Client side processing of game controller input

A method of enabling game play over a remote connection using a data rich input device, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a client device, rich controller input for a video game running on a game server that renders at least part of the video game video image, the rich controller input comprising a three-dimensional image data having pixels associated with a location in three-dimensional space;
• processing the rich controller input on the client device using code specific to the video game to generate a game-specific reduced controller input;
• communicating the game-specific reduced controller input to the game server;
• and
• receiving, from the game server, a rendered video that reflects game progress manipulated according to the game-specific reduced controller input.

One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing device perform a method of enabling game play over a remote connection using a data rich input device, the method comprising:

• receiving, from the game client, a reduced controller input for a video game, the reduced controller input generated from a rich controller input by the game client, the reduced controller input comprising less data than is in the rich controller input, the rich controller input comprising three-dimensional image data;
• processing, at the game server, the reduced controller input to generate a rendered video game image that reflects game progress manipulated according to the reduced controller input;
• and
• communicating the rendered video game image to the game client over a wide-area network.