Is there a way to run games installed on another computer?

I was just wondering if there is any way to use my laptop to play the games I have installed on my desktop? Like the game is running on the desktop but I see the video and I control it from my laptop? Would I have to install a server program on the desktop, I was thinking of having a set up something like how the OnLive system works, except in my own home

Hi.

No, there is no way to do that.

Actually you can run the games over LAN without installing (used to do it on a server/client method for LANs long time ago with games like Ghost Recon 1), just not many games will work due to missing registry files and various protections. I guessing you want something thats rendered on a more powerful rig and streamed/control on the lappy.

Yessss, that's exactly what I want. My gaming rig is set up in the living room as the "family computer" but I usually play late at night anyway, so it would be awesome to be able to play from my room, you know? So wait, would I have to have a server edition of windows or something

Umm no, was quite simple, create a network share for the game folders, and run the game's exe remotely, obviously its very hit and miss for what games will work, many would need a no-dvd patch, but older games usually work as long as the dvd is in the drive etc. The main two issues will be the remote PC will do the rendering, unlike onlive which is rendered on server side, and transfer rates are often quite slow for loading levels, and some games will kick a fuss on save games. As I said its really games that are like 5+ years old that would work, Ghost Recon and flatout 2 worked fine in my test.