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OnLive Launches their iOS Client for Gaming-on-Demand

I am still a fan of owning physical media, but onLive is pretty cool and is starting to become popular. I thought it was going to be one of those projects that would fail after 6 months, but they seem to know what they are doing.

Also I would like to see how they will get mouse + keyboard controls working on a touch screen.
 
OnLive might be worth a try if it ever becomes available where I live, but the first thing that crossed my mind was that the universal controller might just be what I've been waiting for for wireless retro gaming on my Mac. I've never liked the PS3 controller and there aren't any better bluetooth pads to my knowledge.

OnLive's, on the other hand, looks pretty nice in videos at least and should work with my iMac's internal BT. No wires, no dongles.. just the way I want it. Can't wait to hear how well it plays together with emulators on Mac. I'm pretty sure it won't be long before someone from here gets to try that out.
 
AJH1993 said:
I don't see a success in OnLive at all. What happens when millions of people are playing at once? Latency issues. Also not everyone has a very good internet connection, and over half of the US is still on dialup. I kid you not. Internet in general also cannot support games that require a 0-lag/latency tolerance.
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You have any idea how badly they wished that had that problem? :p

Oh noes! Millions of customers all paying a monthly fee! Guess we'll now have the money to build more streaming centers around the world and become a legitimate force in the gaming industry! :mad:

But you know what? considering how much lag TVs have nowadays, playing onLive with a gamepad actually feels quite adequate.

On another note, considering how terriblely laggy and slow remote clients are from the iPad, even when on the same network on an N connection, maybe they should sell a VNC client too, heh.
 
OnLive is terrible, noticeable lag even on my 50 meg connection, games only at 720p, no aa, lots of games don't have multiplayer which should, inferior sound quality and the graphics just look a lot worse. Dont waste your money on this.
 
wow... tried it for the hell of it on my galax

y tab, gave me Batman for free and must say I'm impressed! not much into gaming but will try and check it out on my air tomorrow just out of curiosity
 
PlipPlop said:
OnLive is terrible, noticeable lag even on my 50 meg connection, games only at 720p, no aa, lots of games don't have multiplayer which should, inferior sound quality and the graphics just look a lot worse. Dont waste your money on this.
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Zero lag here, and I'm in Europe!
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
So could I use my PS3 controller via Bluetooth on the ipad and AirPlay or will this app be available for the AppleTV?

Cloud gaming on the AppleTv would seem to be a pretty huge market if you ask me.
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No you can't you need to use the OnLive controller which is exactly why the rep in the video is talking about it. Also, OnLive does not support PS3 games and lets you play PC ones.

And another issue that I've got this your statement … how exactly is cloud gaming on AppleTV going to be a a huge market when Apple TV hasn't actually sold all that well compared to iPad for example? You are starting with a smaller top bound for the TAM and your TAM will most likely never going to reach that of and iPad solution. Plus, there is no reason why you can't connect the iPad to your TV and use OnLive exactly the same way you would an Apple TV for cloud gaming so maybe chill out a little …
But if you are after a cheap solution, OnLive does actually sell boxes that connect to your TV and you don't need and iPad to play games on your TV. It actually costs less than an AppleTV and yet OnLive hasn't been able to sell that many of them because it turns out that their customer base doesn't really want to play games on a TV and the vast majority of people by the computer version ...
 
djrod said:
Zero lag here, and I'm in Europe!
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Well you press a button say your controller your character has a noticeable delay before moving, more reaction time then lag I guess. I have a super gaming computer so my pc really shows up the onlive problems.
 
Very cool! I've been waiting for this for a while now. It'll be important that it works WELL right out of the gate, of course, or it will be written off.

I've always thought that turning the iPad/Pod/Phone into a mobile gaming platform was of paramount importance. If this system works well, it would take a huge bite out of the mobile gaming platform ... for those who are within WiFi access at all times they plan to game.

On a related note, I would REALLY like to be able to play Star Wars: The Old Republic on a mobile platform!
 
I like the concept of OnLive, but two critical things keep me from using the service:

1. Lack of a truly complete on-demand subscription model. Currently, a subscription will only give you unlimited access to the "PlayPack" bundle which is composed primarily of content I don't care to play, very few newer, interesting games. I am NOT gonna "purchase" games that I will never own in any capacity. I at least want a local copy of the game data.

2. Bandwidth restrictions. I tried OnLive one month (on a Comcast connection) and boy did I blow through a large chunk of my monthly allocation in a small amount of time. At the rate I was going, I would've easily hit my cap. It sucks, but telecom companies hold me back from using a service like this, which hurts both me, and ultimately OnLive as a business.

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PlipPlop said:
Well you press a button say your controller your character has a noticeable delay before moving, more reaction time then lag I guess. I have a super gaming computer so my pc really shows up the onlive problems.
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I do remember the noticeable input lag, but I was playing Tomb Raider Underworld at the time and thats a kinda game where you can just naturally learn to compensate/adjust for it to the point where you don't even notice it anymore (at least thats how it was for me). Still, I knew there was no way I'd be playing twitch games on the service.

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PlipPlop said:
OnLive is terrible, noticeable lag even on my 50 meg connection, games only at 720p, no aa, lots of games don't have multiplayer which should, inferior sound quality and the graphics just look a lot worse. Dont waste your money on this.
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The A/V has to be compressed to help minimize both lag and bandwidth consumption. Its a reality you just have to accept for a service like this.
 
