OnLive Goes Live in June

[Andy Chalk]

OnLive Goes Live in June

OnLive [http://www.onlive.com/] has announced plans to launch its streaming videogame service in June, with support from major publishers including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two and more.

OnLive revealed yesterday that its cloud-based gaming service would be opened to the North American market on June 17, the last day of MCV [http://www.e3expo.com/].

"Individual titles will be available for purchase or rental on an a la carte basis. Specific game pricing, including rentals, purchases and loyalty programs, will be announced prior to the consumer launch event at E3," he said. "We'll also be announcing additional loyalty and discount programs for consumers in the coming months."

OnLive launch titles will include Metro 2033 [http://assassinscreed.uk.ubi.com/] from THQ, and McGarvey said the number of games being readied for the service was growing rapidly. "We're very pleased with the degree of publisher support received to date and have seen a rise in publisher interest in the OnLive Game Service as their focus begins shifting dramatically toward digital distribution," he added.

The service will initially only be available for the PC and Mac, and only in the U.S. McGarvey said an announcement regarding the promised "MicroConsole" would be made later this year and asked gamers to "stay tuned" for news about OnLive's European launch plans.


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[uppitycracker]

Oh hell ya. I'm definitely gonna give this a shot, see how it works out. Might be a good fix for my occasional single player itch. Sure as hell won't hurt to try it!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

including rentals

Monthly fee?

It's like GameFly, but without the delivery, and a fee on top of that!

Rentals, digital distribution style!

I like it. Because renting a PC game like this is VERY different, since there is no delivery times. Sometimes...you don't wanna spend $60 on a PC game that's 5-10 hours long...

True: You could pirate it, instead of renting/buying it, if you're a giant douchebag.

 

[Irridium]

$15 a month on top of the $50 price for the games?

I think I'll stick with my $400 gaming PC I've had for 2 years thank you. It still works just fine.

 

[Rainboq]

I've been waiting for this, it looks good, but looks aren't everything

 

[PopcornAvenger]

I'll stick with Steam. Hopefully this competition will lower their prices even further, and they could certainly take a look at the rental angle . . .

 

[Nimbus]

Pasted from non-news-post thread:

But if you factor in the fact that you could play crysis 2 on a $500 PC at the highest graphics vs having to pay $2000 for your computer to run it on its own it doesn't sound as bad.

Please. Any geek worth anything could build a top of the line machine for $700-900. When you pay $2000, 70% of that is paying for the label, same as buying brand name clothes.

Also, they will never be able to completely eliminate lag, not even with 100% perfect conditions.

Also, see the hassle Ubisoft's DRM is causing? This is MUCH worse than that in terms of problems.

Also, this might be [note: MIGHT] plausible in the USA or other countries with great telecommunications services, but this would be totally impossible in, I would say, MOST countries.

~~~

*Takes breath*

Also, the damn thing only goes up to 720p, as opposed to normal computers, which can go up to whatever the hell you want.*

Also, there's probably a million and a half other problems I can't think of right now.

*Depending on what monitor you have, naturally.

 

[DudeMan1031]

Hmm, I'll have to keep an eye on this, but they're definitely going to need some exclusives to really get people buying.

 

[Kollega]

This thing has good niche applications - but i DO NOT WANT it to become "one and only" PC gaming platform. You can't play offline, can't mod stuff, can't even be sure your games remain yours. Lots of drawbacks. So let it remain - as a glorified rental service.

 

[uppitycracker]

including rentals

True: You could pirate it, instead of renting/buying it, if you're a giant douchebag.

Yup, but this is a nice alternative for those games you don't wanna fork out 50 bucks for, yet are curious about regardless. I know there are many-a PC game that fall under that category for me, or I'm just not so sure about. And now I have a better path to take.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Funny that their first big name announcements are Ubisoft titles seeing as how this is essentially Ubi's DRM scheme with the addition of a monthly fee. I can see the appeal of potentially being able to play something well above your own system's specs, but.. really?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

including rentals

True: You could pirate it, instead of renting/buying it, if you're a giant douchebag.

Yup, but this is a nice alternative for those games you don't wanna fork out 50 bucks for, yet are curious about regardless. I know there are many-a PC game that fall under that category for me, or I'm just not so sure about. And now I have a better path to take.

Exactly my point. You can rent short PC games. Consoles, renting is easy, PC...not so much.

Now, PC gamers can rent, too!

 

[Crimsane]

This thing has good niche applications - but i DO NOT WANT it to become "one and only" PC gaming platform.

It won't. I'm calling it right now, this service is going to struggle out of the gate, and unless there are many features not yet revealed or they offer significant discounts on games, it'll stay that way.

 

[Jared]

Now this looks like a good idea. I am really into this and looking forward to seeing what it will lead.

A possible new lead in the way of gaming? Possibly. I am hoping so as it means alternatives, and alternatives, and choice are always good!

 

[Nimbus]

Exactly my point. You can rent short PC games. Consoles, renting is easy, PC...not so much.

Now, PC gamers can rent, too!

If that's what you want, isn't gametap like this, only much, much, much better? And you don't have to pay for each individual game? And with a bigger library? And no lag?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Exactly my point. You can rent short PC games. Consoles, renting is easy, PC...not so much.

Now, PC gamers can rent, too!

If that's what you want, isn't gametap like this, only much, much, much better? And you don't have to pay for each individual game? And with a bigger library? And no lag?

But Gametap's library is...well...lacking. This is to, at the moment, but likely won't be for long.