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Google is convinced it can get game streaming right
Phil Harrison won't budge. As a vice president and general manager at Google, he's spent the past 15 minutes explaining why Stadia, the company's freshly announced game-streaming service, will actually work on the existing internet infrastructure across North America and Europe. He's focused on the investments Google has made over the past 20 years in cloud networks, talking up the company's 7,500 server nodes, custom CPUs and partnerships with major internet service providers.
Should we get our hopes up again for cloud gaming?
"We, in no way, take credit for the idea." LiquidSky CEO Ian McLoughlin knows video game streaming isn't a new concept. For years, various companies have promised players they'd be able to load up any game on any device via cloud streaming. Play the latest Fallout on an Android tablet or boot up the new Witcher at max settings on a four-year-old MacBook Air. It sounds too good to be true, and since the early 2010s, it has been.
Sony buys what's left of OnLive, service shuts down April 30th
Sony Computer Entertainment is buying the remaining patents and assets belonging to OnLive, the cloud-computing service that some might say was ahead of its time. OnLive as a service will shut down on April 30th and the company won't collect any more subscription fees. On April 30th, all OnLive player data will be deleted, though any Steam games purchased through the service will continue to reside on Steam. "It is with great sadness that we must bring the OnLive Game Service to a close," OnLive writes. "Sony is acquiring important parts of OnLive, and their plans don't include a continuation of the game service in its current form."
Galaxy Note 4 owners get three months free of OnLive gaming
Ahead of the Galaxy Note 4's release in the US tomorrow, Samsung has a last-minute incentive for potential buyers as well as those who have already pre-ordered. The company just announced a new partnership deal with OnLive, which gives owners of its fresh, big-screen handset three months of free gaming through the streaming platform. Samsung's promotion is part of the Galaxy Gifts Package, a collection of free software from its own app store, and will give users access to titles from OnLive's PlayPack bundle, such as Batman: Arkham City, Darksiders, Rogue Legacy and many more. The OnLive service is typically $9.95 per month -- so not only do you save some cash, but also have the chance to try it without any attachments. Once you have your Note 4, the OnLive app can be downloaded from the Galaxy Apps shop.
OnLive is giving enterprise cloud services one more try
Stop us if this sounds familiar: after successfully launching and new a video game service, a growing cloud computing firm looks to the business sector to expand its customer base. Oh, you've heard this one? That's because OnLive is retracing its steps, following up its CloudLift gaming service (announced back in March) with an enterprise-focused counterpart. Onlive's CloudLift Enterprise is built on the same promise as its older OnLive Desktop service: your work on any device at any time -- but now it's offering its customers a bit more than a virtualized desktop.
OnLive cuts price of CloudLift subscription fee nearly in half
OnLive launched CloudLift last month, a service that lets users stream its selection of games from capable machines to devices that wouldn't normally be able to play them - think tablets and underpowered computers. CloudLift used to cost $14.99 a month, but that subscription fee has been slashed to $7.95, presumably because price drops are awesome. Saints Row 4, Batman: Arkham Origins and The LEGO Movie Videogame serve as highlights among Cloudlift's offerings, all of which can be streamed from Steam if you own copies of the games there. Given that your interest in Cloudlift likely depends on whether the service stands up to your expectations, you can try a free 7-day trial by finding CloudLift in the OnLive application's Market. [Image: OnLive]
OnLive expands cloud offerings with support for local games, MMOs
Cloud gaming pioneer OnLive may have faded from prominence, but two novel streaming initiatives may propel the company back into the spotlight. Key to this resurgence is OnLive's Cloudlift, a service that allows players to stream games they own to devices that wouldn't normally support them. Cloudlift currently features support for only 20 games (including Saints Row 4 and Batman: Arkham City), but OnLive's announcement states that the service will expand over time. Best of all, Cloudlift has been designed to function with existing digital distribution services, meaning that subscribers should be able to stream games purchased on Steam, Origin or any other service to any OnLive-compatible device. Part two of OnLive's announcement details OnLive Go, an attempt at using cloud technology to reduce the hassle of getting into more "complex" games, such as those found in the massively multiplayer online genre. By streaming game content directly to players on demand, OnLive Go removes the hassle of waiting for a game to install updates or simply load a new area. As an example, the announcement mentions Second Life Go, which sees fans of the Linden Labs sandbox MMO accessing the virtual world via Android tablet. Full details on OnLive's new services as well as information on how to subscribe can be found at the OnLive website. [Image: OnLive]
OnLive reborn: can the cloud gaming company find footing with two new services?
