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David Perry has revealed he is eager to see the cloud-computing service Gaikai available on consoles, and thinks Nintendo would benefit from the service in particular.
In a Develop Blog Post – which looks at the genesis of the Gaikai model – the Perry explained,
“What I would love to do is have the hardware manufacturers support our embedded streams. I’d like them to support our custom stream and then allow live demos of the games on the consoles themselves.”
Perry explained that the Gaikai service – which essentially recieves player-input across the net and streams video footage of gameplay – could be embedded into the platform holders’ digital distribution stores.
“Just imagine being on the PlayStation Store, looking at all the games and trials, and being able to play a demo of the game, instantly, without downloading,” he said.
Perry added that Gaikai was a service that publishers and platform holders could take control of. A demo of a game could last as little as 48 hours, or up to a certain point in the game, before users had to download.
“Or,” he added, “they could charge you to continue; 100 Microsoft Points to carry on through the game.”
Though Perry foresees Gaikai dramatically changing the console demo process, he implied that the online-cautious Nintendo would best benefit from the system.
“I actually think Nintendo could do real damage with Gaikai,” he said. “They’re now paying attention to the draw of online gaming, and they also have some of the best games to get into quickly.”
Perry first told Develop in a recent interview of the key difference between Gaikai and cloud computing service OnLive, inasmuch as the OnLive service is positioned as a rival platform to the platform holders.
Perry’s Blog Post emphasises the game design veteran’s belief that Gaikai can do the opposite; assist the platform holders in reaching out to new audiences.
