For those unfamiliar with the rise of cloud-gaming, here's the rub -
Streaming content from the Cloud may not seem like such a big deal anymore. Netflix does it. Hulu does it. However, streaming video games is an entirely different animal to tame. High-end video games typically require a dedicated gaming pc that can run between $800 and $1200 and even higher. This platform is needed because the data loads and throughput of games can run orders of magnitude greater than simple video, and speed and responsiveness is often critical.
Companies like Gaikai have installed a massive network infrastructure that allows them to stream (that's right) high-end video games over the internet. Gaikai has this hardware and network in place on their own service, allowing customers to play games on lower-end machines without sacrificing performance. Now it needs to show off these capabilities to potential users.
Taking their service to Facebook is a huge step for the company, offering access to hundreds of millions of users around the world, many of whom are already playing simple games on Facebook. While Gaikai is only set up for streaming game demos at this time, full games are on the horizon. Partnering with Facebook seems to be a good marketing strategy, as long as the service delivers the full video gaming experience.
Source - Gaikai brings its cloud gaming to Facebook, launches beta application, Engadget
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