OnLive Second Opinion

[StarCecil]

So, I know not many of us think highly of OnLive (if at all), and I was firmly in that camp once upon a time. Having recently tried OnLive again on a whim (after a disastrous first experience) I have to say that it's a pretty solid service.

I still have some network errors, but those are attributable to a Wi-Fi connection with multiple users (myself and my brother both use OnLive, often at the same time) and aren't necessarily detrimental to enjoyment.

I signed up for the Playpack Bundle since the first month is free, and have to say I'm not disappointed. There aren't too many games I really want, but with 50+ games, it's hard to say no. HAWX turned out to be a pretty cool game and Borderlands was just added anyways.

The only fishy thing about the service, from where I'm standing, is the number of "deals" they offer - and how frequently and lavish they are.

You have the whole "50+ games/$10 a month", plus "$5 Dollar Fridays!", plus "Pre-order this and get a free MicroConsole", PLUS "Pre-order Deus Ex: Human Revolution Standard Edition and get Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition FREE!!!!", PLUS "Pre-order Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Digital Edition and get all this free crap AND!!!! a free MicroConsole or game of your choosing!!!!!!!!!!!"

It just seems suspect that a service offers so much free stuff, and yet doesn't seem to have that many people actually playing very many of its games.

In summation: OnLive might be a pretty good experience after all.

 

[BlackIvory]

I think cloud based gaming is our future, its a big step the digital and electronical world are taking regardless of gaming, OnLive just need some time to polish thier service as its still new grounds.

All the amazing deals are probably just to attract people, plus other stuff a cloud-based business model can probably afford

 

[Ryan DeJonghe]

I'm a huge OnLive fan. I tried it again about a month or so ago and am now hooked. Between the deals, the playback plan, the ability to play on my TV, netbook, or PC..it all adds up to much fun for me.

The other thing I like is instant access. No game updates or patches, they are ready to go when you want to play them.

The ability to watch other people play, cheer them on, make brag clips, etc. is all added bonus.

If they get EA games back on board, then it will be a big win for them.

 

[GiantRaven]

I don't like the idea at all. But I'm glad that it's slowly moving into a subscription based service as opposed to paying for individual games.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

I think it's an awesome idea. I played Metro 2033 on a computer that can barely run Minecraft.
If this is the future of gaming, then I wish it would just hurry up!
EDIT: Wait, the first month is free? Do you still have to enter credit card info?

 

[Ryan DeJonghe]

The other cool idea, which I don't think is in the works for the U.S., is some European countries are going to have this built right into their cable service. For instance, go to channel 33 to play OnLive. Not to mention there is already an iPad app and soon to be built right into TVs come the Fall. Take your games, your system, and your saves about anywhere you go!

 

[StarCecil]

I think it's an awesome idea. I played Metro 2033 on a computer that can barely run Minecraft.
If this is the future of gaming, then I wish it would just hurry up!
EDIT: Wait, the first month is free? Do you still have to enter credit card info?

Yes, you do, but you can cancel any time - for instance just before getting billed for the second month...

 

[Vault101]

ehhh...Im not sure I like the idea of cloud gaming, where will we be when the apocolypse rears its ugly head? *looks outside* ok...well Im sure it will happen SOMTIME

 

[Cronq]

The OnLive concept does intrigue me. I did try out their PlayPack the month it came out, and I did purchase Homefront from them with a 75% off coupon ($12). However, I am not ready to commit to a system like this. Even after I have upgraded my internet service to 15mb, the games still look very mediocre. I do think their $9.99/month PlayPack is a decent deal, but I'm already heavily invested in Steam/EADM and there are still too few good games to lure me to their service.

However, I am always keeping an ear out for any specials they are having as I am always willing to buy games for super cheap. They did give away Amnesia the other day (I was out of town on vacation and already own it on Steam so I missed it), and I will always be keeping an eye on them to see what else they have to offer. They're definitely ahead of their time and are "leading the way", but it almost seems like they got in just a little too early.

 

[thethain]

Onlive concept is going to be in the future of gaming. Perhaps not as the only or even primary mode of gaming, but it is too good to ignore. It allows gamers to play from different locations, with various platforms, and retain their saves and settings and so forth, and without even the overly burdensome issue such as recovering gamertags for xbox.

That said it will still be a bit before it can hit mainstream. I mean I have issue with a 10 mb up and download connection. Also if it does hit it "big" there is the issue with bandwidth in general. I mean an extended play session of onlive games can crank out several gigs of download. Which is a bit harsh if you have any bandwidth caps.

I would say within 5-10 years, streaming a full screen movie will no longer be a major strain on decent connections so it will be a much better option. Right now it is still a bit suspect. But is playable if you have a good connection.

 

[Worgen]

I dont like cloud gaming plain and simple, I dont like publishers having total control of a product like that, I dont like companies having such solid control of a product like that

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

Onlive concept is going to be in the future of gaming. Perhaps not as the only or even primary mode of gaming, but it is too good to ignore. It allows gamers to play from different locations, with various platforms, and retain their saves and settings and so forth, and without even the overly burdensome issue such as recovering gamertags for xbox.

