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Onlive - New Cloud Game Service

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Posts

  • Tumbler 360Tumbler 360 Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Overall I'm pleased with Onlive at this point. I have a free year of service and I can play Just Cause 2 (free game) anytime I want. I have a 360/PS3/Wii/Desktop PC and if my TV is in use my gaming abilites become very limited. I don't like using my desktop as much lately because family doesn't like when daddy is locked away in his cave so it's either laptop or consoles. When TV is in use it's just laptop.

    So I bought a 360 wired controller for my laptop, I wasn't having much fun using the keyboard/mouse on the laptop with onlive. I had a great time playing dirt 2 and just cause 2 last night and at 8pm or so it was time to move into the bedroom. (again doing things as a family is important, even if I want to play games I need to be mobile and be able to go play them in the bedroom now, staying up is an option but....it makes everyone happier if I'm nearby rather than in another room)

    Instead of using my laptop again I just plugged in my controller to my bedroom pc which we normally only use for netflix, hulu, etc. I was able to continue playing the game from exactly the point where I left off in the living room within minutes.

    Awesome.

    Onlive's biggest hurdle in my opinion is pricing. This type of "pick up and play anywhere" service is worth something for sure. I can live with $15 a month assuming I can start and stop the service at will. But the pricing on the games is an obstacle. Buying games for full price on this service makes as much sense as buying movies (to own) on an xbox or my tivo. The rental prices are very interesting however. If they offered most or all of their games at $10 for a week of gameplay or $20 for a month I could see myself spending plenty of money here. I hope they do this, despite all it's problems and weakness's, the service has something I want.

    Hopefully they'll offer a low price for dirt 2 or a rental price, for some reason the game is only playable as a demo, I would love to see that for $20 or less. I could see buying that game for $20 or renting for $10 or so.

    Tumbler 360 on
  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I agree Tumbler, I can completely see how this would be cool as a rental/subscription model service predominantly, a la Gametap with an option to buy.

    brynstar on
    Xbox Live: Xander51
    PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Couscous wrote: »
    zillions of benefits of PC games other than great graphics
    Like?

    I listed them already, but like being able to play flight sims or RTS games or good turn based strategy games or some RPGs or aim with a mouse and keyboard or play on servers with more than 32 people or be able to alt+tab back and forth with a strategy guide or a website or...

    etc. All of the people posting in the threads for PC only games aren't just hanging out there because they want a resolution higher than 720p, man.

    The primary advantage of PC gaming is that it really isn't that much more expensive to buy a PC that can play most games in medium detail than to buy just a PC, since everyone owns a computer anyway you might as well get one that can game.

    That and like, all the social networking and other perks that PCs offer + gaming

    override367 on
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Finally got to play OnLive today for a bit. There's one aspect of this service that is awesome, which I think all gamers would use for maybe 2 months of the year: Demos.

    Each game allows you to play for 30 minutes free (that I could tell). During months like November and December when a TON of games are coming out, paying out a month's worth of service to test each of these games and play through half and hour of them is probably going to be worth it, unless the games release their own demos, but sometimes they don't have any. Though for shorter games like Portal, 30 minutes would almost let you finish the thing during your first time playing. :D

    As for the input lag, it's noticeable. I played both World of Goo and Batman Arkham Asylum and I could notice it in each. World of Goo was ok, definitely more noticeable due to be cursor heavy, and I could see during the levels that are more timing reliant that this could be an issue. Batman was also noticeable, but in the first few fights it wasn't a huge deal, but it got irritating as you expected it to react and it would take just long enough for you to be annoyed by it.

    Onlive gave me a CPU warning when I booted it up, which is strange considering I was running it on my laptop which has a Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz processor in it. What do they want? Seriously..

    All in all, for being free for a year, which I think a lot of people will probably get into, it'll be worth it just to try out games before you buy them. I couldn't see paying full price for games along with the subscription though, which is a shame since the service will probably tank pretty quickly if no one starts buying games. I would like to see the service for free and then just charge for the games/rentals. I'll keep playing, going to play through the demos of each of the games and then I'll get a more thorough review up here later once I get more games played and on my home network rather than work.

    ArcSyn on
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  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Awesome, I got in. I'll post my impressions tonight.
    From Maine.

    agoaj on
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  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Wow, it actually works. I have no idea how close I am to one of their data centers, but I played unreal tournament and it felt like I was playing it on my own machine. With just a macbook.
    The only problem with it is it's reliance on a wired connection. Once they get wifi support up I'll probably rent just cause 2 through them.

    agoaj on
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  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Dude, you're in Maine?

