The power of the cloud

In trying to keep up with technology can be a difficult chore, especially with so many advances happening simultaneously.  One that I feel is worthy to note is the concept of cloud gaming with such systems as Onlive and GaiKai.  Essentially cloud gaming is a system where the game is processed and rendered by powerful servers and delivered to the player via video feed or through a web browser.  There are a few possible problems in that customers of these services need to have very good internet connections and if there is anyone else utilizing the same internet connection for things like Netflix then forget it.  The other problem from my understanding is that these services are quite expensive as far as upkeep and as of this writing they were not an improvement over console/computer based computing.
That being said I do feel that cloud gaming is the future of gaming, particularly when it comes to multiplayer and hopefully massively multiplayer.  Because of the rising cost of hardware in order to run high end games and the difficulty of having to port software to a given system or platform many small companies are finding it difficult to turn a profit.  Because cloud gaming only requires what amounts to a network card, a video card, a sound card, and basic input at the consumer end it will mean they can provide the hardware portion at a greatly decreased cost to the consumer.  Also since the server is all that matters as far as running the game it doesn't matter what programming language or system it is utilizing so long that a video feed can be sent out to the player.  The other big boon that I see from this is that it will make hacking and cheating much more difficult to accomplish.  Because there is so little consumer side about the only thing a player will be able to change is the method of input, so things like simple macros or changing ones keymap will be all they can accomplish without hacking directly into the server, which is probably going to be more trouble than it is worth.
For the independent developer these systems provide a great opportunity to get their game published and played by a larger audience.  I hope to utilize a system like this as it will take many of the difficulties of creating an MMO(such as player registration, server creation, marketing) and make it not only plausible, but possible.
It is my humble opinion that if cloud gaming companies wish to be competitive they should focus on their strengths.  Single player games that do not require a network connection are going to continue to be a better playing experience on a console or fully downloaded.  Multiplayer and massively multiplayer is where these formats have the potential to shine.  As of right now I think they are missing that point.