Onlive Cloud-Gaming Offers $10 Flat Fee

[iamtheking123]

I know from experience that you need at least a 6 MBPS connection just to stream compressed 720p videos over the internet without buffering. To be safe you'd need 8. So obviously for people to be able to stream even higher (1440x900+) resolutions, you'd need exponentially more bandwidth. And if you don't want motion blocking with compressed video, even more. So I just don't see how it's possible that they can stream any game in any sort of decent quality.

 

[BulkZerker]

GOing to have to agree with NuclearShadow here, the only people saying about how it's good have suspiciously low post counts.

ONlive will work best for anyone who lives near their servers. So they can reap the benefits of low latency. $10 a month though? It's tempting to see how well it works on a crappy connection like mine.

 

[neblix]

[citation][nom]BulkZerker[/nom]GOing to have to agree with NuclearShadow here, the only people saying about how it's good have suspiciously low post counts.[/citation]

So it's automatic that anyone new to a website can never be listened to because he's a PR Drone?

 

[jalek]

Unlimited play.. until your ISP shuts you down for excessive bandwidth usage. This system was announced a long time ago and the reviews were mixed at best when launched, but something like this should be out there. All you really need is a thin client and an internet connection, try playing games locally on that sort of machine. Some organizations have specifically used machines without 3D cards to avoid game capabilities.

Every school district and corporation in the country will have to block their servers soon, I could see this becoming popular for them.

 

[capt_taco]

Oh, good, a system where I'm totally dependent on the whims of my broadband connection, someone else has control over my entire video game library, and I have to pay a monthly fee in order to play video games. Please, tell me, where do I sign up for this?

On top of which, I read earlier this week that the FCC is approving a plan where ISPs can charge metered rates for broadband, based on your bandwidth usage. So if that happens, add another $250 minimum to the monthly cost as you're forced into the "Comcast Platinum" or "AT&T Premium" plan, or whatever the hell they end up calling it.

Yeah, for anyone with half a brain, it's a pretty easy decision to skip this turd on wheels.

 

[capt_taco]

[citation][nom]capt_taco[/nom]So if that happens, add another $250 minimum to the monthly cost ...[/citation]

Oh yeah -- in case it wasn't obvious, that's a typo and I meant to put $25. For some reason, it won't let me edit.

 

[ben850]

[citation][nom]NuclearShadow[/nom]I find it sort of strange and amusing that the praises of this are coming from members who posted minutes all after each other three in a row. Who are new members with the exception of beef623. All have very low post counts as well even beef with a amazing two posts and after all this time hejust happens to post on this and nothing else for who knows how long.Who's willing to bet it was about a Onlive article in the past too?Either this is a grand case of coincidence or really obvious and horrible advertising. If this is indeed the case of Onlive using a online PR company that they should really consider replacing.[/citation]

Funny you mention that. For the past few years i have been browsing a video game forum, which is a sub-forum of a website that shall not be named.

During the past few weeks i have been seeing this same crap pop up over and over on new threads. The people behind it are complete idiots, because it is obvious and pushes many people to the point where they don't even want to try OnLive again.

Is this the case for Tom's? Probably not.. but it really wouldn't surprise me if it was. Either way, i am NOT using OnLive again.

 

[eklipz330]

[citation][nom]jomofro39[/nom]anyone here have this? is it nice? feasible end to other consoles?[/citation]
yeah i have it.... too bad ive been pushed to page 2, i doubt many people will read this

it's... different. but my no means is it a replacement for your current pc. i a an fps gamer [tf2 mostly] and when i play games, i notice even the slightest lag... this service has plenty. it takes a .25-.5 of a second to register your mouse slide, so it's pretty useless for competitive gaming

if you decide to surf on the internet with another computer using the same internet connection, the service may kick you out telling you that there isn't enough bandwidth, it won't even let you log in if you have low bandwidth

the quality of the games is ehhhhh.. it's probably around low-medium quality at 720p resolution, and the colors all seem washed out

basically, this is in no way a replacement for pc gaming. it is however an excellent alternative to gaming on netbooks, tablets, and maybe even phones one day, as long as your provided a decent internet connection


oh speedtest rated me at about 9800Kbps DL and a mere 380Kbps UL

I live in Queens, NY.

 

[NuclearShadow]

[citation][nom]ben850[/nom]Funny you mention that. For the past few years i have been browsing a video game forum, which is a sub-forum of a website that shall not be named.During the past few weeks i have been seeing this same crap pop up over and over on new threads. The people behind it are complete idiots, because it is obvious and pushes many people to the point where they don't even want to try OnLive again.Is this the case for Tom's? Probably not.. but it really wouldn't surprise me if it was. Either way, i am NOT using OnLive again.[/citation]

It's a pretty common practice today really. Everything from fake reviews,
to even as the experience you shared with fake discussions on message boards. People are more likely to trust another persons opinion of a product they claim to have used rather than a direct advertisement.
While this is logical to some degree it should only be applied to trusted members of a community rather than random strangers.

However these PR companies that do this online do this very sloppy. They never build a reputation on the sites they visit. They don't discuss anything other than what they are trying to help market and then they simply disappear. It simply does not work in a forum they really waste their time because people tend to listen to those who have been around and built a reputation rather than a bunch of unknown low posters.

