LotRO and DDO coming to a cloud near you

Cloud-based gaming service Gaikai, Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactive have just announced a plan to stream Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online gameplay via browser. Players will be able to feed their impulse gaming by hopping into both hybrid free-to-play MMOs without any lengthy downloads or huge installations. According to a press release distributed today,

Gamers can try The Lord of the Rings Online now, with Dungeons & Dragons Online to follow soon [...] via a simple one-step registration process that will provide them instant access to try the full version of the award-winning, free-to-play massively multiplayer experiences.

A Turbine FAQ further clarifies that this service provides only one hour of gameplay. [Thanks to reader Mr. Angry for the heads up.]

This marks the first MMO streaming Gaikai will have undertaken; its streaming portfolio includes non-MMO games like Spore, Mass Effect 2, and The Sims 3.

[Source: Warner Bros. and Gaikai, Inc. press release]

Reader Comments (15)

Lengthy downloads? With a modern internet connection the high resolution client takes less than 15 minutes to download.

@(Unverified)

They may have improved it but several times when I returned to the game and blasted through that tutorial zone, I wasn't even close to having finished downloading the "rest of the world" so I couldn't leave. It would often take a while for that to finish.

But like I said it has been a while since I've popped in there (last time was before F2P).

@Doctor Adorah

Define "modern internet connection"! (and don't forget that speeds vary wildly with different set-ups, different ISPs and different parts of the world!!)

@(Unverified) 'The hell do you live? With the average American broadband speed, it takes about about an hour and a half, followed by 15 minutes of installation and another 30 minutes of updates.

@(Unverified) The game is like 8 to 10 GBs. I don't think most of us have connections to do that in 15 minutes lol

@Softserve

Actually, it's 6-8 GBs. Either way, an hour is likely not going to be near enough time to download, install, and update the game.

Quick clarification here...

This is for just one hour as you download the client, it's not an alternative way to play the game following the initial setup. Press release was slightly vague.

Info here :

http://www.lotro.com/support/download-lotro/1653-what-is-gaikai