OnLive Includes Whole Console as Arkham City UK Pre-Order Bonus

[Logan Westbrook]

OnLive Includes Whole Console as Arkham City UK Pre-Order Bonus

OnLive exec says that he loves it when a plan comes together. No, really, he actually said that.

Cloud gaming company OnLive isn't offering new characters or costumes as a pre-order incentive for Batman: Arkham City [http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Arkham-City-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0JAVK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317297602&sr=8-1]; it's offering an entire console. Pre-ordering [http://www.onlive.co.uk/games/details/batman-arkham-city?ol_campgn_internal=featuredgames_box_art#&ol_campgn_internal=featuredgames_box_art&type=trailers] the game through OnLive in the UK will score you one of its consoles, which allows users to stream games via their TVs, without the need for a computer.

Writing back in August about a similar deal in the US, OnLive's VP of games and media John Spinale quoted the A-Team's John "Hannibal" Smith and said that he loved it when a plan came together. Everyone at OnLive, he said, was very excited about the release of Arkham City and the company was pulling out all the stops for pre-order bonuses.

The console on its own sells for a penny short of £70, so it's not a bad deal in terms of raw monetary value. Of course, OnLive is the very epitome of needing an internet connection to play a single player game, so it's not going to be for everyone.

Batman: Arkham City comes out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on October 18th.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/320605/pre-order-batman-arkham-city-and-get-a-free-onlive-console]


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[Vault Citizen]

As pre-order bonuses go this is pretty clever.

 

[Catchy Slogan]

They're doing a similar thing that cable companies do when someone buys a subscription, you get the cable box for free.

It's a pretty good incentive, but I'm still not getting it.

 

[Sgt. Dante]

I was just wondering about this,

UK users get their first game for £1 if they sign up now,
If you pre-order batman you get a free console.

Can you pre-order the batman for £1 and receive the console with it? Because for £1 i'd defo give this the old college try.

 

[Hoplon]

Wait, isn't the PC version delayed till november?

 

[mad825]

Sounds like they are desperate and indeed they should be desperate as the flaws of cloud gaming gleams while they try and convince stubborn gamers to use Onlive and (possibly) dump Steam.

In my opinion, if they fail, they should never come back.

 

[Realmikebob]

Nice idea, but Onlive has too much lag to be playable for me.

 

[Worgen]

Onlive seems to just be tossing these things at anyone who looks at them, I guess it makes sense, because really the "console" is just a network card with video hookup.

 

[punipunipyo]

what? No user menu? No Model? No cloth map? No art book? No bonus CD/DVD? No sound track CD? No kids-meal toy/model/replica? No DLC content? just a receiving box?

I don't PAY to RENT games, I OWN them, SHOW them, Collect them (dumps all the bad ones though...) paying for Cloud Gaming is like paying for Blockbuster gaming... as if you pay for monthly membership, but the rental store is next to you... but you have to play it over LAN... is it worth it? I say if the connection is solid, HD, and Load time is reduced, and it cost only like $12/mo, it could be nice... but if it's like $60 per, I'd drop it, because I buy about one title per month...

 

[fwiffo]

The whole thing looks really good, it really does, but I still dont understand what their target demographic is. Who is it for? Everyone? Little kids? Adults?

I'd say its for people with a good internet connection, and a non gaming pc/laptop.

 

[MajorDolphin]

Gimmick to push their crap.

 

[MajorDolphin]

The whole thing looks really good, it really does, but I still dont understand what their target demographic is. Who is it for? Everyone? Little kids? Adults?

I'd say its for people with a good internet connection, and a non gaming pc/laptop.

Yes, but why would these people go with onlive, and not with an xbox? Just see this from the perspective of the average console kiddie. I mean, yeah, they have games on demand, but eh. Do they have COD? No. Thats one massive chunk taken away. What about the people that arent interested in COD? Well, they probably lean more toward mature games, and arent technically inept enough to make a service thats a uncomplicated as possible a need-be. And I mean no offense to COD players by that, hell, I play MW2 myself from time to time.

The whole thing looks really good, it really does, but I still dont understand what their target demographic is. Who is it for? Everyone? Little kids? Adults?

The question I keep asking myself is, "Does their target audience know how to open ports on their routers?"

This, essentially.

Um, most mature gamers have likely been dealing with tech since we had to dial up to watch a webpage load for 3 minutes. Unless of course, you're talking about people 40+ which is where the tech skills really start to fail. (unless I somehow misunderstood what you said, its early

 

[ABLb0y]

The whole thing looks really good, it really does, but I still dont understand what their target demographic is. Who is it for? Everyone? Little kids? Adults?

Adults. Show a little kid Arkham Asylum/City, give him nightmares for a week.

 

[Knusper]

A friend of mine went to the Eurogamer expo thing in London last week, and apparently they were giving these consoles out for free there. They must be confident...

 

[MajorDolphin]

The whole thing looks really good, it really does, but I still dont understand what their target demographic is. Who is it for? Everyone? Little kids? Adults?

I'd say its for people with a good internet connection, and a non gaming pc/laptop.

Yes, but why would these people go with onlive, and not with an xbox? Just see this from the perspective of the average console kiddie. I mean, yeah, they have games on demand, but eh. Do they have COD? No. Thats one massive chunk taken away. What about the people that arent interested in COD? Well, they probably lean more toward mature games, and arent technically inept enough to make a service thats a uncomplicated as possible a need-be. And I mean no offense to COD players by that, hell, I play MW2 myself from time to time.

The whole thing looks really good, it really does, but I still dont understand what their target demographic is. Who is it for? Everyone? Little kids? Adults?

The question I keep asking myself is, "Does their target audience know how to open ports on their routers?"

This, essentially.

Um, most mature gamers have likely been dealing with tech since we had to dial up to watch a webpage load for 3 minutes. Unless of course, you're talking about people 40+ which is where the tech skills really start to fail. (unless I somehow misunderstood what you said, its early

What I mean is, people who have know how in these things are unlikely to opt for the service that gives the least freedom. And a good percentage, not all, but a good chunk of people who own consoles are 8 year olds that dont even know what a fucking router is, let alone know how to open a port and stuff like that.

I just dont see the demographic. But hell, feel free to disagree, im convinced this whole thing will fall flat on its face.

That makes more sense. Very true as well. The older crowd is less likely to buy into this cloud gaming nonsense and the younger crowd definitely lacks the know how as you pointed out. I can see some parents thinking Onlive is a better choice and a few kids getting stuck with this thing. Considering the backlash always-on has received, I can't imagine cloud gaming going anywhere but into the dust bin with the Atari Jaguar and PowerGlove.

This "free console" bullshit is obvious too. It's like the cable company saying "free cable box, free router/modem with purchase of our service!"