Cloud-Gaming Company OnLive Wants in on New Consoles

[Mike Kayatta]

Cloud-Gaming Company OnLive Wants in on New Consoles

OnLive is convinced that cloud-gaming is the future, and when that future comes, it wants to be front and center.

Cloud-gaming company OnLive has announced that it would like to see its technology integrated with the next consoles released by Microsoft and Sony. The company, which has recently expanded to both tablet computers and mobile devices, feels as though placement on mainstream consoles would be a synergistic step forward.

"If they decide they want to use our technology, that would be a great discussion because we've already got the infrastructure," said Bruce Grove, General Manager of OnLive. "We know how to do it. There are a lot of things we could bring to the table and they could bring to the table. It would certainly be a discussion we would love to have. It would be very interesting."

OnLive has already tested its software on the PlayStation 3, back when the device still offered Linux support. According the Grove, the application worked well and would be entirely feasible to offer publicly in the future.

For those of you unfamiliar with OnLive and modern cloud gaming services in general, the platform allows gamers to play anything from their library by remotely accessing it from a home computer. Because the games are hosted and rendered by OnLive's remote servers, it allows even low-end rigs to play high-end PC, Mac, or console games. Players get the rest of the perks of cloud storage as well, meaning remotely accessible saves, and the ability to play anything from your digital library from anywhere you'd like.

According to Grove, it's a near certainty that the next Xbox and PS4 will be hybrid systems, splitting game distribution between cloud services and physical media. In fact, OnLive, launched just last year, was built with this shift in mind.

"We've built this technology to fit the growing broadband trend," he said. "Hybrid is got to be the way they're thinking about this. But knowing the technology works, seeing it works, they've also got to be thinking: This is going to be the future in some form. Just in the way with Xbox Live and multiplayer, they build them in, but not everyone takes advantage of them. It just becomes another feature that is part of the general gaming quiver."

Clouds and media hubs certainly seem to be the way things are heading. With Xbox offering access to dozens of new services [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114524-Heres-The-Skinny-On-Microsofts-New-360-Update], and almost no technology company creating a device that doesn't somehow connect to "apps," I don't think it would be surprising if Microsoft and Sony allow an OnLive portal via their consoles as long as they're getting something out of the deal for themselves. Whether or not a hypothetical integration of these technologies will ever reach a foundational level, however, is a different question entirely.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-08-onlive-would-love-to-talk-with-ms-and-sony-about-getting-its-tech-into-the-next-xbox-and-ps4]


Permalink

 

[Epona]

Yes, bring the rip-off to consoles.

Unless things have changed, isn't this how OnLive works: You buy (rent) a game for the same price that you would pay on Steam but you have to pay a subscription fee to access it. You stop paying that subscription fee, you lose access to the game?

Who in their right mind would do that?

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Right I'm in two minds about this, so I'm going to do the first mind in fancy italics, and the second one in fancy bold.

Gaming is clearly shifting this way anyway, so it would be good to see the consoles get on this sooner rather than later. Obviously it's dependant on internet connection, but it seems like a good way to go.

But then what's the point of even having a console? You might as well just have a computer, or tablet, or any device connected to the web. It's basically just your portal to OnLive. Better to focus on getting Steam on all new consoles to provide a wider library and gaming opponents

Hey guys, can I pipe in?

NO
NO

 

[80Maxwell08]

Yes, bring the rip-off to consoles.

Unless things have changed, isn't this how OnLive works: You buy (rent) a game for the same price that you would pay on Steam but you have to pay a subscription fee to access it. You stop paying that subscription fee, you lose access to the game?

Who in their right mind would do that?

Well from what I understand for cloud gaming like this your system specs mean nothing so it will run at maximum settings with some downgrading in quality from streaming but this sounds completely dumb on a console when you already paid a few hundred for the console.

 

[Epona]

Right I'm in two minds about this, so I'm going to do the first mind in fancy italics, and the second one in fancy bold.

Gaming is clearly shifting this way anyway, so it would be good to see the consoles get on this sooner rather than later. Obviously it's dependant on internet connection, but it seems like a good way to go.

But then what's the point of even having a console? You might as well just have a computer, or tablet, or any device connected to the web. It's basically just your portal to OnLive. Better to focus on getting Steam on all new consoles to provide a wider library and gaming opponents

Hey guys, can I pipe in?

NO
NO

Bandwidth caps prevent this from being the future. I would love to see the end of bandwidth caps but right now it doesn't look like they are going anywhere. It's one thing to download a full game once and then play it from the hard drive (Steam), but this requires you to be online at all times while playing. It simply won't work next gen.

 

[Epona]

Yes, bring the rip-off to consoles.

Unless things have changed, isn't this how OnLive works: You buy (rent) a game for the same price that you would pay on Steam but you have to pay a subscription fee to access it. You stop paying that subscription fee, you lose access to the game?

Who in their right mind would do that?

Well from what I understand for cloud gaming like this your system specs mean nothing so it will run at maximum settings with some downgrading in quality from streaming but this sounds completely dumb on a console when you already paid a few hundred for the console.

It doesn't run at max settings. I tried out Borderlands on OnLive and there were no options that I could change. It looked ok but then I bought the game on Steam and cranked up the graphics and it looked much much better.

So yeah, it allows you to play games on a weak computer but if you have a decent computer, you're better off buying the game so you can crank it up.

 

[Worgen]

Ultimately this is a bad thing for everyone, it takes away any notion ownership and turns it into an expensive rental service, steam is about as close to cloud gaming as anything should get.

 

[Atmos Duality]

How cute. The little scam system thinks it can play with consoles.
Though I say let them have their chance; we'll see just how many gamers are mindless sheep, if they're really willing to pay extra-per-month for something they can already get in retail AND at a lower quality.

