OnLive...what exactly are you getting for your $15 a month?

For those thinking that the concept behind OnLive is such a frivolous one, there is competition springing up. There is obviously something to be had here.

[QUOTE="MortalDecay"] MS charges $4 a month.... Get over it, and move on. Next, they need to chose their wording better next time. I never seen that article you just posted. It must be sad that you have to declare that you win something on the internet. :)Mystic-G

Cept, you actually own the games you buy on console.

1) You can no longer play games you bought, online or offline, if you don't continuously pay your $180 a year. (Makes that Gold membership look cheap)
2) If the service were to fail, you're SOL
3) Internet connection fails so do your games (ApocolyPS3 anyone?)

I didn't mention potential bandwidth cap issues with your ISP since I dunno how much is actually being streamed. Also, people piss and moan about Live all the time for it to be free considering its top rival is free.

Besides the features which are just extras imo, the fee is just to use the service. People need to realize you are essentially streaming games like Crysis on nearly all high settings, that takes some very strong servers to do such a thing. Your paying to connect and keep those servers running at high frequency. This isnt like the servers PSN, XBL, or Steam uses. It is essentially like having an amazing rig at your house that can play crysis maxed out, but you are playing the game on your Mac at college 3 hours away, the game runs on your computer but you play it on your Mac. With Onlive the game runs on their servers, but your playing it on your computer.

[QUOTE="RyuRanVII"]

I won't used this service, not in this decade at least. A streamed game will never look as good as the same in real time. Just look at a 1080p Crysis video on Youtube. It doesn't look nowhere near as good as the real thing.

ShadowriverUB

It's YouTube only supports 720p? Also don't expect 1080p on OnLive, even On Demend it's hard to find any 1080p video

Besides the features which are just extras imo, the fee is just to use the service. People need to realize you are essentially streaming games like Crysis on nearly all high settings, that takes some very strong servers to do such a thing. Your paying to connect and keep those servers running at high frequency. This isnt like the servers PSN, XBL, or Steam uses. It is essentially like having an amazing rig at your house that can play crysis maxed out, but you are playing the game on your Mac at college 3 hours away, the game runs on your computer but you play it on your Mac. With Onlive the game runs on their servers, but your playing it on your computer.

Sully28

Excellent explanation. Hopefully others will manage to comprehend now.

Besides the features which are just extras imo, the fee is just to use the service. People need to realize you are essentially streaming games like Crysis on nearly all high settings, that takes some very strong servers to do such a thing. Your paying to connect and keep those servers running at high frequency. This isnt like the servers PSN, XBL, or Steam uses. It is essentially like having an amazing rig at your house that can play crysis maxed out, but you are playing the game on your Mac at college 3 hours away, the game runs on your computer but you play it on your Mac. With Onlive the game runs on their servers, but your playing it on your computer.

Sully28

I can see OnLive flopping really hard in terms of sales. The idea is solid but I just don't see it catching on with the mainstream.

[QUOTE="Mystic-G"][QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]That's $180 a year. Not too bad considering that the Xbox 360 cost $400 at launch and the PlayStation 3 managed a hefty $600. Strangely enough, I still have to buy games separately for those two.Hexagon_777

Just comparing launches. Don't try to ignore the past. People paid $50 a month for the PlayStation 3 and $33.3 a month for the Xbox 360 (excluding online fees). Even if the Xbox 360 is $300 now, that's $25 a month (excluding online fees) and that is without hardware upgrades or anything of the sort and you still have to pay for games separately.

[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"][QUOTE="Mystic-G"] Except... 360 and PS3 both cost $300 now. ($300 for the 360 that's worth buying anyway) Don't try to live up a choice that isn't relevant here and now. ianuilliam

I was comparing both over the course of their launch year. Contrary to the PlayStation 3, however, OnLive maintains a fixed cost for increasing value while the PlayStation 3 has a decreasing cost for stagnant value.

the article i read said the games will be lower than retail prices but they didnt give a number. johnusabeis

[QUOTE="ianuilliam"][QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]Just comparing launches. Don't try to ignore the past. People paid $50 a month for the PlayStation 3 and $33.3 a month for the Xbox 360 (excluding online fees). Even if the Xbox 360 is $300 now, that's $25 a month (excluding online fees) and that is without hardware upgrades or anything of the sort and you still have to pay for games separately.Hexagon_777

I was comparing both over the course of their launch year. Contrary to the PlayStation 3, however, OnLive maintains a fixed cost for increasing value while the PlayStation 3 has a decreasing cost for stagnant value.

If I can play PC games in high quality on my crappy laptop at 60fps then hell yeah its worth $15 for the service. PC games are cheap anyways.

Only thing I want is the controller. It's a wannabe XBOX 360 gamepad but with media-function keys!

[QUOTE="ReaperV7"]OnLive Console- $200 Connection Fee- $15 a month. Games- Probably around $15-20 BIG rip off in my honest opinion. Easyle

[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"][QUOTE="ianuilliam"]$50 a month for a ps3? If I paid $600 for a PS3 at launch, then as of right now, it has cost me $15 a month, if that cost was spread out. By this time next year, it will be down to 11 a month. See, since it's a one time cost, it becomes cheaper/month the longer you have it. OnLive is a recurring cost. Over the coarse of a 5-6 year gaming console generation, that equals over $1000 compared to $600 for a launch PS3.ianuilliam

I see how it is. At least there's still Gaikai so there's still some hope for this type of service.