It's been a long time coming, but it looks like the wait for
OnLive is finally coming to an end: the service is now officially slated to launch on June 17 in the 48 contiguous states. The game streaming service will run users $14.95 a month, though buying or renting games is an additional cost (it's unclear exactly what that cost might be). Luckily there will be lower prices available for multi-month buys, and the first 25,000 people to sign up will get their first three months free. Service includes free instant-play demos, multiplayer and an "instant video-based social network," whatever that means. At the outset the service will run on Mac and PC as a browser plugin, but the MicroConsole TV adapter will be released later this year, with other devices to be added "over time." Initially the service will run at 720p, but 1080p / 60 fps will be added once the bandwidth becomes available. Out of the gate there will be somewhere between 12 and 25 titles available, including
Mass Effect 2,
Borderlands,
Assassin's Creed II,
Dragon Age Origins, and
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. There are five different data centers set up to serve up the games, strategically placed to reduce lag... let's
hope they work!
posted March 10th 2010 3:10PM
I have been chomping at the bit for this since they first announced the idea in early 2009. But now that the actual announcement has come, I feel let down. Looks like I could be headed for Gamefly (once my huge backlog of current games are played and sold).
Ill pass
"Instant video-based social network" simply means built-in ChatRoulette support.
I think that the next wave of consoles (xBox 720, Playstation 4, Xii, or whatever they'll be called) should take on this cloud-based, multi-platform form of gaming. Only 1080p graphics and new launch titles would kind of have to be a must (I really don't think Onlive will fly too far with 720p graphics for old games). Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all have the money (Microsoft especially), creativity (Nintendo especially) and technical expertise (Sony especially) to pull this off, and implement it in a much better way than Onlive is doing (though in all fairness, Onlive is doing a lot of things right). They'd have to be really clever about their pricing model though. What'd be cool is if they made their versions of the microconsole free (also available as a PC/Mac download), charged ~$50-60 a month for service, but got rid of the redundant rental/purchasing fees). $60 a month period for access to a slew of games (plus multiplayer) sounds infinitely better than a $600 launch console + the cost of each game. Hopefully there's some way for these companies to make a profit this way... and if there isn't, then my hypothetical prices can be adjusted accordingly. In any case, this country's web infrastructure has nowhere to go but up, so I think it couldn't hurt for these companies to invest in the future.
And I DO hope that cloud-based gaming DOES put Gamestop out of business. Those guys have the worst service (and the worst prices) possible.
pass
This is incredibly awesome, I'm excited to see where this goes. I don't see it replacing my consoles yet though, as I enjoy the novelty of owning physical copies of my games (just like owning a physical book versus a Kindle).