When OnLive was announced no one really knew what to believe. The service seemed almost too innovative to work, although everyone had to admit that the idea was quite fetching. It’s simple, really- rather than buy a PC and a graphics card and keep updating it every year, you let the streaming OnLive service worry about that. It has the plug and play ease of use of a console, with no installations or tweaks required. The way it works is that your controller inputs are sent over the internet to OnLive’s computers which are actually running the game and it’s sent instantly back with no lag at all. The service has been available on PC for a while and it’s worked beautifully, with people playing brand new games on years-old computers and laptops, but the real deal just went on sale.
This tiny unit is their game system, one that you simply hook up to the internet and your tv and dive into PC gaming from the comfort of your couch. Nice of them to copy the best controller on the market. They’re being pretty smart about the pricing of the games and offer demos and 3-5 day rentals, even abandoning their yearly subscription plan after people balked.
The system is available for order now but will hit on December 2nd for the price of 99 bucks. What’s more, they will give you free game if you preorder, effectively halving the price of the unit.
The lineup of games is pretty amazing as well- they’ve lined up present and future titles from some of the biggest developers. EA,Ubisoft, Capcom, 2K Games, Sega and many many more are all on board with their latest hits, as well as a ton of popular indie games on the service as well. Check their official site for more details.
What do you think, folks? Is this the next step for PC games like they’re proclaiming?