OnLive Coming To PS3 Or Xbox 360? It's Possible.

By now you've probably seen the news about OnLive, the new "cloud game computer" that streams a game to your TV/PC in real time from a server. (It's basically the PS3 "Remote Play" technology done on a grand HD scale). The technology is impressive over a good broadband connection for the PC, Mac, or via a "microconsole" that hooks up to a TV.

But could OnLive work on a gaming console?

[Kushan]

There is absolutely no reason why it couldn't - but what would be the point?

[poopsack]

"what would be the point?" great question. Imagine playing a demo without having to download it, or any other game for that matter. You just stream Burnout Paradise to your PS3 instead of having to wait for the download, now of of course the disadvantage is when any network error happens. :P

[chaosatom]

But it's just seems to good to be true.

[SiLeNt KNighT]

the point would be to have a ps3 and all of its exclusives then add OnLive to your ps3 and you have all the PC games (360 exclusives) running 10x better than its 360 counterpart. plus all the other mentioned functions this has. if they can do this all for the right price and advertise correctly I think this thing could really take off.

[Tomdc]

It would be kinda good... however the whole point of this "onlive" is the fact you dont need the hardware to play the games! Using it on a console kinda makes the console a bit redundent hmmm?!

I'm not saying it wouldn't be of any use but in my opinion it is still pointless implementing it to anything this gen.

[Kamikaze135]

I can imagine PC gaming bumping up in sales if they did that. Not to mention that it'll give gamers access to a crapload of games. I'd be all over that since I don't have a gaming PC.

[Zeus Lee]

They've invested A LOT of money into XBL this gen,they're not going to discontinue the service and adopt another one that's not even made by them.

If anything,the question should be which one of these 2 companies will buy it,because if this Onlive business can become feasible within the next 5 years you can bet your ass both of these guys will want it.

[KingKionic]

it doesnt pose a threat to nethier company yet. in the mtv interview the guy even said they cant compete till 2022. will see what happens. this all comes around microsofts dd future /streaming. but this will be hard to copy.

[jBat17]

we would be too old to be playing vidjagame by then.. maybe except for the wii. some say it is for little kids and old people.

[Nelson M]

Screw the Xbox and it Laggy online Service(Which Really Really Sucks)

[Gambit07]

I think MS & Sony will slow down their console R&D department, until they know where Onlive will be going.

[Godmars290]

Can't see MS giving open access to a service like this. Unless they do it themselves, or through XBL or Windows Live.

[Avto]

This is single most outrageous thing I've heard for a while now, so let me get this straight if 21 million PS3 users want to play a game OnLive you'll need 21 million PS3s to accommodate them, with 400$ each that is a lot of money.

[bob saget remix]

Streaming games is just going to back fire. The Severs will probably crash every 5 min. A hard copy of a game just cant be beat. Expect to see this thing flop very quickly.

[Bren86]

ps3 won't get it, a microsoft console prob will.

[Jellzy]

I completely disagree, and if anything it will be the other way around.

The fact that the 360 is tighter than a straight guys @$$ means that microsoft are gonna play it close to their chest on wether or not they believe that there system would benefit from it or not. If so theyll also most likely produce the same concept and achieve a similiar system themselves.

Whereas wether Sony would do it or not makes no difference... The fact that itll most likely be Linux based also means that it may work on the PS3 from the get go or atleast to some extent.

*EDIT*

Just thought of another reason why itd be doubdful it would come to 360 in particular. The fact that Microsoft exclusives tend also to be released on PC's means that MSFT would lose alot of revenue to ONLive, as would you really want to play the gimped version if you could play the PC version with superior Graphics, and possibly Contorls? No!

p.s. The same also applies to the PS3 also with Multi-platform releases.

Verdict: Doubtful.
If... then possibly the PS3 but from were im sitting most definately not the 360.

[maniacmayhem]

What will happen to my Gamefly account?

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

Just when this gen was getting good they go and upset the balance of teh universe.

Meh not really. But i still prolly wont use it.

[TomMcBaum]

What happens if a "next gen" console costs $69 or less and plays games that look as good as those on the PS3 or Xbox 360? That's a possibility here. And yes, I agree that latency is likely to be a problem. Still, a $69 HD console would provide formidable competition to the current-gen leaders -- especially the Wii.

[ChozenWoan]

Sony has some experience with remote gaming and are likely to push development of their own system.

MS would be more likely to make a deal so as to get access to Onlive's IP.. so they could study it and then develop their own version of it. Onlive is likely well aware of this and wouldn't sign any exclusive agreements as that would put Online at the mercy of MS.

Nintendo Wii is a great alternative as their system is not as powerful and would get the most benefit from 720p Onlive Games. Nintendo would also be more likely to make a reasonable deal as the Wii's online service is not as competitive as PSN and XBLive.

Given the Wii's install base and current profitably, these two services make a perfect match. Nintendo can afford to pay Online a large amount up front to secure console rights from the other two systems, and they offer the largest number of possible clients.

