Interviews

June 23, 2008

Play Any Game, Anywhere, on Multiple Devices? That’s the Goal of StreamMyGame
By Louis Bedigian

“StreamMyGame will be an intrinsic part of this new mechanism for game and software distribution.”

These days, many game developers, publishers and analysts are speculating about a disc-free future for gaming. Good or bad, before that could ever become a reality, several steps have to be taken to advance our existing technology. StreamMyGame, a new service dedicated to the streaming of game content and other computer applications, could be an integral part of this advancement.

“Fundamentally, StreamMyGame is planning to reorganize the way you play games,” said Richard Faria, CEO and software architect of StreamMyGame. “I know that's a big statement and you might say, ‘Who is this guy!?’ But we have thought StreamMyGame through and it does have major repercussions for the gaming industry.

“Here's how it works. You install our StreamMyGame server software on the PC that has your games installed. Let’s call this your Main PC. The server captures the video and audio from your game and converts this to a "Stream" of data. It sends this stream to a remote PC or mobile device on which you can watch, hear and play the game. We capture the keyboard and mouse commands on this remote PC and send them back to the Main PC. You can stream locally over your LAN/WiFi or over the Internet via broadband.

“StreamMyGame has been designed to work very quickly to minimize lag, in fact our software can capture and display a game in less that a frame (1/25 of a second).

“In addition you can also use StreamMyGame to record games to a video file. The recorded video is in a compress high quality format and can be uploaded directly to YouTube. Even our free membership lets you record up to 1024x768 for as long as you like. You can record your computers Frames Per Second speed and overlay your webcam. You can also use StreamMyGame to broadcast over a network. So at a LAN party you can broadcast your game so every one can watch you play.

“Every DX8, DX9, DX10, DX10.1 or OpenGL game is compatible, although some need to be configured to be used.”


Unreal Tournament 3, one of the most popular games played with StreamMyGame.

Let me get something straight: is this service solely for local play (ex: my game is on my PC in the den but I'm outside playing it on my laptop), or can the information be sent over an Internet connection, allowing me to play Age of Empires III on a crappy, run-of-the-mill laptop from anywhere in the world, so long as I'm connected to the Internet?

Richard Faria: You can play games over the Internet and you can play any game on a crappy laptop anywhere in the world but you need a good Internet connection to do it. What's critical is having good Uplink on your broadband because the video and audio is sent from your gaming PC on the Uplink. Services such as Verizon in the US are great for StreamMyGame, as is the new WiMAX service.

What you can also do is play games on new mobile PC based devices such as the EeePC, netbooks, Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). These new devices lack the graphics capability to play modern games but with StreamMyGame you can stream games to them at high resolutions.

Another thing I'd like to get straight: you have to own the games you're playing, right?

RF: The game needs to be installed on your PC and it needs to be a legal copy of the game. However, you and your friends can share games by forming a Group on our site.

They must be on one of your machines somewhere in order to play them?

RF: They must be on one of your machines or on a machine owned by a member of your Group.

But if that's the case, then won't you have to have your base PC running at all times to stream the game to your mobile PC?

RF: That's right, your machine must be on and it must be running our free Server. There are some new features arriving in PC motherboards that will enable PC owners to remotely turn on their PCs.

Is StreamMyGame adaptable to other devices, such as an iPhone or PDA?

RF: It is adaptable to any device including the iPhone and PDAs like the Palm and Blackberry. However, some of these devices have a closed proprietary operating system or software system that makes it very difficult if not impossible to write software for them without the manufacturers prior permission. Basically, if a manufacturer like Apple said we want to enable StreamMyGame on our iPhone, we would make an installer available d**n quick. To be perfectly honest we haven't asked Apple and they haven't refused. It was just easier for StreamMyGame to make our first players on operating systems that are most open from a programming point of view i.e. Windows and Linux.


Go to StreamMyGame.com for a list of compatible games and applications. Pictured here: Call of Duty 4.

