A new age of cloud gaming is upon us: soon, gamers can pull up video games on their TVs and play them without needing a PC or console.
That's what a new partnership between GameFly and LG hopes to accomplish by bringing console games from the cloud to certain LG Smart TVs. And they hope that gamers will love the idea so much that they'll pay a monthly subscription service to play.
GameFly knows a thing or two about gaming subscriptions: the company successfully manages a game rental subscription service that allows gamers to rent a certain number of console games per month, depending on their plan. Now, with LG, GameFly can cut consoles entirely out of the equation by hosting games in the cloud so that players can access them on their TVs.
SmartTVs are the perfect solution for cloud gaming because they already come Internet-enabled and can stream content.
"The addition of GameFly to the extensive variety of content options, including leading video and music applications, available on LG Smart TVs further enhances the LG Smart TV experience," LG vice president of market David VanderWaal said (PDF). "LG Smart TV owners will have the ability to stream high-quality video games right to their TV and enjoy a next-gen console-like experience in the comfort of their home."
The only downside is that gamers will need a TV with at least webOS 2.0. Those with such TVs, though, will only need to download an app that will land on LG TVs in April. Then, gamers can sign up for the service and use the app to play whatever games are available. Considering that console games run around $60 each, the price of a monthly subscription to have a variety of games at players' fingertips seems like a good selling point. However, players will also need to invest in a good controller, too.
Although LG mentioned next-gen console games in its announcement, most of the games listed for the service so far are actually from previous generations: Tomb Raider: Game of the Year Edition, Batman: Arkham Origins, F.E.A.R. 3, Darksiders and Red Faction Armageddon. Most of those games are older titles, so to really give gamers a next-gen experience, the service will need to add Xbox One and PS4 games, too.
Neither GameFly or LG have mentioned a price yet, though, for this new gaming service.
