Gaikai wants 'real games' on Facebook, like Farming Simulator 2011

You think FarmVille is a hoot? Pssh, then you clearly haven't played Farming Simulator 2011. As if to make fun, that's one of the first games cloud gaming service Gaikai has brought to Facebook through its new streaming app. The groundbreaking Facebook app went live today, and promises to bring "real games" to the network in a way that everyone can play.

However, today's launch only brings game demos to Facebook, not full-blown games. Of course, Gaikai promises that fully playable games are on the way. This is just the company's way of ironing out the kinks and giving the core game crowd a taste of what's possible on the social network through streaming.

You see, when you play one of the games Gaikai offers, like Saints Row: The Third or Dead Rising 2, the service actually streams the game's graphical content to your computer much like a YouTube video would. When you bludgeon a zombie with a vacuum cleaner, however, your computer streams that information back to Gaikai's servers. This way, you get 100 percent interactivity without the need for an expensive gaming computer.

"Our goal is to get games as accessible as movies and music," Gaikai CEO and co-founder David Perry told Engadget, "so games get the chance to compete." Streaming game demos is one step in that direction, but we'll believe it when we see MMOs (massively multi-player online games) stream their way onto our Facebook pages.

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Are you impressed by what Gaikai has accomplished so far on Facebook? Will this be the key to getting core game fans to play? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.