OnLive Gaming Service
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 2:02 am
So I've joined the OnLive service. If you haven't heard about it yet, OnLive is a newly launched service which streams games to your PC from offsite servers in data centers. The upside to this is that no games are installed onto the pc, games are launched instantly, and there is compatibility between PC and Mac. The processing is all done from the remote server, so there is no need for advanced video hardware to play the latest games.
I took advantage of the "Founding members" promotion, and just received my invite to the service today (OnLive is gradually activating accounts, so this is not a full launch just yet). Overall, my impression is pretty positive. The games did stream instantly, as promised, and played smooth. The graphics are overall impressive, considering the game is being streamed, and not actually played on the local PC.
I do have my criticisms, though. For one, there is input lag. Even though it is extremely impressive that the games control as well as they do, the lag is perceptible, and depending on the type of game, very annoying. UT3, for example, suffered from the lag, as FPS, especially ones that are deathmatch centric, are rendered somewhat harder to play. The service does require a relatively high quality connection, and 5mbps down is recommended for fluid HD gameplay. The graphics are somewhat blurry, akin to a higher quality youtube video, so even though the effects are good, the blurring makes playing a little tougher on the eyes than playing the game locally. The launch games list is rather small at the moment, but does have some notable titles such as UT3, Red Faction, FEAR 2, and Borderlands. Batman is another great one.
At the moment, I much prefer playing games locally, especially since I'm more sensitive to input lag issues, and appreciate the games without any added blurriness. Has anyone else experienced OnLive?
The website is here.
I took advantage of the "Founding members" promotion, and just received my invite to the service today (OnLive is gradually activating accounts, so this is not a full launch just yet). Overall, my impression is pretty positive. The games did stream instantly, as promised, and played smooth. The graphics are overall impressive, considering the game is being streamed, and not actually played on the local PC.
I do have my criticisms, though. For one, there is input lag. Even though it is extremely impressive that the games control as well as they do, the lag is perceptible, and depending on the type of game, very annoying. UT3, for example, suffered from the lag, as FPS, especially ones that are deathmatch centric, are rendered somewhat harder to play. The service does require a relatively high quality connection, and 5mbps down is recommended for fluid HD gameplay. The graphics are somewhat blurry, akin to a higher quality youtube video, so even though the effects are good, the blurring makes playing a little tougher on the eyes than playing the game locally. The launch games list is rather small at the moment, but does have some notable titles such as UT3, Red Faction, FEAR 2, and Borderlands. Batman is another great one.
At the moment, I much prefer playing games locally, especially since I'm more sensitive to input lag issues, and appreciate the games without any added blurriness. Has anyone else experienced OnLive?
The website is here.