    Huh

    I could actually use this thing if I wanted!

    Olivaw on
    signature-deffo.jpg
    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • ociousocious Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I rented Just Cause 2 and have been having hella fun.

    Problem is my mouse doesn't work in game. In the menus it's cool, but no go in the game world. My wireless mighty mouse responds, with no lag, but I can't make it do a right click.

    Also I had an automated torrent kick in in the middle of playing and it downgraded the graphics very noticeably, but the framerate never dropped.

    I think Onlive is a success.

    ocious on
    Life is a ____ , depending on how you dress her.
  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    What's weird is that according to geoip, the server(74.85.146.25) that's sending me video is in California. That can't be right.

    agoaj on
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  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    To commemorate this milestone, we're going to have a contest! The first OnLive member to make it all the way through LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 will win an Apple iPadTM, and the next 5 OnLive members will win an Apple iPod touch®.

    Cool use of the service. I hope this holds up with more users.

    Any idea how I can figure out which datacenter I'm connected to? It seems way too fast to be California or even Virginia.

    agoaj on
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  • LittleBootsLittleBoots Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    ocious wrote: »
    I rented Just Cause 2 and have been having hella fun.

    Problem is my mouse doesn't work in game. In the menus it's cool, but no go in the game world. My wireless mighty mouse responds, with no lag, but I can't make it do a right click.

    Also I had an automated torrent kick in in the middle of playing and it downgraded the graphics very noticeably, but the framerate never dropped.

    I think Onlive is a success.

    Well, the technology seems to be a success. But we'll have to wait and see about the business model.

    Of course, not making a profit hasn't seemed to hurt twitter.

    LittleBoots on

    Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
  • SirsonSirson Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    The tech is actually pretty cool, but the pricing models seem pretty horrible so far. I own a pretty beefy machine at home so maybe Onlive just isn't for me, the demos are pretty cool, and it's pretty neat not having to download anything. The pricing is just ridiculous, and the steam sale really just kicked it in the nuts. (example I can buy Assassin's Creed 2 for 26 bucks on Steam.. or I can pay 40 bucks on Onlive and play at a worse framerate.. and even worse be bound by a subscription fee )

    Here is a breakdown of the prices if anyone hasn't seen them:
    http://www.geek.com/articles/games/onlive-pricing-announced-and-its-expensive-20100621/

    Sirson on
  • FuriousJodoFuriousJodo Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Yeah, the pricing is the only thing I think they really have an issue with, because I have no intention of paying full price for a game in addition to a monthly service.

    FuriousJodo on
    FuriousJodo on Twitch/PSN/XBL/Whatever else
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Couscous wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    Well, the Genesis and PSX got really good ports of some of the best RTS games, in the form of Dune 2, Command and Conquer, and Red Alert. The Genesis and PSX also had a few good original ones, like Herzog Zwei.
    Warcraft and Syndicate Wars were on the PS1. Starcraft was on the N64.

    Command and Conquer for the 360. Halo Wars. Supreme Commander. Brutal Legend. Darwinia. Battlestations: Midway. Endwar. World in Conflict.

    With the exception of Brutal Legend, those all sucked on consoles.

    Metacritic:
    Halo Wars-82
    Command and Conquer-75
    Supreme Command 2-75
    Battlestations: Pacific-76
    Endwar-77
    Or are we going to start defining "suck" as "not as good as I want it to be?"

    The only reason Halo Wars got that high is because it has the word Halo in it. It still sucked. End WAr was also probably the most basic RTS i have played in my entire life, all rock paper scissors. The others i haven't played so have no opinion on them (Well haven't played them for consoles anyhow.) but a controller just doesn't do it for me with RTS games.

    Elimination on
    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Yeah, this is a no-brainer for me too. I have a decent PC, so I don't need them for their tech. I like owning my games forever, so that's a point against them there too. The death stroke is the subscription fees.

    joshofalltrades on
  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I'd never purchase their unlimited pass, if they could just get their 3-day passes down to 2-3 bucks I'd be all over that.

    Brag clips for Just Cause 2 are a godsend though. Three clicks and I've got pages and pages of flipping cars and airplane jumping shenanigans.

    agoaj on
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  • FuriousJodoFuriousJodo Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Yeah, the Brag Clips and Arena and stuff are really neat features that I am glad they used. It's also sweet using a 360 controller on it, the guide button opens up the OnLive guide during a game and such.

    FuriousJodo on
    FuriousJodo on Twitch/PSN/XBL/Whatever else
  • XaviarXaviar Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    So, is there a list of people's tags from PA somewhere? Might be nice to have a few people on the friends list, or whatever.

