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THE WELL NAMED Onlive online gaming service will launch in the US this summer.
In a blog post, the firm behind Onlive said that the launch is the result of eight years of development, millions of lines of code and a lot of all-nighters. A lot of work then.
Onlive promises to bring gaming experience to people who do not buy games consoles. We have previously called these people non-gamers. It looks like it will be offering console games at what the firm describes as competitive prices.
Steve Perlman, Onlive founder and chief executive said, "OnLive fundamentally transforms the way users experience games and interact with each other, and in time, will transform the way games are developed and marketed. By distilling specialised game hardware out of the equation, OnLive will allow games to be played as a pure media experience on virtually any device, with the same flexibility and instant-play experience that we've come to expect from online video and music."
For a monthly service fee, round about £10, users will get access to a range of games, including demos and online multiplayers. You can also save games in the cloud, picking them up on another device later in the day or whenever, at the same place you left off. Steamy stuff. Anyone wanting to play using a Mac or PC will have to download a browser plugin. Alternatively you can play via your television.
In a world already full of teenagers bragging about how great they are at games, Onlive adds another avenue, and it has many social networking features, ranging from profiles to spectator games, and through to online chat.
We look forward to giving it a go. µ
So basically, any game you buy is streamed to you and it's all in "The Cloud" so you don't even have a local copy on your machine??
Not only that, but any game i do purchase, i will be subject to a monthly fee of roughly $15 to continue playing a game that i have actually purchased once already, and failure to keep paying this "Service Fee" will render any games that i have purchased, unplayable?? So basically it's a $15 charge for the right to keep playing the games that i have already purchased, a $15 charge that dosen't include any purchase of games??
Is that right so far??
What happens in the years to come if/when the service is cancelled or taken offline for whatever reason, will i be able to play my legitimately purchased games, will you make them downloadable to me, DRM free, so i can transfer them between any device that i want? What happens when the service is down because, if you say it is going to be as much of a "milestone" that it's going to be, the servers are overloaded, am i locked out of playing my legitimately purchased games despite the fact that i've been paying my $15 "service fee"??
Let me guess, diddly squat happens! The service ends and you lose any gamesthat you've paid for, and shoud the servers go down temporarily, well then i'm sorry, but s**t happens!
Also, it's completely dependent on a minimum broadband speed of 1.5mps, so if it drops below that, depite the fact that i've been paying my "Service Fee", i won't be able to play my legitimately purchased games??
Have i got all of that??
And "this" is supposed to be the future of gaming, the "milestone" that we've all been waiting for?
If it is, then Heaven help us all?! Geez, i thought Ubisoft DRM was bad...............
I still believe in physics. So unless the onlive team have found a way to make data signals travel faster than the speed of light, I can never see them making this a viable option for anyone that cannot tolerate at least a 10th to a 5th of a second delay on their controlling of what’s happening on the screen.
Someone please explain some theory that will explain a plausible solution to this mass delusion of marketing. Because until someone does I am left with the torture of this feeling that every logic bone in my body is suddenly trying to jump out of me every time I see the written words of Onlive.
- Microsoft and Sony say no new consoles this year
- Activision releases first downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Microsoft will ditch its Points virtual currency
- Consoles are set to get digital download charts
- Onlive gaming will be pre-loaded on all Google TVs
- Sony apologises for Playstation Vita
- Star Wars: The Old Republic goes live
- Grand Theft Auto III hands-on review
