Gaming: The Last Bastion of "Not for Cloud" Conquered?

In the various cloud computing events and discussions I participate in, gaming is often given as an example of what types of applications cloud computing is not suitable for. That never sat right with me. Although games such as World of Warcraft having very thick clients you need to install (I think 2 or 3 GBs), and much of their processsing is done in the local machine, even more of it is done in the remote servers run by Blizzard (the company that makes WoW). As I have written, however, WoW is in no way a cloud, unlike what some have argued.

But I just read a piece on VC Cafe, a blog that tracks Israeli start-ups and venture funds, about a company called Playce. The CEO and VP BD characterize their company in this interview as Gaming Infrastructure-as-a-Service, although I would say that Platform-as-a-Service is probably more accurate. IaaS refers to raw compute resources such as CPUs, memory and storage, while Playce actually provides a software platform for 3D high-end game development in the cloud.

At the heart of their technology, according to the company execs, is the ability to stream very rich high-bandwidth content to the client machine. Furthermore, they are opening the platform so that other developers can create their own games and provide them with ways to monetize their developments.

Is this an indication that cloud computing is overtaking the last bastion of resistance?

Check out the profile of the company on TechCrunch.

Comments

[Kent]

Gaming infrastructure as a service was tried not terribly long ago by a company called butterfly.net. It was very interesting but didn't make the cut.

Seems to have died around mid 2005. Of course, back in those days it was a grid instead of a cloud. :)

-Kent

[Kent]

Sorry, here's the link I forgot to post to the Internet Archive.

http://web.archive.org/web/20020914044708/http://www.butterfly.net/

[Geva Perry]

Thanks, Kent. So I'm sure we'll see a few failed attempts but it's certainly not out of the question any more.

[Alain Yap, Morph Labs]

Who knows, maybe the even the next batch of gaming consoles will not be selling those game discs anymore and find a way to leverage the cloud soon, too.

Do post asap if you find something that is still 'cloud-resistant'! Can't think of one right now. Elections?

Best.

[Carmel]

Thanks for the citation! We are looking for beta users. Visit www.playce.com to sign up!

[Geva Perry]

Thanks, Carmel. I also posted your request for beta users on Twitter.

[Geva Perry]

Alain - I think there are some highly secure, extreme performance apps that are holding out, but we're getting there rapidly.