The idea of Onlive, a service allowing gamers to play all their favorite titles anywhere in the world on a cloud network is extremely ambitious, one that, according to CEO Steve Perlman, will change the industry forever.
$14.95 per month was the initial fee, something Perlman said they had to do because “pioneering a major new video game paradigm is hard,” adding, “we had to first grow to a large base of regular users before we could understand usage patterns and operating costs.”
And just like a bad bill forged in congress and vetoed by the President, the $14.95 month fee’s no more. This is big because it substantially breaks the barrier (psychologically), that gamers may have harbored regarding the service.
Now, Onlive is “kicking off this change with the introduction of its Free Trial program for new users to its service,” giving inquisitive gamers quick access to the service sans credit card.
Perlman also said “MicroConsole TV Adapters are in manufacturing,” which means you should be able to see the thing right on your TV, hopefully by the end of this year.
Will you try out the service? It’s free, you need no credit cards and it’s easy to use. I think I will. As for cloud gaming leaving consoles in its dust, I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
Share your thoughts.
3 reasons why on live will never take on.
1 not everyone lives in Japan with unlimited download usages and ADSL2+ speeds!
if i was to play one game off onlive for 6 hours thats it my whole monthly download usage would be gone!
4 weeks worth gone in the space of 6 hours!!!
2 its only out in the US, and when asked a few months ago if there going to bring it over to EU they said no plans yet.
well, you guys do know other people besides the US like playing games… right?
god these guys must be run by sony!
3 they only have MP games, sony, ninty and M$ have said on live will never get their games.
its just too inconvenient, i mean A i can go for a 20 minute drive down to the store and grab a game.
or B i can sit staring at the TV for a while waiting for it to load, waste half my download usage and still have to pay for the game.
which has no refunds if you dont like it, not like retail stores, and unlike retail stores there is no trading in to help lower the cost.
on live will never catch on, simply because its all con and no pro.
only pro being you dont have to leave the house, and you can get PC graphics without the cost.
but, come on are we really getting that lazy?
2 pros, to a million cons?
yea, i dont think sony, ninty or M$ have anything to worry about!
not to mention steam is walking all over this, always has, and always will!
Yeah, I don’t see this catching on as they’d like it to. Give em props for discarding that monthly fee though. They should get more traffic now.
Good points, Nick. But I believe as time passes on, the service will improve. But you’re right, I don’t see it “changing the industry forever”.
not until its cost effective, and worldwide internet gets up to spec.
but its going to be a long, long time till that happens!
here in AU were still using copper lines for christs sake!
US, UK, almost every developed country stopped using that years ago!
there all using fiber optics, were in the process of switching now but it wont be up and running for another 12 years!
of course it will improve, everything does over time.
but so will their competition, so there going to have to improve a hell of allot to catch up too there competitors because there already 5 years ahead!
True points.