If not now, do you think that's where the services is headed – into the handheld sector?

RF: Our services are headed for wherever people want to play games, on handhelds, UMPCs, Netbooks or even Set Top Boxes. The handheld sector is interesting because very soon we will have mobile devices that have 1024x768 screens and these devices will be able to stream games for hours. Coupled with the new mobile networks these new devices will change the handheld gaming sector.

When did the idea for StreamMyGame first come about?

RF: StreamMyGame is owned by Tenomichi Limited (http://www.tenomichi.com) which makes a video editor called 3D Edit which utilizes the GPU to create real-time special effects. We worked with Nvidia and ATI to optimize 3D Edit at a really low level and we used this knowledge to make StreamMyGame.

How long did it take to implement?

RF: It took a number of months to formulate the idea and get the backend running. I spent six months in Sunnyvale to bathe in Web2.0 and get a better opinion on what was true and what was hype. Once we had a plan to mix our technology with a Web2.0 site and enable members to subscribe it took about a year to develop. That said it is still being developed and will continue developing as we add more features. Listening to our members in our chat rooms and forums is now almost controlling what new features we add.

Have there been any hurdles in the development process?

RF: Making something new is just a sea of hurdles. Along with the obvious ones like funding, etc., the hardest bit was getting the game to be captured, streamed and displayed with low latency (lag).

Now tell us about the different service packages – one is free, others you have to pay for. What are the differences between them?

RF: We have three types of membership:

Free gives you the ability to
Record video at 1024x768 for as long as you like
Broadcast at 640x480
Stream over your network at 640x480
Test out streaming over broadband at 640x480

Premium Membership at $9.99 a year gives you the ability to
Record video at HDTV 720p for as long as you like,
Broadcast at HDTV 720p
Stream over your network at HDTV 720p and
Stream over broadband at HDTV 720p
You also get our Sony Player and Bluetooth software and special support in our Forums and chat rooms.

Unlimited at $19.99 a year is our most popular membership and is only limited by the capability of your hardware. You can go to a maximum of 3200x2400 resolution if your hardware supports it. With Unlimited membership you can
Record video at up to 3200x2400 for as long as you like,
Broadcast at up to 3200x2400
Stream over your network at up to 3200x2400
Stream over broadband at up to 3200x2400
You also get our Sony Player and Bluetooth software and special support in our Forums and chat rooms.

If you're an Unlimited member your questions and forum posts get answered first.


BioShock is another game frequently played by StreamMyGame users.

There's some info on StreamMyGame.com about using the service with a PS3. How does that work?

RF: If you have a PS3 and a PC you can use StreamMyGame to play your PC games and applications on your PS3.

First you need to install Yellow Dog Linux on your PS3. YDL Version 6 is very simple to install. Then you download our PS3 player which now includes SIXAXIS support. YDL6 also includes Firefox and Office. You log into our website from your PS3, select one of your PC games and then the PC will stream the game to your PS3. Now you might say why don't I just go to the PC to play the game, and of course you could, but your PC might be in another room or at another location, or it might be on your friends PC at his house. The latest PS3 player, which we will launch soon, also includes our new SIXAXIS tool that enables you to configure and use your SIXAXIS to play a PC game on the PS3.

Will it be possible to use the service with Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii? Or maybe a Wi-Fi-equipped handheld device like Nintendo DS?

RF: The StreamMyGame player is highly optimized, it will work on almost anything. If you can install Linux on a device that has a CPU that's over 400Mz then you can most likely run our player on it. There is no reason why StreamMyGame will not work on the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, or DS other than that these devices have proprietary operating systems and architectures. Because of this we have concentrated on getting the open systems like Windows and Linux working first. We have not spoken to Microsoft or Nintendo about getting StreamMyGame running on the Xbox 360 or Wii but obviously we would love to work with them on this.

