Play at home, play on the move
Gamers can also continue from where they left off - on different devices. Sony clearly shares the view that this is a benefit and recently launched a cloud-based save-game option for PS3 owners. It's easy to imagine this service extended to allow mobile play of the same title on Sony's upcoming NGP handheld - and maybe Android smartphones too.
Some big names are signing up
OnLive has its eye on phones. Last month, it announced a deal with HTC that will see the phone maker embed OnLive software in its smartphones. There is already an app for iPad. This currently only offers a view mode, a window to watch other gamers at play, but it may not be long before users can fully access OnLive from their tablets.
OnLive was in development for eight years before it launched in the US in June 2010 and the company has spent a lot of that time working to cement relationships with game studios. More than 20 publishers have now contributed to the service, and over 40 titles are available. But not all developers think the service can survive.
Cevat Yeril, CEO of Crysis creator Crytek, reckons repackaging titles already available on other platforms is not the way to build a successful business model. While recognising the service as the "great first-mover" of cloud gaming, Yeril believes OnLive is unsustainable in the current market. It lacks, he says, a "killer app", an exclusive title which clearly demonstrates that the service's capabilities are superior to those of other platforms.
Watch other people play
However, the key issue that faces OnLive - and its rivals - centres on streaming such high volumes of data. To present a game in 1280 x 720 resolution (720p), OnLive says a consistent 5Mb/s stream is needed. An hour's play will consume just under 2.3GB an hour, at that rate. Here in the UK, data caps are commonplace, and many ISPs throttle traffic if they consider too much data is being transferred.
Next page: All Blighty then?
COMMENTS
if it's 3AM
and I can't sleep I usually find a quick hand-shandy will do the trick.
dont feed the troll
For the record I'm glad you spent 699 hours being thoroughly entertained and engaged at the same time, rather than spending the time doing truly antisocial behaviours.
as for the troll, its nice for you to categorise the time spent as being "wasted in achieving fuck all"
much like your post then, and I'd imagine there are many more like it, which I'm assuming is you providing ample hot air to vent your frustration at the fact that you have no way of controlling how "productive" someone is in a manner of their choosing.
Which nicely sums up your rant....you've wasted it and achieved fuck all.
karma.
Biggest problem
If my internet connection dies, one of the best things to do is play some games.
Resolution downgrade ...
I never run a game below 1920 x 1200 pixels and that's standard for PC gamers these days, many run at far higher resolutions. Please explain then the attraction of 720p?
