OnLive details subscription plan and game prices

Examiner.com
"Online cloud-based gaming service OnLive went live late last week and is slowly activating accounts for people who previously signed up for the service. They've also revealed the prices and additional detail for the service and the games currently available."

[killyourfm]

I'm not at ALL enjoying their pricing structure.

[Queasy]

The prices aren't the problem so much as the subscription requirement to keep playing the games you "purchase".

[CrAppleton]

Sounds like a ripoff to me. you should get to keep what you pay for regardless of subscription

[morganfell]

Smells like Son of the Phantom.

[thor]

Yeah I agree.

Originally it was going to be "pay per month and play any game you want on-demand".

Now that they have seen that that system doesn't work. How do you share money between game developers? Surely they will try to make their games as long as possible rather than short and entertaining. Addictive games will take precident over short story-based games.

So now they are charging far too much. In fact for the money you'd spend in 3 years, you could have bought a half-decent gaming PC and play all these games anyway. It really doesn't cost much AT ALL to get a computer capable of playing most multiplatform games. Rendering OnLive useless unless devs want to exclusively develop for it to make the most of the service, which won't happen soon.

[Gago]

im not paying full price for a game that:

1. I don't physically have

2. I can't sell

3. only works only that particular service (onlive)

[nveenio]

I agree that their pricing structure needs work, but I also think everyone is focusing on the negative. Here's the positive:

1) OnLive is not a single PC.
2) OnLive games require no DRM or activation keys.
3) OnLive allows you to play your games anywhere, on any platform. PC, Mac, TV, etc... Even Mobile, your games travel with you. You can now play your favorite games on your Mac while taking a break fro studying/working in the library or local coffee shop.
4) OnLive has no hardware to maintain. Freak motherboard failure? Not your problem. Bad stick of RAM? Not your problem. Sure, these things can still go wrong with your hardware, but you don't have to replace what breaks with top-of-the-line equipment.
5) Games are $10 cheaper to "subscribe to" than purchase. How many games do you buy? If you buy at least one a month, then OnLive will save you money. Buy two a month? You save even more. Can you lose those games down the road? Sure, but the money you'd make back selling the game is trivial when compared to what you save.
6) Rent...don't buy. You can rent these games whenever you want. Play it, beat it, be done. Even if it's something you need extra time with (for example, Just Cause 2), you can rent it three times for less than the purchase. If you can't "complete" the game in two weeks, then you probably never will.

I'm just saying...there's a lot of good things, too. I'm definitely going to look into the service.

The benefits of OnLive are just as powerful as the negatives. You just have to decide how you're going to utilize the service.

EDIT: @Gago - No matter what game you buy, it will always only work on one platform. The benefit of OnLive is that it works on ANY platform (via the OnLive service).

[Tony P]

Sure. And all you have to do is give up control and ownership of the material you purchase.

That is a combobreaker right there. This is *far* worse imo than MS trying to do XBL on PC. Charging people to play online... Onlive is basically charging subscription fees for the single player. I hope everybody craps all over this so they can go back and tell the publishers to stuff it.

This idea sucks.

[hennessey86]

that was the only reason i was interested in this thing because i aint gona spend a grand plus on a pc to play it. No crysis no purchase from me im afraid. I do think this servise has potential though

[Queasy]

This is the list of initial launch games. They have more coming.

[hennessey86]

i really do think this is the future of gaming you would never have to buy a new console again it makes perfect scense to me. If they can get the developers behind them. Ive got a 50mg connection so i should be able to play crysis in 1080p which would be amazing

[crck]

You certainly don't need a 1k pc to run Crysis in 720p. A $500 or $600 machine will do that or much less if you buy used. BTW for anyone having trouble running crysis turn off motion blur in the config file. It can add 10+ frames per sec.

[hennessey86]

ive already spent £250 on an xbox and £230 on a ps3 so to spend another £800 £900 on a pc seems stupid to me when im mainly a console gamer. I think onlive is a great alternative to an expensive pc gaming rig

[Tony P]

Incredibly stupid.

OnLive restricts the games themselves to subscribers. And you still pay full price for individual games. On what planet is that acceptable?

This effectively makes PC gaming itself into an MMO. Not on my PC.

[WrAiTh Sp3cTr3]

Free for a year? I really can't argue with that. Everything else though is obviously up for debate.

