Your mind may still be reeling over details of the OnLive Gaming service we told you about yesterday, and rightfully so -- there's something to be said for the end of driving to the game store to buy a game, isn't there? Hot on the heels of all this discussion, the OnLive site has opened applications for beta testers, so if you have any interest in all in this service, I'd say you ought to scoot on over there and get yourself registered.
I'm pleased to see I was wrong about the lack of Mac inclusion, as it is clearly shown above. Also, the TV option allows you to still participate if you don't have a powerful enough computer, which is also very clever indeed. In combing the FAQ, I discovered that "no downloads" isn't quite true. Rather, there is a download but the website promises it to be "faster than anything you've ever seen -- instant". I can't wait to see how these promises measure up when OnLive comes out this winter ... most interesting, indeed.
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Contest:
10:20 AM on 03.25.2009
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Either way, I signed up.
They still can't answer the question of demand, distance, lag, and the business model.
Currently, I only play console games... Just because my PC is junk and can't play anything released in the last several years. However, this gives me hope.
Awesome idea... I just hope it works.
They did have an answer for that. They wrote their own video algorithm that only allows 1 millisecond lag for people up to 1000 miles away from their servers. That is quite revolutionary considering that lag is normally allowed at 500 or more. How true that is you will find out from testing.
The REAL problem is that it is subscription based and you don't own your own games.
The day I can't own the games myself is the day I quit playing them.
They did say you could purchase games. I don't believe the pricing strategy is finalized yet, but you pay a subscription for the OnLive service itself, then you have the option of purchasing games that you want to own permanently or paying to play them on a rental basis.
Of course, I suppose you could argue that if you decide to cancel your OnLive subscription you no longer own the games you "purchased" .. and that is balls.
made me realise this technology will be detrimental to online gaming. they will no dooubt put a datacentre in the UK if this takes off, but i would only be able to play with other people in the UK...
The 1ms time they quoted is just the time it takes to encode 1 frame of animation at 720p.
Light can't even travel 200 miles in 1ms.
Thats what I was referring to. Where did I say that had anything to do with bandwidth. Lag and bandwidth are not the samething.
In case it is not clear my original comment was referring to what it should do to perform better than most HD video and that was the answer they gave. As far as their net code goes.
Assuming that works as described, lag becomes more of a personal and ISP problem just like any other console. They can't be expected to be responsible for your pipes and the Internet protocol (which they cannot change).
That said, I still hate the idea.
HA! so true! whatever happened to that thing? is it still pending release or canceled or what?
http://i.gizmodo.com/5183416/onlive-demos-streaming-games-yes-thats-crysis-on-integrated-graphics
Speed of light = approx 3 * 10^8 m/s
1000 miles = approx 1.61 * 10^6 m
distance / speed = 0.0054 s
So, under 6 milliseconds one way. It would actually be closer to 12 due to the light being transmitted though glass. Add 2ms at each end for encoding / decoding, and let's say 2ms for the server to render the frame, and we have each frame being delivered in 30ms, or just over 30fps.
I estimate that a server class PC with great networking and graphics will cost £3000 at least per unit.
To recoup this cost and if I was to sign up to a monthly cost of £40 (dont actually know costs) which is over 6 years before you break even. Even this machine is shared by 4-5 people it is many years before costs are recouped.
The technology would surely be very beneficial for streaming video with a much larger market.
I would love to know who has this massive development money in a time of global cutbacks.
What next, Crysis on my craptop?
Oh. Wait.