In early August 2012, OnLive employees told us that the cloud gaming company was close to falling apart. Despite creating an impressive service rooted in a futuristic idea -- playing bleeding-edge PC games on the highest settings, remotely, streaming from the cloud to virtually any device -- a cocktail of financial issues all crested at once. The result was mass layoffs ("at least" 50 percent), including lead evangelist and company CEO Steve Perlman. OnLive had a new owner, venture capitalist Gary Lauder, and a renewed directive to become profitable. Then, the company went silent.
OnLive's new senior VP of engineering to push tablet, Smart TV
OnLive is looking into the tablet and Smart TV gaming market with its latest hire, Don Gordon, founder of Smart TV tech company Bulldog United. Gordon is OnLive's new senior VP of engineering, and his goal is to drive integration of OnLive onto tablets and Smart TVs, Develop reports.OnLive saw a public, rocky buyout and restructuring in August, when Lauder Partners picked up the company for $4.8 million. At the time, OnLive was $18.7 million in debt and had no available cash. Gaikai, a competing cloud gaming service, was picked up by sony for $380 million in July. OnLive is still, well, alive, and LG Smart TVs now come standard with the streaming service.
Buy 'Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition' on OnLive, get free GOG copy
Hey, OnLive, it's been a while! Remember when you made that offer of a free PC or Mac copy of The Witcher 2 with an OnLive purchase of the game? What, that's now? Silly us!The cloud gaming platform told us that, starting today, a $19.99 purchase of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition grabs you a PC or Mac copy via GOG.com. CD Projekt's action RPG is also one of the over 200 games in OnLive's PlayPack, which you can subscribe access to for $9.99 a month.
OnLive's Bruce Grove on next-gen gaming, MMOs: 'We can take the leadership here'
To say the last 12 months have been a bit of a bumpy ride for game streaming service OnLive would be a bit of an understatement. However, over that time, the games continued to stream uninterrupted, and the firm seems intent on not standing still. In a recent interview, GM Bruce Grove espoused his optimism for the technology beyond general hardware vendor collaborations. The key, Grove believes, being cloud-gaming's very design, which he hopes could always offer more power than current consoles thanks to the "rafts and rafts" of CPUs at the game developer's disposal -- without the wait for new hardware iterations. More importantly, Grove's confident in OnLive's continued stability as a company -- even after nearly self-destructing. "We now have a feeling that here we are as a company, we have a huge amount of experience with this business model, we can point to the things we have seen don't work ... we have a positive feeling that we can take the leadership here," he said. It wasn't just processing prowess and company stability he was keen to talk-up; cross-platform MMOs got a mention too. Grove essentially claims that OnLive's "cracked" the problem of delivering the multiplayer format to mobile -- and other non-traditional platforms -- but implies that there are still some tangles when it comes to making the model work for his firm's particular set-up. The flexibility of cloud-based gaming has always been the central pin of its proponents' arguments, but with the boast that his firm could take the lead in this area, Grove is hinting at the direction OnLive is focusing on. We'd also point out that MMOs aren't typically the most stable of sectors in the game industry -- outside of Blizzard juggernaut World of Warcraft, few are competitive if at all successful -- and playing one through OnLive would mean paying both for an OnLive subscription and a game subscription. Grove hopes to get around that issue with an OnLive -exclusive MMO; something he's "fairly certain" will happen, but we're less sure about. Still, we've yet to hear much in the way of concrete details regarding OnLive's plans since the company imploded last summer, so we'll have to wait and see what the company's cooking up for 2013. Head through the source to Red Bull UK's full interview for even more.