The Steam cloud gives you just that. =p AND you keep full ownership of your copy of the game.

 

[Baneat]

Onlive concept is going to be in the future of gaming. Perhaps not as the only or even primary mode of gaming, but it is too good to ignore. It allows gamers to play from different locations, with various platforms, and retain their saves and settings and so forth, and without even the overly burdensome issue such as recovering gamertags for xbox.

The Steam cloud gives you just that. =p AND you keep full ownership of your copy of the game.

And one less, major source of latency, in the place you feel it most (Mouse laggy place)

And uncompressed video stream (I'll just make the assumption that they cannot send a GBit 1080 stream through to your monitor via the internet)

^ These issues just make the system completely unworkable for me

 

[thethain]

Onlive concept is going to be in the future of gaming. Perhaps not as the only or even primary mode of gaming, but it is too good to ignore. It allows gamers to play from different locations, with various platforms, and retain their saves and settings and so forth, and without even the overly burdensome issue such as recovering gamertags for xbox.

The Steam cloud gives you just that. =p AND you keep full ownership of your copy of the game.

It gives you "some" of that. Some games save based on cloud some don't. Also if you decide "Hey I want to play this game at another location" Then you have a 2-10gb download before you can hit the play button. Also the "various platforms" for steam means mac/pc that have enough hardware to run the game. Onlive is any platform that has enough bandwidth and input to support the stream. So that you could literally pick up your last save from your home pc on your phone.(obviously control issues abound)

Steam is great, I use it way more than Onlive. But onlive still has more potential in it than steam does. If it ever reaches that, who knows.

 

[Hiphophippo]

I can pretty much assure you that cloud gaming is the future. I suspect Onlive might be a bit before it's time but it's certainly paving the way.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Onlive concept is going to be in the future of gaming. Perhaps not as the only or even primary mode of gaming, but it is too good to ignore. It allows gamers to play from different locations, with various platforms, and retain their saves and settings and so forth, and without even the overly burdensome issue such as recovering gamertags for xbox.

The Steam cloud gives you just that. =p AND you keep full ownership of your copy of the game.

How does Steam Cloud work, Justin Bieber? You can download any game in your account to any computer and install it? Or can you, somehow, play without installing? What if the computer doesn't have the specs to run the game?

OT: I think Steam should buy/merge with OnLive. Think about it. You can log into your Steam account from any computer on the planet and (as long as you have payed your subscription) just click Play and immediately play it off of a cloud server somewhere A la OnLive. No need to install, unless you WANT to, so you can play games even on little temporary laptops that you're using whilst your machine is in the shop. The subscription fee should be ONLY for the cloud service. If you don't want to use that, you JUST pay for the games.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

Well, you can't use Onlive just anywhere on the planet either, you need a beefy enough net connection or the thing will even refuse to budge. So it's not exactly the "Take your games anywhere" solution either, and even when you can the quality of your graphics will change depending on how good the connection of where you are is. Handhelds still are the king in the field of "Take your games anywhere".

 

[josemlopes]

I have tried to use OnLive to play a demo, but it doesn't work with DSL.

See, that's the problem, DSL is fast enough to search the web just fine and fast enough to play games online just fine. I have no problems playing my Xbox online. And it's fast enough to stream video - at least, video under 480p as far as quality goes.

But oh, no, that's not enough, people are trying to push this. I understand the advantages of cloud gaming, but they're mostly convenience. Well, sure, you can play Crysis on a netbook this way, but if you've got the money to pay for it and a fast enough internet connection then you probably can gather enough money to pay for a satisfactory gaming machine.

So let's go through two big, easy to explain disadvantages, shall we?

-You pay for the game, and you get to play it, but it's never really yours in any sense that I can think of. You pay them for some of their server space and bandwidth. You don't get the game itself.

-What will you do if OnLive goes down, or if your internet dies? If for some reason my internet gets cut off, I still have all my games on my computer. If for some reason Steam's servers get shut down or knocked off, like (God forbid) PSN did recently, I still have those games on my computer. If OnLives' servers shut down? Sorry, you're shit out of luck and wasted all of that money. No games to play unless you had any on your PC or on a console somewhere.

Other than that, there's also the fact that I prefer an actual physical disc in my hand, but that's just personal preference. At least when buying from Steam, you might have to wait and you might have to have an expensive computer to play it, but it's yours.

Look, buying game in ONLIVE ISNT a good idea, it just isnt.

Using the Playpack Bundle deal on the other hand IS a good idea, its kind of a buffet where you can play all those games with a fix price, you can cancel the subscription at any time and it isnt very expensive (10$/50 games for a month).

If the internet goes down it shouldnt take that long to get it back, and if they have the problem and it takes a month to fix (a la PSN) then they will probably give something in return like a free month to compensate the loss.


Basicly its a very good renting service.