Onlive - The future or a load of shit?

[MetalMilitia]

Onlive interview #1

Onlive interview #2

So the basic premise here is that these people at Onlive have a big server farm that they run high-end PC games on and you, using a web-browser, can connect to a server and play a high-end PC title on any low end machine (no video card required). APPARENTLY they've developed some bespoke system for eliminating the lag that occurs when your controller is controlling something several miles away instead of right in front of you and the way it sends frames back to your pc is also optimised in some fashion to eliminate lag.

Personally I'll believe it when I see it. I could imagine maybe a strategy game could work as it's not so time-sensitive as, say, a shooter but really there are so many things that could go wrong with this it seems unbelievable to me that it would work properly.

[Fathom Zero]

I'm with you on this one.

[Dimnos]

IF they can get it working properly it sounds like a great idea.

[Fathom Zero]

I can tell you right now that they do not have the power in their servers to render all this shit, nor the bandwidth necessary to ferry all this information all over the world. It looks about as legit as the Phantom.

[Microshock]

I've had this shit in my mind forever, that's why i was like those fuckers took my idea but i don't think it'll work, what if you dont have internet or your internet fucks up....

I was thinking more along the lines of just tuning into a channel and playing like that, but i highly doubt this device will get any real support, and if you'll even be able to use any controller you want or only their controller..
And what happens if someone developed something for the ps3, they'll have ps3's and 360's and everything at their server farm?

[Ant10708]

read the fucking articles and all your questions are answered microshock


sounds sketchy right now. I could see the digital distrbution replacing consoles games being bought in stores but I don't think this lag free experience will work with non of the game being in the person's home. I feel lke the system would work if it required you to download the game basically just eliminating the physical disc and case but their goals are more far reaching

[Emu]

but how will i run my duke nukem forever mods

[Microshock]

OK, it looks pretty cool but it's going to have so many problems at launch, I guess we'll just try it out when it comes out.

[Fathom Zero]

Who's "we"? You got a mouse in your pocket? I'm not trying any of this shit.

I have a huge problem with cloud computing and streaming paid content like this. I feel like I'm renting something that should be mine. I like my games tangible, whenever possible, and if it isn't, I back 'em up on a physical medium.

[Tadao]

I bought 1 game on Steam and now I regret it. It's not for me.

[Angryhydralisk]

I'll believe it when I see it. It sounds about as novel as when Final Fantasy: The
Spirits Within was the "future of movies" and the "end of actors".

[Fathom Zero]

Originally Posted by Tadao

I bought 1 game on Steam and now I regret it. It's not for me.

I like Steam, though. I like that form of DRM and the games are stored on MY hard drive. I may need internet access to use them, but I have no doubts that there are ways to hack around that.

[Tadao]

Steam did something that left me wishing I had bought the hard copy. They aren't all that great at customer service. In fact they completely ignored everyone and pretended like we didn't exist. But that's just one instance and it happened to be my first impression from them.

[Fathom Zero]

I haven't had any outstanding issues that couldn't be fixed from a little Google-age, but I guess things like billing or something could fuck things up. I've heard from elsewhere that their customer service sucks, but when Bioshock's $5 or I want to get my TF2 on, there's not really anywhere else for me to go.

[MetalMilitia]

Yeah I've heard Steam's customer service is rather ropey but luckily I've never needed it.

Personally I really like Steam-like services. It's so much nicer to me to not have to worry about disks and weird DRM. Though that said I still can't quite get on board with the whole Onlive thing. If it works it could be great for people that have a crap PC (at work even) or want to play PC games on their TV but for anyone that already has a half-decent PC it's just redundant and kind of takes some of the fun out of what it is to be a PC gamer.

[Fathom Zero]

I've said how much I hate this idea, but I also know I'm powerless to stop it and that this WILL be the future. It's going to happen. Connections are going to get better, storage will become physically smaller and store more, and heat disappation technologies are going to evolve.

This will be the future; everyone's data in the hands of a select few, we having chosen so as consumers.

[Tadao]

It might be brought on by the need to fight piracy.

[Nick]

I only like Steam, but only for Valve games. I will never buy a game that isn't from Valve off Steam.

[Tadao]

I read on another forum that payment "might" be that you buy the game and pay a monthly fee. I don't think I would do that. One or the other but not both.

[Fathom Zero]

That'd be seriously fucked up.

[kahljorn]

i don't see how internet connections or storage could ever get good enough to make a shitty computer be able to run good games from thousands of miles away ;\ or even three doors down really. Seems like they would need specialized hardware/computers at least ;\

but what do i know

[MetalMilitia]

Good article on Eurogamer about this: LINK

It makes some interesting points about how this can in no way work as it has been advertised.

[Nick]

Onlive- The future load of shit.

[Tadao]

Originally Posted by MetalMilitia

in no way work as it has been advertised.

Yeah, it's from the guy who invented WebTV. Big idea, crappy results.

[Dr. Boogie]

I'm with the "no way" camp. I personally wouldn't mind diminished graphics quality if it meant my meager PC could run high-end games, but there's a shit ton of popular games out there that have nothing going for them except their graphics. I think most people will just stick to console gaming.

Oh, and the technological impossibility of it all.