13. A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed on a video game hosting service, cause the video game hosting service to perform the operations of: executing a video game in response to user input; receiving input commands from a client device over a first communication channel, wherein the client device has a first user input device communicatively coupled thereto, and wherein control signals for the video game are generated in response to input from the first user input device and transmitted from the client device to the video game hosting service over the first communication channel, the video game hosting service controlling the video game in response to receipt of the control signals; and activating a second communication channel to receive text input from a data processing device capable of generating text input for the video game hosting service, the second communication channel being separate and independent from the first communication channel and usable by the data processing device to communicate with the video game hosted by the video game hosting service, the data processing device used to provide keystrokes for defining text input and to transmit the keystrokes over the second communication channel to a text capture Application Programming Interface (API) at the video game hosting service, the text capture API receiving and processing the keystrokes and forwarding the text input to the video game without use of the first communication channel, wherein in response to receipt of text input over the second communication channel, the video game executing on the video game hosting service causes the text input to be displayed on a display device communicatively coupled to the client device, the data processing device being separate from the first user input device.
13. A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed on a video game hosting service, cause the video game hosting service to perform the operations of: executing a video game in response to user input; receiving input commands from a client device over a first communication channel, wherein the client device has a first user input device communicatively coupled thereto, and wherein control signals for the video game are generated in response to input from the first user input device and transmitted from the client device to the video game hosting service over the first communication channel, the video game hosting service controlling the video game in response to receipt of the control signals; and activating a second communication channel to receive text input from a data processing device capable of generating text input for the video game hosting service, the second communication channel being separate and independent from the first communication channel and usable by the data processing device to communicate with the video game hosted by the video game hosting service, the data processing device used to provide keystrokes for defining text input and to transmit the keystrokes over the second communication channel to a text capture Application Programming Interface (API) at the video game hosting service, the text capture API receiving and processing the keystrokes and forwarding the text input to the video game without use of the first communication channel, wherein in response to receipt of text input over the second communication channel, the video game executing on the video game hosting service causes the text input to be displayed on a display device communicatively coupled to the client device, the data processing device being separate from the first user input device. 16. The machine-readable medium as in claim 13 wherein the first user input device is integrated on the client device.