Onlive Launches in UK

[flameboy]

Onlive officially launches this week. I'm pretty intrigued by it all and gonna see what titles turn up in the playpack bundle where you pay a flat rate. The micro console that plugs into tv is available for £69.99 or they are giving them away for free at eurogamer this weekend.

 

Here is some more info from Eurogamer;

 

OnLive has confirmed pricing details for its cloud gaming service, which goes live in the UK this week.

 

Available from today, the OnLive Game System itself will set you back £69.99 and includes one controller and HDMI cable. However, if you're heading down to the Eurogamer Expo this weekend you'll be able to grab a set for free while stocks last.

 

You'll be able to pick up your first individual game for £1, with titles then retailing from between £1.99 and £39.99.

 

Access to the OnLive PlayPack, which offers unlimited access to over 100 games, will set you back £6.99 a month. Titles offered include Batman: Arkham Asylum, Saints Row 2, Homefront, F.E.A.R. 3, Borderlands, Just Cause 2, World of Goo, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Prince of Persia and Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition.

 

Good news for BT broadband customers - you'll be getting the first three months free of charge.

 

"It's not part of a contract and we're waiving usage allowances until the New Year. We just want to give our customers the chance to try it, and with more than 100 premium games available, choosing what to play will be the hardest part," commented BT exec Warren Buckley.

 

The BT PlayPack subscription offer is open to anyone with BT home broadband, 18 years old or above, who registers online before 31st January 2012.

 

For more on OnLive, check out Eurogamer's interview with founder and CEO Steve Perlman.

 

 

I got an email announcing all this as pre registered my interest and can pick up any one game for £1 don't know if thats a starting offer for anyone but I'm gonna try it out and pick up something or other.

[Cube]

I'll give it a go.

 

Hopefully they'll also have plenty of demos - these days I can't be bothered with demos as they're usually 1-2GB for 10-20 minutes of demo. Just playing them online would be a much better solution.

[flameboy]

I'll give it a go.

 

Hopefully they'll also have plenty of demos - these days I can't be bothered with demos as they're usually 1-2GB for 10-20 minutes of demo. Just playing them online would be a much better solution.

 

That's true...its an option Gaiku are looking into like being paid by retailers to deliver demo content of games through their service right there on the same page you can buy the game on. I used Gaiku and it worked amazing running Mass Effect 2 on my crappy netbook. I now have my netbook plugged into a monitor, so am gonna see how well this works....

 

Also the £1 offer says it works for any game in the marketplace right now, Deus Ex Human Revolution here I come!

[Ryan]

Hopefully I can grab one at EuroExpo this weekend and eBay it..

[flameboy]

Hopefully I can grab one at EuroExpo this weekend and eBay it..

 

I was rather cynically thinking someone would get one and give me it LOL!

[Choze]

I have to say I am a fan.

 

Very impressive software. Its quite developed compared to say Xbox Live on Windows and Origin by EA. You have a very nice video interface. Its fast too.

Flashy but simple to use. I quite like it.

 

There is very little lag. Certainly wont bother people who this will be targeting. My only issue is I wish video quality could be higher. But the Onlive guys say it will improve and that the UK version is behind the US version temporarily.

 

Worth pointing out the games have graphics options removed, there are no installs or uninstalls, bugs much loading or the usual PC/MAC hassles. Very good!

 

For now its not something I would really use for serious games. As I can get more out of games by running them locally(decent pc). But I can see this working out really well for many people in the short term. Int he long term I expect big things!

[flameboy]

I have to say I am a fan.

 

Very impressive software. Its quite developed compared to say Xbox Live on Windows and Origin by EA. You have a very nice video interface. Its fast too.

Flashy but simple to use. I quite like it.

 

There is very little lag. Certainly wont bother people who this will be targeting. My only issue is I wish video quality could be higher. But the Onlive guys say it will improve and that the UK version is behind the US version temporarily.

 

Worth pointing out the games have graphics options removed, there are no installs or uninstalls, bugs much loading or the usual PC/MAC hassles. Very good!

 

For now its not something I would really use for serious games. As I can get more out of games by running them locally(decent pc). But I can see this working out really well for many people in the short term. Int he long term I expect big things!

