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OnLive Remote Gaming Service Launches In June
adeelarshad82 writes "After eight years of development, remote gaming service OnLive is scheduled to roll out on June 17 for Windows and Mac. The company also announced its service pricing: users will need to pay $14.95 per month, which will allow them access to the service. However, the company did not disclose the price to rent or purchase games. 'It is partnering in this launch with publishers including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The games will also include new releases like Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed II, as well as a bunch of other titles. Perlman anticipates anywhere from a dozen to 25 titles to be available at launch time, and more after that, depending on how negotiations with other publishers proceed.'"
Did you read the article? The difference is steam allows you to download games to your own computer, whereas this service allows you to play a game remotely off of their computer. The benefit is you dont need a kickass top of the line computer (just a fast internet connection) to have your performance match that of other players. So you are paying them to get computer upgrades, instead of doing it yourself. Is it worth it? thats a different issue. But the model is very different from Steam
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Dude, are you seriously...? Your description of lag is utterly idiotic. You obviously don't have a clue what you're talking about. With onlive you're basically streaming *video* and uploading your controller or keyboard inputs. Have you never watched a video before? Have you ever netflixed before? As for sending inputs it's the same as playing any game online.
It's not as simple as just 'streaming video'. Video is already complete and is just waiting to be sent. This is a game which needs to react and respond to your input. Your data needs to be sent to their server, which needs to process it, generate the game's response and send that back to you. Since turning your character makes the entire POV of the game move you've got to redraw everything at a full screen resolution high enough to make it a quality gaming experience. It's simply gonna suck.
Taking into consideration the amount of CPU & GPU cycles the games listed in the article take, there will definitely be lag and stuttering and crappy frame rates and all the other stuff you get when your desktop computer doesn't have enough horsepower to play your game of choice.
Better update your resume because OnLive will be DOA before you know it. I sure hope they aren't trying to get people to buy annual subscriptions.