OnLive to bring MOVA animation tech to video games
"It can't run on Xbox, it can't run on any 2012 technology, so it's only going to be running in cloud based computing"
OnLive wants to bring its market-leading facial and motion capture technology Contour to video games in the near future, claiming that the graphical quality is only possible using game streaming services.
The technology, developed by OnLive sister company MOVA, has featured in multiple Hollywood movies, winning an Oscar for Achievement in Visual Effects for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and most recently seen in Green Lantern, the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and Transformers releases.
It has also been deployed in Warner Bros. Batman: Arkham City trailer, which OnLive CEO Steve Perlman described as a "test", as he hopes it will next be used for in-game graphics in video games.
"It shows the kind of capability we're going to be doing in games for OnLive, live," he told GamesIndustry.biz.
"It can't run on Xbox, it can't run on any 2012 technology, it's not going to run on a PC, so it's only going to be running in cloud based computing," he added.
"What makes this real, what distinguishes this from any other trailer, is the face. None of the other stuff is different from the sort of 3D stuff that's being done, but when you see this real human face suddenly you say 'oh my god, this is live action'".
Perlman, who also acts as president of MOVA as well as streaming games service OnLive, said it's now time to bring the two technologies together, and added that the company has proven itself to publishing and development partners with the successful roll-out of OnLive over the past year.
"This is where gaming's going, and it's going to be on every kind of device, everywhere you are, and the publishers, there are over 50 publishers that are supporting us, so we're no longer in a position where we're like 'OK, are we going to work, are users going to adopt this thing, is there an economic model that works?'"