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You can now stream Xbox One games to Win 10 PCs
Microsoft announced that, starting today, Xbox One users running Windows 10 and who are members of the preview program will be able to try the company's new Game Streaming feature. It does exactly what it sounds like, allowing users to stream their console games to a remote computer. In fact, the feature actually mirrors the full console so you can also access the home screen and apps however you won't be able to stream movies, music or other protected content. What you will have access to is virtually every Xbox One title -- save for the ones that require a Kinect or other specialized hardware. Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Sony shifts to pricey game rentals in UK PlayStation Now beta
Sony kicked off closed beta testing of its PlayStation Now game streaming service in the UK a couple of months ago, and now it's time to talk turkey. Beta participants previously had unrestricted access to the PS Now streaming catalogue, but Sony's just started experimenting with rental pricing. A full-fat PS3 title now costs £5 to rent for two days, or £10 if you want to stretch that to a 30-day term; PS3-era PlayStation Network games are slightly cheaper at £3 and £8 for two- and 30-day rental periods, respectively. Bear in mind, PS Now is still in the early stages of beta testing in the UK, and Sony's made it clear that it'll be playing around with "different rental options at different price points."
Xbox One to Windows 10 streaming feels just like console gaming
With the release of Windows 10, Sony won't be the only company to offer game streaming from its consoles. Today we finally got our hands on Windows 10's Xbox One game streaming feature, which lets you bring your entire Xbox gaming experience to any PC running the new OS. And even in its early state, it looks like it will satisfy even the most demanding gamers. Microsoft made a risky bet by demoing the feature with Sunset Overdrive, a fast-paced game where you'd notice the slightest hint of slowdown. And as you can see in the video below, it's virtually indistinguishable from the native Xbox One experience while running on a Surface Pro 3.
Twitch is holding a game-broadcasting convention this September
Want to meet up with your favorite game broadcasters? Of course you do, and with Twitch's inaugural convention, aptly dubbed "TwitchCon," later this year you totally can. There aren't a ton of details yet, but it takes place in San Francisco from Friday September 25th to Saturday the 26th. The live-streaming giant promises ways to elevate your broadcasting game and chances to meet your followers (or maybe even your idols) too, which makes us think it's going to be more along the lines of VidCon or PlayList Live than something like the Penny Arcade Expo. The very notion of a Twitch convention likely wouldn't be possible without that massive influx of cash from Amazon last year, and this is a sign of how far online video's grown (especially game-focused stuff) lately. What's more, this is indicative of just how popular Twitch has become as a platform in a relatively short period of time. Planning on attending? Hit the comments and let us know. [Image credit: camknows/Flickr]
PlayStation game-streaming service comes to Samsung smart TVs in 2015
Sony isn't afraid to partner with competitors if it means getting PlayStation Now in more homes, apparently. The outfit just announced that it's teaming with Samsung to bake the PlayStation game-streaming service into some of the rival electronics giant's smart TVs starting next year. Sony says some 200 PlayStation 3 games will be available to stream, and that the service runs at full functionality, specifically mentioning things like trophies, online multiplayer and cloud-saves for game-progress. Sound familiar? It should because that's how the service works on Bravia TVs and PlayStation game consoles. What's more, all you'll need is one of Sony's DualShock 4 gamepads to control the action.
PlayStation Now's creator explains how game streaming came to Sony
With the PlayStation Now beta just opening to a larger chunk of the gaming population, you might be wondering how the streaming service came to Sony in the first place. Why did Gaikai drop its entire PC audience to join a console maker? Thankfully for you, Gaikai chief David Perry has just shed light on that transition in an interview with GameInformer. Simply put, streaming on computers was becoming a nightmare for Perry's team before the 2012 acquisition. The sheer number of compatibility problems was "massively reducing" the number of titles Gaikai could support, and the software required increasingly elaborate tricks (such as image recognition) just to run at all. The company wanted to escape these headaches by going to a platform with standardized elements like controllers and copy protection. When Sony came knocking, it quickly became clear that the PlayStation was a good match -- it solved many challenges in one fell swoop.
