Hello again Giant Bomb community,

I thought the first day back on the site after my hiatus should be my thoughts about GDC and the biggest thing to happen at GDC: OnLive.

OnLive to me is going to be a godsend for playing PC games on my Macintosh that I normally would have to play on the console (Unreal Tournament is a great example) that don't necessarily play well at all on the consoles if it works. However, this is a pretty big "IF" since all the reports I've read indicate that it doesn't work nearly as well as you would hope it does. For instance during the Giant Bomb video over at OnLive, you can clearly see Jeff attempting to play Burnout and the framerate is ATROCIOUS. Not to say that this is indicative of the end product. Everyone should remember this is a WORK IN PROGRESS and the final product will speak for itself. When I was doing focus group testing at Retro Studios for Metroid Prime 3, there were some pretty big bugs even weeks before ship-date that the coders hadn't coded into the latest build yet. These things will improve, so all the haters out there need to keep that in mind.

Can you imagine how amazing this service will be if it works as advertised? Now, please don't mistake my extreme optimism for ignorance or naivety but the repercussions for the game industry, as a whole would be astounding if this service works even 50% as well as they advertise. Can you imagine not having to download demos or videos on Xbox Live? Imagine having massive server farms render videos for you! This technology could change a lot of other technologies and industries in a massive way...IF it works. My prediction is that a big entity such as Microsoft will purchase this company. Actually, I'm more convinced that Amazon.com will be the people to purchase OnLive if it works like they say it will. It makes sense in Amazon's new direction with subscription services and would expand their digital services beyond things like MP3 and Kindle Books.



There are a few very basic reasons why I think OnLive will work. The number 1 reason why I think this company will succeed or at least have some very good traction right away is that MAJOR publishers are supporting OnLive right this moment (at time of article). EA and Ubisoft are just two names on a very impressive list of publishers and developers that support the service. Reasons why systems like Phantom and GameTap failed miserably was due to lack of support from game publishers to get titles on their platforms that people ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT (sad face). The next reason is that the man behind OnLive, Steve Perlman was responsible for pioneering two very important internet video/rendering services; one of which the world still uses a lot of: QuickTime. If you look on Wikipedia he is not only a successful man in the industry of online video but has spent 7 years developing new technologies just for this service. That type of commitment shows that his executive team is very serious about this service and it is not merely a rich man's experiment.

The last leg of my argument for OnLive is also one of the only things that will ultimately break it: Internet Service Providers. I think this is the first time I've been able to talk about this due to contractual obligations, but I used to work at a service-firm (who shall remain nameless) for 6 MAJOR internet service providers including Frontier, Charter, Time Warner, Consolidated, CenturyTel and a host of smaller ISPs. They absolutely have the throughput and technology to ensure that we can get connections from these OnLive server-farms to your house in very low-latency ways. I've been to the data-centers and I've seen the fiber being laid to more and more places personally, so I know for a fact the service is there to make this possible. DISCLAIMER: Time Warner still provides my internet access. I think the most major issue with OnLive is that the internet service providers are reluctant to allow users to tap more of their network and pull even more data in order to keep their profit margins incredibly high. In fact, the amount of pure greed I saw at the ISP level is second probably only to cellular providers in terms of doing anything to maintain that 500% profit margin. That's why we see things like usage caps and throttling on networks. ISPs certainly have the resources to permit things like file sharing and it's an absolute crock to think that they do not. I live in a town with less than 5,000 people at last census (2004) and we're capped just the same as the people who live in Austin, Texas - for no reason at all besides keeping profits high.

I hope this column has added something thought-provoking to discussions of OnLive that I'm sure are occurring now; this service has a very real potential to permanently change the way we play and rent video games - and I for one, hope it actually works as advertised.

by Jacob Casper
UnlivedPhalanx on the internet

Jacob Casper has written for a slew of technology-based websites and newspapers in San Marcos and Wimberley, Texas and is currently studying for a degree in journalism for these markets. Contact Jacob online at: JacobCasper@gmail.com

I've been really enjoying this title called "Switchball" in the days following my surgery and now between classes in college. I would highly checking out this gorgeous $10 title. I've been getting a lot of value out of it and it's probably one of the best looking arcade titles I've ever played. The focus is more puzzle and less action. You have to switch the ball into different forms to accomplish different things to get to the goal. Probably my new favorite marble game.



CLICK HERE to download Switchball's demo on Xbox 360

I just bought the "Collector's Edition" Purple Tentacle Soda that Jeff mentioned a day or two ago.

I dunno how I will explain this to the girlfriend, it's kind of.... you know... awkward a little.

THOUGHTS ABOUT ?????

CLICK HERE

Trust me on this one.

Man it has been a crazy month, I haven't updated since the election due to a busy touring schedule with Phased Orange and family matters... not to mention finals creeping closer than you'd like! Unfortunately my surgery is coming soon which means I am going to be playing HELLA games over the next few weeks, this is due to a no-stress order by Mr. Cardiologist which also means I am not going to be on tour with Phased Orange until after Christmas (hella bummer man!).

I have started many titles though between sessions with the band, and I'd like to share some initial thoughts on them and wrap up a few games:

Not as exciting as it looks...

Final Thoughts: Turok

Dinosaurs were never so boring... wait no they were actually.

Besides stating the obvious, Turok for me was a HUGE letdown even for a bargain bin title. The biggest problem with Turok is that it felt like a corridor shooter, but out in a huge field. It's really hard to articulate exactly how bad of a taste it left in my mouth. You try to take Turok seriously when he says anything, but you take one look at the dude's hair and it loses a lot of "cred" yo. Not to mention that I played nearly the entire game by using the knife and it was a one-hit kill for dinos, soliders, and pretty much everything. I can safely say that you can pass up this game no matter what price it is and feel pretty good about it. The bland narrative didn't help either.

Woosh! What were we doing?

Early Impressions: Nights: Journey of Dreams

Um....dude what?

So Nights was a game that I was REALLY looking forward to. I used to play the original game at my friend's house when I was much younger during sleepovers and whatnot. I am truly at a loss for words to describe how BAD this game is... really. The flying joker or whatever the hell he/she/it is calls itself Nights. The problem with this is that Nights looks pretty masculine save for the eyes with a distinct lack of breasts or feminine features... however the character is voiced by a girl or a REALLY prepubescent english boy - it's hard to tell. Either way Nights brings little children to the dream world to "dualize" with them (or become one with them). As if that didn't creep you out enough the whole game looks like it was ported from the Dreamcast and the controls are so broken that my cat might be better than me for all I would know.

Not the Banjo we remember!

33 Jiggie Impressions: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

Shiny as ever... and as weird.

So it's pretty good. No really. I entered into this game with zero expectations that Banjo could be properly revived and I was immediately blown away by how true of a remake some aspects of Nuts and Bolts was. The title sequence for instance, has the exact same theme (redone of course) and the exact same layout around Spiral Mountain. What impressed me most was the art style, which was the same kind of bright primary colors you found in the original Banjo title (I didn't play Tooie). The next thing I noticed, was that even though I HATE HATE HATE doing this in games... is that I WANTED to spend a lot of time in vechicle creator and customize my ride for challenges. I found it not only rewarding, but lots of fun. The ONLY thing I wish, is that the revival of the franchise onto the Xbox sparks a truer sequel with platforming as the focus. That said, I haven't finished the title so I am not sure what the state of the ending leaves to be desired.

Next blog: Fallout 3, Dead Space and Gears of War 2

Happy Trails!