Game browsing

摘要

Embodiments of the present invention allow players to instantly access and begin playing games through an online service. To make the games instantly available, an online service keeps instances of games running in active memory waiting for a player to be added. The game instances running in active memory are not attached to a player profile or an I/O channel from a game client. Once the player requests a game, the player's player profile is loaded into the running game instance and an I/O channel is mapped from the game client to the game instance. From the player's perspective, the preloaded game instances allow the player to browse directly from game to game with very little delay. To optimize the usage of server-side resources, historical usage data may be analyzed to anticipate demand for different games.

主权项

1. A computing system comprising:
a processor; and computer storage memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, implement a method of browsing between game play of multiple games, the method comprising:
preloading a plurality of game instances for a video game to a running state within active memory on a game server, from which the game instance is playable on a game client, wherein a portion of the plurality of game instances are playable starting at a mid-game progress point within the video game;subsequent to said preloading, receiving, at the game server, a first request from the game client to play a first game; andconnecting the game client to a playable part of a preloaded instance of the first game by adding player profile information to the preloaded instance of the first game.