 

I love it! Love the interface. I couldn't see myself using this as a primary service for buying new games but I certainly could see myself maybe subscribing to the playpack bundle 100 games for £6.99 a month can't be bad.

 

My only problem is getting it running on my PC consistently....When I go to log in it often boots me out saying my computer performance is below par. Granted I am trying to run it on a 4 year old Samsung netbook running on xp. So I'm pretty impressed that it ran so well for the 30 mins I played Batman Arkham Asylum and the five mins I played Space Marine 40k.

[Ashley]

Managed to pick up a box at Eurogamer. Looking forward to trying it out...at some point. Crazy busy until at least next weekend but I am certainly interested.

[flameboy]

Managed to pick up a box at Eurogamer. Looking forward to trying it out...at some point. Crazy busy until at least next weekend but I am certainly interested.

 

Yeah pretty jealous as when I heard about them giving them out for free wish I was going. They seem to be going for pretty cheap on ebay like £40ish so when you factor in you get a game for £1 you could think its as if you are paying £41 for a game and a bunch of demos.

[Ryan]

Played a few games at Expo, wasn't impressed. Low res Xbox ports, basically..

[flameboy]

Played a few games at Expo, wasn't impressed. Low res Xbox ports, basically..

 

hmmm looked better than that to me when I got it running on my PC. Not xbox ports either they are the PC versions of the games running at full spec...Latency etc...does factor in to it. Also they have said that the UK version is running less efficiently than the US version as their aren't as many data centre etc... and the hardware at their they use to stream to you is improving all the time. There are videos showing comparisons and whilst granted it's not up there it's still pretty good.

 

I think it has potential more than anything and like it not the cloud is going to be a big part of gaming going forward.

[Wesley]

My flat mate has it on his PC.

 

Got Deus Ex for a quid.

 

Looks terrible.

 

Both the game and the OnLive interface.

 

Would definitely not use.

[Goafer]

It's not really an option for me. My broadband isn't great in terms of speed and reliability.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the idea anyway. If I buy a game (either from a shop or through Steam etc), I can play it whenever I want. With this, I need the internet to be running smoothly. Even if I had a reliable connection (mine's not actually that bad, it just has issues once in a while), I still wouldn't want to be limited. For example, if I was downloading something, would it effect the performance of the game?

 

I'll stick to Steam for my online games purchases methinks.

 

 

I have a question though. If it runs through a PC, what's the separate box for? Would be cool if there was a standalone version that didn't need a PC and just plugged into the TV.

[Cube]

I have a question though. If it runs through a PC, what's the separate box for? Would be cool if there was a standalone version that didn't need a PC and just plugged into the TV.

 

Erm...that's what the box is for.

[Goafer]

Erm...that's what the box is for.

 

I did think that after I posted, but figured I'd wait for someone to confirm it!

[Jimbob]

My net isn't fast enough to support something like this. Not too keen on streaming games to the box everytime i want to play. Much prefer holding a hard-copy, or a downloaded copy of a game anyway.

[flameboy]

My flat mate has it on his PC.

 

Got Deus Ex for a quid.

 

Looks terrible.

 

Both the game and the OnLive interface.

 

Would definitely not use.

 

I like the interface! It looks far more console like than XMB on PS3 does. Although not as good as 360 dashboard but the constantly streaming video stuff is cool.

 

It's not really an option for me. My broadband isn't great in terms of speed and reliability.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the idea anyway. If I buy a game (either from a shop or through Steam etc), I can play it whenever I want. With this, I need the internet to be running smoothly. Even if I had a reliable connection (mine's not actually that bad, it just has issues once in a while), I still wouldn't want to be limited. For example, if I was downloading something, would it effect the performance of the game?

 

I'll stick to Steam for my online games purchases methinks.

 

 

I have a question though. If it runs through a PC, what's the separate box for? Would be cool if there was a standalone version that didn't need a PC and just plugged into the TV.

 

Stand alone box is literally just a processor spews out the video signal to the tv.

 

My net isn't fast enough to support something like this. Not too keen on streaming games to the box everytime i want to play. Much prefer holding a hard-copy, or a downloaded copy of a game anyway.

