One aspect of the disclosure relates to providing dynamic and static contest prize allocation based on in-game achievement of a user in an online game in order to encourage players to continue to purchase items to improve their tournament metrics even if they may be unable to improve their tournament rank. For example, calculation of a dynamic prize may comprise for rank x, the player may gain 1 prize unit for every y Glory gained (when Glory may be the measured by the tournament). The y value may increase for lower ranks achieved in the tournament.

A method for providing a puzzle game performed by a game server connected to a user terminal via a network includes the steps of: performing a user login process in response to receiving login information from the user terminal; and executing the puzzle game on the user terminal in response to receiving a game execution signal from the user terminal. Game action is performed in conjunction with player object groups if it is determined that a puzzle block elimination condition is satisfied according to a cumulative result of eliminating the puzzle blocks.

A method for providing a puzzle game performed by a game server connected to a user terminal via a network includes the steps of: performing a user login process in response to receiving login information from the user terminal; and executing the puzzle game on the user terminal in response to receiving a game execution signal from the user terminal. Game action is performed in conjunction with player object groups if it is determined that a puzzle block elimination condition is satisfied according to a cumulative result of eliminating the puzzle blocks.

A method for streaming gameplay of a cloud video game is provided, including: executing the cloud video game to generate gameplay video; streaming the gameplay video over a network to a client device, the gameplay video being presented by the client device on a display; during the streaming of the gameplay video, transmitting one or more assets over the network to the client device, the assets being cached by the client device; wherein the cached assets are processed by the client device and utilized in the gameplay video before being presented on the display, wherein streaming the gameplay video includes identifying a given one of the cached assets that was transmitted over the network to the client device and identifying where in the gameplay video the given cached asset is to be utilized.

A method for streaming gameplay of a cloud video game is provided, including: executing the cloud video game to generate gameplay video; streaming the gameplay video over a network to a client device, the gameplay video being presented by the client device on a display; during the streaming of the gameplay video, transmitting one or more assets over the network to the client device, the assets being cached by the client device; wherein the cached assets are processed by the client device and utilized in the gameplay video before being presented on the display, wherein streaming the gameplay video includes identifying a given one of the cached assets that was transmitted over the network to the client device and identifying where in the gameplay video the given cached asset is to be utilized.

A system in which players participate as characters in a virtual game world via game clients executing on client devices. An observer mode is provided that enables users to navigate in the game world without requiring a game client so that a user can navigate the game world while not actively playing the game. When a user accesses the game in observer mode, a view of the game world is rendered from the viewpoint of an observer's character; the observer's character may not correspond to a character in the game and the observer's character may not be visible to the players in the game. The rendered view of the game world is streamed to a viewing application on a personal device. Navigation inputs allow the observer's character to move freely within the game world.

A system in which players participate as characters in a virtual game world via game clients executing on client devices. An observer mode is provided that enables users to navigate in the game world without requiring a game client so that a user can navigate the game world while not actively playing the game. When a user accesses the game in observer mode, a view of the game world is rendered from the viewpoint of an observer's character; the observer's character may not correspond to a character in the game and the observer's character may not be visible to the players in the game. The rendered view of the game world is streamed to a viewing application on a personal device. Navigation inputs allow the observer's character to move freely within the game world.

In a second information processing device, an account holding section holds account information of a user. A reception section receives a login request including account information of a user from a first information processing device. A login processing section 102b allows the user to log in in a case in which the account holding section holds the account information of the user. In a state in which the user is logging in, when the reception section receives a login request including account information of a user from the first information processing device, the login processing section allows the user to log in on a condition that the account holding section holds the account information of the user.

A video server is configured to provide streaming video to players of computer games over a computing network. The video server can provided video of different games to different players simultaneously. This is accomplished by rendering several video streams in parallel using a single GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The output of the GPU is provided to graphics processing pipelines that are each associated with a specific client/player and are dynamically allocated as needed. A client qualifier may be used to assure that only clients capable of presenting the streaming video to a player at a minimum level of quality receive the video stream. Video frames provided by the video server optionally include overlays added to the output of the GPU. These overlays can include voice data received from another game player.

A video server is configured to provide streaming video to players of computer games over a computing network. The video server can provided video of different games to different players simultaneously. This is accomplished by rendering several video streams in parallel using a single GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The output of the GPU is provided to graphics processing pipelines that are each associated with a specific client/player and are dynamically allocated as needed. A client qualifier may be used to assure that only clients capable of presenting the streaming video to a player at a minimum level of quality receive the video stream. Video frames provided by the video server optionally include overlays added to the output of the GPU. These overlays can include voice data received from another game player.