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OnLive's iOS Client Still Waiting for App Store Approval
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Yet many still do.
Onlive is a popular service atm and as internet infrastructure improves it will become an even more viable option.
I have been waiting for the onlive iPad app for so long that i'd be willing to re-jailbreak my iPad if the app was ever released on cydia.
Here's to hoping that's the delay. They saw the app and thought the same thing, and arranged a deal with OnLive to put it on the AppleTV (which of course they couldn't say anything about before Apple announces it) and hold the iPad client back until the ATV release. It would be, perhaps, one of the greatest disruptors to the video game console business ever.
The one thing that gives me a tiny bit of hope for it is the E3 announcement from Gaikai (which offers a similar/identical) service to OnLive that they're going to have they're software/hardware built into some upcoming Samsung TVs. I could see Apple trying to beat them to market just out of "spite" (for lack of a better word).
I hope that that is what happening, but i doubt it, unless Tim has decided that apple wants to decimate Microsoft in its now biggest field and take on the Xbox 360 and Next Xbox.
An updated Apple TV with IOS on it and a bluetooth online game pad, with apps that can seamlessly follow me from the TV, to my phone, my iPad, or my macbook or iMac would instantly do for gaming what sony tried to do with the PSP/Vita PS3 Remote play feature (that 99.9% of devs didn't bother with), i would love to be playing a game, hit pause, then pick up my phone at work on my lunch break the next day, log into the app, hit play and play for 30 mins, or on the train home, then hit pause, fire up the apple tv and continue playing on the big screen, that would KILL the next generation of consoles before they even had time to get out the gate, and apple could, in theory, implement it BEFORE the Wii U even launches.
Not necessarily, this seems to be a common misconception. I've been using OnLive for almost 2 years now and the service has been great. I used to have a 6 Mbps DL connection before I upgraded to an 18 Mbps and never ran into any problems. What's important is the latency. As long as you have a good connection to their servers then it should run just fine on a 5 Mbps connection. Here's OnLive's minimum and recommended requirements from their website:
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Internet Connection: 2 Mbps wired or Wi-Fi connection
Operating System: Windows 7 or Vista (32 or 64-bit) or XP SP3 (32-bit), Mac® OS X 10.5.8 or later
Computer: Most PCs and netbooks, all Intel-based Macs
Screen Resolution: 1024x576
RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Internet Connection: 5 Mbps wired or Wi-Fi connection
Operating System: Windows® 7 or Vista (32 or 64-bit) or XP SP3 (32-bit), Mac® OS X 10.6 or later
Computer: Dual-core PCs, all Intel-based Macs
Screen Resolution: 1280x720
The ATV2 and "2.5" already run iOS and has BlueTooth (hardware on the device, but not currently active) so they could software update the few million of them that are out there and have an installed base base that's, while smaller, is in the same league as the big 3 console manufacturers overnight. They could add a "controller" mode to the Remote app that would let people try the service out before investing in the controller (OnLive offers free 15 minute demos, or something like that) to see how the service works, too.
All very, very unlikely, but it would be pretty cool!
I like the idea of cloud gaming but I'm not a fan of OnLive's pricing. $9.99 to play a rotating selection of over 100 games and/or pay up to $50 to 'own' a game that's only guaranteed to be available for 3yrs from the date it first appears on the service? No thanks. They have 3 and 5 day rental rates for some games to which I might consider, but I also don't like the fact that there's no way to get 'export' a save game from OnLive to my console.
The interactivity and user generated content (from branching save games to created characters to custom levels) makes gaming different from reading a book, listening to music or watching video and that UGC is something you lose control of w/a cloud gaming service like OnLive. For some games that's not a big deal (like single player CoD) but if I'm 40hrs into an RPG and OnLive's license for it expires... poof. There goes 40hrs of game play up in smoke.
OnLive and Vizio are partnering up to embedded OnLive in Vizio's Blu-ray players and HDTVs and someone already mentioned Samsung and Gaikai partnering up to bring a streaming gaming service to Samsung's HDTVs so, for Apple's sake, I hope they don't get tripped up by their own rules.
