onlive - Is This The Future of Gaming?

Robert1986

Robert1986

Robert1986

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http://www.giantbomb.com/news/what-...-a-video-stream/1016/?linktags=home,home-news

Buying games? Thats old. Downloading games? Thats been done too. Streaming games? whoah there. :D

I really like this product and what it does but feel its years ahead of its time. Bring this out in 5-6 years when internet connections are all 1tb.

They did say porting PS3 games to this thing would take longer but expect a lot of pc and 360 games on this service. onlive has been in development for 7 years.

GiantBomb.com said:
The core concept of OnLive is really pretty simple when you break it down. What if you take all the computing power out of your gaming console and put it into a huge server farm somewhere else on the Internet? Then, instead of having your controller directly control your local game machine, your inputs are sent over the Internet to this magic cloud of computers, which sends back a low-latency video stream of the action. If it works, then suddenly things like CPUs and graphics hardware becomes kind of meaningless at the consumer level. In fact, so do retail versions of games, since you'd ostensibly be signing up for a service and/or buying your games directly from the OnLive device.
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I doubt there's enough bandwidth in the world to allow for half of the gamers out there. Great idea but as you say, too ahead of its time.
 
Streeteh said:
I doubt there's enough bandwidth in the world to allow for half of the gamers out there. Great idea but as you say, too ahead of its time.
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Could you imagine just clicking on a game and it just playing straight away. No need to do anything else but just press play. :cool:

Also, the device itself has no moving parts, no disc tray and no need for a 160gb HDD. Its built to last by the looks of it. It should also be as quite as a modem.

They have 16 games working on this thing and will demo them next week at GDC. Did I mention this plays any game from any platform? :cool:
 
IF this works well then I can't see the point of buying a standard console. The Wii has features that obviously this can't ape, but apart from that the issue's going to really be the price point. There's no way Microsoft and Sony wont both try to stifle this in some way. Slightly concerned this will be another Phantom though. I'm also not sure how quickly they can scale their server system - if they fail to do this correctly their reputation will just be trash.
 
so would this truly kill the second hand market lol?

as there wont be any games disks to sell and more profit for the game companies. cut out the middleman etc
 
In theory and on paper it sounds fantastic, but in reality I seriously can't see it working like they say (atleast not in the UK with out crappy infrastructure).

I mean as we download more and more our connections get throttled, we get usage limits slapped on us etc. All the while BT are increasing their wholesale prices meaning these limits get even worse for us.

ISP's are already complaining about services such as streaming TV shows through BBC iPlayer saying that it uses up a lot of their bandwidth.

Just leave me with my console thank you very much.
 
The only way to test this service is for them to send out a few thousand of these things and have people try it out. They can't test this sort of thing fully by themselves.

I just like the fact it doesn't use discs, no need for a huge HDD and no need for fans buzzing around trying to keep it cool. If they can pull this off, I'm in. I'd still keep my PS3/4 but would use this to play other platforms.
 
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Anyone remember teh Sega channel on cable, sounds kinda similar to that.

The main issue here is who's footing the bill for the immense amount of data transfer this will cause? I can't see the ISPs offering it for free unless you sign some form of contract and theyre receiving some revenue from this.

I know some ISPs are placing on restrictions to prevent people from "abusing" streaming such as BBC iPlayer, now if theyre complaining at that, what are they gonna say if someone plays 10/12 hours on this thing of streaming?
 
I'm sure I read on Kotaku that one of the guys said that you need to be within 1000 miles for it be lag free.

Fantastic idea but time will tell as to whether it can really work as planned.
 
Alrik said:
And piracy I would imagine.
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No way - they'll be cloned boxes nice and quick. If that's not possible then people will share logins. Until these games are ONLY available in streaming format then they'll always be other ways in any case.
 
Robert1986 said:
Bring this out in 5-6 years when internet connections are all 1tb.
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That's where it all goes Pete Tong, at least for us in Britain. I don't believe our infrastructure is anywhere near ready for something like this on a mainstream, widespread level.

I know that 1tb figure was a gross exaggeration, but if reliable 1Gb internet is available here in 5-6 years, I'll sauté my watch and eat it while washing down the fine meal with a 2002 vintage Pinot Noir.
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Anyone remember teh Sega channel on cable, sounds kinda similar to that.

The main issue here is who's footing the bill for the immense amount of data transfer this will cause? I can't see the ISPs offering it for free unless you sign some form of contract and theyre receiving some revenue from this.

I know some ISPs are placing on restrictions to prevent people from "abusing" streaming such as BBC iPlayer, now if theyre complaining at that, what are they gonna say if someone plays 10/12 hours on this thing of streaming?
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I remember the Sega channel my mate had it, pretty ground breaking at the time just never seemed to update the games enough for it to be worth while.

If we had the infrastructure this would indeed be viable, but we don't so it seems to be a pipe dream for now.

The whole country needs a decent fibre network first.
 
Would be lovely.

But in the current situation, with such lowsy connections here in the UK especially, I don't see it happening for a good 10 years, let alone 5-6.
 
This will probably lead to blocky video on your lovely HD capable screen. Will be interesting to see the beta in summer. The UK is no where near some countries for internet connection speeds.
 
inph said:
The UK is no where near some countries for internet connection speeds.
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Equally we're really not that bad when compared to most. We also have some of the highest broadband availability figures in the world. People are too quick to moan about broadband in the UK.
 
Streeteh said:
PS3 doesn't play 360 games and vice versa is what he meant. This thing could conceivably have access to every game ever made to the same little box.
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But it's PC (server side). So it's not going to play exclusives. You wont find MGS or Halo on it.Any MS or Sony made game will never appear on the service I wouldn't have thought.
 
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