Spoon launches a cloud gaming service

CLOUD COMPUTING and virtualisation firm Spoon is lending its on-demand skills to the leisure industry and has launched a service for wandering gamers.

Spoon Cloud Gaming will let users choose to play a game from a selection of some 200 and play it whenever and wherever they want. The free service, which requires no installs except for a small browser plug-in, offers more than just Mr Plinkyplonk in the World of the Falling Blocks as well, and includes titles such as social life replacer Second Life, Farm Frenzy and Jewel Quest.

"Spoon is excited to bring app virtualisation technology to the gaming community," said Kenji Obata, founder and CEO of Spoon. "Gamers can now enjoy graphically rich desktop games in the cloud without the latency issues associated with other cloud technologies."

In order to give users a smooth gaming experience, Spoon uses both remote and local computer resources and mixes up the load to reduce bandwidth requirements and cut down on jitter, for example.

Games are synced between 'plays' meaning that they can be picked up and put down as players move around, and offline play options will let games carry on even when disconnected. µ