Onlive will take over from Sony, Microsoft etc. to some extend. Its design for casual family playing not for hardcore gamers who spend whole weekend playing on the front of the family, which by the way is very sad.
I bought controller from Onlive and I have subscribed to their package. On 42" tv graphics are absolutely stunning, actually are better than on my 27" iMac. I am looking forward to Onlive app.
On other note I wonder if that won't cannibalise native games sales on iOS. Time will tell.
 
AJH1993 said:
I don't see a success in OnLive at all. What happens when millions of people are playing at once? Latency issues. Also not everyone has a very good internet connection, and over half of the US is still on dialup. I kid you not. Internet in general also cannot support games that require a 0-lag/latency tolerance.
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Pretty ignorant statement. OnLive exists, and is a service being enjoyed by many people right now. Your declaration that the "Internet in general also cannot support games that require a 0-lag/latency tolerance" is a typical Luddite "it can't be done" point of view. I think you will find over the next 5 to 10 years as significant portions of the world find themselves sitting on 100mbit or possibly even gigabit connections, that the OnLive model will become significantly profitable.

Just because some of the world is still on dial up, does not mean the rest of the world will wait before enjoying new technologies.
 
Awesome! And this is the only way to play games on the iPad such as this, COD and the other FPS games and a whole host of others.......with a control pad!!!!!!

Heres my prediction, Apple will buy out on live and thus enter the gaming world. Apple is good at saying that their iPods iPads iPhones are the most popular mobile gaming platform but that doesn't equate to them being the most enjoyable and immersive. Just because someone downloads a 2.99 game from the app store doesn't mean its a success for the gamer. Every game I have downloaded whilst nice to look at, is 80% boring and poor due to the lack of control or it just being too uncomfortable to play. Games like plants vs zombies and angry birds work well. the racing games are ok but get very boring very quickly. the majority of games just dont work because of the absent controller

Apple needs to get a shift on and allow the Apple TV to download Apps and then get round to making a purpose built controller or allow the addition of using the keyboard mouse.
 
Is this still coming out for the iPad? I see a bunch of comments stating they have it but all I downloaded is the viewer. Certainly Onlive sees the value in releasing this on iOS. I would assume more folks would be buying their games if it releases on the iPad.
 
The issue with OnLive is the input lag/reaction time and it's not something that can really be eliminated regardless of the latency of your internet connection. Whenever people talk about latency in gaming it's almost always on a scale of 10's or 100's of milliseconds. The problem is with OnLive they add up to significantly more than what you'd get from gaming on an Xbox or PC.

Any type of multiplayer shooter is out the window with a system like that. Unless you like playing as the character Corporal Cannon Fodder. Also unless you have a large amount of bandwidth (not common for the majority of Americans) the graphics look quite poor in comparison to running them on a local system since OnLive is limited in what they can pipe to your screen.

Compared to PC gaming resolutions where I can't remember the last time I saw anyone play anything under 1280x1024 or 1440x900, OnLive looks atrocious. So if you've got a 50Mbps FiOS line and your latency to the OnLive hosting facility is 10ms, then it's probably quite a treat. Having tried it on a 16Mbit connection, it's like a delayed input/lower resolution version of the game you could have played on your PC or Xbox.
 
In all honesty, this is a fascinating concept, as long as it actually works ok (i.e. minimal lag and decent graphics). From the reviews I've read it seems to be decent, as long as you have a good internet connection. And I suppose the controller is a must... playing games with the iPad screen as a controller is ridiculous. Ridiculously bad...
 
Sackvillenb said:
In all honesty, this is a fascinating concept, as long as it actually works ok (i.e. minimal lag and decent graphics). From the reviews I've read it seems to be decent, as long as you have a good internet connection. And I suppose the controller is a must... playing games with the iPad screen as a controller is ridiculous. Ridiculously bad...
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not really

a lot of awesome x-box games are cheap now because they are 3 years old. and sometimes there are crazy sales. i bought Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition for $15 a week ago. Original price was $100 or more if you figure retail and all the DLC's that it has. a lot of other games now with DLC content included can be had for cheap
 
AJH1993 said:
I don't see a success in OnLive at all. What happens when millions of people are playing at once? Latency issues. Also not everyone has a very good internet connection, and over half of the US is still on dialup. I kid you not. Internet in general also cannot support games that require a 0-lag/latency tolerance.
Click to expand...

In the UK, BT, who have partnered with OnLive, is expecting to provide most cities, towns and villages with a fibre optic connection, capable of providing 40 Mbit/s, before 2013.

Also, Virgin and Sky are privately providing fibre optic connections so I think a service like OnLive could really thrive in the UK.

Unfortunately I can't find the quote, but I think it was the founder of OnLive who said in an interview when OnLive launched in the UK that the US launch was a large beta test for the UK launch.
 
PlipPlop said:
OnLive is terrible, noticeable lag even on my 50 meg connection, games only at 720p, no aa, lots of games don't have multiplayer which should, inferior sound quality and the graphics just look a lot worse. Dont waste your money on this.
Click to expand...

I wonder why they couldn't do extreme amounts of antialiasing, since that would all be done on the server end (unless they don't have the GPU "bandwidth" on their end).
 
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