Onlive: The next revolution in PC gaming

I just hope that people living outside of the UK and Canada dont get screwed with this like usual, and also imagine the input lag that non US players would get, they would have to be INSANELY good at programming to cut down that lag to be almost un-noticable. Hell even Xbox live on a US server can be an absolute joke, and I have an 8MB connection.

very interesting thanks

Sounds a lot like the Phantom console that used to get talked about. I gotta admit, my initial reaction to this isn't positive. It sounds.. nice.. I guess. But I really doubt it's as good as they talk it up. Sure the demo went smoothly, but you expect that. They would have set up their demo to work as perfectly as possible. You don't do a demo unless you are SURE it's going to work properly, even if you have to stack the deck in your favor.

On the issue of input latency, there really is no way around that. Electrical and optical signals travel at a certain speed, they can't be sped up. The physical laws of the universe are locking that down. It's like a satellite connection, there's delay, it takes time for the signal to travel. I don't care what fancy compression systems they have in place, you can't compress the speed of light. The signal will only move so quickly, and that's all there is to it. If they've managed to solve that one... well, they really are wasting their time using their super genius to make gaming stuff, they should be out there building a warp drive.

I also doubt the big names are signing on to improve gaming in general. They just see a distribution method that leaves them in absolute control. They'll get to choose when you play, how often you can play, and for how long. I don't like the idea of (for example) EA with that kind of power over my games. They abuse their customer base now, how much more will they do if they have such a big stick. None of the other publishers and developers are any different, they all want the control, and they all want to sell you their software in a way that has you paying continually. That aspect of this system is indescribably bad.

On the issue of input latency, there really is no way around that. Electrical and optical signals travel at a certain speed, they can't be sped up. The physical laws of the universe are locking that down. It's like a satellite connection, there's delay, it takes time for the signal to travel. I don't care what fancy compression systems they have in place, you can't compress the speed of light. The signal will only move so quickly, and that's all there is to it. If they've managed to solve that one... well, they really are wasting their time using their super genius to make gaming stuff, they should be out there building a warp drive.

Royas

Let's see: I go to a store and buy the physical disc, and can play it any time, even if my ISP is down.

-vs-

I pay a monthly fee, and pray my connection doesn't die in mid-game, even for a single-player game.

Not only that, but if this fails, I'm left with a $50-100 gadget that doesn't do anything.

Pass.

(PS: Does anyone else have the feeling that someone in this thread is being paid to hype this thing?)

The technology has been around for ages but it's finally being packaged into something that will change the face of PC gaming as we know it. Imagine playing crysis on a netbook....renting the full version of a game before you buy it....A console smaller than your hand and cheaper than a Wii to play games on your TV....

Onlive needs to launch RIGHT NOW imo!

Read up. This will be huge for PC gaming

http://pc.ign.com/articles/965/965535p2.html

TeamR

You play crysis ? lmao

So we get to play stagnated games on a smaller screen whopee **** doo

I received an SMS from Robert late last night, no doubt typed at some Game Developer's Conference bacchanal, and something in the way it was formatted managed to communicate a breathless enthusiasm. I reminded him that years ago - during E3 That Was - we saw a demo of the Phantom that was impressive enough to elicit a purchase. The demo was that good. So good that I never wrote about it - it was, in fact, too good. The machines that served the content were situated in a room not ten feet away, connected via gigabit ethernet. Every time I pore over some unchecked torrent from an ecstatic new convert, I start to become very curious about topology.PennyArcade

[QUOTE="Royas"]

On the issue of input latency, there really is no way around that. Electrical and optical signals travel at a certain speed, they can't be sped up. The physical laws of the universe are locking that down. It's like a satellite connection, there's delay, it takes time for the signal to travel. I don't care what fancy compression systems they have in place, you can't compress the speed of light. The signal will only move so quickly, and that's all there is to it. If they've managed to solve that one... well, they really are wasting their time using their super genius to make gaming stuff, they should be out there building a warp drive.

jimmyjammer69

That is true, electrical and optical signals aren't exactly slow, I'll not argue that. But when you have potentially thousands of miles of 'em, you start seeing lag. And with every node and connection the signal has to pass through, every time the signal goes through a booster (for optical stuff), anything like that, you add lag. Links take time to pass a signal on, otherwise you wouldn't have ping on today's MP games. Basically, you are going to have all of the issues people have with current online games, only more. Instead of just passing along input data in relatively small amounts, this service is going to be cramming the entire game's graphics through the line. Again, I don't care what fancy compression algorithms they've made, There Will Be Lag. Graphical lag from their end, input lag from our end. It may be playable, but it won't be as responsive as having the game locally.

That said, if it gets more people into the PC gaming realm, it might still be a good thing. I'd like to see people realize what a PC can do. If it's bad, it may drive those same borderline people further away. Let's hope it works in at least some half-baked way.

dude, if i could play Crysis on an MSI wind...OMG....

I received an SMS from Robert late last night, no doubt typed at some Game Developer's Conference bacchanal, and something in the way it was formatted managed to communicate a breathless enthusiasm. I reminded him that years ago - during E3 That Was - we saw a demo of the Phantom that was impressive enough to elicit a purchase. The demo was that good. So good that I never wrote about it - it was, in fact, too good. The machines that served the content were situated in a room not ten feet away, connected via gigabit ethernet. Every time I pore over some unchecked torrent from an ecstatic new convert, I start to become very curious about topology.PennyArcade