OnLive extending LG partnership to G3 series televisions
Are you way into cloud gaming and own an LG Smart TV of the G3 series variety? You're in luck, as OnLive this morning announced support for that very line of Google TV-powered LG televisions, bringing a library of "over 300 titles" to the platform. The G2 series already got that support back in November, if you recall, but it appears that OnLive's reach is expanding across a variety of LG Smart televisions. Should you wish to get in on the action, you'll need a Universal OnLive Wireless controller to actually play any of the games available. We'll be giving it a look later on this week during CES 2013 to see what's different -- if anything -- from OnLive's presence on other platforms. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
OnLive comes to LG G2 Smart TVs
LG G2 Smart televisions now have OnLive built in. The OnLive app became available today to be downloaded onto TV sets already purchased, while the cloud gaming service is being pre-installed on future sets. The only thing needed in addition is an OnLive controller.OnLive was announced as coming to LG Smart TVs with Google TV at this year's E3, Its cloud gaming functionality means players can start and save their games on LG's TV, and then continue on other platforms from where they left off. The service also enables cross-platform gaming, so you can play on your LG TV against others on PCs and tablets.The news represents a positive upturn from what has been a difficult summer for OnLive. The company accrued debts of $30-40 milion and laid off at least half of its staff before being acquired by Lauder Partners, LLC for $4.8 million.
LG Google TVs now have integrated OnLive cloud game streaming
LG Smart TV owners may've noticed a new application pop up today on their G2 series sets, as OnLive's cloud game streaming app is being delivered via an over-the-air update today (first announced at E3 back in June) -- it seems that LG Smart TVs are the first to get Google TV's latest update. Beyond just viewing games, the app allows for actually playing them employing OnLive's wireless controller (sold separately). Per normal OnLive service, you can demo various games before buying them, and purchases on one OnLive account transfer across its many platforms (PC, Mac, Android tablets, the Microconsole, and LG TVs). The OnLive app can be found in the "Premium Apps" area, and it'll be pre-installed on future LG sets. Of course, it's a question of how long any of this will last, as OnLive's had a rough 2012 -- the company lost the vast majority of its staff and its former CEO back in August. It was subsequently spun off into a separate company to keep from defaulting on its many, many overdue loans.
OnLive was reportedly sold for roughly $5 million to venture capital firm
Even though weeks have passed since that well-documented OnLive kerfuffle took place, where unfortunate layoffs and the formation of a "new company" were at the forefront of it all, previously unknown details are still coming out of the woodwork. According to Mercury News, the once-promising cloud gaming outfit was purchased by a venture capital group for a mere $4.8 million, which appears to be a relatively small amount of cash for an outfit once valued upwards of $1.8 billion -- not to mention when compared to, say, rival Gaikai's $380 million sale to Sony. Still, this is said to have been due to the bad shape OnLive was in at the time, with the Palo Alto-based company reportedly owing more than $18 million in debt, leaving it with no choice but to take "the best that it could get."
Lauder's purchase of OnLive totaled just $4.8 million
When venture capitalist group Lauder Partners, LLC purchased and reformed OnLive back in August, it did so for $4.8 million, according to a letter to OnLive's creditors obtained by Polygon and the San Jose Mercury News. The company's blue-light special asking price was due in part to its $18.7 million in debt, in addition to the fact that the last of its available cash had already been allocated to fulfill payroll obligations.Granted, $4.8 million is still more money than we'll ever see in our entire lives, but it seems a bit paltry when compared with Sony's $380 million acquisition of Gaikai. Under the circumstances, however, this was as good as it was going to get for OnLive."Had the sale to the buyer not taken place, the assignee would have been left with inadequate capital to fund the significant costs to preserve and market OnLive's patents and other intellectual property, thus greatly reducing expected recoveries essentially to those of a forced piecemeal auction," says Insolvency Services Group CEO Joel Weinberg in the letter to OnLive's creditors.OnLive's creditors will receive around $0.26 for every dollar originally owed, according to the letter.