    Also, just got in. I'm in northern Minnesota, on the second-cheapest cable-internet plan from the shittiest provider in the area, and despite it throwing a little "Network!" thing at me in the corner every once in a while, it actually plays pretty well. The more "realistic" games look like youtube videos, granted, but the Lego Harry Potter actually looked really good, and played just fine too.

    I'll put in some more time, later, and let you guys know.

    Oh, and by the way, my tag is Xaviar

    [edit]Also.. There's a promo code "30offjuly4" which is 30% off any pass until the 5th. Not sure if it works more than once per account, but it does work on the full passes. I just picked up just cause 2. Wasn't going to spend full price, but I'll take 30% off retail for a year's worth of playing..

    [double-edit] It does seem to work on more than one. I'm gonna try and grab borderlands with it too..

    Xaviar on
  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    With 30%, I'll probably grab something for 3 day pass at least.

    agoaj on
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  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    So I read something a few days ago and just tried it. For those of you with laptops who want to use OnLive without being wired in, you can do it pretty easily. If running Vista or 7, highlight your network adapter and wireless network adapter, right-click, then create a bridge. Give it a few seconds to create and bam, OnLive thinks you're running over a wire. I just tried it out and it worked perfectly for me. Might create a bit more lag than over a wire, but hey, now I can actually use OnLive the way they kept presenting it to us, rather than as the limited shell it currently is. I hadn't touched the service since that one day I got to play for a few minutes at work because of the wired thing, so now I can finally play some game demos and perhaps get a few day passes to a couple games.

    ArcSyn on
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  • Samm1chSamm1ch Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    So I read something a few days ago and just tried it. For those of you with laptops who want to use OnLive without being wired in, you can do it pretty easily. If running Vista or 7, highlight your network adapter and wireless network adapter, right-click, then create a bridge. Give it a few seconds to create and bam, OnLive thinks you're running over a wire. I just tried it out and it worked perfectly for me.

    This worked for me, as well.

    Samm1ch on
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  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I decided to go ahead and sign up for an account even after having reservations from the beta. It's definitely improved from my beta experience, and the sound issues I had in the beta seem cleared up. Also, they've better integrated the games into the service and properly hidden the graphics options.

    Being able to demo full versions of games and rent PC games is my favorite part of this service.

    brynstar on
    Xbox Live: Xander51
    PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Onlive sent out a survey this morning. I don't know if it went to all users, but they specifically asked why I had only used the service a few times.

    I was brutally honest with them. If everyone else is as well, it will be interesting to see if they change to adapt or not.

    Key points I touched on in the survey answers:
    Needs Wifi support
    Needs to support netbooks (or lower-end hardware in general)
    Don't charge monthly and full-retail for games - one or the other has to give
    Don't drop games after 3 years - possibly losing access to a game I paid for is not appealing
    Use Onlive just for the demos
    Would not renew after the free year
    Would not recommend to friends

    ArcSyn on
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  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I got the survey as well and emphasized its strengths in the rental and demo market.

    brynstar on
    Xbox Live: Xander51
    PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
  • Nimble CatNimble Cat Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Samm1ch wrote: »
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    So I read something a few days ago and just tried it. For those of you with laptops who want to use OnLive without being wired in, you can do it pretty easily. If running Vista or 7, highlight your network adapter and wireless network adapter, right-click, then create a bridge. Give it a few seconds to create and bam, OnLive thinks you're running over a wire. I just tried it out and it worked perfectly for me.

    This worked for me, as well.

    Does anyone know the equivalent of that for OSX?

    Nimble Cat on
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Nimble Cat wrote: »
    Samm1ch wrote: »
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    So I read something a few days ago and just tried it. For those of you with laptops who want to use OnLive without being wired in, you can do it pretty easily. If running Vista or 7, highlight your network adapter and wireless network adapter, right-click, then create a bridge. Give it a few seconds to create and bam, OnLive thinks you're running over a wire. I just tried it out and it worked perfectly for me.

    This worked for me, as well.

    Does anyone know the equivalent of that for OSX?

    So far google has told me that third-party software is necessary, and the only one so far (IPNetRouterX) listed hasn't been free. Still googling.

    ArcSyn on
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  • Nimble CatNimble Cat Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Thanks! I'll probably just have to get a longer Ethernet cable ha.

    Nimble Cat on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    So how's the Onlive service holding up since starting?

    Henroid on
  • YallYall Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Henroid wrote: »
    So how's the Onlive service holding up since starting?
    I was wondering this myself as I just received a beta invite.

