Sleepy Gamer

Although most of the announcements at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) were a bit boring, there was one that peaked everyone’s interest: OnLive.  Why is it such a hot topic?  Well, if they are successful, it could possibly lead to a unified game console future and put all of the Xboxes, Playstations, and Wiis into the gutter.  With all the debate regarding digital distribution vs. disks, could OnLive prove the deciding victor?

So what exactly is OnLive?  Think NetFlix movie streaming, but for video games.  OnLive is a video game on-demand subscription service that allows you to instantly buy and rent titles in the comfort of your own home.  What’s so special about this service is that all of the games are hosted on OnLive’s powerful servers, while the game content is streamed to you over the Internet.  Unlike services like Xbox Live, which requires you to have a the software and hardware locally, everything is executed online.  Anything you see on the screen, every button you push is transmitted back and forth to you via the Internet.  Since the games are streamed, you no longer have to deal with discs, lengthy downloads, software installations, or annoying driver updates to enjoy your favorite games.  The best part about this is that you can play high-end games on basically any entry-level hardware.   Since all of the processing are done on the remote OnLive servers, you can play power hungry games like Crysis in full 720p resolution on any old Pentium II desktop.  There’s no longer a need to drop a pretty penny for the top of the line video card.  Not only is it compatible with your PC, it will also work with your television and even Macs.

Wait a minute, if everything is streamed over the Internet, won’t lag ruin your gaming experience?  This technology is apparently 7 years in the making, so with all the R&D invested in this service, OnLive claims that lag will be a thing of the past.  This “lag-free” gaming is possible due to the beauty of broadband Internet and cloud computing.  In order to play the games in high definition, it will require an Internet connection speed of at least 5Mbps and 1.5Mbps for standard definition gaming.  If your Internet connection is like mine (the crappy kind), it’s most likely that your Internet speeds will fluctuate throughout the day and will occasionally drop to a snail’s pace.  To combat this, the OnLive servers has the ability to lower the resolution based on your current Internet speed to fully optimize your framerate.  If you’re not sure what your Internet speed is, you can always test your Internet download and upload rates with this nifty site.

With big publishers like EA, Ubisoft, TakeTwo, and THQ, they should provide enough games to definitely keep OnLive afloat.  So how much does this service cost?  Frankly, I have no idea since OnLive hasn’t announced any price model yet.  It is assumed that they will have some sort of monthly fee associated with the gaming rentals, and a separate pricing if you choose to purchase the games.  I can’t imagine it being much different from NetFlix’s model, but your guess is as good as mine.  Yet another comparison to NetFlix, if you want to play OnLive through your television, you’ll need to purchase the MicroConsole which is very similar to the Roku box.

Like any new technology, there’s a ton of skepticism on whether or not OnLive will fail.  Did anyone remember the Phantom … probably not?  The Phantom was supposed another revolutionary gaming console that also featured an on-demand gaming subscription service.  What happened to it?  It died a miserable death.  So why would this time be any different?  Well first, OnLive has an impressive list of 3rd party support, which means more games to keep subscribers happy.  Secondly, when the Phantom was announced back in 2004, this was a time before popular sites like YouTube turned streaming into a cultural phenomenon.  So it’s just a natural progression that video games should be streamed as well.  But even though streaming is now widely accepted, it’s still a bit unnerving to purchase a game that you don’t have a physical copy of.  At least with other services, like Steam, the game is downloaded and installed on your local hard drive, that way you always have a copy.  You have to ask yourself, what happens to my games if the company goes under?  How often will OnLive deliver new content?  I guess we won’t get answers to all of these questions until later this year.