Marvell's SoC Powering OnLive Cloud Gaming Through Google TV

For better or worse, cloud gaming seems to be the next major "thing" in gaming as a whole. A few years ago, motion gaming was it. Now that we've embraced that (and to some extent, 3D), companies like Sony are investing heavily in the cloud. But it's not just Sony. Marvell and OnLive have teamed up to push the notion one step further. OnLive is utilizing Marvell's Armada 1500 HD Media System-On-Chip to power on-demand gaming in Google TV devices. Looking for company takes on the news?

"I believe this is a major breakthrough that demonstrates Google TV's progress in addressing the interactive big screen for any type of live content. We are thrilled to collaborate with OnLive in transforming any TV with gaming capabilities," said Weili Dai, Co-Founder of Marvell. "Together with our customers and partners across the ecosystem, Marvell is leading and driving a new era of the digital lifestyle by seamlessly connecting all screens and devices with better performance, affordability and versatility for the mass markets."

"OnLive's focus is to make the highest quality gaming accessible to everyone, anywhere and anytime they want it. With Marvell under the hood, we are able to deliver the highest-quality, on-demand gaming experience on groundbreaking devices and systems like Google TV," said Steve Perlman, OnLive Founder and CEO. "The ARMADA 1500 is an impressively high-performance, low-power SoC that accommodates OnLive's highly advanced technology and delivers a mind-blowing gaming experience."

The tie-up is pretty important in the grand scheme of things. Marvell is a huge chip producer, and OnLive is growing as a cloud gaming provider. At this rate, we're wondering what other major company (Intel? AMD?) will step up to the plate and create chips specifically for machines that stream games rather than play them locally. Also, what about the folks who can't get a broadband connection? Cloud gaming may not sound too hot to them...