full detail, because Onlive take care of all the processing. Also available with the service is a PC app that allows you to do the same thing on an internet enabled PC, turning any computer at all into a top-spec gaming rig.

The moment that I decided that this method of game delivery would take over the world was when I realised that if sufficient bandwidth is available, you can play the same game on a top-spec PC or 50" TV as you can on an iPad, and using the same save games. So if you are addicted to Skyrim, but had to catch the bus to work, you can log off your TV console, log onto your iPad version of Onlive, and carry on the exact same game from exactly where you left off, with the exact same graphics.

This is a paradigm shifting tech, and the implications are very wide ranging. People are already moving away from the traditional mode of purchasing games, with direct-download services like Steam and XBLA becoming more and more popular. Onlive completely removes not only the need to buy new game disks, but also the need to buy new consoles, and if people are happy with not physically owning game disks anymore, it's only one step removed to not having any copy of the game at all, just the rights to play it. The days of console wars will be gone, all games will be playable on the same system, the only thing you will need to buy is a new controller if a new one is released. Games will no longer be limited by console hardware, opening the floodgates for larger and faster leaps in graphics technology.
After the games side of the business is strong enough, there is nothing to suggest they won't start offering other  services as well. TV, films and music are all already available to stream online, so it's not a big jump of the imagination to see the Onlive tech being adapted for that as well.

As a sales platform as well it is incredibly strong. Game demos are taken care of by allowing someone to play a game and then cutting them off after a certain time or when they've completed *this* much. Then purchasing the game after that is as easy as telling Onlive to add it to your library of available games, either as a rental, or a permanent purchase. They also run a monthly payment service that gives you unlimited access to a library of games. Piracy is completely removed, as the game can never exist anywhere but on the Onlive servers.

The drawback that most people will point out is the obvious time delay that will take place between sending instructions across the internet and receiving back the onscreen-images. This is clearly a problem, but as the internet gets faster, the delay will evaporate, and reports say that it is negligible anyway. Also, to counteract this delay, there is the fact that multiplayer lag is removed totally, as all the games will be hosted at the same server location. Another sticking point is that if your internet goes down, all your games are completely unplayable. This is a more fundamental problem, but as internet connectivity is fast becoming omnipresent and stable, and it's an issue that other services suffer from as well, it is something else that fails to be a deal-breaker. Motion-control gaming could be something that the service struggles with at first, as particular hardware is needed to play games with this control style, but there is nothing to say that custom peripherals will become available.

I really see this technology taking off hugely as it becomes better recognised and the internet gets faster. The world is already moving towards cloud computing, with offsite processing and file storage featuring more and more in our day to day lives. It will be a very interesting few years as Onlive picks up speed and tries to find it's place in the gaming ecosystem. If games production companies see the potential and embrace it (and there's no reason not to) we could well see a huge change in the way we consume games and other entertainment very soon.