Massively

CCP shopping EVE Online to cloud gaming services

Jef Reahard — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Casual, Sandbox

You'd think the hardest of the hardcore MMORPGs would be exempt from the casual-fueled cloud-gaming craze, but you'd be wrong. Eurogamer reports that CCP's EVE Online sci-fi sandbox is in talks with both OnLive and Gaikai to expand New Eden's audience.

"We are in dialogue with both companies and others," CCP marketing guru David Reid says. "We think it's a really important way to not just play the core Eve Online gameplay -- that you do play today principally on the PC and on the Mac -- but also to add new sorts of experiences."

What sorts of new experiences? Well, Reid mentioned EVE's planetary interaction mechanics, and he said that CCP could see PI finding its way "to tablets and mobile devices." It's still very early in the process, though, and Reid clarified that CCP has nothing to announce as of yet.

CCP shopping EVE Online to cloud gaming services originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively Speaking Episode 193: Happytime face smiles

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Podcasts, EverQuest, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous, Diablo III

Massively Speaking Episode 193 asks this question: If we had $25 million to spend on an MMO, how sarcastic would we make its quests? And would there be a special skill called "Fire One Shots!"? And would your character die if he or she were downvoted in a group raid? And would we ever look as happy as the guy in the picture above?

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!

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Read below the cut for the full show notes.

Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 193: Happytime face smiles

Massively Speaking Episode 193: Happytime face smiles originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gaikai: Delivering instant MMOs to your browser

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Interviews, MMO industry, Chronicles of Spellborn, Wizard101, Miscellaneous

Imagine that you're reading up on an MMO on a site such as Massively (far-fetched, but stay with us on this). The words intrigue you and you think it might be worth checking out. You make a mental note to do so in the future -- to head over to the game's site, see if there's a trial, download it, set up an account, and give it a whirl -- but time gets away from you and none of that actually happens.

Now imagine that right after you read that article there was a single button or link. Clicking on it, a Java window opens up on top of your screen and tells you that you're now playing a trial of the game. There's no wait, no download, no lengthy form to fill out -- just click and play, right away. You go from interested to inside the game within mere seconds, your computer specs (mostly) aren't an issue, and your curiosity is immediately sated.

This isn't a far-fetched dream but the here-and-now reality. This is cloud-streaming MMOs brought to you by Gaikai. And it just might be the future of MMOs as we know it.

Continue reading Gaikai: Delivering instant MMOs to your browser

Gaikai: Delivering instant MMOs to your browser originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LotRO and DDO coming to a cloud near you

Brianna Royce — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:15:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Business models, Launches, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Browser

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]

LotRO and DDO coming to a cloud near you originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gaikai's David Perry on solving latency issues with streaming games to your browser

James Egan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, Browser

Gaikai is a company we've taken note of in the past few months, one that aims to eliminate hardware barriers to gaming -- including MMOs like World of Warcraft and EVE Online -- by streaming games to your browser via their "Streaming Worlds" technology. Despite what Gaikai has said and demonstrated thus far, their technology -- which essentially turns games into an interactive video stream -- has been met with skepticism. This is not surprising. How they'll handle latency issues has been debated at length in our own comments at Massively and pretty much everywhere else online that Gaikai is mentioned.

A recent interview with Gaikai's David Perry sheds a little more light on how they aim to deliver on smooth game performance. Perry spoke with Develop writer Rob Crossley and says, "No one has ever tried to solve the issue in the way we are."

Continue reading Gaikai's David Perry on solving latency issues with streaming games to your browser

Gaikai's David Perry on solving latency issues with streaming games to your browser originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Browser-centric MMOs

Lesley Smith — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Browser, The Daily Grind, Legal

The other day, I watched this demo of Gaikai, a new service being spearheaded by the legendary games developer David Perry. The idea is a simple one: using a browser you can access everything from MMOs to racing games and even the memory-hog that is Photoshop with all the actual software installed on a remote server and accessed via the cloud. Now it seems like an awesome undertaking but I came out of it feeling really impressed. WoW and EVE were running at lightening speed and the prospect of not patching or updating got me a little excited. Now browser-based MMOs are now new. Just look at Free Realms and the plethora of free-to-play titles. But the idea of playing seriously intensive games like EVE? Wow, just wow. You still need some kind of graphics card in your computer but the cloud seems to do the vast majority of the work.

So readers, what do you think? You might well have used browser-centric MMOs in the past and their ease of use is encouraging. Would you play WoW on a browser if it could mimic your current setting or even improve on them? Would it make your life easier knowing that someone else was dealing with all the patches? On the other hand, cloud-based technology is still new and shiny, would you rather stick with actual discs or your own hard drive? Tell us, readers, and drop your thoughts in the box below.

