OnLive believes that if Sony and MS were to integrate its Cloud service on PS3 and Xbox 360, they would "make great consoles".
The tech has been officially backed by major software publishers such as Warner and EA. However, OnLive is yet to seal an affiliation with any traditional hardware manufacturer, locking it out of access to platform-exclusive content - and a big chunk of the modern gaming audience.
When we asked OnLive VP of Engineering Joe Bentley if the company could see its service working with Microsoft and Sony's systems in future - rather than just bypassing them - he said:
"Absolutely, they would make great consoles. Our controller is a hybrid between a PS3 controller and an Xbox controller. It's all compatible, it would just work. There are OnLive guys chatting [Sony and MS], but we'll see where it goes. But it would absolutely work, we're ready to work with everybody.
He added: "What people are realising and waking up to is everything could be a console, why shouldn't you be able to take your game everywhere. I think the timing of this is perfect. When I joined the company I didn't think it was going to pan out this way.
"I give lectures at university and I tell people that finally the internet has grown to be fast enough, and that it's really the age of the SOC; the System-On Chips that you find in the iPad, the snapdragon. They're making these magical smartphones and tablets take off in a huge way.
"It makes you use your imagination: what would you do with faster Internet and these SOCs in TVs? It will soon be in everything up to refrigerators. This is what we came up with - turning everything into a console, not taking compromised gaming like Zynga or whatever but fully-fledged gaming with you.
"It has to be instant, because the reality is we have a very short amount of time. The reason mobile gaming has taken off is because you can occupy your time at the bus stop or whatever. The limitations of those games, though, are that the entertainment only goes so far. Why compromise that experience?
"LA Noire is a fabulous, wonderful story and you could sit there for weeks exploring it in different ways. Why not be able to take that with you and continue the story? It's like a good book."
According to Bentley, Valve "really likes OnLive" and conversations are taking place between the firms about working closer together.
OnLive's Cloud Gaming service is due to launch in the UK this autumn.
BT has the exclusive rights to bundle OnLive together with its broadband service offerings in the UK, although customers will also have the option to order directly from OnLive to run over any UK ISP.
Comments
32 comments so far...
StonecoldMC on 27 Jun '11 said:
If OnLive joine forces with Sony or MS doesnt that just negate the need for an actual, you know, console, or am I being a real doughball
?
c3dpo on 27 Jun '11 said:
I would've tried it in the UK if not bound to BT!
I'm on fibre optic virgin so will have to wait.
Sounds promising, though worried about badnwidth use as although I'm not capped, I'm sure some will stream their allowance in a matter of hours, so not ideal for peak gaming
WE'll see, I'm keeping an open mind either way.
Though Sony should probablly do this considering their shocking server speeds in regards to updates, downloads etc!!!!!
JJM-NUKE on 27 Jun '11 said:
Hopefully this will increase Onlives libary of games, thats the main reason i see this as a good thing, bigger libary brings in more people.
stealth on 27 Jun '11 said:
they want to kill gaming
shiwayb on 27 Jun '11 said:
No.
Cloud Gaming = Too Much Latency.
almanac2015 on 27 Jun '11 said:
My thoughts on the matter are that OnLive aimed to rival console gaming but have fast realised that it's not going to happen and are now trying to find a foothold on consoles.
kirankara on 27 Jun '11 said:
Never had issue with download speed of psn games or demos, in fact demo of star wars force unleashed 2 was quicker on psn than live (wanted to compare them), and bc2's 1.7gb patch took 30 mins, which isn't bad. The updates for games and firmware are pretty slow though , but nowhere near the speeds some people claim to have on them. Latest firmware update was done in minute max.
There's a limit on 360 patch sizes on games that ms implement and it's 4mb apparently , whilst there's no such limit on psn. The reason seems to be related to way the consoles implement patches, with ps3 literally replacing executable files, but 360 seems to just add extra data ( not really sure how this works).Ms also doesnt allow extra content to be included in patches. This has issues both ways, with slow updates on psn and devs unable to patch content directly into 360 games . Dice had issues with patch for bc2 Vietnam .
I'd love someone to be able to explain this properly though for me
EvilWaterman on 27 Jun '11 said:
I also have Virgin Media and they f***ing suck. They say that their service is great for gaming but its all lies. Its all very well having 100mb BB but if the line quaity is s**t and they have over-subscribed their service then its usless.
AJB123644 on 27 Jun '11 said:
Read here:
kirankara on 27 Jun '11 said:
On virgin here and absolutely no issues here
NoobDefence on 27 Jun '11 said:
Question is will this include the PC version of games? Will Microsoft & Sony really be brave enough to show how old there 'next gen' tech looks? I bet if something like this did come to the big 3, you'll be stuck streaming console versions of games. It takes away the point of cloud based gaming IMO.
El Mag on 27 Jun '11 said:
Only problem i've had with Virgin is days i've downloaded alot they'll slow my speed from 10mb to about 3mb from about 5pm until 10pm.
