News ► Square Enix unveils cloud gaming service Shinra Technologies

[Oracle Spockanort]

Today at Tokyo Game Show 2014, Square Enix just announced their brand knew cloud gaming business, Shinra Technologies, which will be run by former Square Enix president Yoichi Wada. Formerly known as Project Flare, this cloud-centered business has been developed alongside Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios. While now named after the infamous Shinra Electric Power Company from Final Fantasy VII, rest assured this company will not try to suck the life out of the planet and create super-human soldiers.

Wada hopes for this company to help create a new ecosystem for the game industry to work with by offering new types of game experiences through Shinra's cloud technologies. Jacob Navok, senior vice president at Shinra Technologies, believes that by creating this new company concentrated on cloud gaming, this can be "the first flag in the final frontier for the game industry" as it can free developers from the limitations imposed by current technology.

By working with partner companies in the network space, Shinra Techonologies hopes to create an "optimized datacenter environment for the highest-quality cloud games" Also, by working closely with game studies in the world to develop brand new experiences, Shinra Technologies believes it can become the primere "high-end cloud community for gamers" around the world.

Shinra Technologies is currently in negotiations with "best-in-class developers" around the world, like Ubisoft, to partner with in order to realize this goal.

A technical beta for Shinra Technologies' cloud gaming service will start early next year in Japan where lucky participants can try out Final Fantasy VII, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman Absolution, Tomb Raider, and a brand new game called Space Sweeper. Beta testers will also be able to play around with the Luminous Engine tech demo shown off at E3 2012, Agni's Philosophy, and even manipulate it in real-time. A more complete lineup and service requirements will be provided at a later date.

Residents of the United States will have to wait until later in 2015 to try the beta out. 

As Shinra Technologies continues to expand this brand new cloud-gaming service, the possibilities of what games could be accessed through it become endless. Even games like Kingdom Hearts could eventually be played through this service, but we will find out more in the coming months as more information is released.

You can visit Shinra Technologies' main website for full details on the service.

Follow Kingdom Hearts Insider on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr for the latest updates on Kingdom Hearts -HD 2.5 ReMIX- & Kingdom Hearts 3!

Source: Polygon

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Avalanche, Shinra...New York (which Midgar was based on). I love it!

 

[Jesus]

The cloud? What about my nudes?


But seriously this is cool. Could this mean us lowly americans will be able to play games like KH Chi on it when it comes out?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

The cloud? What about my nudes?


But seriously this is cool. Could this mean us lowly americans will be able to play games like KH Chi on it when it comes out?

Pretty certain this service is striving for something bigger than streaming browser titles...I mean I suppose in a way it'd be a creative solution, but it looks like they are aiming for your Assassin's Creeds, GTAs, etc.

 

[Sign]

Clearly someone has been wanting to do this for years and finally found the perfect opportunity.

Shinra working with Avalanche, such blasphemy.

 

[The_Echo]

Honestly not really into the whole "cloud gaming" shtick.

If it works well, that's great.
But it's not really for me.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Honestly not really into the whole "cloud gaming" shtick.

If it works well, that's great.
But it's not really for me.

I feel you, but I think it is smart for companies like Square Enix to invest in this early because it does seem to be the direction gaming will likely take maybe 10 years down the line. As gaming moves to digital, it's going to be hard to have all of these games on one console or device. Cloud streaming will eliminate that issue, and also allow developers to create larger packages because it'd pretty much eliminate the limitations of technology. There'd be other limitations, though, like people not having good internet, computers that can run the service, so on and so on...but. I think this is where it's going.

 

[Sign]

Watch everyone read off of cue cards.

The fact that someone can actually say they work for Shinra now is the weirdest thing.

 

[digimikej]

I stopped after the first english speaking person. just hearing someone happily talking about working at shinra IRL kind of weirded me out too much.

 

[Sign]

I stopped after the first english speaking person. just hearing someone happily talking about working at shinra IRL kind of weirded me out too much.

Here's a link to their website: https://shinra.com/us

I assure you, the weird feeling continues 8D

 

[DJFirewolf]

Wait. Shinra and Avalanche joining forces?!

 

[Luap]

I'm all for cloud gaming! While I haven't actually tried out any form of it, it just seems like an awesome idea. Instead of having to worry about buying new hardware, the cloud companies deal with that. Cloud gaming is gonna really increase the length of console generations, without sacrificing the advantages of new hardware. Instead of just the people who buy an expensive multi-thousand dollar PC rig, everyone will be able to experience games the way they were made!

I'm a bit skeptical of Square Enix creating their own company though. If their service isn't up to par with Playstation Now or whatever Microsoft is cooking up, I can't imagine them being successful with this. They'll need to secure lots of partnerships with other developers to make sure their games available, because if this only hosts Square games then no one is gonna care. Cloud gaming is in it's early stages though, so how these services evolve is something no one can really predict I guess. When Half-Life 2 launched requiring Steam, no one really thought Steam would become a viable digital games distributor. I can't really imagine Square replicating that kinda success with this, but who knows? There being more cloud gaming companies is good because it's gonna create more competition and force these companies to create better services faster.

 

[anniinan]

The fact that someone can actually say they work for Shinra now is the weirdest thing.

It would be the coolest thing ever. "Where do you work?" "I work for Shinra". I would feel so evil

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

This is weeeeeeeeiiiird news to wake up to. Maybe I'm still sleeping and this is just some weird ass dream.
The Shinra are real now....

Wait. Shinra and Avalanche joining forces?!

And they're using Cloud.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Wait. Shinra and Avalanche joining forces?!

This is weeeeeeeeiiiird news to wake up to. Maybe I'm still sleeping and this is just some weird ass dream.
The Shinra are real now....

And they're using cloud.

That sounds...

In all seriousness, this is definitely interesting. I haven't had the chance to really try out Cloud gaming, but it seems very convenient in a lot of ways.

Also yes, the mere fact that someone can legitimately work for Shinra and/or Avalanche now is bizarre, yet awesome.

 

[digimikej]

Here's a link to their website: https://shinra.com/us

I assure you, the weird feeling continues 8D

Looked that up on my own. and it just KEEPS getting weirder. like, why was there a dragon on one screen? rule of cool?lol.

 

[Sign]

Looked that up on my own. and it just KEEPS getting weirder. like, why was there a dragon on one screen? rule of cool?lol.

And that black orb at the main screen makes you immediately think of the Black Materia lol

 

[Gray Aria]

A "Cloud" gaming service called Shinra? I'm waiting for someone to shout "April Fools!"

This is looking to be the most ambitious cloud gaming service ever, though. It might even take over the world. I for one welcome my new Soldier overlords.

 

[DefiantHeart]

I'd like to use this technology as a developer someday. Though idk if I'd ever be that good.

 

[rawpower]

This is all a big ruse.

Final Fantasy VII remake confirmed.

But seriously, cloud gaming is probably a wonderful idea for population dense countries like Japan and most of western Europe. Here in the United States, we have the problem of having vast stretches of rural areas and wilderness. Our internet speeds are not up to par with those smaller countries. I know for a fact that my internet connection would barely meet the requirements of a game streaming service, if not just not make the cut at all. Now some of this problem is due to media corporations here in the states, but some of it is also due to us being big and less dense. Cloud gaming wouldn't work as well here I don't think.