OnLive to make PC and console online gaming obsolete, says IGN

[terry78]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/965/965535p1.html


Very in-ta-es-ting.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That sounds pretty crazy. I wonder if it'll actually succeed. It sounds great on paper, but who can really predict what the general public latches onto?

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

There are more pc's in the world than consoles, not all of them are gaming pc's or ones able to run Crysis type games. Assuming it works and isn't a complete mess, it could be a huge gold-mine. If anything I think this would do the opposite. It can also help against piracy. Although personally, I like having an "open" platform and upgrading. I doubt this will kill off hardware sales, it could lower them though, which would be pretty good.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

As long as it has gamepad compatability, which shouldn't be too hard since current-gen consoles all use connection methods that can interface with PCs pretty easily, I would probably use this rather than a console.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

http://www.onlive.com/

The website has a 6 hour timer atm.
Been giong for a few hours now.

 

[terry78]

^Boo-yah, if I can try a beta version, I'm all up on that **** at about....10pm tonight.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Hmm, don't think there is a beta untill the summer according to the articles.
Might just be a trailer or something or maybe just some teasing crap.
Be cool to see it working.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Names like Playstation are too powerful. This will certainly not take over consoles nor will it reduce their use. If this works, expect Sony and the like to introduce something similar. This is a neat idea tho, but if this tech catches on, itll be from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd leave Sony and Microsoft in a heartbeat if this thing worked as well as it promises to. I'm sure I'm not the only one, either.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I'd leave Sony and Microsoft in a heartbeat if this thing worked as well as it promises to. I'm sure I'm not the only one, either.

Im pretty sure the majority wouldn't, at least not right away. And when the population is ready, Sony will have something similar out.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Because Sony's got its finger on the pulse of the world? The PS3 ad campaigns would seem to suggest otherwise.

 

[StrainedEyes]

If it works, then great. I'm interested to see how quickly the servers crash once it goes live. The idea of never having to worry about buying a console again is great, though I assume exclusives like MGS4 and such might not be put up on it.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Because Sony's got its finger on the pulse of the world? The PS3 ad campaigns would seem to suggest otherwise.

Well i just used Sony as an example, any of the big 3 could have a similar service if this works.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, I think it's just a bit hasty to judge so quickly. About 10 years ago, the idea that Microsoft would be one of the leaders in the console wars would've seemed pretty unlikely to a lot of people. Tech markets change pretty rapidly.

If it works, then great. I'm interested to see how quickly the servers crash once it goes live. The idea of never having to worry about buying a console again is great, though I assume exclusives like MGS4 and such might not be put up on it.

Yeah, it seems like it'd be awfully expensive to render games with top-tier graphics for thousands or millions of people all over the world.

 

[terry78]

Remember the Sega Channel? Not the same principle, but you basically were able to download games on a monthly pay basis.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I had that for a while. It was cool, but my parents wouldn't pay for it anymore so I lost it.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Im pretty sure the majority wouldn't, at least not right away. And when the population is ready, Sony will have something similar out.

The thing is though, it might not need to go for that crowd at all. This isn't just specifically restricted to "proper" or "hardcore" gamers per-say. Kind of like the wii this could open a door to untouched fresh meat. I mean think about it, the ps3/360/wii combined would probably only make up a tiny faction of desktop/laptop/pc/mac's out there. What this does is allow all those diffrent variants of systems which couldn't turn into something that can. It's essentially (the idea anyway, this could go balls up) creating a potentially massive userbase of emulated high-end pc's that simply didn't exist before hand without anything other than a 1 megabyte download.

I mean IGN said they ran Crysis on it's highest settings on a Macbook

"The cool thing here is that your only requirement is a capable internet connection and some sort of computer. In theory, you should be able to play Crysis on a netbook. A handful of us have played the game, at its highest settings, on a MacBook Air with the service. Not only is the game not normally available on the Mac (outside of running Boot Camp), but the MacBook Air is hardly a gaming device, and yet we were able to hop in and play it as smoothly as a nicely-specced machine. We also played Burnout Paradise on a similarly-equipped PC laptop, and despite how quick that game is, it ran and played fine as well.

Do the games run at 60fps? Technically, yes, but the video stream makes it feel less so. They're still smooth, but Burnout wasn't as brisk as it is on a PS3, for instance. But make no mistake - everything we tried was completely playable (and most importantly, quite responsive), and being that you're able to play these games without any dedicated hardware, that's a huge, huge thing."

Probably just getting abit over-excited about it, it does need a fast connection and it seems abit too good to be true atm. If it isn't smoke blowing, it could have a massive impact.

 

[terry78]

Honestly, getting Crysis to run on most people's systems will already be more than enough for most. Right now you need the ****in' Pentagon's mount rack servers to run Crysis at a smooth rate.

 

[Addendum]

If it could still deliver when it's used in a dorm with their internet connection, then it could catch on considerably, since colleges are where a good swath of gamers live.

For me to get this I'd have to get a credit card, which I really don't want. Plus there's no word what the price for the annual subscription would be, there's no price for what the games would sell on top of that.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

The website has updated.

http://uk.gamespot.com/shows/on-the-spot/

live GDC stream.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

7 p.m. EST, huh? Gotta remember that. I really want to see the thing in action.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Names like Playstation are too powerful. This will certainly not take over consoles nor will it reduce their use. If this works, expect Sony and the like to introduce something similar. This is a neat idea tho, but if this tech catches on, itll be from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.

people once said the same things about Atari and Sega.

I'd expect this will take over console gaming eventually the same way that downloadable movies and music are already making home DVD and CD players obsolete. I work for a big cable company, there are already plans for thsi on the way, once the bandwidth increases come on line in the next few years.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Pre-recorded GDC Press conference

http://uk.gamespot.com/shows/on-the-spot/?series=on-the-spot&event=on_the_spot20090324

 

[GL1]

That's the way the world is going, isn't it?

I wouldn't lose my mind just yet. In fact, even if it catches on solidly, I'd still expect one or two more generations of consoles.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

That's the way the world is going, isn't it?

I wouldn't lose my mind just yet. In fact, even if it catches on solidly, I'd still expect one or two more generations of consoles.

Yeah, I doubt console makers aren't shaking in their boots yet. It sounds a lot like what console makers are doing already anyway with Live Arcade, PSN, Virtual Console, just tweaked so you don't have to download the games onto a hard drive.