The New Steam Killer?

Fooz

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Oct 22, 2010
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SO has anyone been looking at this new Onlive games thing, it looks like it could be really good.

You get the game in like 5 seconds, there seems to be some good deals like your first game is just £1 (UK only i think) which includes new games like deus ex etc.

I think it costs £6.99 a month, and you can play like 100's of games, i dont know too much about it at the moment, but i thought some of you might be interested.

Downside is the resolution for most games seems to be a bit off and im not sure if you can change it at this moment in time

Edit: OK so after having used it a bit more, im going to agree with most users here, and say it sucks.
 

devotedsniper

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Dec 28, 2010
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I've been thinking about trying onlive, my account name got approved yesterday, ran the program and it wouldnt let me on because my connection "had drops" (i was actually watching a video on youtube at the time), then when i did log in, the display was abit pixelated (bear in mind it was in windowed mode so it should have been fine, and today i was going to do the £1 for game thing just cause it's a £1 for a full game even if its not mine and look what appears...



Personally? it's a nice idea for those with low spec machines, but in reality i don't think it will be very popular with the actual gamers unless there using the onlive box for there tv in the near future.
 

yuval152

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Jul 6, 2011
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First of all it won't be a steam killer(Vlave is trying to interagte something like this) and because it has very limited country support and requires alot of bandwitch,and because you don't own your games.
 

Fluke

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Not even close to competing against any of the download services.

Tried the Dirt 3 demo, but you can massively feel the lag between your input and the game's response, the image quality looks like, well what it actually is - compressed video, and there was constant juddering in the frame-rate (I'm on 10mb cable).

All my gaming friends (console and PC) pretty much think it's a joke to the point that none of us could be even bothered to take up the UK launch offer of a quid for your first game purchase.

How this can appeal to most gamers is beyond me, unless it can get to the point that you can't tell in any way that you're not playing a streaming video.

Yes, the potential for playing new games on old hardware is there, but as it stands, it's poor.
 

Zantos

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Jan 5, 2011
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Ooooh, this I have to see. It won't kill steam, they'll live in happy coexistence next to each other and have playdates with GOG and Origin. Cookies for whoever can guess which one of those is a lie and not actually anywhere near my PC.
 

Rawne1980

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Zantos said:
Ooooh, this I have to see. It won't kill steam, they'll live in happy coexistence next to each other and have playdates with GOG and Origin. Cookies for whoever can guess which one of those is a lie and not actually anywhere near my PC.
That wouldn't be a dig at Origin per chance would it?

I get cookie now?

On Topic.

It's been pretty much written off by most people I know. One of the lads tried it and said it sucks giant hairy monkey balls with BT broadband.

Laggy, expensive and not entirely user friendly.

He got it for his son but scrapped it.

You don't own any of the games you get so it's just basically a way to milk people from their cash and people fork out for it due to it's 'convenience'. Except we're talking about British broadband now which is about as stable Katie Price's bra's. Too many ISP's throttle over a certain download/stream mark and at peak times nearly all of the big ones throttle so game performance is going to vary from okay to bugger this has more stutter than Gareth Gates getting oral from a drunk monkey.

It's a fantastic idea on paper but it has more cons than pro's for me to put any money into it.
 

Arrionso

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Mar 30, 2011
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Calling it a Steam killer is a bit of a stretch since the two services are very different in how they deliver content.

One requires that you have capable hardware and in turn gives you a ton of flexibility in how you use it (mods, options, offline play, etc).

The other is a static service that you don't really have much control over.


I tried the US service for a while back when it first opened and it was relatively smooth. Some games felt impossible to play due to the slight lag throwing everything off though. Primarily racing and FPSs. The FPSs also seemed to be restricted to 'local' multiplayer, as in just other OnLive users.

This has more than likely changed since then though. Seeing as that was well over a year ago; I don't see how this service could have done anything but improve. Especially if it was successful enough to make the jump to the UK. I love the potential behind it. I'm really hoping it grows. :)
 

Zantos

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Rawne1980 said:
Zantos said:
Ooooh, this I have to see. It won't kill steam, they'll live in happy coexistence next to each other and have playdates with GOG and Origin. Cookies for whoever can guess which one of those is a lie and not actually anywhere near my PC.
That wouldn't be a dig at Origin per chance would it?

I get cookie now?


The best cookies I could find in 20 seconds of Google searching. They're more a metaphysical reward than actual delicious cookies. Which I am now going to go buy. And eat all to myself.

I had such high hopes for it though, I defended it when people were just complaining on the grounds that it wasn't Steam. And then EA decided they needed to make it at least 300% more evil. I believe the next update to the terms of service allow EA representatives permission to come into your house while you're in the shower, steal your towels and piss on the bathroom floor.
 

Rawne1980

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Zantos said:
I had such high hopes for it though, I defended it when people were just complaining on the grounds that it wasn't Steam. And then EA decided they needed to make it at least 300% more evil. I believe the next update to the terms of service allow EA representatives permission to come into your house while you're in the shower, steal your towels and piss on the bathroom floor.
Had to quote that and mark in a salute and a tip of my hat to you.

Spluttered coffee on my monitor with laughter.
 

Hiphophippo

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Amishdemon said:
On downside is you don't own the games though and you need internet.
To be totally honest, you don't legally OWN any game you buy these days. Mind you, if you buy retail you have a physical copy so it's pretty easy to lie to yourself that you do own it but you don't.

And I've always got internet. Well, 95% of the time. And Steam will let me play whatever I want offline so I don't sweat it much. There will come a point, probably in both of our lives where everything is always online. Everything. Always. Games are just trying to get there a little early.
 

Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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Now I can have lag in my single player games too. Awesome!

Eh, it's an intriguing idea. Can't say I'm terribly interested though. If nothing else, my Australian internet basically precludes me from using Onlive.
 

Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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Double post. Oh Escapist forums, we love you just the way you are.
 

T-Bone24

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It's a bit naff at the moment, but I just got the Deus Ex Human Revolution Special Edition for £1, so it's there for when it improves a bit.
 

Assassin Xaero

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Master Steeds said:
I think it costs £6.99 a month
That is also bad when you're like me and work a ton. Sometimes I only played games for a few hours in a month. Mostly the reason why I avoid MMO's.
 
Dec 27, 2010
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Onlive will never succeed outside of the US, and even there it'll be limited to just the major cities (and possibly Sweden). The fact is that, despite what half the people on these forums will tell you, modern day broadband speeds are still terrible in most parts of the world. I know I have trouble just watching a video with another one buffering in the background, I can't imagine ever being able to stream a whole game at the FPS speeds I could get by just running it off my hard drive.
 

kebab4you

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Unless you live right next to where they are hosting the games it´s an awful idea for many decades to come...
 

Signa

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Zantos said:
I believe the next update to the terms of service allow EA representatives permission to come into your house while you're in the shower, steal your towels and piss on the bathroom floor.
AW! And those towels tied the room together so well.

OT: I can't believe the marketing push for this piece of crap service. You can build a gaming-grade PC for so cheap today that it renders this moot.
 

Joseph Alexander

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Amishdemon said:
On downside is you don't own the games though and you need internet.
you haven't read the steam ToS, have you?
they're in their full right to ban you from your account anytime they please... oh and your account is what own the copy of those games, not you.
so yeah, its more or less the same bullshit deal.