 

Fair enough on the hard copy. I'd always agree there but on the matter of a digital copy what is the difference? exact same ownership (you don't even own a game its always the license to use it even on your machine)

 

I'd never buy games as a priority on this but say had a free weekend no games wanted to play didn't see anything on psn to buy renting on here is the perfect option!

[Wesley]

I like the interface! It looks far more console like than XMB on PS3 does. Although not as good as 360 dashboard but the constantly streaming video stuff is cool.

 

He's using it with a mouse and keyboard.

 

Up/down, W/S and mouse wheel doesn't scroll through the games.

 

Instead page-up/down jumps through 5.

 

Great design for a PC app.

[flameboy]

He's using it with a mouse and keyboard.

 

Up/down, W/S and mouse wheel doesn't scroll through the games.

 

Instead page-up/down jumps through 5.

 

Great design for a PC app.

 

Ah right I have a 360 controller plugged in.

[Wesley]

Does anyone know what versions of the games they're actually using?

 

I noticed that my friend's copy of Deus Ex wasn't the new patched version.

 

I was wondering whether the updates kept up-along with Steam or not.

 

But then Deus Ex using SteamCloud?

 

So is he essentially playing a console version?

 

Or do publishers just give them a "random" version that is neither PC nor console?

 

He noticed that he couldn't access graphics options and he assumed it'd be at full spec... but...

[Jimbob]

Fair enough on the hard copy. I'd always agree there but on the matter of a digital copy what is the difference? exact same ownership (you don't even own a game its always the license to use it even on your machine)

 

Oh, i agree with the fact that you buy a licence for a game. I just prefer playing games offline as it were, just in the case being that the broadband shut off for a couple of days (BT line issues as it were). The concept of Onlive is good, but until my internet reaches great speeds and is continuously reliable (aka, doesn;t drop in performance) i won't invest in this device.

[flameboy]

Oh, i agree with the fact that you buy a licence for a game. I just prefer playing games offline as it were, just in the case being that the broadband shut off for a couple of days (BT line issues as it were). The concept of Onlive is good, but until my internet reaches great speeds and is continuously reliable (aka, doesn;t drop in performance) i won't invest in this device.

 

yeah yeah I hear ya. I know I totally sound like an Onlive defender but I'm really not just think it deserves some credit for remotely even working. Services such as this will only get better as time goes on. This industry is in a constant state of flux and evolution (even during this time of bizarre elongated console cycles) and Onlive along with Gaiku are definitely at the forefront of this.

 

I'm sure during the 90's there were plenty of people who thought it would be Atari, Nintendo and Sega to the end but times change... Hell people thought ios would never be a gaming format and look at all the money its making (deserves recognition regardless of people's opinions on the game).

Edited September 25, 2011 by flameboy

[Jimbob]

yeah yeah I hear ya. I know I totally sound like an Onlive defender but I'm really not just think it deserves some credit for remotely even working. Services such as this will only get better as time goes on. This industry is in a constant state of flux and evolution (even during this time of bizarre elongated console cycles) and Onlive along with Gaiku are definitely at the forefront of this.

 

I'm sure during the 90's there were plenty of people who thought it would be Atari, Nintendo and Sega to the end but times change... Hell people thought ios would never be a gaming format and look at all the money its making (deserves recognition regardless of people's opinions on the game).

 

Who knows. Onlive is a good concept, and it could be the opening that the market needs. Onlive itself may not be the future, but could set the path in that direction. I already know that downloading games is the future, instead of buying a disk in-store.

[Shorty]

I can't be the only one who really doesn't want Onlive? I feel like it would ruin the entire gaming experience for me if it was popular. The way streaming movies on netflix type services is makes movie-watching less of an experience than buying or renting a video used to. The way ebook readers make our shelves empty and a book impossible to lend to a friend.

[LegoMan1031]

I can't be the only one who really doesn't want Onlive? I feel like it would ruin the entire gaming experience for me if it was popular. The way streaming movies on netflix type services is makes movie-watching less of an experience than buying or renting a video used to. The way ebook readers make our shelves empty and a book impossible to lend to a friend.

 

I'm all for Disc based stuff!

 

I got Crysis 2 as a free download on XBL with the gears console i got but it doesn't 'feel' like i really have it not having a case for it etc. I like having things on a shelf to look at!