As from June 17th this year, a new online gaming service will allow users to play popular games over the Internet.
At the moment, dedicated gamers have to pay out a small fortune for a gaming console such as an Xbox or PlayStation and then purchase the necessary software to play the games.
OnLive does away with the need for a console as the games are held in the cloud so to speak and are streamed directly to a user’s computer or other device.
“OnLive breaks the console cycle. We don’t need new hardware devices” said Onlive’s founder Steve Perlman.
Got to admit that’s a big plus. Basically by doing away with the need for hardware that needs to be upgraded every few years, more people will be able to afford to play for a start.
“We want to take your dollars from hardware and let you spend it on software. We are a new platform and we’re building a network and infrastructure to last for the next 30 years of gaming, not the next five years” The Company’s chief operating officer Mike GcGarvey told reporters
OnLive says it has come up with a new way of compressing videos which enables communication over broadband in real time.
Games will work on a PC, a TV, or a Mac and even on relatively low powered devices. Great!
Just think if you use a laptop you will be able to play games such as Assassin’s Creed, Borderlands or Prince of Persia sitting in a café, on the train or in an airport lounge, anywhere you can get a Wi-Fi connection.
But will it kill off the game console?
Somehow I don’t think so. Firstly, the company’s servers would have to be able to cope with masses of users without there ever being any interruption to the streaming and that’s not going to be easy.
Another thing is users would also have to have a decent and fast broadband connection in order to get the right kind of quality which is unlikely to match the gaming experience offered by the Xbox or the PlayStation.
Still, it’s on the right track.
The OnLive service will only be available in the US to start with for a monthly subscription fee of $14.95 which will then allow you to buy or rent games online. There’s no mention yet of availability for anywhere else.