[rexus12345]

It's a trap! 1st year free and 2nd year for $5 per month may sounds like a great deal, but keep in mind you have to buy games and keep subscribing to play them, so on the 3rd year, they may raise the subscription fee to whatever they want and users will HAVE TO keep paying, or else their previous purchases will be wastes.

[morkendo]

Unreal Tournament III is priced at $4.99 for three days $6.99 respectively for five days.

7.00 for 5 days?? and 59.99 for ONLIVE game?? thats not yours?? after u payed 60 bucks if u close ur acct. its gone??
rather have a solid disc.
no thanks

[nycredude]

WTF! All that hype and talking and all for this crap! Sheesh this is an inferior version of Steam, only you have to pay to have access. So you pay to use the service and then you have pay again for the game or you can rent it. However way you choose to use it in the end you have nothing physical! Wow talk about a scam. I hope they revise this cause it's obvious if this is the way the prices will be it will die a quick death. Seriously there are way better deals than this readily available at your local Gamestop, and you get a disk! Steam has sales almost every day, just the other day I bought Mass Effect 2 for $23!

Wow there's more to it. It is not guarantee you will be able to play the game in the future!? You need a wired connect with at least 5mbps... The more I read the more I smell complete failure.

What do you guys think?

[frankymv]

Why would I pay to play these games on my Mac/PC when I can play them in "real time" on my console?

Furthermore, with all major titles moving to consoles primarily, what is the point if you are a console gamer?

[thor]

Well there is the OnLive "console" which is just a small box you plug into your TV. I think it works with 360 controllers but I could be wrong. Still, the price is the major stumbling block for most people - if they can afford OnLive, they can afford a decent PC or console.

[NYC_Gamer]

might aswell build your own gaming pc...

[HighDefinition]

Onlive sounds great.

[BeaArthur]

Sounds like the pricing is better than we originally thought but I'm still concerned about the lag.

[Queasy]

I signed up for the free year but got an error stating that I don't have the correct UDP ports open on my firewall and told me to check the FAQ.

Gues what wasn't in the FAQ...the UDP ports that need to be opened.

[rwarner174]

Great idea, just about 10 years to early.

[AEtherbane]

I dont hate onlive, it a really cool thing there trying. But there doing it wrong and too early.

[chak_]

wow, that's a lot of money there.

[da305kratos]

YAY for me! gonna try it once i get home

[donscrillinger]

i thought this would be kind of tight when i 1st read about onlive but now i c you would be a str8 fooleo to give these guys money for this .lmao wont be buying that for a buck

[labwarrior]

Can i use mods in Crysis ?

Can i even play Crysis in 1080p on my TV ?

Nope, so what difference does it have from my medium end gaming PC that plays almost anything bar Crysis (even that can be played in 20+fps though with some effects removed) ?

Aside the fact that iwill never own the games i buy with OnLive ?

If this service is to go anywhere, must have all games in 1080p and maxed out visuals as far as can go for ALL PC games. Otherwise looks like a bad joke to me and i have read reports of lag, even now that have extremely few playing, imagine if more get the service, will be unplayable most of the time

[SuperStrokey1123]

Wait, so we need to but their service and then pay full price for the games? This is just stupid.

[r1sh12]

Online...No thanks
PSN+ - Getting when its out
xbox live - Already have

[AEtherbane]

39.99 for a new 59.99 retail game, that would be a different story, but full price for a digital copy which isnt guaranteed to work 100% of the time? And not to mention an additional monthly fee? Full maxed out graphics and game streaming can kiss my a$$. Ill keep an xbox, ps3, wii, whatever. Id rather buy a game and play it with less than stellar graphics.

[NicSage]

OnLive will flop or be eaten up by uninformed folks.

[divideby0]

just got the email...gonna check it out tonight...if they require a credit card, not sure if I am gonna sign up

[Phish]

There is also another technical issue they didn't mention. It is in the Onlive FAQ but is overlooked. You need a Computer with at least a dual core processor. Most people (including myself) were led to believe that any low end computer would work. This is not the case. The client won't run without a dual core processor.

[s45gr32]

I will give it a year to see if it improves for the end user. Right now still in its infancy and is too early for me to judge.

[Xfanboy]

6 dollars to rent a game for 5 days!!!