Something witty about OnLive

[Cheetohands]

I tried a few demos and was quite impressed by how well OnLive works. I like the idea of OnLive but the problem I have with it is the existing library of games. They're just not offering anything that makes me want to subscribe to the play pack or purchase the OnLive version of something I can get on my 360. If they start to offer more PC titles, games my aging PC can't run, then I'll take notice.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I tried a few demos and was quite impressed by how well OnLive works. I like the idea of OnLive but the problem I have with it is the existing library of games. They're just not offering anything that makes me want to subscribe to the play pack or purchase the OnLive version of something I can get on my 360. If they start to offer more PC titles, games my aging PC can't run, then I'll take notice.

Yes, it is pretty impressive when you're watching it working. I was really blown away™ at how quickly it all worked. But if there's not a decent library of games, then I guess it's pretty pointless

[JonCole]

Eh, they're clearly still in a growing phase. They do seem to be getting fresh titles fairly regularly though, including newly released titles like Fear 3 and upcoming stuff like Deus Ex and Space Marine.

[Cheetohands]

Eh, they're clearly still in a growing phase. They do seem to be getting fresh titles fairly regularly though, including newly released titles like Fear 3 and upcoming stuff like Deus Ex and Space Marine.

True. It's nice to see some publishers playing along.

Right now they're also giving away a free MicroConsole and controller with pre-orders of Deus Ex, Space Marine or Saints Row: The Third. Not a bad deal for someone who isn't already planning to get those on console and/or can't run them on their PC.

[JonCole]

True. It's nice to see some publishers playing along.

Right now they're also giving away a free MicroConsole and controller with pre-orders of Deus Ex, Space Marine or Saints Row: The Third. Not a bad deal for someone who isn't already planning to get those on console and/or can't run them on their PC.

I believe you can also opt for a free game of your choice, meaning you can pick up something recent/expensive at no cost (B1G1, effectively).

[JoannaDark]

I will definitely do this for the deus ex offer.

also STEAM KEEPS CRASHING MY COMPUTER WAAAAAI

[Cheetohands]

I've only tried demos at this point but the Deus Ex offer is really tempting me!

[Nachimir]

I used to live in a flat right in the centre of Nottingham and I could only just attain 5Mb/s, whereas in my new one still in the centre I get about 12Mb/s. Before both of those places I got 22Mb/s in a small town.

The hackspace is quite close to the telco exchange in Nottingham and we get about 8mbps. Living in a house across the road from the exchange a few years ago, we struggled to get up to 2. It really does seem to be pot luck, with huge variance between different ISPs renting the same copper from BT.

[Cheetohands]

The OnLive deal just got a little sweeter... today they announced members can permanently get 30% off everything they buy as long as they subscribe to the Play Pack. That puts 'Deus Ex: Human Revolution' at $31.49 for the game alone or $37.79 for the game plus a free MicroConsole, controller and some bonus stuff. Sorry to sound like a commercial for them, I just get excited when I see something that seems like a good gaming deal.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Cheetohands

[Gwardinen]

The OnLive deal just got a little sweeter... today they announced members can permanently get 30% off everything they buy as long as they subscribe to the Play Pack. That puts 'Deus Ex: Human Revolution' at $31.49 for the game alone or $37.79 for the game plus a free MicroConsole, controller and some bonus stuff. Sorry to sound like a commercial for them, I just get excited when I see something that seems like a good gaming deal.

All depends on whether you want the Play Pack, I suppose.

I've been trying OnLive a little over the past few days, the instant free trial thing is my favourite part of it. I hope more games come to the service purely so that I can play the trials. I also enjoy going into the Arena and watching other people play various games, it's strangely entertaining (though only in brief bursts).

That said, more than once I had the screen suddenly hugely pixellate on me, particularly at the beginning of a trial, and that combined with the occasional burst of huge lag makes me wary of playing anything that requires constant attention (such as anything multiplayer or very timing based). All of that is a problem and I'm on a fairly strong connection for this area, around 6Mb/s.

Also, despite the fact that the buy one get one free deal from Deus Ex to another game is really solid, I don't really see the point in buying something on OnLive if you have a console or a computer that could run the game at the same level as you'd be getting through OnLive. My computer is gradually losing that distinction, but the fact remains that I still own a console and any of the games they're offering in that deal with look and play better on it and won't require an internet connection or be subject to lag even in singleplayer.

Still think this technology could be the way forwards, it just doesn't quite meet my requirements yet beyond being the best way to try a game for half an hour.

[JonCole]

All of the previous stuff said, the deal I'm considering -

PlayPass for a month ($10) -> Saint's Row: The Third ($35 after PlayPass discount) -> Deus Ex: HR (Free after Saint's Row preorder promo)

I guess this is when I have to figure out whether or not I'm serious about OnLive because that's a lot of hours of gameplay to be on that service, not even including the PlayPass stuff.

Also, Darksiders is $5 for today. Great price for a great game, if you don't already have it.

