I’ve been following OnLive since it was first announced in March of 2009. The idea is straightforward: The OnLive app is just a video stream of a server. The server processes your input, renders the video, and then sends it back to your screen. A few of the less technical people I’ve described the concept to didn’t quite “get it” at first. They didn’t catch the major and minor ways this would change gaming.
Why bother?
The standout reason is the idea of no longer needing a “gaming” PC. You just need a computer that can play back video and a speedy internet connection. No $150-300 video card every year or two. No need for a new motherboard/processor/memory upgrade every year or two. A rinky-dink laptop will work to play the latest games.
Sure, I do have a gaming PC. I’m still interested. Regular PC upgrades have been a way of life for me since I was a kid, so it’s not something I’m necessarily dying to stop doing. It interests me because it puts my #1 form of entertainment in the cloud. It allows me to pick up where I left off in any of my games from any computer that has a fast internet connection. I just log onto OnLive.com, download an app that’s just a couple of megabytes, and I’m gaming. Awesome.
Why else?
Initially, I didn’t really catch how gaming via this technology would change the experience. Because they’re already streaming video to you, processing video has very little overhead. This really shines via their interface:
Each one of those rectangles is an actual video. In theory, each one is also live video of someone playing. The reality is that right now some are prerecorded due to the limited user base, particularly before release when it was still in beta.
This allows for some more subtle features – players don’t have profile pictures, they have profile videos. You can see what one of your buddies is doing in-game at this very moment. Players can create “brag clips” while playing, which are immediately available for other players to view and rate.
No way it works
If you’re anything like me and find yourself still pausing a damn YouTube video to wait for it to buffer even though you have a 16 mbps connection, you’ll scoff at the idea and call it “silly” smoke and mirrors. “There’s no way it will work.”
It works, and it works surprisingly well. When you launch the app, it analyzes your connection and determines the most appropriate flavor of their algorithm to use. So far, I’ve only spent about an hour and a half using it. This was around 7 in the evening on a 16 mbps down / 1.5 mbps up connection. I played 20 minutes or so of AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, dabbled in the Splinter Cell Conviction demo, and spent the rest of the time playing Just Cause 2. I played full screen on a 1680×1050 22” LCD. I started off using the keyboard and mouse, but when I began playing Just Cause 2 I turned on my wireless Xbox 360 controller and it just worked. I had previously already used it on my PC, but there was no configuration needed for OnLive.
Don’t lie, it’s laggy!
Yep, definitely laggy. I immediately noticed it. The time it took for the app to process my input, send it to the server farm (probably in Dallas), process it, render the video, and send it back to my computer (in Northwest Louisiana) was noticeable. Of course it was noticeable. I was hypersensitive to it because i was logging on to OnLive for the first time and testing to see if it was laggy.
But the question is this: Does it matter? In a first person shooter, it could definitely matter. In the three games I played, it kind of mattered. After about 20-30 minutes of playing them, it didn’t matter. None of the problems mattered. I had the game running full screen, I was playing with my 360 controller, and I was having fun. I genuinely quit thinking about the technology and I was just playing the games (mostly Just Cause 2). I’m a relatively hardcore FPS player. I play to try some Unreal 3 and F.E.A.R. and see how much of a problem it is, but I will honestly be surprised if it’s not something I get used to pretty quickly.
How much?
$5 per month plus the cost of the games. Less than Xbox Live. Free for the first year due to some bizarre AT&T sponsorship that I haven’t cared enough to understand. How much for the games? Brand new games are as much as you would pay on Steam. Games that are a couple of months old are $20-40. Indie games are around $10ish. You can “demo” most games, which is 30 minutes of time to play the full game. I’d take that over a normal demo in most cases. Many of the games have rental options. Pay a few bucks to play the game for 3 or 5 or maybe 7 days. For your typical AAA action game with just 8-14 hours of gameplay, this could be an amazing weekend value. I kind of forgot about renting years ago. It’s only ever been an option for consoles.
Is that too much? The service fee is much less than I was expecting. I’m happy to pay $5 per month for a gaming PC in the cloud. The cost of the games is something I’m a little unsure about. I don’t feel right paying $50-60 for a brand new game which I can only use via their service. However, I feel fine paying $30 for a game like Borderlands and only being able to play it via OnLive.
I haven’t read the terms of use, but I’ve seen some accusations being tossed around of you losing your games if you cancel your account and leave it deactivated for X number days/weeks/months. Should I lose my data and game saves after a certain amount of time? Sure, I think that’s reasonable. Should I lose my rights to play the game again 2 years down the road if I resubscribe? Absolutely not. If that’s the case, OnLive will not succeed. Before I make my first game purchase, I certainly aim to understand this agreement more.
Final thoughts
I really do think OnLive is on to something great here. They’ve got a tough job ahead of them in balancing their pricing. If the users get behind them and really show demand for the service, we’re now looking at the infancy of a major shift in our available options as gamers. Developers will create products for a platform whenever there is enough demand, and the games a developer could create specifically for a platform like this could be very promising. Sure, the video is a little muddier than it might be playing natively. Sure, there is a slightly noticeable latency issue. Sure there’s a limited game selection. For being the launch week of such an incredible technological accomplishment, I’ll take it. It can only get more awesome from here.