OnLive's year-long road to recovery involves more partnerships
Bruce Grove, general manager of OnLive in the UK, revealed a 12-month "recovery plan" for the company in an interview with MCV UK. The plan involves building more partnerships to expand the service's reach, though Grove didn't specify who the company would partner with in the future."We have a road map for how soon we start with certain things, what the focus is, what we're going to be doing, what the next twelve months will be. And that's a big shift for the company: Having a 12-month plan," Grove said. "That's something that's going to show how we'll build this into a long-term sustainable business."OnLive went through a rocky period of transition before former CEO Steve Perlman left the company in August. The company cut 50 percent of its staff prior to spinning off into a new company entirely while maintaining the OnLive brand and service."In the past we've been very focused on OnLive being the driving force of wherever we've gone. Now, it's much more about engagement with our partners. That's going to be the way we reach the new customer market," Grove said.
OnLive and Gaikai functionality still on board for Wikipad
During a private demo of the near-final Wikipad this week, Joystiq was able to grill Wikipad president of sales Fraser Townley about next month's launch. Specifically, we wanted to learn whether OnLive and Gaikai functionality – the former with its recent change in ownership and the latter having recently been picked up by Sony – were still planned for the device."Yes," Townsley assured Joystiq, to both applications appearing on the device. Speaking on the situation at OnLive, Townsley said he didn't have much knowledge what was happening at the company, but promised that "if [the service is] still running when we launch Wikipad, it'll be there."While Wikipad will have physical units for purchase in-store through official partner GameStop, all other major retailers will be taking orders online. When asked what would be a successful launch for the $499 tablet – which comes with the controller dock and 16GB of memory – Townley couldn't provide exact numbers, but said that "a point or two" of total tablet market share would be desirable.%Gallery-162928%
More OnLive management moves: Perlman out, as investor Lauder settles for Chairman
As the OnLive storm continues to ride itself out, details of who the winners and losers are (mainly losers) keep washing up on the shore. Today's casualty seems to be CEO Steve Perlman himself, who -- just days after the firm reinventing itself -- is "departing to work on his myriad of other projects." In his place the former COO, Charlie Jablonski, is temporarily taking the reins, as well as continuing his role as head of operations in the new organization. Finally, completing this wave of announcements, is the news that chief investor, Gary lauder, will officially take the title of Chairman. So, as the new incarnation settles into its new structure, we'll just have to sit tight, waiting to see what the next chapter in the OnLive story is.
OnLive founder, CEO Steve Perlman exiting company; silent investor new chairman
eOnLive CEO and head Steve Perlman is exiting the cloud streaming company, according to a press release, just days after he was reaffirmed as its leader. The company's former operations head Charlie Jablonski is taking over as chief operating officer and will act as interim chief executive officer, while venture capitalist Gary Lauder – and new owner of OnLive – becomes OnLive's new leader."Steve has created an extraordinary company that no one else could have created. He is a unique entrepreneur and deserves his legendary status in Silicon Valley as a creator of groundbreaking companies," Lauder said of Perlman. Lauder asserted that, "the new OnLive is emerging with greater financial security and a brighter outlook on the future. OnLive is now positioned to execute against longer-term projects with our breakthrough technology, products, and services."The release doesn't say where Perlman's going just yet, only that he's "departing to work on his myriad other projects," presumably in reference to Mova, and his original startup, Rearden. It does, however, note that Lauder "plans to continue building the OnLive management team in key categories as the company delivers on its mission of breaking new ground in cloud gaming."
