Game Changer

Buzz that is usually reserved for the video game industry's largest event, E3, was in overdrive at this year's Gaming Developer's Conference (GDC). Gaming startup Onlive (http://www.onlive.com) stole the show with its announcement (and inpressive demonstration) of it's cloud enabled gaming subscription service. In brief, instead of using a gaming console (XBox 360, PS3, Wii) or PC to process the enormous amount of data necessary for today's games, Onlive would leave the heavy lifting to its network of computers. Your only requirement to play? A subscription, a speedy internet connection, and a controller (a modem-sized box will also be available if you plan on playing it on your TV). As you traverse the system menus or are playing a game, your controller movements are uploaded to virtual machines and your thumb gyrations are processed. "Pictures" of your game are then sent back at 60 frames per second with no latency. Incredible? Yes! Impossible? Maybe?

I've read up on the requirements of such a service. The hardware required would be massive. The compression software, ground-breaking. Yet if it can be done, the technology will not only rattle the cages of console makers Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. It will also be a game changer for HP, Dell and Apple.

Imagine a day in the not-so distant future when the desktop computer will consist of nothing more than a keyboard, mouse and a display. Your CPU will be "in the cloud". Your files? The same. And imagine what it does for software as a service. Need Photoshop? Run it. Want to switch operating systems? Just a quick configuration change. All of your data, configuration and personalization settings are ready and waiting whenever you need it. Just login and go.

Pricing models for software could be diverse; pay-to-play, monthly subscriptions, or outright purchases are all possible ways of monetizing the model. And of course, an overall user fee or monthly subscription for CPU access and storage.

I'll leave it to the software engineers to debate the compression algorithms and computing power needed to make Onlive a reality, but one thing is obvious. A new era of computing and gaming is right around the corner, and my iMac is a little nervous.