When you see an article with a headline as bold as “PCs to replace videogame consoles?” and it contains more than just speculation, it’s bound to catch your attention. After all, that’s big talk, considering the wild success that the industry has enjoyed these past few years.
Enter the OnLive Game Service, a Warner Bros. product that is being shown off this week in San Francisco at GDC. This service will basically turn any capable PC into a fully functional gaming console and allow gamers to play games on said PC instantly … with no download.
Of course, this won’t work for everyone, as many people do not use PCs or don’t have broadband internet access (which the service requires). However, for those that do, it could pose a serious threat to the current major consoles .. or so Warner Bros would like to think.
Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive, offered some words on the service:
“With OnLive we’ve cleared the last remaining hurdle for the videogames industry: effective online distribution. By putting the value back into the games themselves and removing the reliance on expensive, short-lived hardware, we are dramatically shifting the economics of the industry.”
EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, THQ, Atari, Epic Games, Eidos and Codemasters have all climbed on board for the service’s release, which is slated for this winter. Does this appealto you in any way? If so, what do you like about it (or what do you dislike)?
[Via Variety — Thanks, Brian]
Published: Mar 24, 2009 04:40 pm