Gaikai is Now Cloud-Streaming MMORPGs
Gaikai is currently streaming two MMORPGs, but it's not what you may think.
Gaikai CEO David Perry said on Thursday that Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online have become the first MMORPGs to be streamed by Gaikai to a web browser near you. Available to adventurers in North America, the streaming version of LOTRO is reportedly up and running (although there's no sign of it as of this writing), with DDO to follow soon.
"Gaikai's game streaming service will make it easier than ever for new players to start their epic adventures in our immersive online worlds," said Craig Alexander, Vice President of Product Development, Turbine. "Anyone wishing to try these popular MMOs can now instantly launch the games inside their web browser completely eliminating any download wait times."
Both MMORPGs are wholly owned by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and developed by Turbine. For those who want a little Hobbit action, LOTRO offers three ways to play: free, premium and VIP. All three accounts have a level cap of 75, but free players are limited to one character per sever unless they shell out real world cash for additional slots. Other freebie limitations include a 2 GP cap, standard login, limited chat abilities and more.
Now here's the catch to Gaikai's seemingly cool offering: it's not a permanent feature. The use of the word "try" in Gaikai's announcement means gamers can test the MMORPGs before actually downloading and installing the game to the hard drive. This Gaikai FAQ hosted on the LOTRO site confirms this, stating that Middle-earth fans are allowed to play up to one full hour in the browser before being kicked off and forced to download the installer. That said, Gaikai is serving up streaming demos as usual.
"For most players, this [hour] will allow you to create your character and complete the starting area for your race," reads the FAQ. "At the end of the trial, you will be logged out from the game and your character and progress will be stored on our servers. You will then be provided with links to download the game client to continue your adventure."
Back in January, Gaikai announced that it signed up with LG to deliver cloud gaming to LG Cinema 3D TVs starting with the 2012 lineup. However currently the company has only provided streaming demos which can be found on various places on the Internet as well as Gaikai's own online showcase. Gamers can test-drive Crysis 2, Assassins Creed Brotherhood, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and others within a web browser without having to worry about hardware restrictions.
Is streaming demos, to some degree, false advertisement? PC gamers who aren't fully aware of their hardware capabilities may try these streaming demos, thinking their components can handle the pressure. But once they've purchased and installed the software, only to discover it performs like a man running through quicksand, the funds can't be refunded and they're stuck with unusable software. PC gamers are better off downloading and installing an actual demo to see how it performs locally unless the full-blown version has a streaming version available (like with OnLive).
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
-
yumri never heard of them before now so has anyone heard of Gaikai before seeing this article on toms hardware?Reply -
beetlejuicegr ye i heard gaikai and i think it was here in tomshardware.Reply
in the future , cloud gaming will enter our gaming lives for good, possibly wiping or minimizing software piracy . The (other) good thing will be us to be able to play our games from all hd devices hehe, from the beach, while shopping with wife :P etc P -
memadmax "Mashes button for flash heal"Reply
Ten seconds later...
Tank dies, group wipes....
Flash heal completed.... -
memadmax This whole cloud tagphrase bs needs to stop....Reply
I mean, really, any online game is basically a "cloud" in the first place...
The toons, and their related equipment etc are stored on servers over the internet.... the same as a "cloud".....
ffs... -
I've actually been involved with Gaikai and can only say that you should give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to use it. True, it is dependant on your internet service which adds a different level of restrictions, however it also opens up a lot of new things as well. It 'could' also work as a piracy deterent, since many pirates claim to only dl the game to 'try it out' then buy it if it's good enough. Well, try it on Gaikai then buy it. Sometimes the release demo just isn't detailed enough or not even the finished product. Gaikai has a lot of potential.Reply
-
alidan memadmaxThis whole cloud tagphrase bs needs to stop....I mean, really, any online game is basically a "cloud" in the first place...The toons, and their related equipment etc are stored on servers over the internet.... the same as a "cloud".....ffs...Reply
yes, because we have 2 potentialy laggy bottle necks, we should accept a 2 more potentialy laggy bottleneck.
every play on the high end of any mmo? i have, at least group wise, its even worse in raids, where you have less than half a second to press a button or the group dies, you fail to press that button fast enough or lag even slightly, you all die. now, we have an mmo, which can be laggy on the server side, or on the client side, 2 fail points, but useing this servive, you have from you to them, than from them to server, and people will hammer their servers harder than an mmo server, so expect to not be able to play at the high end of any game because of it. -
zak_mckraken I don't care about those games, but the idea of streaming as a demo and then buying and installing the whole game is interesting.Reply