Saturday, March 23, 2024

OnLive Dares to Change the Future of Gaming

OnLive, the company which pioneered the on demand era of video games, came out of a seven year long hibernation and revealed two products at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, the OnLive Game Service and the OnLive MicroConsole. OnLive is a radical, on demand video game platform that is capable of delivering games instantly on any TV via a small MicroConsole or on nearly any Mac or PC. State of the Art games can be played over the internet without high end hardware, using OnLive.

OnLive MicroConsole

“OnLive is the most powerful game system in the world. No high-end hardware, no upgrades, no endless downloads, no discs, no recalls, no obsolescence,” exclaimed Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive. “With OnLive, your video game experience is always state-of-the-art.”

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The OnLive Game Service is simple and easy to use and is compatible with any Intel based Mac running OS X or Windows PC running XP or Vista. The OnLive MicroConsole can connect any TV and home broadband connection to the OnLive Game Service, is operated using a wireless controller, and is just about the size of a deck of cards. Basically any PC or Mac gamer can have the same experience as even entry level computers can play high performance games.

OnLive MicroConsole 2

“OnLive combines the successful components of video games, online distribution and social networking into one affordable, flexible platform that offers a new way for game fans to access and enjoy content,” commented Mike McGarvey, COO of OnLive. “By substantially lowering the barriers between content and consumers, OnLive has created an facet of the video game ecosystem. With OnLive, gamers can play what they want, when they want, how they want. That level of freedom has never been possible until now.”

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The OnLive Game Service is able to support a live community of unimaginable proportion and an innovative user interface lets gamers watch thousands of live games and jump in at any moment. Users can even share their achievements with their friends using social networking tools and make “Brag Clips” showing off their skills. Players using OnLive have instant access to game demos and can immediately try out, purchase and play the best of games, be it playing solo or with friends.

OnLive MicroConsole 3

“With OnLive we’ve cleared the last remaining hurdle for the video games industry: effective online distribution,” remarked Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive. “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. Delivering games instantly to the digital living room is the promise game fans have been waiting for and OnLive makes that promise a reality that’s affordable, flexible and focused on their individual needs.”

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It is beneficial to publishers and developers since it costs much less to develop a game for OnLive and it only takes a few weeks to make an existing version of a game to work on the OnLive Service. Also, the Unreal Engine 3 is compatible with the OnLive platform.

The OnLive Game Service is expected to be released sometime in the winter of 2009 and will be offered through a monthly subscription. The service is set to be available at a number of different price packages.

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