Dell lands custom gaming server deal The E3 Expo is raging in Los Angeles today, and Dell's bespoke server techs are on hand backing up the launch of OnLive, the maker of an online gaming system that lets users play games over a broadband link from within a Web brower, with the video and data processing associated with the game being done back in OnLive's data …
I don't think it's likely Onlive will be more than a fad. I've seen it and while it delivers more than I was expecting technically, it does so with so many concessions it simply makes more sense just to buy a console. It's a bit too laggy to use for twitch gaming, as others have alluded to. There's a difference between having a high ping where your actions might not be registered as quickly on a server, but the lag effect is of course doubled and far more jarring from a UX perspective when applied to your input.
But the big fail is simply that the end result looks like yesterday's technology, even on a cheap 720p screen. The compression washes out the picture, and it seems OnLive turn down the detail to stop games eating up too many of their precious cloud resources. If their service takes off they might be able to alleviate the latter, but gamers are already used to 1080p and higher (which requires more than twice the bandwidth) and sharper pictures. And when you have to pay a subscription fee for the service and then an additional charge per title per month, it doesn't make long term sense to have something that gobbles your bandwidth, costs more and plays worse. But hey, we'll leave that to marketing...
If this actually pans out though, it would be nice for people who don't want/need a gaming computer or a console.
But yeah, I'll keep my computer. I like physical media and owning my games. I've made an exception for some super deals on Steam and EA Download Manager. But only because I wasn't worried about the small investments.
Forgive my ignorance because my idea of a computer game is figuring out where MS has placed the new bugs when a relative has unwittingly signed up for automatic Windows updates, but when I see my kids play computer games they always seem to have some gadget with joysticks and faux guitars and things attached.
Will these now work over http?
Although the article makes mention of a BT deal, the Onlive web site clearly states in its requirements
"Currently, the OnLive Game Service does not allow access to users outside of the contiguous United States."
Anyone know any details when the services comes to these shores?
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