[Cheetohands]

After spending more time using OnLive these last two days I realized it works best--at least for me--on games that aren't in constant, fast motion. Up till now I've been playing some RTS games and a couple RPGs and things worked well. When I played DiRT 2, Fear 3 and Homefront the image & texture quality suffers to the point of being close to unplayable. I did some searching on different forums and apparently this is happening to a lot of people, even those who have fast, high-quality Internet connections. I like the concept of OnLive but to me it seems more like a proof of concept rather than something I'd use today.

Excuse me, I now have to go tweak my video card settings...

[Lu]

I like the concept of OnLive but to me it seems more like a proof of concept rather than something I'd use today.

This seems to be the conclusion a lot of people come to, me included. I think in another 5 to 10 years, this stuff will really take off. Unless, a company like Google decides to do something like this sooner.

[JoannaDark]

So, I just downloaded onlive and it's got me, purely on the prettiness of the interface (so, so shallow) I'm running 20mb on a (infant) macbook and so the demo's (i tried A v. P) are running beautifully, also ten dollars for a month seems ok to me. a lot better than the time i got gypped by Big Fish games for 8GBP a month without realising i'd subscribed (i just wanted to play hotel dash...for shame) at least this is upfront, you know what you're getting into. before i subscribe i just want to look into the cancellation process, but i'm pro-onlive right now.

[JonCole]

So, I just downloaded onlive and it's got me, purely on the prettiness of the interface (so, so shallow) I'm running 20mb on a (infant) macbook and so the demo's (i tried A v. P) are running beautifully, also ten dollars for a month seems ok to me. a lot better than the time i got gypped by Big Fish games for 8GBP a month without realising i'd subscribed (i just wanted to play hotel dash...for shame) at least this is upfront, you know what you're getting into. before i subscribe i just want to look into the cancellation process, but i'm pro-onlive right now.

Cancellation is pretty easy. The only thing I don't like about it is that they cancel immediately instead of at the end of your last billing cycle.

[JonCole]

Looks like they're running a week long promotion on Ubisoft games, starting with Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands at $5. Too many sales are happening.

http://www.onlive.com/games/details/prince-of-persia-the-forgotten-sands#&type=trailers

[Cheetohands]

One thing to note regarding their cancellation policy: once you put in your credit card number you cannot remove it. Your only option is to replace it with a new credit card number or completely cancel your account forever. If you cancel your account you will permanently lose your 'Player Tag' as well as access to any purchases you made. Cancelled accounts cannot be re-activated. You can cancel your subscription to the PlayPack, but if you buy full access to any games you must have a valid credit card on your account to retain access to those games. At this time you also cannot change your email address on your account once it's setup.

[epiclairs]

Gamefly just announced an unlimited PC gaming service. I don't use either service now, but when I can download a full PC game vs streaming it ... I know which one I'll choose.

Source: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/715242/gamefly-to-offer-unlimited-pc-play-later-this-year/

[Gwardinen]

So OnLive is officially coming to the UK on 22nd September: http://www.onlive.com/corporate/press_releases/801

Those of us who already have accounts will apparently just be folded into the UK version as we've logged on from the UK (this is based upon an OnLive Support email to someone other than myself). We'll have to see if this makes any difference to the technical performance of the service, or whether it just means the shop is in pounds now.

[pabosher]

I'm looking forward to getting one of these from Eurogamer, and trying it out next week at GamesCom! It's never really seemed like something I'd be interested in, to be perfectly honest, but for free? Sure, why not.

[Nachimir]

So, anyone trying this yet? I have a console but haven't had a chance to use it, but tried the app tonight and it's pretty damn good. If you're picky about everything being really crisp and super high res, you'll probably hate it, but if you're use to playing stuff on a mid-range gaming PC, it's great. It does get compression artefacts sometimes, but nowhere near as bad as I expected. Sometimes it's really crisp, and the times it's not are kind of like a contact lens coming slightly unstuck.

In five hours of playing the new Deus Ex, I've only had it really struggle once, for about a second. Thats on both good broadband within 0.5 miles of the telco, and an okay connection over 2 miles away.

Subscriptions are currently free, but it told me on sign up they might not always be. I would bet the publishers are exercising a lot of control over price, but there's no way I'd buy full games at the price they are now when I could have my own copy for the same money and not need a subscription. What does interest me is, say, having access to Space Marine for three days for £3.50

[Cigol]

Anyone tried that Gaikai service on Eurogamer in the same vein? Playing demos of games in your web browser... Was just as impressive and starts working in minutes. I seemed to have less input lag with it as well.

Subscriptions are currently free, but it told me on sign up they might not always be. I would bet the publishers are exercising a lot of control over price, but there's no way I'd buy full games at the price they are now when I could have my own copy for the same money and not need a subscription. What does interest me is, say, having access to Space Marine for three days for £3.50

It's also pretty upfront about the length of your license. I think they only have agreements with some games for so long (I seem to remember 2014 for one of them), after which you may no longer have access to it if they don't renew their deal.

I tried the demos and I was definitely impressed with what I saw but like others have said I wonder whether they'll be the guys carrying the baton when this stuff really takes off.

*looks wistfully at Valve*