...And no, it’s not some kinda porn thing, but further to some of my earlier posts on online software distribution, InstantAction went live today (http://ht.ly/1FaQN ) with one of the first streamed games distributions services. So now we have Gakai, OnLive and InstantAction at various stages of capability.
Somewhat tellingly, I visited the IA site from the browser on my PS3 and got a barf message (need FF3 and WinXP to access the site). I wonder if this is a conscious decision from the vendor not to step on Sony’s toes?
Additionally, I wonder if the clever people behind sites like ps3iplayer.com will manage to fool the browser detection tech used to allow the use of PS3/Xbox360/Wii browsers to start accessing these new online distribution models? It’s not clear how much code gets streamed to the PC (a la App-V or Thinstall) and how much is runtime in the browser. Either way, this has got to have the major’s in a pant-soiling frenzy of excitement given the inexorable rise of some of the digital distribution and flash playmodes that are going to eat into the existing distribution models.
Oh and btw, I’m not just talking about the traditional games models here. The first game that IA has released is ‘The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition’, available from IA at $9.99, or from Steam at £6.99, but soon to be available on the PS3 store at $9.99. ‘So what?’ you might ask, ‘it’s all much of a muchness’ in terms of price...
Well, the biggie here is that PSN ties you to the PS3/PSP platforms and that Steam ties you to a particular PC(s) that the Steam client is installed on, the IA mechanism appears to allow you to use your identity from any net-connected PC, increasing the decoupling from the client experience and (theoretically) allowing execution from any net-connected device (iPad/phone, gPad/phone, HPPad/phone).
Now I like this, but the publishers of new games must be gnawing their own legs off with worry that we wont be charged to access our content everytime someone refreshes their hardware platform (I have bought Monkey Island twice already, I don’t want to have to buy it *again*!). Hence the continual references in the media to the dangers of the digital distribution infrastructure (http://ht.ly/1FbSW, http://ht.ly/1FbWd)
WYT?