Two systems capable of remotely executing games and streaming them to thin clients were researched, designed and implemented. These allow for games of varying requirements to be ‘virtually’ played on mobile devices with modest processing capabilities by offloading intensive computations (mainly rendering) onto cloud-based gaming servers which stream the game content via Ethernet, WiFi or 3G/4G.

The first system comprises a virtual cloud server running up to sixteen virtual gaming machines using the Microsoft HyerV hypervisor. The RemoteFX feature of HyperV allows high resolution graphics generated by the games to be streamed to mobile devices. The system was designed and implemented as per Microsoft guidelines. When tested on both Microsoft Windows 2008 and 2012 R2, the system was found not to support interactive game playing at the required quality of experience.

The second system comprises a physical cloud server cluster, initially of four servers, which allows games to be executed and streamed to mobile clients using open source video codecs and remote input device controllers. High quality games can be played remotely from mobile devices at a higher frame rate than with the HyperV solution, and is a candidate for trials with a local telecommunications service provider.

The client makes use of our developed software to connect to a front end portal which in turn dynamically assigns users to available game servers as required by the user’s profile and game requirements. Such platforms which allow even tablets or smart phones to play graphics-rich games was in-existent at the start of the project.

The project builds on existing research by the University of Malta in the realm of cloud-based game servers and extends it through the use of virtualisation and later a farm of desktop computers.