'Console killer' OnLive to launch in June

Hooray... and about time too.

Someone has to stop the scam that is console gaming.

The con is that you buy a games console for quite a substantial amount, then you buy the games for almost as much...each.. then a few years down the line a new console is released and all your old game are obsolete..

The solution... possibly...

A gaming service that aims to kill off the traditional gaming console will begin streaming popular games over the internet in June this year.

OnLive, which launched to much fanfare in 2009, announced details of its service at the GamesBeat conference.

Instead of games taking hours to download or buying them off the shelf, OnLive promises games on-demand.

"OnLive breaks the console cycle. We don't need new hardware devices," said company founder Steve Perlman.

That sentiment was echoed by his chief operating officer Mike McGarvey.

"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," Mr McGarvey told reporters.

news.bbc.co.uk...

I enjoy video games from time to time, but I have refused to buy any of the consoles available as that is all they can do..play a game, whereas my computer can do that, and a heck of a lot more, for a lot less cost. And I can upgrade my hardware sections as and when needed.

"It could be very disruptive to the console vendors," Billy Pidgeon, an independent game analyst told Bloomberg News.

"This also wouldn't be good for retailers or anybody selling physical software formats."

Research group NPD reported that last year, US video-game sales fell 8% to $19.6bn (£13bn).

news.bbc.co.uk...

Good.. It's about time new ways of gaming that benefitted everyone came about, instead of it benefitting just the games console corporations.

First off the costs. Xbox live will cost you £40 a year to use.

www.ciao.co.uk...

Plus the price of your computer, your internet connection, the Xbox itself and the games.
On the other hand,

OnLive will be available for a monthly rental fee of $14.95 (£9.99) for subscribers to then buy or rent games over the internet.

news.bbc.co.uk...

OnLive connects you to the hottest games instantly on your PC or Mac® or TV through your broadband connection.

www.onlive.com...

How cool is that... completely cut out the middle men (PS and Xbox)
AND it is MAC compatible!!!!

Sell your PS and Xbox now and get ready for a revolution

No offense but as a games collector, it sounds completely crap. Personally I wouldn't buy into that. It's like the renter who never owns his own house.

Quite often I like to pull out old games on a whim. I get nostalgic and I have to play it right away. I know it's always in my library whenever I want it... and there's nothing better than lounging back on the sofa and playing the game in total comfort. Personally, I don't want to be sitting bolt upright in front of a computer... or worrying about bandwidth issues, lag or excess usage fee's from my ISP at the end of the month.

Also, I noticed they spoke of not requiring upgrades/new hardware. Of course you will. If your PC spec isn't high enough to play the game... guess what!

IRM

[edit on 12/3/10 by InfaRedMan]

although this will put a stop to a lot of cheaters and hackers. as long as the gaming experience is flawless i say bring it on. if i can play the game whenever i want im not going to care if its sitting in my bookcase collecting dust.

Originally posted by Extralien

First off the costs. Xbox live will cost you £40 a year to use.

www.ciao.co.uk...

Plus the price of your computer, your internet connection, the Xbox itself and the games.
On the other hand,

OnLive will be available for a monthly rental fee of $14.95 (£9.99) for subscribers to then buy or rent games over the internet.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Xbox live £40 a year.
Onlive £120 a year and you still have to buy or rent the games.
It's not very tempting in my eye's.

Maybe once i've seen an example of the quality of the games they'll provide.

I am curious as to how they plan to make this work without lag. Not everyone has or can get a broadband connection. What about ISP usage fees, or bandwidth cap if you will. I think it won't be very popular, but kudos to the dev team for at least trying.

whoa hold it right there!

console gaming is great for mainstream people


I have a 13k pc and face it not everyone has that kind fo cheddar
consoles use a standard and though the new 360 and ps3 are too far ahead of their time with unusable power, to get a rig that does the same thing at the same price requires at least 6k dual sli 295s or tri crossfire ati, on top of that you need minimum 24gb ram. comps runnig the games at 1920x1080 suck so much resources compared to the consoles. take mirrors edge for example!

nuff said consoles wont die for mainstream not everyone has the money to kill the console market and dont believe any poster who says they can do it with less then waht i stated their lying! just play for fun graphics dont make a game more fun or better.

Not sure about this either.


I LOVE my X-Box 360 pad.... I LOVE playing on a big, wide-screen TV whilst chillin' on a comfortable sofa.


This sounds expensive and I'm sure the games will be limited.

I can't see games made exclusively by Microsoft or Sony being available on this "revolutionary" system.


I much prefer consoles to PC gaming anyway.


On the other hand, If it turns out to be amazing and gets the big console makers on board, then ya never know... could be cool.

reply to post by blupblup



I agree! I love playing games from my couch! I use a program called pinnacle profiler that lets me make profiles for games to use on the 360 gamepad or any other ALpha class controller i post them on the site so you can download them.

Great thing about a PC is it does everything a console can do and more, but to be honest it takes alot of money like i said to do that. I mean my rig cost 12k so its not for everyone except those of us who excel at being AWESOME lol. well being a scientist does have its benefits!!!