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OnLive Announces iPad Support for Cloud Gaming with Optional Bluetooth Controller

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At E3 this week, OnLive announced the coming of an iPad client App for the OnLive gaming service.
OnLive is pleased to announce the OnLive Player App for iPad and Android. Like the recently announced consoles, the OnLive Player App will enable gameplay of virtually all OnLive games on an iPad and Android tablet with touch or OnLive's new Universal Wireless Controller.
Click to expand...
We previously covered OnLive demoing this as a "tech demo" but it seems they've progressed to a final product. OnLive has already delivered a viewer app so iPad users can watch live games. Today's announcement, however, extends that to actual gameplay from your iPad.


OnLive delivers console-quality games to Macs, PCs, your TV (and now your iPad) by remotely streaming the game from their central servers. The customer's home computer need not be fast enough to render high resolution graphics -- instead it simply has to play back what amounts to a video stream of the game, while user controls are sent back to the central server.

We spoke to TouchArcade's Eli Hodapp who had a chance to demo the new system which he said worked "amazingly well". The OnLive iPad client will offer a visual overlay so customers can control games using on-screen touch controls to replace the usual physical controller. They also are giving developers the opportunity to implement actual touch/swipe controls as seen in the video above. Finally, OnLive will be offering a physical game controller (photo above) that communicates directly to the iPad through wireless bluetooth. The physical controller is optional but significantly improves the gaming experience. Hodapp described the entire package as a "game changer". OnLive has not yet announced pricing for the optional controller, and had no comment about an iPhone version in the future.

This app seems like it would be find perfect usage for iOS 5's new AirPlay mirroring that would allow you to display the game on your HDTV.

Article Link: OnLive Announces iPad Support for Cloud Gaming with Optional Bluetooth Controller
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/08/onlive-announces-ipad-support-for-cloud-gaming/
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ThunderSkunk

ThunderSkunk

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Very clever, and potentially really cool in concept...

But the lengths devs have to go to in order to shoehorn their functionality into iOS is getting a little ridiculous. Having to stream video of the game over wifi back from a remote server, because the bluetooth stack is lacking, having to stream video of your macbooks external display because the USB bus is off-limits...

Kick the family off Netflix, make no skype calls, god forbid someone gets on the web or gets an email, all so you can enjoy a low framerate video stream. And now, constant cloud syncing! Wifi is just not that robust.

I really hoped Apple would have this dialed in iOS5.
 
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cRuNcHiE

macrumors 6502a
Jan 2, 2007
778
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Considering the lag I get from using vnc to my pc over local wifi, I can't see this being any use surely
 
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moneyman118

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Jan 9, 2009
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A true jump in to the "console" market. Imagine Black Opps or MWW streamed to your TV from an iPad or iPhone using a controller.

Flaming begins in 1….2….3…..
 
DustinT

DustinT

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Feb 26, 2011
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HOLY LAG BATMAN!

Bluetooth to iPad to wireless router to Onlive server back to wireless router to iPad to wireless to Apple TV to actual TV. Rinse and repeat.

WTH? That would be awful!
 
KylePowers

KylePowers

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I think Apple just needs to come up with a first party controller solution.

I realize they hate buttons, but with all the good games out (and only getting better) and external display options (wired, wireless), I think a sleek controller is the next logical step. It's really only the last thing that separates an iPad from a 360/PS3 (to an extent, of course).
 
gorgeousninja

gorgeousninja

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Well contrary to the doom-mongers and naysayers...this looks (in theory).. fantastic.
 
nagromme

nagromme

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May 2, 2002
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That would be one crazy (but kind of cool) gaming setup:

Bluetooth console pad -> iPad -> Internet -> OnLive -> Remote game hardware -> Internet -> iPad -> AirPLay -> TV

KylePowers said:
I think Apple just needs to come up with a first party controller solution.