Lethal
The interactivity and user generated content (from branching save games to created characters to custom levels) makes gaming different from reading a book, listening to music or watching video and that UGC is something you lose control of w/a cloud gaming service like OnLive. For some games that's not a big deal (like single player CoD) but if I'm 40hrs into an RPG and OnLive's license for it expires... poof. There goes 40hrs of game play up in smoke.
If Apple provided iOS devices for free (free entrance into the restaurant) and made their money by selling their 1st party apps (preparing & selling food) and there was a limited number of apps they could sell at a time to a limited number of users (limited physical space for inventory and customer seating) that analogy might make since but that's not what Apple does.
OnLive and Vizio are partnering up to embedded OnLive in Vizio's Blu-ray players and HDTVs and someone already mentioned Samsung and Gaikai partnering up to bring a streaming gaming service to Samsung's HDTVs so, for Apple's sake, I hope they don't get tripped up by their own rules.
Lethal
I feel like you have to compare OnLive to a console system, in terms of save exports and mods. They both offer a "you get what you bought up front only" experience (for the most part). As far as the expiration thing, I read that as "available for *at least* three years", but possibly longer. I guess you just have to look at it as a long term rental, which kind of stinks, but is what it is, I suppose.
I'm also not a fan of the membership service system, since the games seem to change every so often, so you could get stuck halfway through something.
I'm more interested in Gaikai because they seem to be more interested in offer their service to game publishers as a platform and not a reseller. So there's an opportunity for someone to do something great with the technology if they'd like.
On that note, Valve needs to do something like this with Steam. They have an opportunity really make it work. Sell you the game as a standard downloadable title, and let publishers opt into a cloud service where the customer pays up a small fee for the service and can play any of their eligible purchases via cloud service. Even if the service goes away, you can still download it liek normal. It would be a good way to get games onto Android, iOS, OSX, Linux, gamers with cheap laptops, etc. and then sell both games and a monthly service to those players (I'd buy it!). Maybe this is what the long rumored "Valve console" is.
W/a physical console and games though you actually own it. If I pay $60 for CoD I can play as much CoD as I want until the disc breaks. If I pay $60 for CoD on OnLive I can play as much as I want until OnLive closes up shop or until not enough people play the game anymore so OnLive drops it or they lose the license for the game (which could happen at any time though they say it should be guaranteed for at least 3yrs from it first appearing on their service). I'm someone that tends to horde all my games though and replay things years later (I still have a DreamCast boxed up in the garage that I dust off every now and then). I have a buddy who's the exact opposite, he burns through games and rarely looks back, but even then he'll sell/trade his used games which is something else you can't do w/a service like OnLive.
If the $9.99 PlayPack covered unlimited play on every game I might be more willing to try it but the fact that some games cost dang near full retail price for unlimited play is very off putting. If I'm going to pay $50 or $60 for a game I want a disc in my hand or a full download on my system.
I'm interested to see how the Samsung/Gaikai partnership pans out too.
Yeah, I'd rather have an 'Xbox in the sky' type cloud service, or a Valve console than something like OnLive. I'll accept still being tied to a console maker if I can buy the game once, play it anywhere via streaming and have 'unified' saved game data. Kinda like what Sony is trying to do with 'transfaring' between the PS3 & Vita but with the cross platform openness of SmartGlass.
Lethal
I just got back from E3 myself and had a couple of business meetings in which people who talked with OnLive were very open with what OnLive told them.
OnLive needs to be very careful. They're still backed by private investors, some of whom have deep pockets and little patience.
To top that off the company has yet to turn a profit. They're bleeding money and routinely make royalty payments late, sometimes six months late. Publishers are skittish.
Why do you think GameStop is sitting on Spawn Labs? They're waiting to see how OnLive and Apple play out first before diving in.
OnLive needs to be very careful. They're still backed by private investors, some of whom have deep pockets and little patience.
To top that off the company has yet to turn a profit. They're bleeding money and routinely make royalty payments late, sometimes six months late. Publishers are skittish.
Why do you think GameStop is sitting on Spawn Labs? They're waiting to see how OnLive and Apple play out first before diving in.