OnLive review

OnLive is finally released. I swear we had an OnLive thread from back when it was announced, but I can't find it anywhere.

There is still a waiting list to sign up as they allow the launch masses onto their servers, but I was accepted within a couple days.

Here are my thoughts on OnLive. These are my personal impressions and thoughts. I have watched the arena, browsed the marketplace, and played some games including Red Faction Guerrilla, Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4, and Just Cause 2. I'm very impressed they are able to do this, but I wonder how I'll feel about it after the new/cool factor wears off.

[size=20]Pros[/h]
- Surprising performance
Even with my unstable ISP that fluctuates from average to below average quality (usually around 10M down and 0.5M up by speedtest.net), I'll be honest, it looked and felt like I was playing locally. I'm sure some picky gamers could spot any control lag or notice any blurry details, but I don't notice stuff like that so it's great for me. With my connection, I'm not quite getting high-def, but it's noticeably better than standard-def.
- Games are already setup for keyboard/mouse or controller
When you start a game and see the "Press any button" screen, the game will recognize if you start it with the keyboard or a controller. The game will adapt and the controls are already setup (at least for my 360 controller). In-game cues such as "Press button to perform this action" are changed to whatever you're using.
- Games start instantly
Whether you play a full game or demo, soon as you click to play you are greeted with the splash screens and are ready to go.
- Rentals
Although it suffers from the pricing con, I love the idea of being able to rent games for 3 or 5 days.
- Demos
Being able to play demos of anything is fantastic. It starts up the game and you play the first 30 minutes. The first 30 minutes may not do some games justice, but it works for most.
- Arena and Brag Clips
Watching people play games is something I enjoy. I frequent JTV to watch people play. I love being able to see 25 people playing at once on my screen and having the ability to click on one and watch it as if they were playing on my computer.
- Play anywhere
No need to only play at your own computer. Install the 1MB OnLive application and you can play your games where there is an ok internet connection.


[size=20]Cons[/h]
- Pricing
I strongly disagree with the full retail pricing. You do not permanently or physically own the game, and the price should adapt to this. They also need to match the deals Steam has (or do better) to have decent pricing.
- Small game library
This should be temporary, but for the time being, they don't have many games. It is launch time, so I'll give them a little time to see how often they add new titles.
- Don't physically own the games
Since you don't physically own anything, you're trusting OnLive to stay in service and that they don't remove games from the library. For example, when looking at a purchase screen (in this case, Just Cause 2), It says "This game will be available until at least July 17, 2013. The way I read this is that it will likely still be available unless OnLive flops or they REALLY need server room for new games and need to get rid of games with bad sales. I don't even like relying on Steam to be running while I play Steam games, but I do anyway since it's very easy digital distribution.
- No modding
I love to mod games, but OnLive means no modding.


Some people will like OnLive and some will dislike it, you just need to decide if it's for you or not. In my case, for example, I have an average connection, a pretty good computer that could play any games they have anyway, and the fact that I like to mod means OnLive isn't really for me. But since I get a free year through the founding members program I'll stick around to see what they do and will probably rent some games.

EDIT: I just realized that a lot of people still don't know what OnLive is so here is a video that describes and shows it very well, as well as his thoughts on OnLive. Please watch to get a good look at it.

With that said, it is not worth it for me.

Looks interesting but pointless for people who already own a decent computer or all the consoles.
With retail pricing it's cheaper to rent a game down at the local Blockbusters than to play OnLive or buy the game on Steam if you have a PC.

This sounds like all fun and games for the US population, but what about Europe and the rest of the world?

You're right, but I think they want to see how well it does before expanding.

By the way, I don't want to invest much (if any) money into OnLive just yet, but they are having their first sale this weekend for 30% off everything. So I figure why not but I checked Steam just to make sure games I was looking at weren't cheaper and it looked like Steam was targeting OnLive with their big sale going on. 75% off Red Faction Guerrilla, 80% off Trine, 50% off Just Cause 2, 75% off World of Goo, 66% off Borderlands. That's a huge part of OnLive's library right now.

BT (phone and internet provider) have confirmed that they'll be bringing it to the UK within the next year, I think, so I assume other companies around Europe etc. could barter deals.

I don't think Steam would gain anything from competing with OnLive. They are completely different services. And the people who can't play these games (insufficiency in hardware) aren't really going to change their minds just because the games are cheaper, because they still won't be able to play them. OnLive on the other hand offers those people an opportunity to play those games without needing to upgrade their hardware.

I've no idea how OnLive will turn out. It's functions certainly look appealing, but I would never buy into this system as I really enjoy owning the physical copies of the games I have. Plus the prices really are too high.

Right, I didn't intend for that to mean they were indeed competing, I just thought it was interesting to see most of OnLive's games in a huge Steam sale. I may have bought a game or two from OnLive for 30% off to play with their service some more, but I changed my mind when I saw Steam had them for so much cheaper.

How about Asia? Did they mention when they will bring it to Asia?