This innovation allows gamers to play games by streaming them from a "Cloud" system that stores the individual games. While the games will also be available for download for faster and more stable play, the Cloud itself is always an option with these games.
Streaming Games
The main way that the Cloud is played is through streaming. There is no download included and it is essentially on-demand gaming. The player will get to play their games as quickly and efficiently as if they were watching a movie on Netflix or Hulu.
This form of game streaming is becoming more and more popular and allows players of more casual games to get to their gaming without having to spend time with huge downloads. This method is best for smaller games that the player really doesn't need to download for other times.
File Streaming
The other form of Cloud gaming is file streaming. This is essentially downloading particular files to the console one at a time, generally starting with a 5% download of the full game. While the player plays the game, the download continues, generally faster than they can play so that they hardly notice the movement.
The file transfer style is a fantastic way to get games out and playable faster, while still allowing the player to play and not have to wait on their often huge downloads to finish.
Game Saves
Another great aspect of the Cloud is being able to take your game saves everywhere. Currently in use by Microsoft and soon to be used by Sony's Playstation, the Cloud has allowed the players to be more mobile in their gaming and to more comfortably utilize gaming with friends.
A huge barrier to split screen gaming to just gaming in person, in general, has recently been the need to transport memory cards, hard drives, SD cards, and anything else a player might be using to hold their game saves. With the innovation of the Cloud systems, these gamers that enjoy playing with their friends and family in person, will be able to more easily transport their data and enjoy the games without having to create separate files for unlocks and trudging back through tons of work that is clearly unnecessary.
The Cloud system is going to revolutionize gaming in a way nothing else has done with just the transfer of save files and game profiles alone. With the ability to play games via streaming, the gaming world will be in a fast period of growth as gamers of casual and hardcore games alike find themselves with more and more option at faster speeds. The entire gaming community is going to see record growth as gamers with immediate access to games are more likely to spend money to get those games than they would be, if they had to take minutes or often even hours to download their favorite games.
The Cloud is certainly in a position to take the online gaming world by storm and there's no doubt that with all the features it brings to the table and can potentially even be added on to it in various different scenarios, that this is going to be one of the biggest steps gaming ever takes towards growth as an industry.
About Today's Contributor:
Jon is a gamer since birth and has written guides for various games on Gamefaqs.com and Arche Age Guide. He's reachable via Facebook, Twitter, and most other forms of social media.