Reggie Doesn't Think OnLive Will Work

Speaking to the WSJ at GDC 2009, Reggie (Nintendo Of America President) had somewhat harsh words about the recently announced OnLive gaming service.

[Godmars290]

This from a guy who's console has a virtual arcade?!

[DelbertGrady]

He had a loaded Wiimote pointed to his head during the interview.

[SullyDrake]

Reggie doesn't WANT OnLive to work.

[JsonHenry]

I think it will work. I mean, IT ALREADY works.

The question is - How well does it work? What is the lag time? If I am playing a PC game on Onlive can I expect to max out visuals? How does the multiplayer aspect work on Onlive games? How good/bad is the latency while playing?

[N4g_null]

Godmar doesn't understand the onlive concept?

The funny thing is if it does work nintendo would be the first to actualy get a boost from this tech.

Reggie does have a point. I only see this being available to the high end subscribers. I believe AT&t is rolling out a 15 meg connect for homes in certain areas.

If it does work the home consoles WOULD be on the same level as PC gaming and beyond. This would kill the need to upgrade at all yet it would keep you on a pay to play model much like the arcade.

This is a good and bad thing so console may still exist because people do like to have physical copies.

[Sarcasm]

It's obviously about sales.

Since the Wii is selling millions, his idea is that it "Works."

If OnLive doesn't sell millions, his idea is that it doesn't "Work."

:)

[Silverwolf]

I have to agree with the guy. Anyone who's played Halo or COD4 with a full server can attest for the amount of lag. Considering consoles do most of the work while the server just spits bytes back and forth. I can imagine a server not only runing the game but decompressing the video back to the gamer. Considering you'll also need a 5mps connection for HD games. I'll stick to consoles.....

[TheRealSpy]

and 5 megs is the minimum because you'll need to be able to maintain a steady stream. I think onlive would work really well in smaller countries where the infrastructure is built around fiber optics. but US infrastructure is copper and it's massive. i can't imagine streaming that much data continuously for hours and hours.
plus what about the ppl who have data limitations? i think comcast users gets 250 gig a month so that's plenty...but what about time warner? i know some places where time warner limits you to about 20 GB a month.
additionally. ppl do still love single player games. why on earth should i always have to make sure i'm connected to the internet to play em? and i don't know about the rest of you, but i like having hard copies. you can't trade digital distribution with your friends. you buy it, and it's yours only.

[Darkiewonder]

I'm still waiting for a smooth game on SSBB.

[MegaMohsi]

Reggie do us all a favor and STFU!

[enviable27]

I think he should be worrying about his own Console's lag issue...ie Dragon Ball Z, SSBB??? Yeah reggie I dont think these work.

[KingKionic]

no one knows if it will work. just dont speculate lets see if it can.

[TooTall19]

History lesson: When televisions first came out radio and the movie industry said "this won't work" and "we're not worried".

So if OnLive can give a quality experience Reggie should be crapping his pants.

[Sarcasm]

It's like Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

HD-DVD fanboys said "Blu-Ray won't work, it's too expensive."

Now they are the lost and the damned.

[dericb11]

For a person who doesn't zero for Nintendo I agree with him. But seriously Nintendo do you really need this guy for your company anymore? I mean the Wii is selling tons and it has nothing to do with this guy. Drop the salary you have for this speaker and invest in a few games.

[jagstatboy]

What would Reggie know about Crysis?

[Tomkar]

What would you know about that?

[Heldrasil]

He may know the same information you know...there is a strange concept called "reading"....

[titntin]

Its a fair comment.
When you put it to real technical scruitiny, the onlive service is not gonna deliver the immediate response many games require and won't even deliver 720P signals to most without lots of compression corrupting the picture, never mind 1080P, which is what new technology should be delivering. Theres no doubt this kind of system will make a huge splash in the future, but the technology and the infrastructure around the world means its only suited for a select few in ideal conditions. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I highly doubt it.

[AWBrawler]

ok fans and fantards, its time for just for the recors once again.

Reggie Fils-aime joined nintendo late in the gamecube's life cycle and since he's been there, he's made a lot of claims people laughed at, but for the most part he was right. such claims as:
DS will beat PSP, Nintendo will be back ontop with Wii, Mario Kart will top Halo, and Wii Fit will be a huge success. So Reggie knows what he's saying, and he knows rhat this is nothing more than a modern day SEGA channel, and casuals rule the market, and i don't see casuals choosing this over Wii!

This has been just for the Record.
Angel Winged Brawler signing out.

[MegaMohsi]

Casuals will choose this if the price is right.

[AWBrawler]

didn't you guys say the same thing about the 360 Arcade and LittleBigPlanet? we saw what happened there..... Casuals are not the people coming to N4G, and I can't see them choosing Onlive over Wii, kinda how last gen they didn't choose anything over PS2 even though there were two superior gaming consoles.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Nope, casual gamers will just download bejeweled or go on some FREE flash game. I highly doubt casual gamers need a killer rig to play a game of solitaire, bejeweled or a flash game.

[Dawn_Of_Ashes]

lol from a guy who represent a console company who have only 3or4 good games and most of these games doesnt have online feature... Come on!
The exact title should be "regie want the onlive to fail"

[HoofHearted]

Just think about some of the biggest games of all time, or even just the last couple generations. Zelda, Mario, Metroid, God of War, Killzone 2, Gran Turismo, Halo, Fable....and so many more. ALL first party. Why would they start producing for OnLive when that would kill their console revenue?

Answer - They won't

I'm sorry, but I like some Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft games. I want to keep playing them. If they make me buy a console to play them, I will. Consoles aren't going anywhere.

[Flare149]

I hate Reggie, but this time he really is right. Currently digital downloads are not very practical, especially in distributing games. It not only takes a lot of time and a lot more money (think of all the servers that'll have to be running 24/7) and there's simply not enough space. Most people aren't going to shell out money for something that will need to have a massive HDD which could crap out at any second. Besides, most people prefer a hard copy that they keep and will be able to rely on

[Scerick]

"By for a state-of-the-art shooter game like “Crysis,” which relies on a hair-trigger response, you may as well be playing with dialup Internet connection, he said. “We’re not worried.”"

Because Nintendo has a state of the art shooter named Crysis or even like Crysis, a robust stable online network, and a High-Def console to make a statement like that.

Not that I think OnLive will work either but get bent Reggie. Use some reasoning and logic that doesn't make you look like the ass you are next time.

[Superted2007]

In fairness now I think we should listen and take what he has to say to heart. I mean he did give us Wii Music and all!

[The_Beast]

i wouldnt be surpised if we saw the other 2 (MS,SONY) say it doesnt work then its pretty much ganna be

PS3,XBOX 360, and Wii fanboys vs Onlive fanboys...