Ok, let me first say: OnLive is NOT WITHOUT FAULTS. Okay? It's not perfect. I don't believe it's going to replace my Steam library, never mind my PS3 library!
But... Having said that, OnLive gets SO MUCH right. So much in that I actually think "why does no other service do this"?
Also, before carrying on, I should note I am connecting in the UK and I have a feeling I'm on US servers. So any issues I'm having are because of THAT. I also should note I'm playing it on a pretty powerful PC. I use it for gaming anyway, so maybe for some users the process won't go as smooth.
Now, the positives:
1. FAST. AS. SH*T. Think about it -- this thing is operating from hundreds/thousands of miles away and it's working flawlessly.
2. No installing? This is the freaking future! On PC you spend up to an hour installing depending on the game.
3. No downloading! Well, technically it's downloading as it's playing BUT there is no download bar or buffer bar. It's just pure and simple, no clutter, no nonsense.
4. 30 MINUTE trials?! Don't forget that's the FULL game, so in a way this is cooler than a demo (I'm aware PSN+ members can also do this, but not INSTANTLY!)
5. Arena/Brag/etc. Watching the other thousands of people playing instantly, this thing is phenomenal. Hell, even YouTube sometimes needs time to buffer...
6. Great library of games already. This thing is new, new services on PC take time to grow (example greenmangaming) developers need to approve use of the game on the service and I believe some time is needed to get it functioning in OnLive, but regardless there are some very excellent games. Borderlands, Assassins Creed II, Batman Arkham Asylum, etc.
7. Pricing is actually quite good. There are some worrying things like "this game may not always be on the service" but you can always use this as a practical, instantaneous, rental service and the prices are very, very fair.
8. Strangers watching me play. Now, I quite like the pressure of this. Anyone can watch me play at any time. This makes me play better, and when I was demoing Unreal Tournament III I was playing better than I ever have (I have the game on PC via Steam so I needed a comparison)
9. Slick UI. This thing is beautiful. The Orange may be a little vibrant for some, but the way the UI interchanges between each other and the smooth sounds just is a really awesome way of navigating a system.
10. Adjustable resolution, by default it picks the best resolution for your display. Mine is quite small (16") and the games do look pretty damn awesome at times.
Now onto the bad points:
1. Lag. Not game lag. But control lag. It's very noticable, it can interfere with play time, and even affects the menus sometimes. (Could this be because I'm from the UK?)
2. Usual video artifacts. Full screen any video and you'll notice some odd things like grain and jumping. This happens in OnLives games too. For this reason OnLive games can never look as good as their on-disc brothers.
3. Strangers can watch. While I like the pressure, some don't. I'm sure you can set privacy though.
4. OnLives finer points are annoying. I'd love it if they said : You spend £30 on this game, you keep it for as long as we're online. If we're offline within a year of your purchase you will be refunded. A simple clause like this would offer a sense of ownership. Steam also has this issue but the thing is... Steam's never going down, and Steam games can also be played offline.
5. Connection errors. I had one, but oddly it just let me press "ok" and carry on with the log-in process. For others, the process may not be so smooth.
Closing comments:
I'd like to say if you're in the US or UK : give OnLive a try. Don't think of it as "I'm going to spend money on this immediately", put it through it's paces. I'd also like to add that it's never going to be an true alternate to proper hard-copy/hard-download(on HDD) games for a number of reasons.
But, overall, the program is truly impressive. It's a testament to how innovative we are with technology. I'd love to maybe see a game developer take advantage of OnLive by making a next-gen game and see how the process translates. If it translates well, boy howdy we could see some rivals in this industry.
Which leads me onto the current rivals, there is gaikai which is currently in beta. According to sources it functions well but has similar issues to OnLive.
Now, imagine if Sony Nintendo or Microsoft had a service like this. Obviously NOT to replace their current one, but maybe as an additional rental or P2P basis? It could very well turn the tides of how many casual gamers play games. Imagine if <your fave game> was available instantly , just one press of a button and you're loading it up?
Info on system I used: 10mb connection (true 1.5mb download lol, and like 800kb/s upload), I have an AMD PHENOM II X4 and a HD4850 with 4GB of ram.
The armadillo returns.
I personally do remember Infogrames in the years prior to merger. They really did have a portfolio that stuck out and I enjoyed. I wonder what value they see in reviving it now though?
Sony is apparently experimenting with an AI tool that will play the game for you when you are grinding away. A PlayStation patent for “auto-play” mode would simulate your gameplay style in certain environments and apply them to skip that section completely. This technology would likely be built directly into the cloud-based PlayStation Network and be a new feature that subscribers would have access to.
