spartana15 has 8 chronicles

1. OnLive Impressions
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Jun 18 2010

   Several years ago, a small company named OnLive stepped onto the video game scene with visions of grandeur and a seemingly impossible plan.
   
   OnLive claimed they were going to provide seamless cloud-based gaming. For those of you that aren't familiar with the term, cloud computing is a popular buzzword tossed around with very little to show, but basically, all the computing and processing is done separate from your computer. For example, if you are playing Crysis, the actual game is running on a computer 200 miles away from your computer. The remote computer transmits a video feed to your computer. Your inputs are then sent to the remote computer, which controls the game. It's a little difficult to explain, but it's a very simple concept, although a concept that is riddled with problems. Lag? Latency? Game library? Ladies and gentlemen, just two days ago I was an OnLive hater, but after hands on time, and more hands on time, and more hands on time, I'm a believer.
   
   Online delivered the goods.
   
   I can't possibly convey how excited I am about OnLive. Before you do anything else, I encourage you to head over to www.onlive.com to sign up for their founding members program. If you get selected, you get the first year of service for free. Speaking of service, let me go ahead and explain how the whole ordeal works. If you've got a PC or a Mac, you're set. Later in the year, they're releasing a microconsole box for your television at an unannounced price point, but since it's essentially just a video processor, it shouldn't be too outrageous. Anyway, you download the web-based client and you're ready to go. There is a monthly fee of $4.95 (after the first free year) to subscribe to the service, then you have to "purchase" the games. Now, this is where things get tricky. You don't purchase the game, you purchase the right to play the game. You can purchase a 3 day pass, 7 day pass, or unlimited play pass for each title. The unlimited pass will be pretty much the same price as buying the game at retail.
   
   The service launches June 17th with 23 titles. Off the top of my head, I can name Just Cause 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect 2, Red Faction Guerilla, Dirt 2, World of Goo, Borderlands, and Unreal Tournament III. I got to tinker around with quite a few of the games, and am pleased to report that they all played great. Some games require a mouse and keyboard, others are configured instantly to a controller. I had just played through the Xbox 360 version of Just Cause 2, and as I compared it to the OnLive version, I was pleasantly surprised. The textures were crisp, the framerate was smooth, and it appeared to be nearly identical to the 360 version. There was no lag to be found between my button presses and the onscreen action. After grapple-hooking and parachuting my way around the Panau, I decided I wanted to be sneaky and load up a different game. Here is where my mind was blown.
   
   I pulled up the in-game dashboard, which is a series of blades similar to the initial Xbox 360 dash. If you scroll one menu to the right you bring up the Quick Launch screen. Here, you've got a list of games you have access to. I settled on Borderlands, another game I recently enjoyed thoroughly on the 360. After I selected Borderlands, there was a spinning "loading" icon in the bottom of the screen. I turned to talk to one of the other people in line, and before I turned back to the screen, the game had loaded. I was staring at the title screen in less than 20 seconds. No disc changes, no crazy menus to navigate, no file browsing. Just play. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I went to the dash again and selected another game. This time, I counted how long it took to boot. Amazingly, Red Faction Guerilla was onscreen in 9 seconds. Nine!
   
   So, we know how it plays. We know how the service works on a base level. And yes, it works. That's the important thing, it works. There are some other tidbits about the service worth discussing. First of all, unless your high speed Internet is 5 mb/s or faster, you won't be able to participate. Sorry. For those of you still eligible, you're in for a pretty slick interface. Depending on users' privacy settings, you can view live footage of any game currently being played anywhere in the country. Alternatively, you can head to your friend's list and check out what they're currently up to (also, depending on privacy settings). Since the entire service on your end is a video feed, you can also save "Brag Clips" to your profile in the event that you actually do something cool. Neat.
   
   In case you hadn't noticed, I'm excited for OnLive. However, I do have some areas of concern. First of all, nobody's heard of it. It actually launched today (June 17th) at 6 pm, but I had no clue until they told me, and I've been following it for years. Secondly, I am concerned about the lack of exclusive content. As of right now, every title for OnLive is offered on the PC, Mac, or home consoles. Some killer app exclusives could seriously help the service attain serious marketshare. Finally, there is a possibility of latency issues. There were somewhere between 16 and 24 demo units set up, all running from the Santa Clara data center (about 400 miles from our convention center). Now, 400 miles is nothing to scoff at, but there are also no other users online at this time. No other users, as in zero. We had seamless, perfect gameplay, but until I'm able to get a hands on with thousands/millions of users crashing the data centers at once, I don't feel comfortable leaving out the possible issue.
   
   I better go ahead and wrap this up as I've got billions of other E3 articles to write, but I really am optimistic for OnLive. If you sign up now, you can check it out for no cost, no obligation. I recommend it solely on that fact, but the truth is, OnLive is a fantastic offering and is the first mover in an area that our beloved industry is moving toward.

   
   

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spartana15 has 1 comment on this chronicle.

1. BEN
   Posted On Jun 18 2010

   I'm not surprised this is the first Chronicle you wrote, covering E3 2010. You loved this technology!
   
   I too thought it was pretty cool and will be interested to see the console version come out later this year, as well as the price they wouldn't share with us yet. With such a new environment for console gamers, it'll be interesting to see how OnLive progresses.
   
   I think the fact that the E3 booth's gaming stations were only running at 5 mbps, gives me a lot of hope that the claims aren't just smoke and mirrors.
   
   I enjoyed this write-up (10/10) and I'm sure there are many who haven't even heard of OnLive yet, so I'd suggest you also keep the discussion going in the GoG Forum here...
   
   www.GatheringofGamers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1903