OnLive has officially announced Facebook integration with its video game streaming service and in addition to playing the same games on virtually any platform as long as you have a stable internet connection, OnLive will now let you share that experience with your friends. Taking advantage of the social network, OnLive gamers will be able to launch games using the service, brag about their achievements on their walls, post automatic replays……….
Social gaming isn’t just a hot category in gaming, it’s white hot. Each month hundreds of millions of people play social games, seamlessly shifting into and out of Facebook and social games, and just as seamlessly shifting their social gaming experience from mobile device to PC/Mac to TV, all the time remaining real-time connected with their friends. To achieve such seamless continuity across every manner of device, social games have been limited to relatively simple gaming experiences that every device can handle. OnLive is pleased to announce that it has integrated the OnLive Game Service with Facebook, not just providing static text and image notifications, but providing direct launch from Facebook pages into high-performance OnLive games, demos and spectating, as well as providing automatic Brag Clip video posting of your most awesome gameplay moments on your Facebook wall.You’ll see a wall post instantly when your Facebook friends are starting up an OnLive game. Just click the “Watch Me” link on the post and spectate their gameplay instantly at HD resolution. Tell them what you think through OnLive voice chat. Click “Play” and instantly start up the game yourself, either as a free demo or to join them in multiplayer. Your friends will see a wall post when you start an OnLive game, and with one click they can spectate you or play with you instantly as well. Seamlessly social, but with the hottest AAA game titles.
But Facebook isn’t just a place to meet up. It’s also a place to share about your greatest moments. So, we’ve integrated OnLive‘s exclusive Brag Clip videos directly into Facebook. Now, when you pull off some awesome moves in an OnLive game and snap a Brag Clip video, it will be instantly posted on your wall, viewable within Facebook at HD resolution. Or, feel free to post someone else’s cool Brag Clip video with comments. When your friends view your Brag Clip posting, with a single click they can launch into the OnLive Service where they can rate your Brag Clip video or, if they think the game is cool, instantly play a free demo of the game. “The OnLive Facebook integration is a watershed event for the videogame industry,” said OnLive Founder and CEO, Steve Perlman. “No one questions the massive appeal of social gaming, but before OnLive there was no frictionless way to integrate AAA core games into the global social network fabric. OnLive’s Facebook integration not only achieves this, but OnLive’s spectating, voice chat and Brag Clip videos add a media-rich social dimension unlike anything that has existed before.”
Just like the massively successful social games of today, the OnLive/Facebook experience is utterly seamless: users shift instantly between Facebook and the OnLive Game Service, and seamlessly shift from one OnLive-compatible device to another, be it almost any PC/Mac, tablet or TV today, and soon smartphones, Blu-ray/media players and IPTV/cable set-top boxes. Even if you travel, both your social network and your OnLive gaming experience will travel with you. OnLive just announced expansion to the UK and Europe later this year, and trials are underway in Asia. Before long, you’ll have instant access to OnLive everywhere. “We took it as a given that to be completely social meant being completely inclusive, and that meant working on just about any connected device anywhere,” said Joe Bentley, OnLive’s VP of Engineering. “OnLive is already available, or soon will be available, on TV devices, PC/Mac and iOS and Android platforms. OnLive is either available or in trial on three continents, and all of OnLive’s data centers are seamlessly interconnected. OnLive will be everywhere on every major device.”
The OnLive social gaming features announced today are just a taste of what’s to come. Not only will more aspects of the OnLive Game Service be integrated with Facebook, but OnLive’s Software Development Kit (SDK) for game developers will enable new games to directly utilize OnLive and Facebook social features, such as posting in-game achievements, shouting out to friends when you need help during a game, or gifting/receiving in-game assets. With OnLive’s high-performance game servers, massive spectating/voice chat, and complete cross-device compatibility, game developers now have the ability to explore previously impossible social gaming concepts. “The social gaming features we are showing today are the tip of a very big iceberg,” said John Spinale, OnLive’s VP of Games & Media. “Developers of high-end core games have been frustrated that they are unable to bring a seamless social gaming experience into the rich experiences of their games. OnLive’s new SDK features open the door for an unprecedented level of social gaming creativity within the sophisticated worlds of state-of-the-art games.” Of course, not everyone wants to be social all the time. OnLive’s Facebook Connect integration is opt-in, and you can decide what, if anything, to share.
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