Interesting... _____ OnLive could threaten Xbox, PS3, and Wii Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, look out. Your traditional video game console business model may be in danger. It's too early to tell how much danger, of course, but a start-up called OnLive announced a brand-new game distribution system Monday night that, if it works as planned, could change the games game forever. OnLive, which was started by WebTV founder Steve Perlman and former Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey, is aiming to launch a system--seven years in the works--that will digitally distribute first-run, AAA games from publishers like Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Atari, and others, all at the same time as those titles are released into retail channels. The system is designed to allow players to stream on-demand games at the highest quality onto any Intel-based Mac or PC running XP or Vista, regardless of how powerful the computer. The system will also stream games directly to a TV via a small plug-in device, and players can use a custom wireless controller as well as VoIP headsets in conjunction with it. Based here in San Francisco, OnLive timed its formal unveiling to this week's Game Developers Conference, where it will be showcasing the technology and 16 initial games it will launch with. The service is currently in a closed beta, but is expected to go into a public beta this summer, and to launch this winter. According to Perlman, OnLive's technology will make it possible to stream the games in such a manner--high quality, no matter what kind of system the user has--by virtue of a series of patented and patent-pending compression technologies. And instead of requiring users to download the games, OnLive will host them all and stream them from a series of the highest-end servers. Users will have only to download a 1MB plug-in to get the service up and running. OnLive is hoping to capture a significant portion of the video game market share. In February, the industry posted one of its strongest months ever, with total sales of $1.47 billion, up 10 percent from a year ago. And in February, the Xbox, PS3 and Wii accounted for total sales of 1.42 million units. Full Article
Based on my limited knowledge of streaming...wouldn't this make it like 100x more easier to get a game illegally? Just sayin.
Would have to learn more about their pricing structure first...but this sounds like a bad idea, in general.
I'm assuming this would be a subscription service, which would probably handle that...unless I'm missing what you're talking about. I haven't quite heard about this specific implementation, but I remember reading about similar tech in the last few years. I think the particular thing I was reading about was using something like this to stream to portable devices, which would be pretty cool (e.g., PS3 quality games on PSP). I think it can solve a lot of problems with gaming systems today (both consoles and PCs). But while the idea is really cool, I don't think it would really work out right now, especially if there was high demand (can it handle 50M people playing at once?). Plus the usual broadband concerns (bandwidth caps, slow connections, etc.).
Another article from IGN Those are definitely some of the questions I'd have, along with how much would the subscription cost and the games as well. Seems like, in time, you'd probably end up paying more for the service than a console. But for PC gamers I could see the benefits; you wouldn't have to constantly upgrade parts. But I don't really see how it would affect Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft much, aside from altering their business model. You'll probably see all three develop something similar in the future anyways. Seems like this service could definitely pose a threat to Gamefly and Gamestop, which do rely on physical software sales. But again, I don't think you'd have to worry about the big three; they'll adapt if need be. And for me personally, while the service is intriguing, I wouldn't be leaving my console anytime soon. Besides brand loyalty, I just like having my own personal copy of the game, whether it's in physical form or something I've downloaded to my hard drive. As the article on IGN asked, if it's streaming, would I lose access to the game over time?
I think they're having a press conference right now, which you can view through Gamespot (I think?): http://www.gamespot.com/shows/on-the-spot/ I'm a little busy now (plus Rockets about to be on), so I probably won't keep up with it.
For streaming games, this would require input from the user, unlike streaming video (AFAIK anyway). I suppose it might be possible to stream the video of the game to multiple users, but only one should be allowed to actually control it. If multiple input signals were sent, the game wouldn't work (imagine 15 people trying to use the same controller). I'd assume that the service actually wouldn't allow input from anyone other than the registered user, but in case that didn't happen...
Having a connection fast enough for it to look smooth would probably knock out 90% of the American homes out there. This is something cable companies will probably rip off in a lower res format.
I hardly play anymore videogames these days. Seven years from now I see myself worrying about buying a house and finding a wife. So I don't care much about this.
The most simple consoles are the ones that sell. Previously the Playstation 2 and, currently, the Wii have been the best selling consoles. The 360 is doing very well this console cycle, but even it was a slow burn. Microsoft has been losing money with the 360, until recently. The most important thing being that it is Microsoft and they could absorb the losses until they were able to turn a profit. Another aspect being, is the target audience large enough to sustain this service? The best selling consoles are the simplest consoles and that will definitely remain the same in today's market. Then there are the actual PC gamers. Will they actually use both the OnLive Service and Steam? Will they actually switch over to OnLive? Of course, Steve Perlman and Mike McGarvey think that the service will do well, so good luck to them.
<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='isStandAlone=true&highRes_ID=2795852&lowRes_ID=2795848&article_ID=965599&downloadURL=http://pcmovies.ign.com/pc/video/article/965/965599/onlive_demostream_032309_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed> <embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='isStandAlone=true&highRes_ID=2797031&lowRes_ID=2797034&article_ID=965599&downloadURL=http://pcmovies.ign.com/pc/video/article/965/965599/onlive_spc_demo_032409_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed>
Turning black in a console's 4th year and beyond has been the trend. Wii was the exception. If the subscription plan is cheap....like Netflix cheap, then it could be big. The netbook market will boom at the expense of more profitable laptops. This would be very bad imo. And I don't get how they've perfected latency issues. To me, it's like asking an elephant to stop on a dime 60 times per second. I think they're 5 years too early... There's still uses other than highend gaming. Maybe they introduce a tier level, but if they do that, it's likely a cable company/IT company partnership will spring up with a low end alternative.
You mean..... console gamer's won't have to put out $400+ every 2-3 years on a new system, and PC gamer's won't have to put out $1500+ every 2-3 years on a new system? COUNT ME IN, BRO. goodbye gym membership it's a radical idea, and not sure how it'll work exactly, how can integrated graphics stream games in full screen mode with good quality FPS? makes little sense.... but if it does work, I'm going to invest heavily into this.
I agree. If this takes off and the games are actually playable with controller input commands and HD streaming all happening simultaneously in a split second, then I think the big three would adapt and release their own versions of the console. I don't see how this could be the one console future that many analysts have been predicting. One thing about this that could really attract developers is the piracy issue. This literally seems piracy proof, and I could definitely see MS, Sony, and Nintendo using this technology once standard internet speeds rise here in the U.S.
How will they service the competitive gaming scene? [which btw is all that matters] All big tournament games are played on LAN... how is that going to work? one multiplayer feature, and one LAN feature? Suppose they split into 2, then how will they account for the latency(ping) of games that already desire the quickest possible reaction time? You can't expect to compete when data is streamed through the mother system, then sent to you, for you to send information back to the mother system, then subsequently back to the other players. Adding a middleman will not only delay the speeds of 'reaction intensive' games where outcomes could be the difference of 1 millisecond vs 5 millisecond, it'll also put us even further behind the our European and Asian counterparts, where they have broadband speeds that rival LAN settings. Sure the addition of playing graphic demanding games on your cheap $500 Dell studio laptop with integrate graphics sounds exciting, but like the saying goes... I'll believe it when I see it.