I realize they hate buttons, but with all the good games out (and only getting better) and external display options (wired, wireless), I think a sleek controller is the next logical step. It's really only the last thing that separates an iPad from a 360/PS3 (to an extent, of course).
Click to expand...

First-party or third-party, either way would be great if devs can agree to support it. It’s amazing that the iOS games market can be so huge, and yet no such accessory has succeeded in the market. I realize the demand for a physical controller is just a small niche (full of people who think it’s a huge niche) but look at some of the other weird niche accessories out there!
 
iCrizzo

iCrizzo

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Aug 4, 2010
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This is awesome.. OnLive looks cool, too bad companies like Comcast will ruin it for everyone with the shrinking bandwidth caps!!!
 
0098386

0098386

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The great thing about OnLive is that the tech is great and they're really hitting all the right notes.
The terrible thing about OnLive is the lag, that is even present on 40mbps, low ping connections.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's all coming together, folks. Stay tuned for more post-PC era goodness.
 
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Sunday Ironfoot

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Apr 14, 2011
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The latency issues would concern me, especially with any fast paced action games (racing and FPS's in particular). Even if you got around 100ms latency, it would be enough to be noticeable to the gamer and potentially effect your enjoyment of the game.
 
GFLPraxis

GFLPraxis

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Mar 17, 2004
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DustinT said:
HOLY LAG BATMAN!

Bluetooth to iPad to wireless router to Onlive server back to wireless router to iPad to wireless to Apple TV to actual TV. Rinse and repeat.

WTH? That would be awful!
Click to expand...

It'll be fine for strategic FPS or an RTS like Starcraft that is more about space management than frame precision.

Will be completely useless for fighting games in any competitive fashion.
 
0098386

0098386

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*LTD* said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's all coming together, folks. Stay tuned for more post-PC era goodness.
Click to expand...

I trust you know that OnLive is the worst way to play games? It's not considered better than "PC gaming", it's a way for people with older/cheaper hardware to play new games.
 
kiljoy616

kiljoy616

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So except for a small amount of people with good connection like I use to have in California this idea has "potentiating" but limited for now. Maybe Google will give us all 100GB internet soon. I know the cable companies will never do that.:mad:
 
Xenc

Xenc

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Sunday Ironfoot said:
According to this article http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-onlive-lag-analysis the latency is around 150-200ms with "the fastest internet connection they could find"
Click to expand...

I may be mistaken, but Eurogamer tested the service from the UK. OnLive is an exciting product and, with the right ISP partnerships, could turn into something great.
 
PowerGamerX

PowerGamerX

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Dagless said:
I trust you know that OnLive is the worst way to play games? It's not considered better than "PC gaming", it's a way for people with older/cheaper hardware to play new games.
Click to expand...

This, and it works well provided you have the internet connection to support it. I recently purchased a playpack subscription. It's nice to play some new games with a keyboard and mouse, even if there is a tiny bit of latency. It also helps me get around having to boot into Windows to play a game.
 
toddybody

toddybody

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May 13, 2010
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GFLPraxis said:
It'll be fine for strategic FPS or an RTS like Starcraft that is more about space management than frame precision.

Will be completely useless for fighting games in any competitive fashion.
Click to expand...

Eh, perhaps.

Im an avid SC2 player (PC), and even the occasional Battlenet lag is UBER frustrating in player matches.

From what ive heard about OnLive's responsiveness, I wouldnt want to use it for anything pvp.
 
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NameUndecided

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Mar 28, 2011
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I'm speaking as somebody who isn't a gamer -- I've played around with OnLive on my MacBook off and on since the beginning of this year, and I'm really impressed with it. I've also got a good connection and I've not tried it anywhere else but at home. But since it works for me, I'm pleased.

I also don't install games on my computer and play them that way, and I also don't own any consoles, so I've no argument for anyone who plays games more often and can more easily see the differences in quality. But to me it looks and plays great, and it will be fun to see the technology improve over the years.
 
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