OnLive cloud-based gaming service now in public beta

[Matthew DeCarlo]

OnLive's cloud-based gaming service has just rolled into open beta, so if you've been patiently awaiting its release, now might be a great time to test it out. According to OnLive's official blog, to gain entry to the public beta you must sign up on their site.

After signing up, you will have to provide general information about your ISP, computer specs and your location. OnLive uses this information to organize beta testers into groups. If you fit into a particular test group, OnLive will email you and request that you run a detailed performance test on your network connection and system configuration. They will review that information and may choose your setup to install the OnLive browser plug-in.

For the unfamiliar, OnLive is an on-demand video game service which takes the computational load of running today's high end games off of your PC, and places it onto their servers. Games are synchronized, rendered, and stored remotely and delivered via broadband Internet. The service allows you to play games on low-end systems running Windows XP, Vista (and presumably 7), as well as any Intel-based Mac with OS X.

You're probably thinking that the service will host the typical lame browser-based games, but it has numerous big names on-board, including Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Epic Games, Atari, Codemasters, THQ, Warner Bros., 2D Boy and Eidos Interactive. It has a library of top-end games you would expect to see on the shelves of your local GameStop.

OnLive will also be selling a router-sized "MicroConsole" which has USB, HDMI, and Ethernet ports. By hooking the MicroConsole up to your TV and broadband line, you can play OnLive games sans computer. The service will require you to pay, but OnLive CEO Steve Perlman believes the console, controller, and subscription fee will be cheaper than the cheapest of consoles.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/36084-onlive-cloud-based-gaming-service-now-in-public-beta.html

 

[gobbybobby]

It will prob use too much bandwidth for my 1 meg connection

 

[MrAnderson]

I can see this technology taking off in countries with larger over all bandwidth like Korea and Japan. This kind of service will force our ISPs to get off their collective buts and put America in the running for largest bandwidth.
These services could potentually cripple the PC market bring the advancement of processing technology down for the consumer and increasing product focus for the professional realm to run these remote applications.
What do you think?

 

[Wendig0]

gobbybobby said:
It will prob use too much bandwidth for my 1 meg connection

Geez! They still have 1 meg connections? For the love of God man, upgrade!

 

[shossofe]

gobbybobby said:
It will prob use too much bandwidth for my 1 meg connection

tru dat brudda.

 

[Richy2k9]

hello ...
in my country the max for home use is 2 Mega ... & its so expensive we don't even think about it.
a 512K connection cost around 45US$ monthly ... & yet MU is not considered a developing country any more ...
it has higher broadband access for enterprises but we rely mainly on SAFE & some other sub-marine cabling to get the bandwidth.
so even dreaming of Onlive for home use would be a luxury
moreover i'm scared of lagging even on higher bandwidth, what is it is indeed successful & 1 million gamers connected simultaneously for let say 100 different games & different levels ... how will the supercomputers deal with that !?
it may work if it allows only a limited amount of connection on a time segment, thus no one will be able to play when free or when wants to.
this technology cannot replace consoles & disc-based systems ... for with time, we would want more content, higher quality, multi-language support & more & more ...
this will mean more bandwidth usage for cloud gaming. now that they are coming up with 400GB blu-ray, if some mega wacky developer even think of using all the capacity (in a near future) ... like Naughty dog said did with the 50Gb Blu-ray .. then how to compress & stream such kind of games ...
i truly think it will work fine in parallel, mostly if the gaming providers like Onlive, invest in local servers in each country .. would be much like VOD
sure hope this technology find its place in our daily life, for having a PC & a console with support of newer media-less system .. would be great for any hardcore gamers around!
will also mean less piracy
also ... Onlive should also think of having exclusive content but not limited to stream to their box, they should try to give Xbox360 / PS3 users also the possibility to act as boxes ...
time will tell ..
cheers!

 

[windmill007]

Wendig0 said:

gobbybobby said:
It will prob use too much bandwidth for my 1 meg connection

Geez! They still have 1 meg connections? For the love of God man, upgrade!

Dude I'm cruisin easy street on 3MB connection!!!

 

[r3claimer]

I hardly think that this will cripple the PC marke's advancement. If anything, it's going to encourage sales of PC's and, of course, company's are going to take advantage of people by telling them that they need better computing power in order to run these games. I think it's good news to those of us who still think PC Games > Console Games. (BTW, I have a Dell 3100, this is the best freakin' news I've gotten all year lol)

 

[natetheman]

CONS:
You need a GOOD* CONNECTION**
*bad connection means bad quality, bad service
**no connection means no service
(I cant imagine the bandwith required to receive lossless 1900x1080 @ 60 FPS, even disregarding audio)
You're paying monthly
You don't own any hardware
You don't own any software
Inevitable immediate latency
when you 'move left' you don't actually immediately move from your perspective, you tell the server to 'move left', the server then 'moves left', then gets back to you to confirm that you did infact 'move left'

 

[Wendig0]

Dude I'm cruisin easy street on 3MB connection!!!

Wow... All this time I've been taking my 6MB connection for granted...

 

[Guest]

dude, you say you have a 1MB connection! that is considered good in South Africa! the fastest we have is a 4 MB line! I tell you, we still have Modems around (52K lines)!!!!

Im using a 2.4 MB device, but only experience 300-700K speeds....yep...you gotta love South Africa.

 

[Guest]

Too bad they don't want non-US residents beta testing (not even Canadians).

Living it Large with my 15Mbps connection in Canada.

 

[Guest]

" 2.4 Mb device, but only experience 300-700K"


as an FYI 2.4Mb would be = to 307.2KB p/s

So if you get 700KB you'd have a 5.4Mb connection


1 megabit = 128 kilobytes