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Square Enix announces new cloud gaming service Shinra Technologies, led by Wada

GavinUK86

GavinUK86

Member
http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/18/6456117/square-enix-shinra-technologies-cloud-gaming-yoichi-wada
shinra_technologies.0.0_cinema_1280.0.jpg
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Square Enix unveiled Shinra Technologies at Tokyo Game Show today, a new cloud gaming business to be led by Yoichi Wada, former president of Square Enix.

Shinra Technologies, named after the organization from Final Fantasy 7, is headquartered in New York City with offices in Tokyo and Montreal. The new company has partnered with Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, also in New York, to develop games and technology.

Wada said that the newly established company will provide a "new ecosystem for the games industry." The AAA game industry requires huge investments, and older business models - reliance on consoles as dedicated game-playing devices - have been unable to maintain this ecosystem, he said.

"The industry will only continue its expansion, but in due time a correction to this path is necessary," Wada said.

More and more game players are able to play software without the need for a dedicated game console or a powerful PC, Wada said, adding, "I think this is the right direction, but if we continue on this path, game experiences will become diluted." Wada said he wants Shinra Technologies to provide the means to deliver AAA games via streaming cloud-based architecture.

He sees 2016 as a key year for cloud gaming, a technology he's seen as the future for the past few years.

Jacob Navok, senior vice president at Shinra Technologies, said the announcement is "the first flag in the final frontier for the game industry" and hopes it "will be a call to action to other developers ... shackled by existing technology and processes."

A technical beta for Shinra Technologies' cloud gaming service will begin in early 2015 in Japan. The beta will include a version of Agni's Philosophy, the next-gen game engine tech demo, that players will be able to manipulate in real-time.

Also included in the Japanese beta are Space Sweeper, a new game developed by Kenko Nakajima, as well as Square Enix-published titles Final Fantasy 7, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman Absolution and Tomb Raider. The titles available in the Shinra Technologies beta are not necessarily indicative of the company's service lineup, said Kristin DeRosa, director of marketing at Shinra.

Beta service for Shinra Technologies is slated to begin sometime in 2015.
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Official site is live: https://www.shinra.com/us
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Snazzy logo, if nothing else.
 
V

valkillmore

Member
I find all these new streaming services coming out very futuristic. I welcome them all. Let the market decide. I wanna see some cool shit.
 
E

EmptySpace

Banned
Arzehn said:
I don't like this future.
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and why is that?

it is the future. streaming games to any device. you underestimate how fast tech moves.

besides, you won't need monster specs to do it. we will probably just be streaming games to our internet tvs in a few years, or at least after ps4.
 
W

WhiskerFrisker

Member
I like the name. Square seems to see a cloud based future for games according to the statement. Only time will tell if this will pay out for this expensive venture.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
Ok, another cloud service from Square. Is this good business? This stuff must be pretty profitable for them or something?
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Kagari said:
Project Flare? Unless this is it.
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Project FLARE is a system out of Eidos Montreal (sort of in conjunction with Ubisoft) for handling cloud physics for games that are otherwise run on a console or PC on the user's end.

It's like what Microsoft talks about when they mean the cloud, as opposed to a streaming service like this.

That is also part of Yoichi Wada's group. He's in charge of all emerging markets, which at Square Enix are defined primarily as Cloud, Asia, and Mobile.

Edit: Oh, I guess this really is FLARE.
 
Z

Zeyphersan

Banned
EmptySpace said:
and why is that?

it is the future. streaming games to any device. you underestimate how fast tech moves.

besides, you won't need monster specs to do it. we will probably just be streaming games to our internet tvs in a few years, or at least after ps4.
Click to expand...

Because some games and game types sound HORRIBLE to stream
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Yeah page three of this site makes it a bit more clear that it's FLARE:

Shinra breaks the current one-processor, one-user model. Our datacenters feature thousands of CPUs and GPUs working together, providing gamers access to virtually unlimited processing power. Using patented technology, Shinra efficiently shares gameplay resources — we create massive simulations for a massive number of users, with no client-side synchronization needed. To do this, Shinra allocates processing power for each component of a game (physics, AI, and rendering) on demand to meet the requirements of each game.
Click to expand...
 
N

neptunes

Member
Can't think of a reason why they would do this?

I hope their intention is offer this service on as many platforms currently available
 
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