Amazon buying Twitch, expanding video empire to live streaming
It's official: after plenty of rumors about both Google and Amazon buying massively popular video streaming service Twitch, Amazon announced it as official this afternoon. Amazon is buying Twitch for $970 million in cash, though it's yet to go through government approval. Amazon head Jeff Bezos is pretty excited about the deal and, apparently, about gaming: "Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month – from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old." Update: Twitch is currently streaming a live town hall meeting to discuss the deal, you can watch it here or embedded after the break.
Steam In-Home Streaming now beams PC games to any room of your house
It has been in beta since mid-November, but Steam's In-Home Streaming is now available to all. Folks who have a fleet of computers at home can link 'em up and then remotely install and play PC games just like you were sitting at your desk. As you might expect, this also enables access to titles on machines running other OSes -- like OS X, Linux and SteamOS, of course. You'll still have to wait a bit to nab up a Steam Machine, but if you're champing at the bit to give it a go, all the info you'll need to get start awaits via that source link.
Over one million people are streaming gameplay on Twitch every month
With the inclusion of Twitch streaming functionality in the PlayStation 4 (and soon in the Xbox One), it's no surprise that the service is now achieving more than 1 million "monthly active broadcasters." What that means in human speak is more than 1 million people are streaming out gameplay via Twitch every month -- that's a ton of opportunity for both informative broadcasts and rampant nudity! Should there be any doubt that the new game consoles are goosing the numbers, Twitch already confirmed that PS4 activations account for at least 200,000 new accounts thus far. With Xbox One support coming in the not-so-distant future, we only expect that broadcaster number to grow ever higher. Perhaps 2 million by summer? At the rate these consoles are selling, it's not hard to imagine. Update: We previously reported 100,000 PS4 activations on Twitch, though that's actually doubled to 200,000. As such, the post above reflects that number.
PS4 creates 100,000 new users, 10 percent of Twitch traffic
It seems PS4 owners are more than a little curious when it comes to testing out a bit of Battlefield 4 livestreaming. Sony announced today that its new console has accounted for 10 percent of Twitch content since its launch last month. Confirming the numbers, the streaming outfit added that the figure was tallied based on broadcast minutes. Twitch has also added over 100,000 new PlayStation 4 streamers in that time, pushing its user base to over 700,000 total across all platforms. Here's what Matthew DiPietro, VP of Marketing at Twitch, had to say about the stats: When people look back at the true game changers of 2013, the integration of Twitch into the current generation consoles will be on the short list. As testament to the growing appeal of live broadcasting video game content, the amount of broadcasters on Twitch has grown from around 600,000 in October to more than 700,000 in November. In addition to more than 100K new broadcasters signing up since the launch of PlayStation 4, PS4 owners make up ten percent of all content on Twitch based on minutes broadcast.
AMD unveils game streaming platform with Radeon Sky Graphics
AMD's taken some time at GDC to unveil Radeon Sky Graphics cards, the backbone of its cloud platform that streams games à la OnLive to PCs, Smart TVs, tablets and mobile devices. According to the outfit, the silicon is built upon its Graphics Core Next architecture, and is powered by its RapidFire tech to provide a "highly efficient and responsive" experience. Other details regarding the initiative are sparse, but it sounds like developers and cloud gaming companies will have to enlist the hardware before gamers can reap its benefits. Update: Joystiq's gotten word that the Radeon Sky series includes a trio of enterprise-grade graphics cards, with the top-of-the-line Sky 900 model toting 6GB of GDDR5 memory, 3,584 stream processors and sporting a memory bandwidth of 480GB per second. [Image credit: mnsc, Flickr]
Ustream on PlayStation 4: discovery, one-click sharing and being 'a modern day cable provider'
"We've partnered with some of the biggest and most influential social networks in the world, including Facebook and Ustream, to bring gamers' friends into games like never before," former Gaikai CEO David Perry told attendees of Sony's PlayStation 4 event last week. It was the only mention Ustream got during the show, despite the video streaming service playing a critical role in Sony's next video game console. In-tandem with the PlayStation 4's new DualShock 4 controller and its "Share" button, users will be able to quickly upload saved gameplay video clips or directly stream their game out to the internet. The console's lead system architect, Mark Cerny, expanded on the importance of the Share button and its implications to the PlayStation 4 during last week's presentation. "Social play is so important to PlayStation 4 that we've added in hardware to support it, in the form of dedicated, always-on video compression and decompression systems," he said. We saw a bit of the game sharing / streaming interface during Sony's presentation, but were left wondering about specifics: how will discovery work? and what of other, non-gaming Ustream content? Thankfully, Ustream CEO Brad Hunstable was able to offer up most of our answers in a recent interview. "Our goal is to allow discovery in a very clean user experience, both in discovery on the console itself and on various platforms that the content'll be available on (like Ustream, Twitter, and Facebook)," Hunstable said. He wouldn't speak to the specifics of how that discovery will work, nor would he say if you'll be able to sign-in simply using your PlayStation Network ID or if you'll have to sign up for a separate Ustream account, but he stressed that the decisions being made are, "based on what's easiest and best for the gamer." That same rubric is (thankfully) being applied to functionality. "The goal is to make sure it's very easy -- one click of a button, super simple -- and most importantly make sure it looks really, really good. And is viewable wherever people want to watch it from," Hunstable said.
