Comments on: OnLive could threaten Xbox, PS3, and Wii

A new digital distribution system promises high-quality streaming of first-run major publisher video games to many Macs and PCs. It could endanger the existing console model.

[hgomez031]

This can be really pricey and here is why. There is no way your going to get those high quiality pretty playstation 3 games over this type of bandwidth unless you are willing to pay 50-60 permonth to get roadrunner turbo. I have 6bmps dsl and the smallest thing causes my voice ip phone to just tank and start screatching and thats with 768kbps upstream. so if your willing to up your bandwith to 60bucks/month, plus pay another 50-60 bucks per month (betcha it will cost that much) to join and playt these games it makes it very unlikely that your traditional broke family is going to dish out over 1500/year just to play games.......Unless you are a die hard fan of them...Ill just stick to my playstation and my Grandtheft auto...still cant seem to finish that game :)

[derangedn00b]

I think its great that this tech is coming out because game developers( Crysis, Dark Messiah Might and Magic and more) send out demos that may work on your computer but when the finished product comes out you find your self breaking the game. If game developers decide to not work with the consumer than the consumer will move to someone that will. Onlive looks promising, and if the consumer moves the developers will have to as well if they want to stay in business. As for Sony Microsoft and Nintendo they should worry about us not us about them. They will adapt to this or they will pull out nuff said

[C0mmanderB0nd]

I guess MS, Sony, Nintendo might haven been worried, till they saw it was being pimped by the guy who brought us Web TV.......

So it's either vaporware, or crap!

[Jackofblade]

These guys are too ambitious out of the box. What they could do however is create a cyber game world with its own unique media rules, shows, events, articles, parties and idea exchanges. All new games could be demo'ed and advertised in this world without the clutter of irrelevant television commercials, internet spam and magazine fodder. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and any other company should be able to bolt onto the spine of this system to market their goods and demo a new system/game. That's where I think their real potential is. It's as a dedicated media/demo world for Gamers only. They could rack up some big advertising deals with tech companies to reach that market. But as soon as we see a soap commercial, we're outta there!

[rkr1995]

This is a good idea, but it's hard to see it becoming a reality in the near future. I ask the question: How many people actually have a 1.5Mbps internet connection? Think about it

[Jeremy_O]

Wow, this looks amazing. On another gaming review site it emphasized the observer mode built into OnLive. That sounds cool to me. Watching the best players battle it out could be great-like 24/7 gaming TV.

One potential application that might not be included yet, but should be: online parental remote observation. In a couple of years, my kids could be playing, and it would be nice to "drop in" on their game and watch from work, make sure everything's kosher.

[pithenumber]

How are the servers going to cope with the stress of running hundreds of games at once

or are they just going to make us use low quality settings and minimum resolution

[interoperate]

I hope that OnLive will be supporting Linux in the near future.

[tncpeterd]

This technology is already available and working. just check out QuakeLive. www.quakelive.com. You download a 16mb client and the quakelive servers do the same thing OnLive does, it streams the video frames to you, and does all the rendering on their servers.... So to all of you that dont think this will work, QuakeLive is already doing it with Quake 3, and it works very well... So I think OnLive is just the next step forward in this type of technology.

[meechp123]

this could either be a really great thing...or turn out to be a bust.

either way, i think it's a really, really good idea that's worth trying.

i'm interested!

[NearChaos]

It'll work. In fact it's been done. Years ago. Any of you try Gametap? It doesn't work like VNC or remote desktop. Basically the streaming mechanism simulates the presence of physical media, i.e. the DVD that you would otherwise buy at the store.

That's also why I don't think it'll be huge. It hasn't been huge yet.

Personally I spend all damn day working on a computer, I do like video games but I want to play them on something that doesn't look or feel like what I do for work, on the couch, on the nice TV in the den.

[yiang]

anyone remember the Sega channel?

[Paid2PlayGames]

