Now Playing: OnLive
Let’s just cut straight to the nitty gritty. Does OnLive work as promised? Yes. It actually does exactly what the company claimed. It runs on virtually any computer. It allows you to jump right in to any game without installing, patching, or configuring. It gives you a perfect image that’s comparable to an HDTV running at 720p. It runs without any lag or noticeable delay.
That is… as long as you have sufficient bandwidth.
Yes, OnLive works as advertised, with the one conceit that both your bandwidth is high, and the servers aren’t over burdened. If the connection isn’t perfect, the illusion isn’t quite perfect. At best, it’s like you’re playing a game on a high-end computer. At worst, it’s like playing an interactive YouTube video running at full screen with a dying controller. The graphics can look very pixelated, the controls can have a very noticeable delay, and the sound can even lag behind the video. Fortunately, this has mostly been the exception in my experience.
There are a handful of games currently available to choose from. There’s not much consistency in their prices or purchase methods. Some can be bought outright, some can be bought or rented, while some can only be rented but not purchased. Rentals give you the game for a few days, while purchases give you access to the game until at least the year 2013. And that’s one of the big issues with OnLive. Games you buy aren’t permanently yours. You’re either renting or leasing, essentially. The prices of these games are also an issue. You might expect that these non-permanent games would be cheaper than what they would be at retail. You should think again. The prices are exactly in line with what the same games go for at retail, or Steam for that matter.
Questionable value aside, OnLive works incredibly well on a technical level. It’s difficult not to totally geek out when it’s running. You can select any game on the service and just jump right in. Many of the games have 30 minute timed demos that you can initiate at any time. Besides playing the games, you can access the Arena. The Arena is a big, endless wall of videos. Each video is a game being played by someone else right at that very moment. You can make any of these videos go fullscreen and just watch other people’s games. Of course, other people can do the same to you, but you can easily disable them from doing so if it bothers you.
My OnLive account came with one free game. I chose Borderlands, because it seemed like it would last me quite a while, and because it was one of the few games that I didn’t already have on a console. Playing it with the mouse and keyboard, especially when the connection isn’t 100%, is less than ideal. The precision of a mouse combined with just a little bit of lag makes for an experience that could make you nauseous. Playing with a controller, on the other hand, it’s barely noticeable that you’re actually playing a game on a server hundreds of miles away. I’ve played Borderlands on OnLive for the last two nights straight, and both times I eventually forgot I wasn’t playing a game running on my own computer. That is impressive.
Does OnLive have a future? I can’t say. I’m not really sure the business model can support itself. They need a lot more games, and a much better pricing scheme (see: Netflix). On the other hand, the technology delivers and makes you realize that, hey guess what, we’re living in the future now! Hopefully OnLive will stick around, I’d like to see it take off.
