OS Neutral OnLive - the MacMini gaming solution?

I thought they went out of business?

http://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/8/17/3250066/onlive-cloud-gaming-service-closing-staff-laid-off

OnLive got sold off. I honestly wouldn't even join up at this point because they could easily be gone the next day. I even got rid of my account by declining to the TOS, yet I'm getting a lot of friend request spam from them.

I don't get the onlive hate - I have an account with them and it works really well. I'd like a wider selection of games but the ones I've played run great.

I think it's the future of gaming. Full HD game-streaming and perfect FPS will be in the near future (10-20 years?) in the western world. I also think Steam, Origin, Ubisoft, Gamersgate, ... could use this technology too, but there are hardware and pc sellers on the other side. Who needs new pc's and better hardware, if a streaming company can stream to you every game in ultra high settings and with perfect FPS.

I also think game-flatrates get more progress in the future. You pay for example 30/40/50/60 euros every month and it depends on how much you pay, you can play older games or newer games as much as you want. There is a german company offering this service. You can play games which are 1-2 years old as much as you want, but not every gaming publisher is supporting it, therefore not every AAA title is available in the flatrate.

I am sure that game-platforms like Steam, GamersGate, GreenManGaming, Origin, ... will somehow change their way of distribution and I think game-streaming will become more important.

Northwestern said:

I think it's the future of gaming. Full HD game-streaming and perfect FPS will be in the near future (10-20 years?) in the western world.

Click to expand...

Unless they can break the laws of thermodynamics there will always be lag. I have a 60mbps connection and it's still awful for streaming games.

No, it's not a patch on real gaming. It's a substitute and only works good for slow games. It's not a solution for Mac Mini gaming unless you're prepared to take a hit (graphics, input lag, dropped frames, low framerates, no access to the game).
Given their bumpy past I wouldn't put any money into buying games from them. If they go under you will have nothing left. If Steam goes under at least you've got the games and can "crack" the exe or play in Offline mode.

Dagless said:

Unless they can break the laws of thermodynamics there will always be lag.

Click to expand...

Don't you think the industry finds a internet technology in 20 years which doesn't have visible lags? Cable > fibre cable > ... Also the mobile internet speed increases. Maybe we get our internet from satellites or ultra fibre cables, I don't know, but I don't think that lags will be the problem for multiplayer games or Full HD movies via streaming in the future. Look at the technology from 1992 and todays. What we will see in 2032 will be completely different to today in the western world. I don't think Steam's, Origin's, ... technology of distribution will be the standard in 20 years. Maybe Steam or the others don't exist in 20 years anymore. Of course, you will get the chance to download your games before they close, but maybe you will not play games in 20 years anymore, who knows?

Northwestern said:

Don't you think the industry finds a internet technology in 20 years which doesn't have visible lags? Cable > fibre cable > ... Also the mobile internet speed increases. Maybe we get our internet from satellites or ultra fibre cables, I don't know, but I don't think that lags will be the problem for multiplayer games or Full HD movies via streaming in the future. Look at the technology from 1992 and todays. What we will see in 2032 will be completely different to today in the western world. I don't think Steam's, Origin's, ... technology of distribution will be the standard in 20 years. Maybe Steam or the others don't exist in 20 years anymore. Of course, you will get the chance to download your games before they close, but maybe you will not play games in 20 years anymore, who knows?

Click to expand...

Regular setup; Input>CPU>GPU>display
Streaming setup; Input>CPU>modem or router>(internet)>Onlive server>input>CPU>output>compress image>(internet)>CPU>display

The only benefits you're ever going to get if you currently have a fibre optic service, are the bolded bits. Whilst that's the biggest issue, it's not the only one that causes lag. Sending and receiving data over long distances will always have lag unless they break the speed of light.

Because even fibre optic has lag. It will not be as fast as having everything in one box, ever. Because whatever tech streaming companies use to speed things up it will also be present in regular computer hardware. In 20 years time we'll have faster connections, but speed doesn't eliminate ping.

Companies like Razer sell mice marketed with zero latency because gamers don't want lag. And gamers will have excellent hardware to run these games, whilst casual users (the ones that don't mind) won't be playing high-end games by definition. It's quite daft.

I played around with OnLive a bit. I found it fine for most games (you won't find it being used for competitive FPS but it does the job otherwise).

It looks fine according to the site and certainly is a pretty cool idea.

Dagless said:

Sending and receiving data over long distances will always have lag unless they break the speed of light.

Click to expand...

Of course, you'll have lags and gamers who work for competition could buy new hardware and go on a LAN event.

But the game-streaming could be equal in ping to normal internet play in 20 years. And the majority of gamers are casual gamers and the market will do what these gamers want. And if game-streaming in about 20 years has no disadvantages, companies (pc, console, movie, ...) will jump on this train.

I don't think game-streaming or streaming of any digital-content will be the non-plus ultra. There could be also different technologies in 20 years for this. But I am sure that the digital distribution market from today will significantly change. Maybe some sort of amalgamation of different digital contents and different hardware.

Apple is selling apps, games, movies, tv series, ebooks, music, ... and much more via iTunes and the Mac App Store. Probalby they are working on an iTV or an iMediastation. Maybe casual gamers will use a mediastation from Apple/Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo for everything. And the minority of hardcore gamers will do their thing, I don't know. Future will tell.

Northwestern said:

But the game-streaming could be equal in ping to normal internet play in 20 years. And the majority of gamers are casual gamers... And the minority of hardcore gamers will do their thing

Click to expand...

And "casual" gamers get their fix via mobile phone gaming and on Facebook. Casual games are low-spec and don't require a fast computer.

It's only the high-end gaming that would benefit from streaming from a more powerful computer, but those users don't want lag.

The non-mobile casual market is very small and pretty much contained with Flash and Facebook. Don't think for a second that hardcore gaming is in the minority.

Dagless said:

And "casual" gamers get their fix via mobile phone gaming and on Facebook. Casual games are low-spec and don't require a fast computer.

It's only the high-end gaming that would benefit from streaming from a more powerful computer, but those users don't want lag.

The non-mobile casual market is very small and pretty much contained with Flash and Facebook. Don't think for a second that hardcore gaming is in the minority.

Click to expand...

Okay, now we could debate what casual is. For me casual are games like Medal of Honor Warfighter, Call of Duty, Prince of Persia

Hardcore games are for me StarCraft, WarCraft 3, Counterstrike, ... These games are played for so much years now and are played for cash prizes.

I was not talking with casual about Facebook games or Apps.

I covered Onlive back when it was released. There is a lot of hate for it, most if it unfounded I find. You can demo anygame, so you don't have to buy anything to test it and see if you like it first. It's definitely better on a smaller screen, 13' or 15" as on a 27" iMac it gets blurry when blown up as its only 720p.

But there's a lot of games there, and a lot of good one's you can't play on the Mac unless you use bootcamp. I mostly use it as a Demo service as its very convenient.

Give it a try, and ignore the hate. If it works for you, it works for you.