TechnoWolf on 27 Jun '11 said:
Is it just me or does that controller look like a classic controller pro?
kirankara on 27 Jun '11 said:
Yup , they have fair usage policy within certain times , 10am-3pm 3gb, 4pm-9pm 1.5gb, and unlimited after.
I think they also stangle p2p speeds within certain times too.
http://shop.virginmedia.com/help/traffi ... olicy.html
EvilWaterman on 27 Jun '11 said:
i had no probs for over a year. Do a pingtest at peak time and see what line quality you have! Mines no so bad now asd had and enginner visit on sat. Ill see how long it lasts.
manky on 27 Jun '11 said:
Foolish thinking.
As John Carmack pointed out recently at e3 and reported here on this very website - latency of up to a 200ms is already being introduced into games by low (30fps) frame rates and digital circuitry inside your display device (TV/PJ).
My latency when connecting to OnLive via my PC is 32ms. Latency is not the issue.
milky_joe on 27 Jun '11 said:
The people behind OnLive have essentially realised they were on to a loser having jumped too soon with a product that relied solely on internet connection when most of the gaming world struggles to get much more than 1-2Mbps, and so they're putting the tech into as many things as possible in the hope of getting a percentage of those users to actually use the technology, whilst at the same time having a large install base to show off to developers in the hope of getting their games.
So if they put their tech in multiple devices giving them a 'userbase' of 100million (for example), then they can sell that to developers, even if the percentage of people actually making use of it is insignificantly small.
It's like buying a top of the line TV these days, it'll probably be 3D capable, but that doesn't mean you're going to use that tech, and yet your purchase will be used to show the growth of 3D...
originalbadboy on 27 Jun '11 said:
Yuo can still try it regardless of whether you are on BT or not
kirankara on 27 Jun '11 said:
I am at 35ms or lower most the time, and I'm only on 10mb.
headspin on 27 Jun '11 said:
dunno, but if they dont do a controller with the left analogue stick in the right place for me (ie- not where it is on that picture) then count me out til a 3rd party does one.... or might they actually listen to their customers and make different controllers so to please both camps of where they prefer their analogue sticks.... imagine that eh, a company that isnt arrogant enough to not listen to millions of their customers preferences of where their left thumb is most comfortable, and that goes for both MS and Sony, this is something that should have been addressed by both parties years ago and made official controllers (although im happy with my 3rd party one)... sorry, rant over lol
Athrun888 on 27 Jun '11 said:
The day this sort of digital distribution becomes the way games are distributed is the day I hang up my controller and find a new hobby, there are so many reasons why this could potentially suck, biggest and best example, what if what recently happened to Sony happened to Onlive? Yeah, I'll stick with games that don't require online connections thanks.
bigste26 on 27 Jun '11 said:
don't trust cloud gaming or cloud anything its a con take look http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-cloud-t ... eover.html
timewarp1 on 27 Jun '11 said:
Best place for it is on a console - cos if it was stand alone and Onlive got done over like PSN, then they wouldnt have many punters at the end of the outage
wasted-again on 27 Jun '11 said:
It means no need for a new console.
Domin666 on 27 Jun '11 said:
One thing what if the line go's down?
quain-chi on 27 Jun '11 said:
I've been using onlive just fine on virgin fibre optic for a while now signed into its american servers.
I think its something thatd work well on the consoles for demos and games on demand, be nice to have the option of instant on, download or if your connection is up to it, instant on game while it downloads in the background.
solamon77 on 27 Jun '11 said:
I'm still highly skeptical of OnLive. I still have problems getting consistent movie streaming over the Net let alone trying to play a video game. This service is going to leave people in Rural area's left in the dust.
MyApocalypse on 28 Jun '11 said:
Honestly, I think OnLive needs more time. I can see it making some major progress on the consoles but I think it will take a while to work out the lag issues which is probably its biggest technical problem.
TOKEN on 28 Jun '11 said:
I dont mind this as long as there is disc also with the proper increase of BB speed.
Soviet1918 on 28 Jun '11 said:
Yeeeeaahhhh i was thinking that ,, Sony and MS would kinda be shooting them selfs in the foot.
On a side note i wonder how secure Onlive servers are? if this is the next big thing "yeah right" hackers will have a pop at it.
Padua on 29 Jun '11 said:
I think it is a great. Onlive is likely to be huge in the future.
I fully expect all console developers will be looking at this technology eventually.
Games could be written on one platform and then be streamed to countless different devices, including phones and tablets.
Less development cost and a greater market size has got to mean reduced costs for consumers too.
Microsoft and Sony have been reinventing the console anyway - they are more media hubs now than console.
Surely the best of both traditional and Cloud gaming is attractive to gamers.
Anyway, who cares if consoles cease to become relevant - all that matters are the games in the end
gmcb007 on 29 Jun '11 said:
Tell me this, what platform version does Onlive use; PC,PS3 or Xbox?