Cloud-Gaming Company OnLive Wants in on New Consoles

[Micalas]

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?

Not as I understand it. There is a rental service that I suppose would be the equivalent of a digital Gamefly but you can straight up buy the game and have it permanently linked to your Onlive account. About 2 months ago Onlive hit 10,000 "likes" on Facebook and as a result they decided to offer any game on there service for a dollar. I bought DE:HR and there are no recurring fees. I can play it whenever I want.

I agree that it would be stupid on consoles though. The point of a console is that they all have the same tech so I don't understand why the system would have trouble playing a game that it was designed for. Which is what OnLive was made in mind for; shit computers.

 

[Nurb]

Well the future big companies WANT is the end of game ownership and having gamers subscribe to have access to game libraries instead of having their own at home.

 

[HobbesMkii]

It's interesting all the misinformation about OnLive there is here. I use it (albeit for games I bought for a grand total of $6, including the Any-game-is-$1 discount you get for signing up) and I think it's pretty decent. Yeah, if your connection messes up, you're not playing that game, but ultimately, it's about allowing people who don't have the proper rigs to play a game the access to that game. There's no subscription fee except an extra one that opens up a ton of games if you want to pay it. I choose not to.

What I don't understand is how it makes sense to tack OnLive onto the next-gen consoles. Won't those consoles be technologically superior? OnLive is meant to bridge the gaps between end-users' hardware and software hard requirements. I don't really get how it would be beneficial to anyone but OnLive.

 

[Baldr]

I can say it not coming to the next Xbox, Microsoft is introducing it own cloud counterparts on the next gen console.

I have 11 games on the service and the console:
Batman Arkam Asylum
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Trine
Just Cause 2
Shawn White Snowboarding
Mafia 2
World of Goo
Borderland Game of the Year Edition
Splinter Cell Conviction
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Edition
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition

I've spend less than $60 on it so far, mostly because I'm a beta tester for the service. So if you don't have OnLive, your missing out. It it totally free, and 90% of the games come with the 30 minute re-playable full version demos. A great service if you want to try out a game before you buy it even on a different service or console.