If you’re not familiar with it, OnLive is a quite innovative service. Instead of forcing you to download games you want to play all you need to do is download their game client and you’re ready to stream games from their servers to your computer. While their game library isn’t too massive just yet, it does include hot titles such as NBA 2K11.
Seeing how the service is quite new, there are still some features that have yet to be added. Luckily, OnLive’s VP of Engineering, Joe Bentley, recently spoke during GDC to give us a bit of insight into the future of the service. First of all, OnLive plans to add achievements to their service which consoles gamers will be quite familiar with as it gives players incentives to continue playing, many times even after a game’s main mode is beaten. Additionally, the company also hopes to bring integrated voice chat, game invites and the ability to upload clips from the service straight to OnLive.
These is quite a hefty order but once they are implemented, OnLive will be much more up to par with traditional consoles like the Xbox 360 OR PS3.
While many gamers may swear by their physical media consuming gaming PCs or console, the streaming game service OnLive has quickly been gaining traction. If you’re not familiar with this service you essentially download a client, find a game you want to play, pay a reduced fee and without any download times whatsoever you’ll be playing.
If you’ve already been enjoying all of the benefits that come with OnLive, you may be interested to hear that the service will soon be getting an update that will see a whole slew of new titles added to its library. In fact, these titles will be made available though their PlayPack plan that is essentially the Netflix of video games where you will pay a small monthly fee and given unlimited access to a library of titles.
Anyways, the new titles that will be coming “in the next few weeks” include Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Mini Ninja and Thief. We’ll let you know when the titles go live.
OnLive is one of the most innovative console manufacturers to date. If you haven’t heard of the company, they have an expansive line up of titles that allow you to stream from the cloud to your computer for a reduced fee. In other words, no downloading, no patches, no fuss. Sounds pretty cool right? But what if you aren’t partial to PC gaming and want to bring the experience to the television without paying for the $99 MicroConsole?
Well, you’re in luck as OnLive has just announced that they will be giving those who pre-order Homefront a free MicroConsole essentially meaning you’re getting the console and the game for just $50. Not only that, but pre-order the game and you’ll be given free access the full version of Metro 2033.
The deal only lasts until supplies run out so you better get down fast if planning to do so.
via onliveblog
Smartphone make HTC has announced that it plans to invest $40 million into game streaming company OnLive, in order to bring its mobile game offerings to HTC phones. HTC has bought 5.3 million OnLive shares at $7.50, totaling around $40 million, although its unclear how big of a percentage HTC will own.
In 2010, OnLive managed to raise an impressive $60 million from investors, and that number has now grown to $100 million.
Via Joystiq.
OnLive is an interesting service because instead of featuring a video game console that actually requires physical media (or even locally stored media) it does away with that and streams everything from remote locations. This means if your Internet connection is strong enough you will be able to play a whole slew of different titles in all of their high definition glory instantly with no downloading or heading to your local GameStop.
However, in order to actually play the games you have to buy them either for the life of the service or with a monthly surcharge. Luckily, the company has just outed a new plan dubbed the PlayPack that will run you $9.99 per month. This plan will give you unlimited access to a catalog of 38 different itles including BioShock, NBA2K10, Prince of Persia and much more.
I’ve yet to try the PlayPack plan but I’ve tried OnLive and can definitely vouch for it. Hell, you can ever plug your wired Xbox 360 controller into a spare USB port and you essentially have an Xbox 360. Not to mention the fact that this new PlayPack plan may give mail-order video game rental services like GameFly a run for their money.
Check out the official press release after the break.
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It’s no secret Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are the three big video game console manufacturers with the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, respectively, but one company is looking to give the three a run for their money. This company is none other than OnLive which is working to give consumers the ability to stream games over a high speed broadband connection for a cheap price.
However, in order to actually get the streaming games off your computer and onto your big screen youo’re going to need to pick up the OnLive game console pictured above. Complete with a built-in HDMI port, the OnLive game console is compatbile not only with the standard OnLive controller but any other controller that works through USB including the official Xbox 360 controller.
Normally this device sells for $99 but in lieu of CES 2011, OnLive will be dropping the price of the game console $33 down to just $66. If you’re looking to get down on this deal you better do so fast as it only runs through January 9th.
via joystiq
Game Streaming service OnLive has announced that they’ll be offering a movie streaming service in 2011, ala Netflix. No details on the new streaming feature have been released, but expect something very similar to Netflix and in the same price range as Netflix as well.
In addtion, OnLive has released an iPhone app, called OnLive Viewer, which lets people manage their OnLive account, watch trailers and so on — but no actual “gaming”.
While the Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3 are currently the most talked about home video game consoles, another is coming that is sure to stir things up a bit. OnLive is a home console that does things less traditionally than other game consoles in the sense that no physical media is used. Instead, you hook the MicroConsole up to an ethernet port and are then given the option to stream a whole slew of games.
However, while you’re currently forced to pay for each game you stream, a new option has come from OnLive in the form of an all-you-can-eat $9.99 monthly subscription. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to give you access to the entire line up of OnLive games but instead a pre picked “PlayPack”.
To make things even better, if you’ve already got an OnLive MicroConsole, the service is completely free until it officially launches on January 23rd.
Will services like this prove a threat to the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii? Let’s wait and see.
Press release after the break.
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The streaming gaming service OnLive has had some issues in gaining a large user base, mostly, it’s been a cost and not technology based one. For one, users had to pay a $15 monthly fee, and on top of that, pay for the games. Now OnLive has realized that that setup kinda sucks, and they’ve removed the monthly subscription charge, now, only have to pay for the game you play on OnLive. Not bad.
That’s right, game streaming service OnLive has been valued at $1.1 billion, according to a filing the company did with the SEC, where the total value of its 342 million shares is set at $1.1 billion — which seems kinda lot for a largely unproven service.
