The UK release in two days will contain a far more completed client than the Americans did, as it has been under development while in beta with basic functions. Everyone [in the UK] can order OnLive through their ISP, but BT bundles OnLive with their offerings, with plans on optimising the connection with OnLive gaming. Prices haven’t been confirmed just yet, and with the release tomorrow it’s getting close.
Promising over 100 top-tier games instantly for play on TV’s (with the OnLive micro-console), PC’s, Macs and tablets (including iPads), there’s a lot to look forward to for the gamers. A free membership will include; free demos (30 mins of gameplay on all the games available), spectator features, and voice chat, even in groups – worldwide. (quality depends on connection and your distance to the servers)
Added to the service late August;
Facebook enhanced integration will include posting of not only the achievements gained in the game, but also a video of the last 10 seconds up to the pop, so be ready to brag away!
Concerned parents can make use of parenting controls of both Pegi and ESRB rating, with the ability to make exceptions.
Games are installed and run on the OnLive servers, which means a lot of the muscles needed for gaming aren’t on your computers shoulders so to say, but at the OnLive servers – thus making it possible for low-end computers to play big games. You don’t need any discs, no downloads and you don’t need to install the games either. Only video streaming will strain your connection and your computer.
OnLive tells CVG that the games are essentially PC versions, but are all modified to the OnLive version, in order for it to work on their software.
John Spinale, VP of Games & Media tells [Computerandvideogames];
We haven’t really talked about OnLive much in the UK yet so I don’t think we deserve any credit, but soon hopefully we’ll get some good reactions,
We started off in the US with a soft launch. Then did some PR and said ‘hey, this is neat and revolutionary technology’, but we didn’t really market or push it hard because we were still developing what it was.
We limped out with the fundamental architecture… but we didn’t have a fully robust feature set that gets everybody excited,
Now we have a really robust platform so we have the ability to come out guns blazing in the UK and show everybody the opportunity is huge.
We’ve put [everything] together over the course of the last year and there’s a library of games and a really cool feature set that other platforms can’t do, such as the fact that you’re playing super high-end games on a tablet for example.
[On the issue of lag] At this stage in OnLive’s technology evolution, most OnLive players report that they experience no latency or acceptable latency. But, some players will find the current latency unacceptable in some games.
[Which games will hit the OnLive library, whos’ onboard?] Almost all publishers and developers are on board, independent developers will be just as well represented as the big boys thanks to the ability to self-publish digital distribution provides.
There’s a large number of people on the platform right now and the vast majority of third-party games as they come out, going forward will be on OnLive pretty much [on] day [one] and [keeping up with the release] date [on other platforms].
About the console and how it works
If you want to play on your TV, you can get the micro-console, and along with it comes a controller – the best part is that it follows the basics from the Xbox 360 controller that [we] love so much. There’s slightly more buttons on it to make use of OnLive functions such as the “brag clip” button that saves the last ten seconds of gameplay – saving it in the cloud, for you to share with your friends. Voting included.
The micro-console doesn’t have wireless connection from scratch (OnLive recommends wired connection anyway), but alternatively you can use a Powerline Adapter.
The game library is big and constantly expanding with huge titles such Duke Nukem, Assassins Creed and the new Batman Games – while smaller games from smaller developers also get their place in the library, and there’s a few gems in between. And if you go for the PlayPack bundle, there’s currently 94 games for you to play – with very little money involved. Of course the graphics are affected because it’s streaming, it fits very well with the idea of the bundle. I look at it as buying the access to a bundle of games for a certain period of time.
It’s easy to get into with a rather small PC client – simple and without too many settings and features. I miss the feature to see who and how many are looking at my streaming while I’m playing, at least get notified when they leave. Statistics for people looking at my stream could also be a neat feature – not to mention more games with implemented achievements.
More can play heavy games!
With this system low-end computers and even tablets will be able to play the more demanding games. Here’s an iPad that shows the currently available OnLive viewer with the micro console as input. OnLive expects to expand this to be playable on both the iPads and the android tablets.
The big question is; Will the rest of Europe be able to make use of the service? For now, I’ve been able to reach and make use of the service for quite a while (which means the servers in the UK have been running for a while), and last night I was actually able to add my credit card to my account, using an American address. I don’t know if this will last once OnLive has fully made its launch in the UK, so if you live outside the UK and are interested in getting in on the fun, I suggest you act fast, because right now, it’s working.