hello all
First thing is HELL NO (final thoughts on this new system)
reason: well ive read all of the comments here and most of you are correct on how this would not work for the Hardcore gamer, and My Isp can walk the Plank (Comc*nt) also theres No way im going to Let the system or any other game company Lead me like cattle...
personally i download my games for free now and i check them out before i contribute another hard earned $ for a Coaster or Shelf **Dust** collector....
It also sounds to me like the "new system" will need some **testing** before it can actually be confirmed as being **Reliable** **Dependable** **Stable** worth my $$$ (so we would be the Beta testers?) NOPE , count me Out ..
Personally when they can take care of the Hackers and Cheaters in the games i play as my favs , then maybe i'll give this another thought (until then my standing is = FAIL )
Electronic Arts = FAIL for there BF2 hacker friendly community , Activision +++ Love them , (at least they actually stand behind there gamers that took them from nothing to Famous over night and Beyond ;) )
the other game companies I wont comment on , because there (a waste of DNA )
Crysis: Great game (No it does not take a super computer to get 60+ FPS ( I personally play all maxxed settings (Anti Aliasing x8)and get 75 FPS , you heard me right (75 FPS) my Specs? well i can tell you (2) 9800GTX's do very well for crysis 9800GTX $189 each ,4 gigs of 6400 DDR2($60) , Quad running 3.6GHZ($220) , 1000Watt PSU($250) , plenty of cooling ($35)(8 FANS)(AIR) and no problems Smooth as a babies bottom gaming...
FarCry2: Amazing Grafix!! they really did a Fine Job on that game (Kudos) all maxxed settings same as above..
well i have wasted to much of my time on this topic, hope you all make the right conclusions about this "new System" Piece

[Paid2PlayGames]

hello all
First thing is HELL NO (final thoughts on this new system)
reason: well ive read all of the comments here and most of you are correct on how this would not work for the Hardcore gamer, and My Isp can walk the Plank (Comc*nt) also theres No way im going to Let the system or any other game company Lead me like cattle...
personally i download my games for free now and i check them out before i contribute another hard earned $ for a Coaster or Shelf **Dust** collector....
It also sounds to me like the "new system" will need some **testing** before it can actually be confirmed as being **Reliable** **Dependable** **Stable** worth my $$$ (so we would be the Beta testers?) NOPE , count me Out ..
Personally when they can take care of the Hackers and Cheaters in the games i play as my favs , then maybe i'll give this another thought (until then my standing is = FAIL )
Electronic Arts = FAIL for there BF2 hacker friendly community , Activision +++ Love them , (at least they actually stand behind there gamers that took them from nothing to Famous over night and Beyond ;) )
the other game companies I wont comment on , because there (a waste of DNA )
Crysis: Great game (No it does not take a super computer to get 60+ FPS ( I personally play all maxxed settings (Anti Aliasing x8)and get 75 FPS , you heard me right (75 FPS) my Specs? well i can tell you (2) 9800GTX's do very well for crysis 9800GTX $189 each ,4 gigs of 6400 DDR2($60) , Quad running 3.6GHZ($220) , 1000Watt PSU($250) , plenty of cooling ($35)(8 FANS)(AIR) and no problems Smooth as a babies bottom gaming...
FarCry2: Amazing Grafix!! they really did a Fine Job on that game (Kudos) all maxxed settings same as above..
well i have wasted to much of my time on this topic, hope you all make the right conclusions about this "new System" Piece

[ean_kile]

That's a lot of streaming, man. If every youtube video I ever watched played perfectly without stopping, I'd begin to consider streaming games. And then decide against it because I already have a 360, and purchase all of my games used for less, which wouldn't be an option with this new service.

[karthkaril]

I keep reading how console manufacturers could be in danger of losing business. Wouldn't gaming pc and related hardware manufacturers be in just as much danger? You wouldn't need a gaming rig to play those cutting edge games anymore...heck you wouldn't even need a computer!

[screamapillar]

Steam is I guess the pre-cursor to this, where you do download the game but at a reasonable cost. I loved the concept. That being said, playing MMOs has made me sceptical about all online games...

[KaalX]

Honestly, the game industry has come too far with PS3, 360 and Wii. I am pretty sure that this is going to be a failure. I doubt that the price of this will be any cheaper that the PS3. If people aren't buying PS3s, you think they are going to buy this. Plus I can't imagine how many servers WebTv would need to keep to keep this online thing going.

[roachbrain]

Wow, now everyone is a professional. Man I hope the people developing this read the comments here. Oh no the bandwidth, supercomputers, a controller the biologically attaches to your arm, blah blah blah?.They have been working on it and I?m sure they know what hurdles they have to get across. I for one stay optimistic and hope they do accomplish a cheaper solution to play games like Crisis. It?s a great idea and I wish them the best.

[trgdr777]

I'm not going to say it can't work because I don't know that. What I do know is that Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony don't need to panic any time soon.
1) People want to own physical copies of their games.
2) There are many people that don't have the best internet, but enjoy gaming in HD.
3) Wii is unstoppable, and this system probably won't support motion control or IR.
4) Exclusives like Mario, Halo, Zelda, Pikmin, etc. will never end up on this console. If you enjoy those games you'll have to get a traditional console anyway, and if you're budget only has room for one console, you'll probably get the one that has your favorite exclusives in addition to the multiplatform stuff.
5) If streaming games becomes the better business model then Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony will just adopt it for themselves.