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At this year's GDC, a new service was showcased that many are calling "the future of gaming." The service is called OnLive and it will allow gamers from any platform to enjoy a title with the best graphical quality possible. Imagine running Crysis on the highest visual settings on a MacBook Air.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? This is exactly the type of gaming standard that OnLive hopes to achieve and here's a short bit about how it works.
It will feature a friends list, the ability to share short clips of your best gaming moments, and feature a wide variety of publishers. Some of these publishers who have already hopped on to the OnLive train are EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Epic, Atari, Codemasters, Warner Bros. and Eidos.
A beta for the program will begin this Summer, with a full released anticipated for this later this year. More coverage of OnLive can be found at IGN, CNET, and at Gametrailers.
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Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? This is exactly the type of gaming standard that OnLive hopes to achieve and here's a short bit about how it works.
When you load up the service and choose a game to play, it starts immediately. The game is housed and played on one of OnLive's servers, so there's never anything to download. Using an appropriate input device, be it a controller or mouse and keyboard, you'll then play the game as you would if it were installed on your local machine. Your inputs are read by the plugin (or the standalone device if you choose to go that route) and uploaded to the server. The server then plays the game just like it would if you were sitting at the machine, except that instead of outputting the video to a display, it gets compressed and streamed to your computer where you can see the action. Rinse and repeat 60 times per second.
To make this happen, OnLive has worked diligently to overcome lag issues. The first step in this was creating a video compression algorithm that was as quick as possible. The current solution only introduces one millisecond of lag to encode the video, which alone is completely unnoticeable to you. Obviously, a fast internet connection is required on your end to stream the gameplay video. A 1.5 mbps connection (which is usually what base-level DSL is rated at) is required for standard-definition video (480p), while a 5.0 mbps connection is required for HD (720p).
OnLive will be a subscription based system, but no pricing structures have been announced just yet. An initial cost will also accompany the use of the microconsole, should you choose to play on your TV. An option to purchase a title and own it forever will also be made available.To make this happen, OnLive has worked diligently to overcome lag issues. The first step in this was creating a video compression algorithm that was as quick as possible. The current solution only introduces one millisecond of lag to encode the video, which alone is completely unnoticeable to you. Obviously, a fast internet connection is required on your end to stream the gameplay video. A 1.5 mbps connection (which is usually what base-level DSL is rated at) is required for standard-definition video (480p), while a 5.0 mbps connection is required for HD (720p).
It will feature a friends list, the ability to share short clips of your best gaming moments, and feature a wide variety of publishers. Some of these publishers who have already hopped on to the OnLive train are EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Epic, Atari, Codemasters, Warner Bros. and Eidos.
A beta for the program will begin this Summer, with a full released anticipated for this later this year. More coverage of OnLive can be found at IGN, CNET, and at Gametrailers.
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