    Yall on
  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Rented Just Cause 2, had fun. Now it works on Wifi without work arounds.
    I just hope it keeps my save so I can rent JC2 again.

    agoaj on
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  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Apparently it's still going, since I keep receiving Facebook updates about it

    They seem to be having a lot of sales, though

    Not sure that's necessarily a good sign

    Olivaw on
    signature-deffo.jpg
    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Yall wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    So how's the Onlive service holding up since starting?
    I was wondering this myself as I just received a beta invite.

    ... what.

    Henroid on
  • ultimakayultimakay Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Henroid wrote: »
    Yall wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    So how's the Onlive service holding up since starting?
    I was wondering this myself as I just received a beta invite.

    ... what.

    Its the Wi-Fi beta that they are testing. I signed up for the free year and demoed borderlands. I used a xbox 360 controller and it worked pretty well. when I tried the mouse I could really feel the lag, but it was much better, but not perfect with the controller. I was also testing the Wifi so wired would probably give a better impression.

    ultimakay on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Oh. Wow, I'm kind of impressed this is working out so far (more or less). I mean, I'm not interested in the service, but making the tech work is nice to hear.

    Henroid on
  • ultimakayultimakay Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Henroid wrote: »
    Oh. Wow, I'm kind of impressed this is working out so far (more or less). I mean, I'm not interested in the service, but making the tech work is nice to hear.

    Thats the exact same level im on. I would have thought about joining had I not gotten the free year, and its quite amazing that I was able to stream a game with a wireless connection to my computer and actually not suck. I dont know if im going to ever use it, but I may cave and buy some 3 or 5 day passes for games like arkham asylum that I can complete in that amount of time.

    ultimakay on
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  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Olivaw wrote: »
    Apparently it's still going, since I keep receiving Facebook updates about it

    They seem to be having a lot of sales, though

    Not sure that's necessarily a good sign

    Steam must be doomed then.

    agoaj on
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  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited September 2010
    agoaj wrote: »
    Olivaw wrote: »
    Apparently it's still going, since I keep receiving Facebook updates about it

    They seem to be having a lot of sales, though

    Not sure that's necessarily a good sign

    Steam must be doomed then.

    Dude, this service just started like a couple months ago, and they're already having crazy sales like every week

    I don't know about you but sometimes that smacks a little bit of desperation, like "please god, if you just subscribe now you get like six months free, and uh, here have borderlands for like a dollar just come on"

    Olivaw on
    signature-deffo.jpg
    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    OnLive recently sent me a survey asking me why I didn't buy Mafia II from them even though they've had it discounted twice.


    I think that's the first time a company has asked me why I didn't buy something from them instead of why I did.

    brynstar on
    Xbox Live: Xander51
    PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    brynstar wrote: »
    OnLive recently sent me a survey asking me why I didn't buy Mafia II from them even though they've had it discounted twice.


    I think that's the first time a company has asked me why I didn't buy something from them instead of why I did.

    "You didn't even care that I discounted it for you, did you?

    "Do you even love me anymore?"

    subedii on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited September 2010
    subedii wrote: »
    brynstar wrote: »
    OnLive recently sent me a survey asking me why I didn't buy Mafia II from them even though they've had it discounted twice.


    I think that's the first time a company has asked me why I didn't buy something from them instead of why I did.

    "You didn't even care that I discounted it for you, did you?

    "Do you even love me anymore?"

    I got home pretty late last night and all the lights were off. OnLive was sitting in a chair, turned away from me with a cold roast on the kitchen table.

    "I made dinner and waited for you. Where were you?" OnLive said, the second part sounding more like a statement than a question.

    "I told you I didn't know when I was going to be home, OnLive. Why did you make this huge meal?"

    OnLive stood up. As my eyes began to adjust to the dark, I noticed the telltale redness, puffiness and tear tracks that showed OnLive had been crying for what must have been hours. OnLive smiled in a wry, forced sort of fashion.

    "Never mind. I don't care where you've been. You're home now. Would you like to take me into the bedroom and play Batman with me?"

    I sighed in resignation. In reality, I had just been over to Steam's house for the last 8 hours joking, tousling one another's hair and, yes, playing Batman.

    "Babe, it's close to 1 in the morning. I'm just so worn out. Can't we just go to bed now? Maybe tomorrow I'll feel up to some Arkham Asylum."

    The forced smile dissolved in an instant and the streaks running down OnLive's face became wet once more. "You don't want me anymore!" OnLive screamed at me before stomping to the door, opening it wide, stepping through and slamming it shut.

    joshofalltrades on
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