Of coarse, It's in Onlive's best interest to go multi-platform as this would prevent any one Console company from being able to express too much influence over them. Or, to offer a low cost system of their own similar to the Zeebo. With a proper console, I could easily see the Onlive system covering the same territory's as the Zeebo and that of the Wii.

This is definitely the up and coming console to watch closely boys and girls.

[tudors]

theres a video on gametrailers where the guy states it would be harder to use PS3 games, he did not say why but said 360 and PC would be no problem, so he has all but confirmed that there will be Xbox-360 games in the list, obviously MS approves, is Netflix a problem alongside Lives movie service? no it's not, remember this is a games rental service so if you are going to have a favorite game that you play week in week out you are still going to want the full game full time and no rent it, but from a graphical standpoint there is not going to be anything to touch it.

[DailyAddict]

The idea of OnLive running on any of the consoles is a bit far fetched, because that's not the point of the service. OnLive will be offering a MicroConsole that will sell relatively cheap so that you can connect it to your TV, but right out of the gate any newer Mac or PC will also be able to run the games as well.

What I'm waiting to see is that so far all the private showings of the service have been positive. However, that's only a small handful of people being privileged to the demo and not MILLIONS of people around the world. Server load is what I'd like to see because that'd be some serious bandwidth and equipment that they'd need to keep that up.

After that, there's one particular issue that might come to mind and one that I wonder if they factored into their equation: Bandwidth Caps. Many internet providers are now instituting bandwidth caps for their service. OnLive will be streaming HD content (compressed, but still) all the time. I'd imagine users will hit their bandwidth cap pretty quickly and that renders the service useless as in place of a cheaper console you have users with thousand dollar cable bills or no service at all until the next month begins.

I still think it's something that we'll eventually see, but for the next few years it won't be a BIG player as much as it will be slowly transitioning into the market. At the start it'll be a great alternative for people who don't have gaming PC's to finally be able to play games like Crisis.

[tudors]

I agree with what you say but I am curious how would the WIImote work? or how will wirless work in general.

[ChozenWoan]

Today when you play a MMO game that uses centralized servers, it works basically the same why as Onlive.

1. You press a button
2. your console/pc sends INPUT INFO to server
3. server processes INPUT INFO from all players
4. server sends updated POSITION INFO to all players
5. your console/pc updates the POSITION INFO of all players
6. your console/pc renders the scene
7. then it displays it on your tv/monitor
8. repeat

Lag will be the same for a pc or a console inside the same home. But there will be a difference in lag for a player who's physical location is several times closer to the same server. That difference may be only a few micro secs, but that's all it takes to hear "Boom Headshot!"

Now the difference between Onlive and traditional gaming servers comes down to where the video processing (rendering) is done.

1. You press a button
2. your console/pc sends INPUT INFO to server
3. server processes INPUT INFO from all players

here is where the diffence starts

4. server updates the POSITION INFO to all players
5. server renders the scene for each players view
6. server sends RENDER INFO to your console
7. your console displays the Render INFO on your tv/monitor
8. repeat

This system is at least a decade away from replacing home consoles due to the large number of graphics cards and servers needed. WoW and Eve Online have a large number of servers in a room that requires massive amounts of AC just to keep em cool. If they where to also add in enough Graphics cards to render the view for every player, they would require 100-1000+ times as much in resources.

Think about it, for every 100,000 players connected at the same time they will need not only 100,000 server connections which could come out to about 50-500 servers (depending on max number of players per server). Now add to that another 100,000 graphics cards and networking equipment to connect them to the servers. That is alot of resources for just 100,000 players. Imagine what would be needed for 50,000,000 players.

Onlive will not replace this gen (PS3/360/Wii) nor the next gen (PS4/720/Wii2) consoles, but those that follow will likely be based on Onlive's business model.

[tudors]

I am with Virgin and don't have a cap limit, cap limits at some point need to be a thing of the past, at the end of the day it is just another form of transmition just like Sky to your TV, it all depends on how they handle the packets.

[genesis013185]

Guys I just don't see this going anywhere. Right now i'm cringing about all the crashes that'll happen. Is it me or is all of a sudden it seems like everyone's is trying to find that future niche to cash in on. Lately i've been hearing some of the most stupid idea's ever, but whatever people will buy it because they think it's a cheap alternative. But have'nt we learned that cheap is not the best route to take all the time. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Sounds a little too good to be true to me. This is one bandwagon I wont be hopping on.

[xc7x]

This would disrupt / interfere Microsoft's planned Windows 7 gaming domination

[thehitman]

Something exactly like this for the ps3 already. Stream games from your pc to play on your tv via ps3. It still requires a good gaming rig to do so there is not much point in it besides boasting your console can "technically" play computer games.

[ChozenWoan]

Which means that PS3s with Linux will be able to take advantage of Onlive without Sony having to do anything... Talk about a future proof console. *wink*