The Daily Grind: Browser-centric MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Gaikai demo shows WoW and EVE played via browser

James Egan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, MMO industry, News items, Browser

Gaikai is a new game streaming service that's currently in development, which was first announced at GDC 2009 (and later was apparently previewed by game publishers at E3 2009.) We've since mentioned Gaikai a few times at Massively, and how the service could bring MMOs (and other games) to devices like netbooks that don't have adequate graphics capabilities to run these titles. Gaikai will use "Streaming Worlds" technology to do all the graphics crunching on remote servers and then stream games to your computer via a web browser. In effect, you're playing the game as a video stream. No client install required, no patching needed.

Given the reactions we've seen from gamers in our own comments and elsewhere on the web, skepticism abounds. Perhaps seeing is believing though, as Gaikai's David Perry has put out a video demo of the service today, explaining Gaikai to viewers as he plays several games, namely World of Warcraft and EVE Online. No doubt there will still be skepticism, but it's good to get a first look at the service. Perry makes a few details about the demo and the service itself clear on his blog: the data travel distance in the demo is 800 miles; this is a (non-fiber) home cable connection; it works over wi-fi and with netbooks lacking 3D graphics cards; any clicking sounds heard are only from Perry's wireless headset mic.

We've got a video embed of the Gaikai technology demo for you below, where you can see World of Warcraft and EVE Online played via a browser:

Continue reading First Gaikai demo shows WoW and EVE played via browser

First Gaikai demo shows WoW and EVE played via browser originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gaikai and OnLive both a no-show at E3 Expo 2009

James Egan — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items, Browser

We heard about two competing gaming services at GDC 2009 that could revolutionize the video game industry, if the technology announced can live up to its claims: OnLive and Gaikai. Both services aim to stream game content to users while the graphics crunching is handled on company servers, thereby eliminating the escalating hardware barriers to playing the latest and greatest titles -- a home user's low-end machine would be able to run high-end games. Gaikai head David Perry (of Acclaim) has said that the company's "Streaming Worlds" technology is suited to handle MMOs, and has specifically stated that World of Warcraft and EVE Online can already be streamed to browsers.

When we heard about these companies at GDC we were hoping to hear more a bit later in the year, but it seems that neither OnLive nor Gaikai will be at the E3 Expo 2009. Gaikai cites patent filings as the reason they've had to pull out from E3 while OnLive states that their service doesn't fit in with the 'retail-orientation' of E3. We'll keep an eye on both companies as time goes on, though at this point only Gaikai has announced that they plan to stream MMOs.

Gaikai and OnLive both a no-show at E3 Expo 2009 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 May 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Will streaming technology revolutionize MMO gameplay?

James Egan — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, EVE Online, MMO industry, Opinion, Browser, The Daily Grind

Along with much of the gaming world, we were excited to hear the GDC 09 news about OnLive and Gaikai. The services both companies will offer (likely to enter beta testing in the next year) will eliminate the graphics performance of your computer as a barrier to play. The concept is that the company's servers do all the graphics crunching and stream the output to your computer, so all you would need is a decent broadband connection.

In the case of Gaikai and its Streaming Worlds technology, they've specifically mentioned MMO play through their service for World of Warcraft and EVE Online. You don't need to download clients or patches to your own machine, that'll be done remotely on the Gaikai servers. They'll stream games right to your web browser via Flash. If this all pans out as they say it will, it'll be feasible to run MMOs on older machines as well as on laptops that are normally considered below spec to run these titles.

While there are some big "IFs" with how this will work out, particularly as it concerns latency, do you feel the accessibility these services can offer could revolutionize MMO gaming?

The Daily Grind: Will streaming technology revolutionize MMO gameplay? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC09: Gaikai digital gaming service to stream MMOs to web browsers

James Egan — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Browser, Massively Event Coverage

One of the more interesting announcements to come out of GDC 2009 is OnLive, which will allow low-end PCs to play high-end games via streaming technology, piping in a game experience where all the heavy (graphics) lifting is done on the company's servers. It's a significant step forward in gaming provided it lives up to expectations, and the fact that it's fully cross-platform means that Mac users will be able to play PC titles never ported for the OS. OnLive isn't alone in wanting to make games more accessible though, particularly when it comes to MMOs.

Acclaim CEO David Perry told GameDaily, "We have already filed a patent on what OnLive is doing. I'm working with a team called Gaikai... we have World of Warcraft and EVE Online running." Since Gaikai's "Streaming Worlds" technology involves servers which remotely do the graphics crunching required of most modern games and streams the game to a web browser, all one needs is a machine with a good internet connection. No game client downloads are required. "You can play World of Warcraft anytime, on any browser," said Perry. The OnLive and Gaikai services are still in development and beta testing for both may begin this Winter, if not sooner.

GDC09: Gaikai digital gaming service to stream MMOs to web browsers originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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