I'm eager to get your take on the future of video games and the way they'll be delivered to consumers. Some developers speculate that we're going to have a one-console future, where all games are played on one universal machine (not necessarily a PC but an external unit like a DVD player). Other developers believe that the days of a console at all are numbered, and that we will one day stream all games from somewhere, presumably an online service. Your thoughts?

RF: I see that there will be a number of possibilities for gaming in the not so distant future.

Gaming at home: If I think of what has been most significant development in gaming over the last four years I would have to say its the HDTV format and resolution. Why is this so significant to gaming? The size and resolution of a TV set in your living room has been defined. It's going to be 1080p (1920×1080) and it's unlikely to change for a number of years.

This resolution is compatible with your cable, satellite and broadband high definition film services. Now that means, if you play your games in your living room, the maximum resolution that game needs to be is 1920×1080 because that the resolution of the TV screen.

So if we put StreamMyGame servers in a broadband exchange and stream games from this broadband provider to your Set Top Box (STB) the video need only be 1920x1080. The keyboard, mouse, joy pad commands are captured by the STB and sent back to the exchange. The real question is what is this STB, is it a PC, a Mac mini, a PS3 or just a decoder and power supply either way its probably going to cost less than $100 and will be absorbed in a monthly fee.

Gaming at home 2: You will have your own PC with dual GPUs, four CPUs and a Terabyte hard drive. This is an entry level PC of the future which is your home-based server. It contains all your video, music, films, games and applications. Games and applications are streamed from this home server to any device in your house, laptop, PS3, Linux box, TV, DVD player etc. Your server is connected to your Internet connection which has 30 Mb downlink and 5 Mb uplink. This is enough uplink for you to stream your applications to your mobile device.

Mobile Gaming: You handheld device will have a screen of 1024x768 or higher and will connect to 4G or WiMAX or both. The low latency of these new mobile broadband networks will enable games to be streamed from servers at the network provider or directly from your home server PC. There will be no difference in the console, PC or mobile gaming experience. You can see where mobile gaming is heading in Sean Maloney's keynote speech at Computex 08 where Craig Raymond demonstrates StreamMyGame on a new UMPC over WiMAX.

Very interesting. Is there anything else we should know about your service?

RF: We are offering an Affiliate Program to companies and websites that want to work with StreamMyGame. When a new member subscribes through an Affiliate link we pay that Affiliate $1.99 for each year that member stays subscribed. The scheme will increase our own traffic and revenue and pass some of this revenue back to the websites that help StreamMyGame grow. We also give Affiliates a permanent link from our Control Panel back to their website so they get a permanent advert and link on StreamMyGame.


The Orange Box, playable on a mobile phone? Will that day ever come?

Now what's next for StreamMyGame? Where do you think the service will be in six months, in one year, and in five years from now?

RF: In six months time StreamMyGame will have grown to hopefully a much larger membership and subscription base. We will be well into Version 2 and approaching Version 3 of our software. You will be able to use StreamMyGame on all computer operating systems and the majority of fixed and mobile devices.

In one year StreamMyGame will be tested by a major gaming publisher and broadband service provider. StreamMyGame will be undergoing field trials on WiMAX. Our membership and community would have grown and become key linking point for many in the gaming community.

In five to seven years many games and applications will be streamed. New games will be tested by enabling access to private game stream servers. Many new games will never have a disc released, there will never be the chance of a game being pirated because the code/DVD for a game would never be released. There will be special services to stream games at very high resolutions approaching 3200x2400 quality for game enthusiasts.

Many games will be offered as Software-as-a-Service/Pay-for-Play only. The latest games will be launched with game streaming and some will only ever be offered as a stream to consumers. Games will be available from the majority of broadband providers including all mobile operators.

Handheld devices capable of full HDTV resolution with built-in WiMAX, 4G, WiFi, and streaming services will be available for free when you sign a one-year $30 per month contract with AT&T. It will include a streaming service of all the games you want to play for a flat $5.00 per month.

StreamMyGame will be an intrinsic part of this new mechanism for game and software distribution.

Thank you for your time.