Report: OnLive Could Come to Xbox 360 and PS3

[Wingman1977]

Streaming game service allegedly in talks with Microsoft and Sony.

[Grim Reaper]

free: yes
pay: no

[Icemage]

I've disliked the business model for OnLive since it was first announced. Frankly, the service just doesn't work well for any game that requires low latency (i.e. any FPS, any rhythm game, most versus modes in games).

It won't make me cry or anything to see it come to consoles, but the hardware overhead and internet infrastructure required to make OnLive keep ticking doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

[Trogdor2010]

I remember reading an article (link please) about Onlive, and why it was a very competitive format compared to console and PC gaming. It can stream high end games at it's highest settings no matter how high the resolution of the game it is. It looked very tempting.

The only thing that I don't like about the idea is that it's proprietary like console gaming is, meaning that you can't modify a game to your liking like you can with PC. So I imagine the service wouldn't let me use a custom resolution, multi-monitor gaming, analog audio, apply secondary applications to the game, or even have mouse and keyboard support. Also it seems like a format like that will require alot of RAM in order to handle the information streaming, so it's not a free lunch. And of course most internet connections can't handle the information that is required to run these games.

[AikonEnt]

Originally Posted by Grim Reaper

free: yes
pay: no

This. Although if it was included with PSN+ subscription for no extra charge that would be ok too (as I'm a fully paid up member ).

[Groo The Perverted]

I'm not sure exactly what this is. Is it like a streaming version of Gamefly? Where you don't get physical discs in the mail, you just select it from a menu, and click it and it loads up the game and you start playing it?

It would be just like the game you buy in the store, just streaming?

If they could get the software to work properly and the internet connection would be strong, I don't see anything wrong with this.

Depending on what they would expect to get per month for it.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Groo The Perverted

I'm not sure exactly what this is. Is it like a streaming version of Gamefly? Where you don't get physical discs in the mail, you just select it from a menu, and click it and it loads up the game and you start playing it?

It would be just like the game you buy in the store, just streaming?

If they could get the software to work properly and the internet connection would be strong, I don't see anything wrong with this.

Depending on what they would expect to get per month for it.

No.

OnLive runs the game on their server, and sends the video and audio streaming to your local machine, which sends your inputs to their servers.

So for a PS3 to be running OnLive it would look like:

Dual Shock 3 (you) -> input to PS3 -> transmit to OnLive -> OnLive's servers are running the game and send back the video and audio -> back to your PS3 -> to your TV/receiver

Your local hardware doesn't actually run the game; you don't even have to own the game.

The big problems with OnLive are lag and tremendous upkeep costs.

[Groo The Perverted]

Originally Posted by Icemage

No.

OnLive runs the game on their server, and sends the video and audio streaming to your local machine, which sends your inputs to their servers.

So for a PS3 to be running OnLive it would look like:

Dual Shock 3 (you) -> input to PS3 -> transmit to OnLive -> OnLive's servers are running the game and send back the video and audio -> back to your PS3 -> to your TV/receiver

Your local hardware doesn't actually run the game; you don't even have to own the game.

The big problems with OnLive are lag and tremendous upkeep costs.

Isn't that pretty much what I said? It streams the game. It's on their servers (much like Netflix's movies) and streams it to the Ps3 or Xbox 360.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Groo The Perverted

Isn't that pretty much what I said? It streams the game. It's on their servers (much like Netflix's movies) and streams it to the Ps3 or Xbox 360.

No, you're not understanding. OnLive doesn't send the game code to your console/PC. It runs the game remotely and only sends you the video and audio.

[Groo The Perverted]

Originally Posted by Icemage

No, you're not understanding. OnLive doesn't send the game code to your console/PC. It runs the game remotely and only sends you the video and audio.

Okay I'm just technologically stupid then because that sounds EXACTLY like Streaming to me.

It's not putting the info on my HD it's just Streaming me the game, IE sending me the audio/video.

How is this different from streaming a movie from Netflix or Amazon? None of that shit is on my PS3, beyond the APP with the menu listing and whatnot.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Groo The Perverted

Okay I'm just technologically stupid then because that sounds EXACTLY like Streaming to me.

It's not putting the info on my HD it's just Streaming me the game, IE sending me the audio/video.

How is this different from streaming a movie from Netflix or Amazon? None of that shit is on my PS3, beyond the APP with the menu listing and whatnot.

It's a bit more complex than simply streaming, because OnLive has to make sure there's only small amounts of lag between what's being sent from their data center to your box, with very little margin for error.

Netflix/Amazon have the luxury of buffering; they can give you several minutes of content ahead of time, or even the whole movie, and you just watch it at your own pace.

It doesn't quite work like that when you're playing an interactive video game because that button you just pushed needs to affect what you see on your screen within a fraction of a second, so you can't front-load the video or audio, it has to be sent consistently on an as-needed basis.

It might "look" like a streaming service at first blush, but what OnLive is doing is an order of magnitude more difficult.

[TL OWNS U]

I don't like this idea. I already have problems playing Amnesia on OnLive because of my connection even though I'm supposed to be getting the fastest speeds.

[Groo The Perverted]

Originally Posted by Icemage

It's a bit more complex than simply streaming, because OnLive has to make sure there's only small amounts of lag between what's being sent from their data center to your box, with very little margin for error.

Netflix/Amazon have the luxury of buffering; they can give you several minutes of content ahead of time, or even the whole movie, and you just watch it at your own pace.

It doesn't quite work like that when you're playing an interactive video game because that button you just pushed needs to affect what you see on your screen within a fraction of a second, so you can't front-load the video or audio, it has to be sent consistently on an as-needed basis.

It might "look" like a streaming service at first blush, but what OnLive is doing is an order of magnitude more difficult.

Ah okay. Gotcha.

[partridge]

I find it interesting that OnLive are trying to get this system onto consoles when it was supposed to be an alternative/rival system that meant you didn't have to buy a console to play high end games, but could use any old PC or laptop that ran an appropriate browser.

Sounds to me like they are having trouble getting as much take up as they'd hoped on computers.

Surely MS and Sony would only entertain this if they took a cut of the subs?

It's not something I think I'd be interested in so I just hope we don't end up with yet another useless permanent icon on the XMB. I really wish you could turn off or remove optional icons like Qriocity and Lovefilm

[Shin-Ra]

They can keep their input-lag, artifact-ridden game streams.

[AikonEnt]

Could be useful for demos so I don't have to spend the time downloading them, and I wouldn't have to use my precious storage space either.