LG Google TVs now have integrated OnLive cloud game streaming
LG Smart TV owners may've noticed a new application pop up today on their G2 series sets, as OnLive's cloud game streaming app is being delivered via an over-the-air update today (first announced at E3 back in June) -- it seems that LG Smart TVs are the first to get Google TV's latest update. Beyond just viewing games, the app allows for actually playing them employing OnLive's wireless controller (sold separately). Per normal OnLive service, you can demo various games before buying them, and purchases on one OnLive account transfer across its many platforms (PC, Mac, Android tablets, the Microconsole, and LG TVs). The OnLive app can be found in the "Premium Apps" area, and it'll be pre-installed on future LG sets. Of course, it's a question of how long any of this will last, as OnLive's had a rough 2012 -- the company lost the vast majority of its staff and its former CEO back in August. It was subsequently spun off into a separate company to keep from defaulting on its many, many overdue loans.
Agawi cloud game streaming headed to Windows 8, focused on 'mid-core and hardcore' games
Cloud streaming provider Agawi (formerly "iSwifter") is making a second major push with its cloud-based game streaming service alongside Windows 8 this October. Beyond the social content it already brings to the iPad -- "more than 12,000" Facebook games -- Agawi's second run at streaming is more focused on what it calls "mid-core" and "hardcore" games. But what does that mean? Executive chairman Peter Relan says "mid-core" means "web-based MMOs with a PC download," versus PC downloads representing the "hardcore." The example video (below the break) shows Agawi working with a variety of games, though none of the titles in the video confirm potential content partners for the service (Relan teases a fourth quarter reveal of more news). And today, Agawi announced its collaboration with Microsoft Azure, resulting in cloud game streaming across the world of Windows 8 -- tablets, PCs, and even its phones. "Popular AAA games will be made available in the coming months for instant play on Windows 8 devices with no additional work required by developers," the launch PR promises. Input methods for games vary dramatically by platform, and we've already seen what happens when you shove tablet-based touch controls onto a console/PC game (it ain't pretty). "That's a publisher decision," Relan says. "We support the idea of d-pads on the tablet itself. We support pure touch gesture on the tablet. We support point-and-click on the screen -- touch and tap. We support swipe for scrolling. We support a full controller, like an Xbox console controller," he adds.
GameStop's cloud streaming will spurn consoles, hang with PCs, tabs and TVs only
When GameStop bought Spawn Labs, it was clear that some sort of cloud-based game streaming was on deck, to compete with the likes of Sony's Gaikai and Onlive (now allied with Ouya). However, the company has just announced that the service will exclude consoles, and work only on tablets, PCs and internet enabled TVs -- a change from the original plan. The decision was made "based on consumer feedback" after a private beta, according to the retailer, who hinted earlier that consoles may be a non-starter on the service. It also cited its "success in selling mobile devices, and the imminent launch of new consoles" to justify the change. The program's launch is still planned for next year, but for now the console streaming path is clear for others.