Hah! Either will never happen or publishers will charge you to use this AI. This concept would only exacerbate the problem we already have with GaaS.
doesnt that concept already exist tho?
buy dlc to get a ahead in games? money, weapon and exp dlc come to mind but yeh. one more thing for them.to potentially charge for.
Usually, for GaaS/Seasonal games, you'll have to perform actions to earn specific in-game currency to buy things for events. Then they sell the currency with real cash or a third-currency to then buy the in-game currency items (it's honestly truly bloated to hide that they're cheating you out of money). With this, they'll just give you items if you do something 50 times or the like and then charge you to have the game play it for you. It's better, right? No currency shenanigans, just play the game and we reward you! But, the truth is they'll inflate the amount of times you have to play through content just to get the same thing.
Why?
Why not just remove the Grindy part?
I hope it's not an excuse to make them worse, but optional if you pay
This IGN blogger mode will allow 'reviewers' to play games like rest of us.
I will never forget watching GamingBolts spoiler video for Horizon FW and realizing they never played it. Made me wonder if they play games at all.
Reminds me of those 24 hours races in gran Turismo 4 having your PlayStation play for you.
But realistically if you have to use any of these for Grundy games there's a bigger underlying problem of the game not respecting your time in the first place.
Grind for game length is a real problem in my view
Duuro says: "I think the idea behind the movement is cool, but on the other hand, the execution and clear limitation of the platform somewhat undermine the whole thing."
I personally hope Onlive dies a horrible death for the good of the gaming community at large, there are no positives to Onlive only negatives at least for the gamer.
My positive list. (For the people who already have millions in there bank account)
1) Developers/Publishers gain a massive installed base almost unlimited, problem different platforms thus a dumming down of controls to work for touch screens controllers and keyboards. But a massive installer base means a lot of potential to make money.
2) Developers/Publishers instantly kill preowned games sales, after all how can you sell something you don't physically own your just prolonged renting it.
3) Developers/Publishers have the ability to shut servers down forcing users to buy newer games and losing there old ones forever if there's no physical media.
4) Developers/Publishers gain the ability to edit game code at any time regardless of if the players want the changes, Don't want them adverts in your game? Tough shit you don't own the game your simply renting it.
5) Developers/Publishers basically have you by the balls and can quite easily product placement you into buying anything they like, possession is 9/10ths of the law if you don't own the physical media you got no fucking rights.
Now for my list of Negatives.
1) You lose the ability to ever sell your games or lend them to a friend.
2) You lose the ability to play classic games, if the game doesn't have physical media and the servers are down it's gone forever.
3) You don't actually own the games you spend your money on you simply rent them, they can and will take your game away from you when they see fit or when it's no longer profitable.
4) Gone the days of mods or game edits, you don't own the data so you can't do anything with it.
5) No game cases booklets or discs for the few games that mean something to you. And you know your going to lose the game as soon as the server goes down FOREVER.
There's most likely a list of 100 negatives to Onlive, honestly though I would be here all night if I went though them all, and I don't believe I have the problem solving ability so see every possible scenario that will happen anyway.
So for my closing comments, if you value gaming as it is today stay away from Onlive no good will ever come of it. It will ruin the gaming industry and only make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Nothing good can ever come of Onlive and anyone that says otherwise is a completely naive halfwit. Am not saying it won't ever catch on I just hope to god it doesn't.
OnLive is a great service. Been using it since day 1, and they have treated their customers better than any other videogame company. They even gave me a free console. I can let you know how well it works on Monday if you're interested.
The community is great. You CAN set it so others can't watch you. I don't know why you would do that unless you don't want to make friends.
It sounds like overall you enjoy the service Raendom. The lag here is noticeable but not terrible. It's about the same as Killzone 2.
im really interested in seeing how onlive plays out over time. i like what the service is trying to accomplish and bring to gamers. i have such a slow DL speed that sometimes i dont even wanna bother buying games off psn/xbl cause its gonna take forever. its more due to the fact that im impatient and dont wanna wait for a game i just bought to download 3 hours later. if onlive can stream games to me even with a slower connection im all for it. right now though it doesnt really offer an exclusive titles mostly just multiplats but if i could play exclusives from multiple consoles and pc that would be pretty sweet.
I like OnLive as a rental service.
It's like Gamefly, but instantaneous.
For me Onlive is for console gamers
Games like Batman Arkham Asylum and Mirror Edge without 3D and without PhysX look just as bad as console versions.
Like the Onlive for rental idea, only benefit I can see from it as a PC gamer. Steam its everything to me :p