 

[djl1080]

Yes, bring the rip-off to consoles.

Unless things have changed, isn't this how OnLive works: You buy (rent) a game for the same price that you would pay on Steam but you have to pay a subscription fee to access it. You stop paying that subscription fee, you lose access to the game?

Who in their right mind would do that?

They dropped the subscription model a while ago. Anyone can create an OnLive account for free. The only subscription plan they offer now is the PlayPack, which gives unlimited access to a library of olderish games for $10/month.

 

[Epona]

Yes, bring the rip-off to consoles.

Unless things have changed, isn't this how OnLive works: You buy (rent) a game for the same price that you would pay on Steam but you have to pay a subscription fee to access it. You stop paying that subscription fee, you lose access to the game?

Who in their right mind would do that?

They dropped the subscription model a while ago. Anyone can create an OnLive account for free. The only subscription plan they offer now is the PlayPack, which gives unlimited access to a library of olderish games for $10/month.

So if I buy a game on OnLive I can play forever without paying them another dime?

 

[djl1080]

So if I buy a game on OnLive I can play forever without paying them another dime?

I believe so. There used to be a clause in the ToS stating that access to your game was only guaranteed up to 3 years from purchase, but I don't see it anywhere in there anymore.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Yes, bring the rip-off to consoles.

Unless things have changed, isn't this how OnLive works: You buy (rent) a game for the same price that you would pay on Steam but you have to pay a subscription fee to access it. You stop paying that subscription fee, you lose access to the game?

Who in their right mind would do that?

They dropped the subscription model a while ago. Anyone can create an OnLive account for free. The only subscription plan they offer now is the PlayPack, which gives unlimited access to a library of olderish games for $10/month.

So if I buy a game on OnLive I can play forever without paying them another dime?

I would assume that's the case, I only tried it briefly. But as you mentioned earlier about the settings, the games automatically adjust things like the resolution to compensate for the lag from streaming, so you basically have no control. Oh and the lag, dear god the lag.

 

[Epona]

Yes, bring the rip-off to consoles.

Unless things have changed, isn't this how OnLive works: You buy (rent) a game for the same price that you would pay on Steam but you have to pay a subscription fee to access it. You stop paying that subscription fee, you lose access to the game?

Who in their right mind would do that?

They dropped the subscription model a while ago. Anyone can create an OnLive account for free. The only subscription plan they offer now is the PlayPack, which gives unlimited access to a library of olderish games for $10/month.

So if I buy a game on OnLive I can play forever without paying them another dime?

I would assume that's the case, I only tried it briefly. But as you mentioned earlier about the settings, the games automatically adjust things like the resolution to compensate for the lag from streaming, so you basically have no control. Oh and the lag, dear god the lag.

I believe that Borderlands was streaming at 1280x720 but my native resolution is 1920x1080. That's fine for Youtube or even Netflix, it's not fine for games.

 

[Epona]

So if I buy a game on OnLive I can play forever without paying them another dime?

I believe so. There used to be a clause in the ToS stating that access to your game was only guaranteed up to 3 years from purchase, but I don't see it anywhere in there anymore.

Hmm, that might be interesting but how could they stay in business that way? Having to stream the game everytime you play would get costly. Somehow I think that clause is still in there somewhere, maybe they moved it.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I believe that Borderlands was streaming at 1280x720 but my native resolution is 1920x1080. That's fine for Youtube or even Netflix, it's not fine for games.

What I mean is that the quality and resolution is dictated by the speed of your connection. The slower you connection, the worse it looks and the laggier it is. I live in Canada and their servers are still in the States, so not only did the games have super low res, but were incredibly laggy. If you hated lag in MP games, prepare to get it in single player as well. I would never pay for a worse version of the game that does that for the same price I can get it retail or steam.

 

[Epona]

I believe that Borderlands was streaming at 1280x720 but my native resolution is 1920x1080. That's fine for Youtube or even Netflix, it's not fine for games.

What I mean is that the quality and resolution is dictated by the speed of your connection. The slower you connection, the worse it looks and the laggier it is. I live in Canada and their servers are still in the States, so not only did the games have super low res, but were incredibly laggy. If you hated lag in MP games, prepare to get it in single player as well. I would never pay for a worse version of the game that does that for the same price I can get it retail or steam.

Well, I pay for 30Mbps Down and 10Mbps up. I just ran a speedtest at speedtest.net and I got 19.88Mbps Down and 8.83Mbps up and that was on wireless. When I ran OnLive I used an ethernet cable which would be closer to 25Mbps down.

If that's not enough to stream 1920x1080 then what is?

 

[Waaghpowa]

If that's not enough to stream 1920x1080 then what is?

Which is probably another reason why this kind of thing wont fly. I only get 7 mbps.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

I have used OnLive on both a mid range gaming PC and on a low end work box and they both preformed about the same. Which would be good if the service wasn't choppy and laggy.

 

[gunner1905]

HA! are they that stupid that they think microsoft or sony would let another distributor in their consoles, both sold their consoles at a lost (not sure about now) so that they can get the profits from game made for the consoles, do onlive really think they would sell their console at a lost to let somebody else hop on and take their profit
also onlive sucks, they're only renting games at full price

 

[orangeapples]

This would have been good if there wasn't talks about some ISPs changing their service plans to charge per usage.

And while I do like to idea of cloud gaming something could go wrong with your ISP and the internet is down. Then you have 0 access to your games library.

But as a feature, I'd probably dabble with it for a while and see how it goes.

If I were to get a system with the sole purpose of cloud gaming, that idea scares me. But to have a transitionary console that does disk based gaming, downloadable gaming AND online streaming? I am all for that.

The more options the better.