Get ready for the non-console wars. Wars involving cloud computing game providers like Gaikai and OnLive will have no consoles whatsoever because every game will be streaming straight to you while being handled by servers elsewhere. The technology may be in its pre-infancy, and no one actually knows if it is going to take off, but that doesn’t mean that the trash talking can’t start nice and early. David Perry, founder of Gaikai, a streaming games service that was announced the day after OnLive, discusses why he thinks OnLive is not going to work.
“A pretty obvious difference between Gaikai and OnLive is the fact that they’ll never have a Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft game on their system,” Perry said in an interview with Develop. “OnLive is trying to directly compete with the platform holders. It’s trying to rule the living room.”
“The OnLive team are positioning it as something where you won’t need a PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii any more; you can just have their box. OnLive’s model is to try and make a micro-console. If they succeed in doing so, they will take away some market share from the other platform holders,” he said, following up by describing how Gaikai is all about getting games out there for free (as long as you pay for the service) and somehow then making people buy a console and that game on the console despite being able to play it over his service already. He claims that his service will drive home console sales, while OnLive will not and thus won’t get major publisher backing.
I love having stuff under my TV so this whole no-console, cloud computing thing scares me, but even I can tell that Perry is pretty much just talking smack about a competitor here as Gaikai and OnLive are pretty much offering the same console-obsoleting service.
[Via The Escapist]
Published: Jul 11, 2009 12:30 pm