Stream games with Gaikai on Eurogamer.net right now

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 December, 2011

Play FIFA 12, Crysis 2, The Witcher 2 and Magicka in your web browser.

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Do you like playing games? Do you especially like playing games without having to move from exactly where you are seated reading this news story?

Then we've got good news, because - as the observant among you may have noticed at the end of last week - you can now do just that on our Gaikai channel.

That's right, you can now stream best-selling PC game demos right through your browser, and all without having to step outside Eurogamer.net.

The initial games you can play are Crysis 2, FIFA 12, Magicka and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, with more to come.

We're also planning to add the service to our Eurogamer Network sites in other languages early next year, so watch out for that if, er, you don't understand the words I'm typing.

The Eurogamer and Gaikai teams are both watching to see how all this works out, so have a play around and feel free to leave us some feedback. Enjoy!

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 5 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Cadence #1 5 months ago

    You need a really good connection for this, seems to be more demanding than Onlive from what I've tried so far. I've got a 20mb ADSL line and it's still cutting out telling me my connection isn't good enough.
    Edited by Cadence at 20/12/11 @ 15:37

  • ZizouFC #2 5 months ago

    Interweb speed requirement?

  • JawzPause #3 5 months ago

    I just tried out Crysis 2, other than a bit of lag ,it's very impressive.

  • Genyus #4 5 months ago

    I like the idea and at first it was looking to work pretty good but then a few seconds in and it was already getting pretty buggy (playing FIFA12). The camera was weird and I couldn't change it, the control changing was clunky and menu's started intervening with each other leaving me unable to do anything.

    Nice concept though, I hope the bugs get fixed.

  • HardcoreGR #5 5 months ago

    "Your location is not currently supported". Whoops.

  • xbehindthelinesx #6 5 months ago

    what is the recommended broadband speed for this? i keep getting a message my bandwith isn't sufficiant when i know it is?

  • Evil_Badger #7 5 months ago

    It says it requires a 'free Java plugin' and directs to the Java install page, but I already have Java 7 (update 2) installed and am using Firefox 8.0.1

  • Spuzzell #8 5 months ago

    Wow. Love the concept but the reality so far is underwhelming.

    Its amazing I can even play 30 seconds of The Witcher 2 remotely with virtually no installation, but on my work wifi connection its blurry and laggy, the text is oddly moved around and I've been booted three times for insufficient bandwidth in 5 minutes.

    I'll give it another go from a wired connection at home, but I'm still not massively interested in this. Um. While being awestruck that its even close to workable.

  • polaris70 #9 5 months ago

    EG, with these competitions and new channels you are really shpoiling us.

    /goes back to ambassador's party
    Edited by polaris70 at 20/12/11 @ 15:17

  • The-Bodybuilder #10 5 months ago

    Current games through a web-browser? What kind of mambo-black magic is this?

  • Bagpuss #11 5 months ago

    Impressive, with my 40mb Fibre optic connection, very little lag, definitely less than Onlive, BUT...the video stream is a lower quality and compression is very noticeable.

    Far too blurry for me for me to consider using it on my desktop, but compromises in video quality are something i could easily tolerate on my laptop, for that services like this are amazing, and i suppose will only get better over time.

    7/10.

  • Zooboo #12 5 months ago

    @xbehindthelinesx If you know it is sufficient, why are you asking what it is?

  • xbehindthelinesx #13 5 months ago

    @Zooboo because it is saying it is not

  • Zooboo #14 5 months ago

    @xbehindthelinesx That would lead me to believe that it was not then, yet you are insisting that it is.

  • raion #15 5 months ago

    tried crysis 2, and right off the bat had to lower the graphical settings to avoid freezing and framerate issues hehe. then, there were substantial graphical glitches all over the place, like missing textures and broken 3D models.
    so, they definitely need to fix/optimize the machines.
    as for the gameplay, video quality is not that stellar, but there was very little control lag, making it quite playable... and I'm streaming from italy (dsl 20 megs).
    wanted to try witcher 2 as well, but alas, despite crysis considering my connection excellent, witcher wouldn't even let me try.

  • foxski #16 5 months ago

    Cant try it unfortunately, AVG has decided its a virus trying to run javascript :(

  • CaptainTrips #17 5 months ago

    Haven't used this kind of service at all yet, but my prediction is that this will be the future of gaming. I can see this kind of streaming service becoming the norm within the next ten years, and may well spell doom for the main hardware manufacturers (unless the start getting in on the gig now...).

  • DarthMartious #18 5 months ago

    Pretty neat. Worked ok for me on an 8 Meg ADSL line, if a bit glitchy here and there. For the most part control input was pretty smooth.

  • Mindstorm #19 5 months ago

    very impressed, played Witcher2 and Crysis 2 on my crappy ADSL (+ I am using wi-fi) and apart from some jerkiness they were both alright. Not sure about sustained play over a couple of hours though.

  • Bartacus #20 5 months ago

    Onlive works a bit nicer than this but these services are a good option. It's a great way to demo games.

  • Bwki #21 5 months ago

    Just keeps looping through "Detecting Java" then "Allow Java to run" for me.

    Chrome 16.0.912.63 on Mac OSX 10.6.8 with java version 1.6.0_29 from Apple

  • Sharzam #22 5 months ago

    Tried this at the weekend to demo The Witcher 2, and was pleanstly surprised. It worked smoothly and easily which is pretty amazing in itself. The only issue was the general graphics level was rather poor which is invetiable when consider the compressed video nature.

    But regardless of how it looks, as a means of sampling a game quickly and easily it is brillant. This is why i think On Live wont succed and achieve its goals as i dont see this as a replacment technology, as the visual trade off is to much.

    Oh and for those that care iam using Firefox 8, on cable @ 30mb.
    Edited by Sharzam at 20/12/11 @ 18:04

  • BuntyHoven #23 5 months ago

    Early doors yet, testing the waters an' all that, but make no mistake about it, this is the future of gaming - perfect for casuals who would just have to connect a controller to their TV and play the latest FIFA/COD online.

  • miiiguel #24 5 months ago

    It will only be the future (?) of (casual) gaming if it's priced accordingly, and so far it doesn't seem that way.

  • PaulieWaulie #25 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:23:40 06-01-2012

  • BuntyHoven #26 5 months ago

    @miiiguel True, but with the current broadband infrastructure in most countries, it's going to be a relatively niche product for a while yet and the pricing reflects that.

    When that's no longer an issue (and by then I'm sure the server-side costs will be much less prohibitive), I envision a service like this, perhaps in the form of a pay-per-view gaming channel, would be perfect for people who want to play one or two blockbuster games per year without the hassle of investing in specialised hardware.

  • septimus #27 5 months ago

    Not as good as onlive. Even with a 100Mb down 25Mb up it lags and doesn't look as good.

    Nice concept.

  • Phishfood #28 5 months ago

    Nope my connection is too crappy for this

  • devilmyarse #29 5 months ago

    Even on a 24mbps ADSL2+ line with 2mbps upstream (that's actual speed not theoretical maximum, I live a stones throw away from the telephone exchange) it keeps telling me I have severe packet loss. I'm using a wired connection to my Linksys WAGN160 router...

  • berelain #30 5 months ago

    Doesn't seem to work on Opera. And it crashed Chrome when I tried to play, too.