Turn it up cloud
Setting the Game System up is straightforward. There are Ethernet, USB, and HDMI cables included along with the mains power supply, so you just need to plug everything in and follow the on-screen prompts to create your free OnLive gaming account.
The OnLive UI is easy to navigate
There are a number of payment options available. You can buy games outright for full price – the new Batman: Arkham City costs £34.99, for instance – but it’s also possible to get a "playpass" for many recent games and this will allow you to rent the game for a few days instead. Arkham City will cost £3.99 for a three-day playpass, or £5.99 for five days. Older games are slightly cheaper: £3.49 and £4.99 for three- and five-day rentals, respectively.
Paying full whack for a game essentially grants you unlimited access to the the title, allowing you to play it for as often as you like.
There are plenty of A-list titles on offer
There’s also a monthly "playpack" option that gives you unlimited access to a selection of about a hundred games for £6.99 a month. You won’t get the very latest titles in the playpack list, but it’s a good option for casual gamers who'd like to try their hand at a variety of games.
Quite a few games also provide a 30-minute free trial so it’s worth downloading the OnLive client software onto your computer to check out a few games before purchasing the standalone Game System. OnLive has also done a deal with BT to provide the ISP's broadband customers with a three-month subscription for free.
Three- or five-day passes, or unlimited access are on offer
Next page: Play time
COMMENTS
I just don't see why
The little console thingy is £70 and buying a game costs the RRP and is unlikely to drop.
For that you're tying yourself to a service that may not last forever and you never actually own your game.
Why not just buy a second hand xBox 360 (I got a 2009 model Elite for £80 last year)? You can then hunt around for the best prices on new releases and pick up plenty of cheap old games. Or just rent them the old fashioned way.
No mention of the subscription fee. Is that still around or did they decide it was silly?
Oh god, it's you!!!
I keep having this recurring nightmare where you corner me at a party and never stop talking...
Bandwidth usage
Interesting thread here about the bandwidth used by OnLive:
http://onlivefans.com/showthread.php?3691-How-much-bandwidth-does-OnLive-use-I-have-the-answer.
In summary, I don't think this is going to be compatible with most UK ISP deals.
GJC
And how much does a decent PC cost?
And how much exactly does a decent PC with a decent Nvidia card to play it cost nowdays?
North of 600.
And how much exactly does a decent PC usable for daily non-gaming use cost nowdays?
South of 350.
That is without taking into account power consumption, etc.
If you do the _FULL_ math the numbers end up in favour of the onLive for anyone who plays less than 4h a day. If you are playing more than 4h a day... Well... Can you tell me who is your employer, I would like a job where I can spend 4h+ a day playing too.
Question...
It does look like this sort of thing is the future, but if everyone starts using this will the infrastructure handle it?
Sure the data speeds may be fast enough in a lot of the country to deliver this now (although not in many of the greener bits!), but you are talking about adding potentially millions of new users continuously streaming high quality video. Most providers already throttle torrents for large portions of the day, not for any copyright reason, but for 'fair use'.
If everyone that currently plays XBox, PS3, Wii and PC games was basically streaming HD video continuously any time they were playing anything that would take a huge amount of capacity - It would dwarf the stress put on the infrastructure by say catch-up TV and the ISPs were already up in arms about that...
