U.S. cable companies move in on the cloud gaming space - report

It looks as though the traditional console manufacturers may have some new competition soon, as a Bloomberg report states that multiple cable companies are looking to move into the cloud-gaming space. AT&T, Verizon Communications and Time Warner Cable are all reportedly pushing to provide game streaming services directly through televisions as early as next year, while other big name cable companies like Comcast Corp and Cox Communications are looking at a 2014 launch. According to "people with knowledge of the matter," trials of these cloud-gaming services may commence later this year in preparation, so that the carriers can play about with the technology and tweak it before next year's full scale deployment. With technology provided by Playcast Media Systems, CiiNOW and Agawi, all of which acknowledged talks with U.S. carriers, the aim is to bring games from publishers like Electronic Arts directly to your TV through cloud services. Playcast in particular has previously provided French mobile/internet service provider Bouygues Telecom with the means to stream video games to cable TV set-top boxes in France without requiring additional hardware. Jan Rasmussen, an AT&T spokeswoman, admitted that the company is "exploring unique ways to offer cloud gaming services to our TV and broadband customers." U.S. carriers aren't the only companies preparing to move into the cloud gaming space. Sony recently put a significant foot forward into the streamed games space, signing an agreement to acquire game streaming service Gaikai.