There was – and unfortunately still is – an everlasting competition on upgrading your own gaming computer to have something better and more extreme than your friends do. This tendency always follows the latest trends, a system powerful enough to run the latest games at highest resolutions without ever being slow or overloaded.

Cloud gaming companies have begun and will continue crushing this competition forever and turning it into a competition between the cloud gaming companies themselves. How they are achieving this? By using cloud computing.

As we’ve hopefully read and studied (just as information, as basic knowledge of what’s new), cloud computing makes a new space where power is in sharing resources, storage space, thus making it possible to solve anything from any computer with an internet connection. Yes, you can have your own files, important data, photo albums, your daily office applications, your music and slowly everything “in the cloud”. That cloud I am referring here is a huge system of powerful – or less powerful – machines linked together to form one super-performance computer. This is where cloud gaming comes into picture!

Imagine all of the newest computer or console games running from the cloud. That would simply mean that you’ll no longer need an expensive personal computer or an extensive gaming console in order to play your favorite games – your games will be on the servers of the cloud gaming companies and you just log in through your internet connection and enjoy playing, you only need a computer strong enough to send/receive data in time and to display a live video stream in time (which is the actual video while you are playing your game). Amazing, isn’t it?

I will now mention a couple of the most popular cloud gaming companies and what they basically offer!

Gaikai

Gaikai is announced to be purchased by Sony as soon as the conditions and papers are all solved. Besides this purchase that is announced, Gaikai is one of the best and most-known cloud gaming companies.

The PC games and console games you’d play through Gaikai can be played with such an ease! You only need your web browser, their login platform (a website), Adobe Flash Player and Java runtime installed on your system – which is probably already installed for various websites and running online Java applets.

Games like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty 4 are playable with Gaikai.

OnLive

OnLive is another great choice when it comes to cloud gaming companies. It has some restrictions on which systems it runs on, but Windows XP and above, as well as Mac systems with Mac OS version newer than 10.5.8 and tablets, smart phones can all work with OnLive.

OnLive has High Definition video as a response from the server and is promised to work with low-end computers as well as long as these can play the streamed video.

Itsmy

To support the mobile gamers as well, itsmy is the new service to provide cloud gaming for mobile users. It’s fairly new, you can check their websites for updates on their services and announcements!

Finally a cloud gaming service was introduced  in South Korea.The deal was made between Playcast Media Systems and the CJ Hellovision – a cable TV operator. This is the first cloud gaming service in South Korea and seems that cloud gaming will be an important feature all over the world in the near future.
Playcast offers streams games without a game console or PC.

CJ Hellovision tell us that: “We are very proud to offer the cloud gaming service with such high-quality games to our subscribers. With our strength across both cable and over the top services, and Koreans insatiable appetite for video games, we are looking forward to make a historical shift in the marketplace.”

Gaikai was formed by Dave Perry in 2008 and is a cloud gaming service that offers the possibility to play by streaming the content via a broadband connection.

In this way you are not ‘forced’ to download the games and you can play from any kind of computer because the content is online.

There are rumors that said that the Gaikai technology will be used by Sony starting with PlayStation 4 that will be released next year.

Microsoft will probably do the same thing and will buy OnLive, a rival streaming games provider. In this case the next xBox will have the same features like the future Playstation.

“By combining Gaikai’s resources including its technological strength and engineering talent with SCE’s extensive game platform knowledge and experience, SCE will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences,” said Andrew House, group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

House also said: “SCE will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices.”

The final result of the acquisition is that Sony will establish its own cloud-based gaming service. Seems that cloud gaming is the future!