Wikipad specs get real: 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800 display, 1.4 GHz Tegra 3, Jelly Bean
The Wikipad gaming tablet has been ticking off boxes on its way to becoming a real product, and after bedding down with Gaikai game streaming and settling in to a 10.1-inch form factor, the rest of the hardware is now set. The chunky handheld will brandish an IPS display with 1,280 x 800 resolution, NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, at least 16GB storage and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Other notable items include 8-megapixel rear / 2-megapixel front cameras, six hours continuous gaming battery life and a 2D-only screen instead of the 3D originally touted -- at least, for the first model. The controller remains the same with a pair of triggers, bumpers, joysticks and start/select buttons, and will cover the slate's speakers and route sound out the front. The rest of the story is yet to come, namely exactly what that price will be and when you'll actually be able to pew-pew with it, but the company has promised to 'fess up soon. Meanwhile, though airy for a tablet at 560 grams (1.2 pounds), it's not exactly PS Vita or Nintendo 3DS XL territory -- but then a heavyweight contender could be exactly what handheld gaming needs.
Wikipad's Android tablet amps up with Gaikai game streaming, quad-core, 10-inch screen
Wikipad's Android 4.0 gaming tablet still hasn't received a definitive release date despite having just half a season left to meet its launch target, but that hasn't stopped its creator from boosting the feature set. When the tablet does arrive, it will now bake in Gaikai's game streaming service for you to start playing games as soon as the shrink wrap's off the box. In return for the long wait since CES, Wikipad is also giving its slate a heavy makeover: the 8.1-inch screen is ballooning to 10.1 inches, while a lighter body will carry an unnamed quad-core processor and an option for 3G. Otherwise, you're looking at much of the same formula that first emerged in January, which includes traditional gamepad-like controls on either side as well as front and back cameras, 1080p video support and 8GB of space to store your games when you don't want to bring a microSD card. We're looking forward to getting our paws on those dual analog sticks soon, but for now you can check the news release after the break.
Gaikai beta goes live, brings Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Sims 3 and Second Life demos to your browser window
Remember Gaikai, the cloud computing service that lets you demo video games in your browser window without downloading a thing? It's live, meaning it's no longer just us tech journalists that get to give it a thorough try. Provided you have a blazing fast internet connection and both Flash and Java installed, four streaming game demos are a just a click (and possibly a survey, or a short wait) away, including three EA titles (Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, The Sims 3) and Second Life. As we discovered in our initial hands-on, it's not a flawless experience even with a fantastic internet connection, but it's not meant to be -- the entire point is to allow you to adequately sample a game right before making a purchase decision. It's also a free taste of the future, and you don't see those every day.
OnLive turns into Vizio VIA Plus app, destined for TVs, tablets and phones
The OnLive MicroConsole is one way to get your streaming game fix, but here comes Vizio with four more -- the bargain television company just revealed that those brand-new VIA Plus HDTVs and Blu-ray players (as well as that VIA Tablet and VIA Phone) will come with OnLive on board. Despite running as an internet app on top of the existing Vizio hardware, we're told the service will support full 1080p resolution, stereoscopic 3D images, and OnLive's low-latency wireless gamepads too -- as Vizio's units will apparently support IEEE 802.15.4. While the jury's still out on when OnLive will actually be playable on touchscreens, CEO Steve Perlman says some games are being adapted to support touch right now, and that tablets that support external game controllers could also use OnLive normally. We've also got more good news for the home theater crowd, as OnLive's signed a deal with SRS, bringing 5.1 surround sound as a free update to all OnLive users early next year. Because there's nothing quite like having ears bombarded from all directions with digital explosions. PR after the break.
OnLive Game System review
We're still a little ways away from completely disposable laptops that do everything in the cloud, but if all you want is a completely virtual game console connected to your TV, you can buy one right now. Eight years after the Phantom slowly got laughed off the face of the planet, the OnLive MicroConsole fulfills the same basic promise: it's a box less than an inch tall that streams games from powerful remote servers. We already told you what to expect from the OnLive's Game System, but now that we've given it our all, we can help you find the answer to the only remaining question: is it worth your funds? %Gallery-107700%
