OnLive now FREE and WORKS in the UK!

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

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Joined
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Go go go go go!

http://www.onlive.com

It's actually not that bad - considering I'm able to play things on my amazingly crap laptop!

EDIT::

Thought I'd edit this to point out a few key facts that we have at the moment.

This is a service that runs as a thin client on your desktop pc. It is not browser based. You should be able to install on any Windows based PC or Mac. You cannot run the client on Linux yet. You connect to servers that you are actually playing the game on. The game you see is in fact a video that is streamed back to you.

The deciding factor as to whether you will be able to play this is if you internet connection has low enough latency that the service deems it possible for you to play. Currently there are only servers in the US. There are plans to get servers installed in the UK but currently, if you're able to play or not, your experience with OnLive will only improve with the new servers being installed.

http://blog.onlive.com/2010/05/13/onlive-coming-to-europe/

The minimum connection speed as quoted by the website is 3MB but many have found that even 10MB connections here in the UK don't work while we are trying to use US servers.

The image quality of the games is sub par to PC gaming and probably console gaming at the moment but is by no means "bad". Graphics settings are turned down to medium I'd say and the resolution is at max 720p.

The pricing structure has recently been revised and it has been announced that there will be no subscription charge to play OnLive. You can download the client and start playing 30 minute demos of games for free. There is no reason not to download it and give it a shot.

It seems all games allow a 30 minute free demo (which you can restart the timer by restarting the game - saving is disabled though so you only ever get to play 30 minutes from the start of the game) and you are then able to purchase 3 or 5 day passes of "full access". Prices range from $3 to $50 for 3 day access to full access for the latest titles. I've no clue as to how these prices translate to UK prices or even if you can purchase in the UK - considering there's no UK servers at the moment I don't see anyone buying anything any time soon.

Due to the low system requirements of the client you can install on your PC you can run it on VERY low end laptops as you're effectively just steaming a video.

Of course, this means you are constantly downloading... People have investigated and found that you download about 1.6GB every 30 minutes while playing a game. There's speculation of OnLive usage being separate from your normal download limits due to the deals being struck with the providers.

http://onlivefans.com/showthread.php?3691-How-much-bandwidth-does-OnLive-use-I-have-the-answer.

In addition there's a console in the works. In early videos of OnLive demonstrations developers have said that the components that make up the console will cost no more than $50. This has lead to speculation that the MicroConsole itself could cost no more than $100 but has not been confirmed.

UPDATE: The console has now been confirmed to cost $99 and comes with any game free!

http://www.onlive.com/game-system

UPDATE: On 6th of June OnLive announced it would be coming to the UK in the Autumn http://blog.onlive.com/2011/06/02/happy-1st-birthday-onlive/

UPDATE: Coming to UK on 22nd of September http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14481101

Roy
 
Last edited:
This covers it in detail silversurfer: http://blog.onlive.com/2009/05/12/hopping-through-cloud-onlive/

Latency could be better - but at the moment I think it's only running off US data centres... The lag for me is about quater of a second - hard to cope with FPS's but OK for other things like driving games.

Thing I like about OnLive is that every game gets a 30 minute demo from the word go. Regardless of whether they've actually made a demo for a game you get to play the first 30 minutes of it :-)
 
silversurfer said:
Sounds good. Maybe not the best for multiplayer games then. Was Quake live similar to this or that used the computer gfx
Click to expand...

No Quake Live was a browser based game and yeah, used your computers hardware to render it. This is nothing like that.

The game is run on a data centre and you run a tiny client on your PC. When you move your mouse your sending that to the data centre, the game plays it then streams it back to you as a video.
 
Yeah, actually worth pointing out that the biggest problem I find is the graphics are a bit fuzzy. Can't obviously see what res it's running at but it's not the best.
 
Good point - forgot you can select what data centre to test against with that website.





There it is - tripped my ping to the nearest possible US data centre...
 
maxilive said:
Trying to give this ago but I can't find how to play?! :p Signed up and everything but can't find the downloadable client or anything O.o
Click to expand...

You should see here: http://www.onlive.com/games

OnLive App Instructions
Download and install the OnLive App
If prompted by your browser, accept any ActiveX dialogs
Launch the OnLive Game Service from your desktop

"INSTALL"

If not then are you running Linux, 'cause it doesn't work on Linux - had a wee bash with Wine as well with no luck.

Roy
 
Totally AtreuS!

As a proof of concept, for me, I'm sold. Things are only going to get better. My net connection is only going to get faster and they're only going to put more data centres in.

OK, might have problems scaling if this thing really takes off but considering people just laughed in these guys faces when they started talking about this originally I'm more than impressed.

I could swear I heard them talking about making the OnLive console itself available for £25!

Then add on the fact that you could be talking iPad clients, even iPhone client - hell, I bet you could get this working on my £150 netbook!...

I love the idea but agree I'm not forking out for any games on it just yet - just enjoying the free demos of the full games :-)
 
Reza86 said:
I'll try this when I get home, but if the graphics are anything less than what I can get at home on my rig then I don't really see the point.

Developers make these games with high settings, why would you want to play them at a lower quality than intended?

Also depends on price, why would I rent these games, I might play 1000 hours of TF2 for the price of £10 or rent it for 3 years and pay £100, just seems crazy.

I understand with things like WOW, you get a real time world constantly being added too and with endless things to do but most games would only get picked up an put down, might rent it for a month and only play it for 2 days.

Still i'll try and keep an open mind and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

The quality is based on what your connection is possible of but yeah, at the moment I'd agree that it's a bit below par.

Also, you don't have to rent - you can buy:
Batman
3 day pass: $4.99
5 day pass: $6.99
Full pass: $39.99

You can also try the full game for 30 minutes free of charge. For example I'm not aware of a demo available for Assassins Creed 2 anywhere else...
 
Mattey1 said:
So how come this works for a select few but not everyone else? are you using proxies to access it?
Click to expand...

Anyone can sign up and download it at the moment it appears. I had tried a couple of weeks ago and it was locked to US only (postcode and credit card check).

Sometime recently this changed though and you now no longer require a card to sign up. So appears anyone can sign up.

However, I get the impression it's still meant to be US only testing. I think the only reason I'm able to connect is because I'm on a beefy University connection...

They don't appear to be doing any blocking on IP ranges or anything like that. People are only getting errors about their connection having too high a latency. Something that using a proxy would not fix.
 
Quick update guys - although the subscription fees have been scrapped (you no longer have to pay monthly) the games you buy you only get to keep for a few years.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/full-list-of-onlive-pricing-options

"The initial range of pricing options includes rentals that last three or five days and an unlimited pass that provides access until at least 17th June 2013 - presumably the length of the current licensing agreements."

Suppose it's just a matter of opinion if that pricing strategy works out for you...
 
ic1male said:
Are you able to watch other people playing without paying?
Click to expand...

Yup, signing up and installing the client for free allows you to do everything the service has to offer.

You only pay money when you select a game and say "I want to rent this for a day" or "I want to buy the full thing"

For free you can watch other people and play the 30 minute demos of all the games available.

FYI the 30 minute timer is how long you actually get playing the game. So if you play for 10 minutes then come back and hour later you will still have 20 minutes to play.

Roy
 
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