OnLive to start Cloud Gaming Service

Onlive game distribution network announced a Cloud Computing Gaming service , which will enable users to play games without the need of gaming hardware or consoles. The games can be played on Windows and Macintosh Computers or High Definition Televisions. This new venture will revolutionize the gaming world by removing the need of buying new generation consoles or updating PCs continuously in order to play new gaming titles.

The new technology uses Cloud Computing to render and compute audio and video on Super powered Cloud Servers and streaming the data to the user over a broadband connection, while maintaining real-time gaming experience.

The Cloud Servers will be able to run games available on any console or PC and will be able to deliver high performance and high graphics quality, all while needing no extra hardware other than a TV or a simple computer.

This whole is not just a fantasy theory, OnLive demonstrated the Crytek’s ‘Crisis’ running smoothly from the Cloud Servers, with only 1 mpbs internet download bandwidth for smooth gaming and 5 mbps bandwidth for HD Resolution gameplay.

Some major game developers such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ, Epic Games, Eidos, Atari Interactive and Codemasters have already joined with OnLive to deliver this new gaming system technology.

Another benefit of Cloud gaming is massively multiplayer environments where thousands of players can join a single game and can enjoy gaming without any lag or communication problems, all while chatting and video conferencing.

The OnLive gaming system is expected to be released by the end of this year. The users will be charged monthly, but the prices are not announced yet. The gamers playing on their Windows or Macintosh computers will need no extra hardware to join, whereas the gmaers using HDTV will need to have a small Microconsole which will connect the HDTV with broadband for the connection.

According to Chief Operating Officer OnLive Mike McGarvey:

“You’ve got choice, you’ve got value and your performance is always state-of-the-art and you’re getting all the best games,”

“OnLive combines the successful components of video games, online distribution and social networking into one affordable, flexible platform that offers a new way for game fans to access and enjoy content,”

“By substantially lowering the barriers between content and consumers, OnLive has created an environment that is highly beneficial for every facet of the video game ecosystem. With OnLive, gamers can play what they want, when they want, how they want. That level of freedom has never been possible until now.”

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Blu Ray Disc

In simple words:

A blue ray disc is the next generation of optical disc that can store up to 25GB of data on one side and 50GB on dual side disc. It stores more than 5 times the data as compared to a DVD disc

That means 10 hours of HD video on one disc! Another difference is that unlike DVD and CD which use red laser, blue ray uses violet blue laser to read and write data.

The technology:

One question that arises in mind is that, how blue ray can store 5 times more data than DVD?

The answer to which is:

Blu ray uses blue violet laser having wavelength of 450nm, on the other hand the DVD and CD uses red laser having wavelength of 650nm. The shorter wavelength in blu ray allows the data to be written in more compact form with precision, using less area for one data unit thus increasing the amount of data on the same disc size.

Below is a quick comparison between blu ray and DVD

Near Future:

It has been reported that in near future, they release 20 layered blu ray disc capable of storing 500GB of data on a single disc. The successful experiments have already been carried out by Pioneer. As technology is progressing exponentially everyday, we expect more high speed and capacity storage devices in near future.

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