Users will be able to exchange video of their gameplay exploits and browse video user profiles.
In case you forgot, OnLive is designed to be a streaming game service. Rather than running games on your local PC hardware, OnLive runs them on some server farm somewhere and streams video of the game directly to your device. The demos keep showing Crysis running on an iPhone, which is a funny little proof of concept, but not an especially useful one. You'll be able to stream it to "virtually any device," according to the announcement, but at launch this really means "PCs and Macs through a small browser plug-in." Last year, the company showed off a tiny video decoder device that'll let you stream out to a TV, as well. This "MicroConsole TV adapter" will be discussed later this year.
As for publisher support, OnLive is set to have games from THQ, 2K, Ubisoft, EA, and WBIE. The service is expecting to have somewhere between 12 and 25 games available at launch, and some of the included titles are Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed II, and Borderlands.
I'll be interested to give this another shot at some point, but I remain very skeptical. Last time I was able to actually play a game via OnLive, it seemed like a neat idea that would never work for action games that value split-second timing, such as Burnout Paradise, which is what I played when I saw it. But paying a monthly fee, then paying additional rental/purchase fees, just so I can play a latent version of a game doesn't replace having actual hardware in your home. If that problem hasn't been solved, then it's hard to imagine OnLive appealing to anyone other than less-discerning players who wouldn't know any better.
sweet
I agree.
And then a discounted price on game purchases and rentals, otherwise I could save my $15 a month a buy games.
I bet this will end up being more expensive then actual PC gaming (if you do it right, get geeky to do so!) on the long run.
Well for OnLive's defense: I don't even pay for Xbox 360 Live Gold, because I think that kind of service should come free with a inet connection.
@Stoneious:
Oh shit you're right! What if I buy a game and stop paying subscription? I don't like the sound of this service at all!
Last I time I heard of it, it was a post Diamond linked to, and it never looked so good.
I buy the things I want and I use them over and over without paying again and again even if its twenty years later. I am tired of this trend of fees, subscriptions, micro payments, rentals, and other varying ways for locking people into recurring costs.
As far as I am concerned if a company can't survive by selling a product I can use freely then that company doesn't deserve to survive.
OnLive, unless something crazy happens, it a definite pass for me.
Edit: DLC is something I am ok with and like. These are still things I can buy to extend the life of other things I already own that I can still use freely (after the initial cost) over and over to my hearts content.