OnLive - Streaming PC/Console games @HD quality

[Elvis]

Gdc09: OnLive Makes PC Upgrades Extinct, Lets You Play Crysis On Your TV

The concept is simple. Your controller input isn't going from your hand to the controller to the machine in front of you, it's going from your hand to the controller through the internet to OnLive's machines then back again as streamed video. Whether you're using a USB gamepad, Bluetooth wireless controller, or tried and true keyboard and mouse, the processing and output happens on OnLive's side, then is fed back to your terminal, with the game "perceptually" played locally.

This could be epic. :O

[Purrrfect]

Doesn't sound very 56k friendly.

Interesting idea, but then no one could blame losing on their machine. All excuses would turn into "omgwtf lagtastic!"

[Katlan]

Sounds promising, but I want a version that you can directly hook up to your TV (via a box) instead of having to route it from your comp. Shouldn't be any harder to do. Anyways... sounds great, but I'm sceptical and not gonna get excited about this until it's release (where we find out about how good/bad it actually is).

[Doombear]

Quite a few interesting things about this. Spectating at any time, 'brag clip button' that saves the last few seconds of you gameplay, friends list. This sounds very interesting for sure.

Gametrailers - Onlive Part One

Gametrailers - Onlive Part Two

[Maxxthepenguin]

Sounds batshit insane, impossible to do properly, and riddled with billions of potential glitches.

I like it.

EDIT: Oh shit, 2d boy is on board.

[Weltall]

It will be awesome as long as there isn't input lag. I mean if you are trying to play say, Counterstrike, and you press "Fire" and the wait is longer than 6~7ms this whole idea/project is worthless.

My computer can play Crysis++ so I don't care, but it will be awesome if I don't have to invest in new computer parts all the time :D

[Darus Grey]

It will be awesome as long as there isn't input lag. I mean if you are trying to play say, Counterstrike, and you press "Fire" and the wait is longer than 6~7ms this whole idea/project is worthless.

My computer can play Crysis++ so I don't care, but it will be awesome if I don't have to invest in new computer parts all the time :D

Which is exactly what will happen.

The absolute minimum response time from an internet 2 way communication is thousands of times slower than console input, there is no way around this , it's both a problem of physics(1/4 of the speed of light isn't as fast as you'd think when you're going through tens of thousands of miles of cable), and infrastructure in that you are routed through so many hops to your destination.

[Doombear]

So no one has any faith that this "new process that we have been working on for 7 years" of theirs will work? Seems so amazingly ignorant to release something like this without combating lag right up front.

I guess we see if this new technology they have created does indeed remove lag from the equation, as long as you are not on dial up speeds.

[Katlan]

So no one has any faith that this "new process that we have been working on for 7 years" of theirs will work? Seems so amazingly ignorant to release something like this without combating lag right up front.

Oh I'm sure they have thought it all the way through.. And I bet they can counter a good deal of lag for... lets any good sample size... but when 10m+ start hitting the server it will buckle under the pressure and now way they can prevent input lag...
Oh did I say 10m? will prolly be more then that after the first month

[Tythera]

Just what I need, more crap to tip me that last bit over the 250 GB mark so Comcast bitches at me

They have a fairly high cap for capped providers too, I can't imagine this going well for people with lower caps

[Weltall]

I didn't even look at who the devs were, but if this is something created by a new name company, they are either going bankrupt at record speeds or becoming billionaires.

[Reality]

The Phantom, Pt. II

(This shit isn't going to work, period.)

[OzzofAsura]

If this works half as good as they say... I'm in.

[Insanecyclone]

Site is up and signed up for beta but it's only for US people sorry euros. Also link removed live conference of the onlive thing.

[Devolver]

Site is up and signed up for beta but it's only for US people sorry euros.

Signed up earlier today myself. I mean really, if this means i can play some epic single-player PC -only games on my tv, without having to pay for a new rig? Shit, i refuse to look at potential bad things.

[Doombear]

I can't find the Beta sign up... any links? Not sure why i am having such a hard time finding the damn site.

EDIT: Wow... ok just... nevermind that. Onlive.com... who would have guessed!

[Devolver]

I can't find the Beta sign up... any links? Not sure why i am having such a hard time finding the damn site.

Hi there.

Edit: My Edit hates your edit for making my edit necessary

[Doombear]

Its ok, it is all just a big glaring arrow pointing to my own stupidity. Wow, web search sites have ruined my actual ability to deduce on my own!

[Kaisha]

I'm just curious how much it'd cost to subscribe to such a thing, especially if they got rigs set up to be fast enough to run Crysis smoothly. There's no way they could have more than one copy of that running on the same machine like other simpler games........you'd basically be subscribing to have access to a whole machine to yourself that isn't in use, and I can't see something like that happening economically unless they charge $100+ a month, or dropping the idea of having 'modern day' titles on it that rape CPU/GPU resources.

For this to be big, they're going to need a fuckload of PCs in multiple warehouse-sized locations, and one hell of a cooling system to deal with the heat generation, let alone the bandwidth costs.

And I'm just ignoring the obvious lag question.

[Maxxthepenguin]

A public beta is really dangerous for a product like this. The mere concept is so unbelievable that the naturally skeptical nature of we internet geeks is going to shit all over this if it shows the slightest hint of not being up to snuff. I don't see any other alternative if they want a semi-smooth launch but, truly, this could get rough.