Unity Technologies and GameString have announced a new collaboration to build a cloud-based game server for Unity content, designed to change the way online games are delivered, says a company spokesperson.
This partnership combines the Unity Technologies’ 3D development platform and Web Player with GameString’s game serving and delivery technology. This platform will provide a new cutting-edge virtual interactive channel that empowers publishers with new creative controls over all aspects of their games, while producing 3D gaming experiences from any Web-enabled device.
GameString technology uses a dual rendering method to provide game developers the ability to customize a 3D game for an optimal user experience through a Web browser. In addition to optimizing access to Unity-based games online, GameString’s technology will have a positive impact on the growing demands from social and hardcore online gamers.
"Unity has been hard at work democratizing game development for years, and during 2011 we are taking this further than ever before with broader platform support and easier deployment to all major gaming platforms,” says David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. “GameString is working on enhancing ease of access and to a broader audience than any on-device runtime technology can. We're excited to see where the GameString platform will take this."
Chris Boothroyd, CEO of GameString.com, believes Unity Technologies is an important partner for something so ambitious. By tapping into Unity Technologies huge development community and rich flow of great games, GameString has found a global array of compelling rich media and interactive content for this new platform.
Boothroyd notes: "As consumer demand for visually rich browser-based games increases; social, casual, MMO, and more hard-core games are maturing and filling up our daily online entertainment. GameString recognizes this new platform is an opportunity to increase and improve what casual, as well as high-end gamers want. This new platform will also allow developers to bring larger and more triple-A level games to the browser-based ecosystem. What we are developing is an enhanced system that delivers the Unity Web Player rendered from the cloud, supporting the highest rate of concurrent users possible. Our customers and their users will have access to this turbo speed streaming environment from any Web-enabled device that they happen to have in their hands at that moment.”
Features include:
The GameString Arcade Server will be offered with a competitive publishing licensing model
A turn-key product consisting of competitively priced hardware, hosting and bandwidth
Multi-tiered GameString support plans
Multiple concurrent Unity game instances per server to minimize costs
Arcade Server technologies to instantly launch and run games supporting Flash and HTML5
Unity Web Player and game updates in real time
The future ability to stream live game content to augment content running on the Unity Web Player