Imagine being able to fire up your vintage low-end Mac laptop and play Crysis, a gorgeously high-resolution PC game that's famous for overwhelming the GPUs of $4,000 Alienware rigs. Imagine being able to play the same game on a tiny device streaming directly to your TV. That's the kind of service OnLive announced Tuesday.
If the OnLive Game Service actually works, it will change the videogame industry profoundly.
Here's how it works: When you subscribe to the company's service, OnLive is basically running whatever game you choose to play on its computer, and streaming the video feed to you. Simultaneously, the inputs you make on OnLive's proprietary controller -- which looks similar to an Xbox 360 controller -- are being streamed to OnLive's computer.
All you need is a tiny piece of decompressing software on your computer, or a tiny device to hook up to your TV, and you can play any game in OnLive's library. (The company has partnerships with several of the biggest publishers.)
I got to see a demo of the service, and the visual quality was excellent. It remains to be seen whether OnLive has solved the incredibly complex problem of streaming that image without excessive lag or dropped frames.
OnLive, which spent several years developing improved video-compression technology, promises that its streaming alternative to consoles and expensive new graphics cards will work for anyone with a 1.5-Mb internet connection and a standard-definition TV or monitor, or a 5-Mb connection and a high-def TV or monitor. If OnLive's technology actually works, it's sure to shake up the games industry.
Here is OnLive's press release, issued Tuesday:
OnLive Revolutionizes Video Games
State-of-the-Art Games Play Over the Internet Without High-End Hardware
OnLive Game Service Delivers the Hottest Titles From Top-Tier Publishers
San Francisco, March 24, 2009 -- OnLive Inc., the pioneer of the on-demand era of videogames, today emerged from seven years of stealth development within the Rearden incubator to unveil The OnLive Game Service and OnLive MicroConsole at the 2009 Game Developers Conference. OnLive is a revolutionary, on-demand videogame platform delivering the latest and most advanced games instantly, on any TV via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsole, or on almost any PC or Mac. OnLive is supported by many of the top names in the videogames industry including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive Software, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ Inc., Epic Games, Eidos, Atari Interactive and Codemasters.
Instant, High-performance Gameplay
"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,” said Steve Perlman, founder and CEO of OnLive. "With OnLive, your videogame experience is always state-of-the-art."
Designed for gamers of all skills and ages, the OnLive Game Service is easy to use. The elegantly designed OnLive MicroConsole — about as small as a deck of cards — easily connects any TV and home broadband connection to the OnLive Game Service and is operated by an OnLive wireless controller. Gamers can enjoy the same experience on almost any internet-connected PC or Mac via a small browser plug-in from OnLive.com — even entry-level computers will play the highest-performance games. Whether on TV, PC or Mac, OnLive provides instant access to the most advanced games in the world, solo and multiplayer.
"OnLive combines the successful components of videogames, online distribution and social networking into one affordable, flexible platform that offers a new way for game fans to access and enjoy content," said Mike McGarvey, COO of OnLive. "By substantially lowering the barriers between content and consumers, OnLive has created an environment that is highly beneficial for every facet of the videogame 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."
Vibrant Community on a Massive Scale
The OnLive Game Service supports a live community of unprecedented scale. A revolutionary user interface allows videogame fans to watch thousands of live games in action, join in at any point, share their exploits with friends through social networking tools, or make Brag Clips that showcase their skills. With OnLive, gamers have immediate access to demos and can instantly try, buy and play top-tier games, whether playing solo or with friends.
Benefiting the Game Ecosystem
"With OnLive we've cleared the last remaining hurdle for the videogames industry: effective online distribution," said 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."
OnLive offers significant benefits to publishers and developers. It costs far less to develop a game for OnLive, and the economics are far more efficient than retail or download distribution models. It typically only takes a few weeks to extend an existing version of a game to work on the OnLive service, so there is little cost incurred by developers and publishers to support the OnLive platform.
Through a partnership with Epic Games, an industry-leading developer of triple-A games and cross-platform game engine technology, the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 is compatible with the OnLive platform. Games leveraging the cutting-edge technology and versatility of the Unreal Engine will easily run on the OnLive service.
Play Top Games From Top Names
OnLive will be showing 16 great titles playable during the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco at the OnLive Booth, North Hall #5128.
Coming Soon ...
The OnLive Game Service will be offered through a monthly subscription in winter 2009. OnLive will be available in a variety of different pricing packages and tiers, competitively priced to retail.
About OnLive
OnLive is the pioneer of on-demand game services, delivering real-time interactive experiences and rich media through the internet. Today, OnLive is developing solutions and services specifically for the videogames industry, with the world's first videogame-on-demand platform, the OnLive Game Service, launching later this year. With groundbreaking, patent-pending video-compression technology, OnLive harnesses cloud computing to provide the power and intelligence needed to instantly deliver the latest high-end games titles directly to TVs via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsole, or on PCs and Macs.
Founded by noted technology entrepreneur Steve Perlman (WebTV, QuickTime), and spun out of Rearden, the media and technology incubator behind MOVA, Ice Blink Studios and Moxi, OnLive spent seven years in stealth development before officially launching in March 2009. OnLive technology is backed by over 100 patents and patents pending. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. OnLive investors include Warner Bros., Autodesk and Maverick Capital. MOVA is a wholly owned subsidiary of OnLive. More information is available at www.OnLive.com.
OnLive, Brag Clips, MicroConsole, MOVA and Contour are trademarks or registered trademarks of OnLive Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used by permission.
OnLive's 'Cloud Gaming' Could Be a Game-Changer | Game | Life from Wired.com
