Server-side software is becoming more of a buzz word now in PC applications, as is "cloud computing" but PC processor maker AMD wants to see PC games and other media join in that streaming method. During CES this week AMD announced a plan with a software company called OTOY (pronounced O-Toy) to create a new super computer that could make this possible.
The computer effort is called the AMD Fusion Render Cloud and AMD claims this will be the fastest super computer ever made with a goal to break the one petaFLOPS barrier in processing power. AMD say the computer will "enable content providers to deliver video games, PC applications and other graphically-intensive applications through the Internet "cloud" to virtually any type of mobile device with a web browser without making the device rapidly deplete battery life or struggle to process the content."
In a CES address can can been seen at this web site, AMD showed a notebook computer that ran Mercenaries 2 with the game being streamed to the notebook via a web browser rather than stored on the hard drive. The game's publisher Electronic Arts seemed to embrace this new way of distributing games; At the moment, AMD plans to hae their Fusion Render Cloud project up and running by the second half of 2009.

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Sounds nice. It definitely would help alleviate the issues of continually updating computers just to play a new game, and would even be incentive enough for Console only players to get a computer. My only question is how many people (if there is a limit) could it support, and if there will be a charge in using it (which is most likely to me). Posted at 7:40PM on Jan 9th 2009 by devilsei