Sadly however when it comes to consumer reviews even more so when one that has a average user rating score (Amazon for example) there is nothing stopping fake reviews that involve much praise and perfect ratings. This can and does influence many consumers to make purchases.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

I tried the service once. I played some free demo version of a basketball game. It worked nice. I didn't try anything that was challenging to my system, though. Yes, I would like to see a benchmark on this from Toms with OnLive's system requirements and also recommended requirements, vs systems with the same specs along side with more comparisons with the game's actual system requirements and recommended requirements. It'd be interesting to see if the service delivers as promised. Benchmarking might be a different story, though.

 

[Guest]

I personally love Onlive. It works as advertised. I do wish they'd move toward a steam like approach and allow gamers to register games they own for access on the service even if they charge a small fee for it. If they did they I'd be completely happy. I also pre-ordered the onlive console and hope it arrives soon. I can't wait to try it out on my big screem.

 

[Guest]

I have tried Onlive and played around with some demos. Service worked pretty good, not as good as running the games locally but actually wasn't to bad. I have just been notified that my ISP is instituting caps starting this month so I have decided to skip Onlive from now on. I have to make decisions based on bandwidth usage from this point forward and so Onlive will be banned from my house. Thanks Charter!

 

[jimslaid2]

On live is good. I have been using it on the desktop since it came out. Graphics compare to xbox 360, not a gaming PC. I live roughly 400miles from a onlive data Center. So that's not next door. My DL speed is 16Mb. I guess that's good. But the service only uses 3-5 Mb's so anyone can complain, but the service is not bad.

 

[dEAne]

There are lots to deal with cloud gaming, hope others enjoy it.

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]jomofro39[/nom]Good idea. How about it Tom's?[/citation]

Done

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/onlive-gaming-cloud,2671.html

 

[killerclick]

I tried it when I was in the US and it's great. Sure there are technical problems but if you have a good connection and the game is fun, after a couple of minutes you'll forget all about non-HD, low detail and lag.

 

[nailfoot]

I prefer to have an installed game. I am a big Steam supporter and supposedly, if Steam ever goes under, all of the games you have bought will be unlocked from Steam. How would OnLive accomplish this?

 

[Guest]

onlive service is awesome. i ordered the micro console and am anxiously awaiting it, hope to have it by tuesday. i did try it on my laptop and its like playing the game on an xbox, no lag for me. i have comcast here in NJ with a speed test of 8.25 MB/S

 

[BulkZerker]

So it's automatic that anyone new to a website can never be listened to because he's a PR Drone?

Yes.

When a person with 20 posts comes into a threat and Spooges their pants over how good a product is and that we all should dump our $400 consoles and $500 gaming pcs because this "IS BETTER OMGWTFBBQINTHEGRASS!" it gets painfully obvious that they are getting paid to troll forums.

Even less obvious ones that don't even touch the fact that PAID REVIEWERS complained that the lag was noticeable-horrid and the GFX look like a YouTube of someone playing on a 360, the obvious glaring shortcomings of this streaming gaming.

 

[dextermat]

I hate paying per month for mmorp...
I will certanly not pay 9.99 per month to play games im not interested in.

pay 1 time 60$ for a games that worth it: it's still the way to go for me.

Game makers need to create new ideas and gameplay. It's seems games havent really evolved since the last 5 years...

 

[nexus9113]

This isn't a bad service for those who can't afford to buy a new PC, or upgrade (like kids who rely on their parents' income, or those with limited income), but for the type of people who use sites like Tom's, this isn't really exciting.

I've used the service before to try it out. I have a 50MB connection, and I wasn't noticing any stutter. However, if you have the cash to fork out $120/mo for a connection like that, you probably have a PC to match. Luckily I work for the cable company so I get mine half-priced .

My friend on the other hand, is using a MacBook (which I constantly rag on him for), and has a 5MB DSL connection. He runs the client through Bootcamp, and gets a decent (not amazing) FPS rating. These are the types of customers they're aiming for.

Trying to be as objective as possible, this is still a very impressive service that will mature over time. I don't think it will be too long before they start streaming 1080i or p content as tech for their render farms get cheaper, and more bandwidth becomes available. Maybe a few years or so. But as far as cost goes, for $120 dollars a year, you're getting a pretty decent deal for unlimited access for the cost of only 2 games, and the initial investment is non existent compared to the 2-3x the amount you're paying to invest in a console, and more if you include games. Hell, that's less than a WoW subscription, which only gives you one game.

I don't need the service, at the moment it's nothing more than an amusing experiment to me, but as my hardware crosses that threshold to where I can no longer play a game at the settings they offer it will become a viable option.

 

[ioa94]

From my own experience, it does work pretty well. But there IS a noticeable input lag, which is a big problem if you're playing a racing game or FPS. It's a good idea, but maybe our technology just isn't there yet. The internet speed standard needs to be raised again.

 

[hoofhearted]

Didn't they make a movie about this "stealth marketing" or something like that. I think the movie was called "The Jones" (or something like that).

As far as my opinion, on this fart cloud stuff, I can't see this for fpses or anything that is heavily timing dependent. Also, I can't see taking peoples ability to control their content (savegames, etc) away as being favorable.

 

[truerock]

IMO... Steam is an example of the perfect high-performance game delivery system. Onlive type technology will fill in the low-end performance game area.
Why download Bejeweled - play it on something like Onlive.