Gaikai to stream games on Facebook

Gaikai's system for playing PC game demos streamed from the cloud is coming to Facebook.

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The term "Facebook game" often gets used in a disparaging way by gamers to describe the social/casual games proliferated on the network. But what if you could play serious, hard core PC games--or at least their demos--on Facebook? That's the question Dave Perry says his cloud gaming service Gaikai will answer. It's not a hypothetical either. Gaikai has an agreement in place, and is on its way to Facebook.

Perry unveiled the deal at Cloud Gaming Europe according to GI.biz. To make his point, he then fired up World of Warcraft, playing the game from within Facebook.

The service provides streaming play of game demos, with the idea being that players will then purchase the full version of the game to continue playing. Gaikai doesn't sell the game itself, either. The service merely connects gamers with the places from which they can then make their purchase. The report does not indicate how Facebook figures into the relationship, but it will likely receive compensation based on referrals that come from demos played through their network.

Perry also spoke more about how Gaikai sees its solution as the future and the age of home video game consoles coming to a close. "The next cycle you're going to see them [consoles] turn into media devices, media boxes, I don't even think they're going to be called consoles."

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