This morning, Nelson and I had the pleasure of meeting with OnLive regarding some of the amazing advances they’ve made.
If you’ve somehow missed all our posts proclaiming the giant boner we have for OnLive, and subsequently don’t actually know what an OnLive is, it can be described as Netflix for video games. In essence, OnLive is a digital distribution service much like Steam, but – dare I say – even better? While Steam allows you to purchase and download games to your PC or Mac, OnLive streams them. Also, OnLive is not confined to just computers – you can also stream games to your tablet or even to a TV if you purchase the “microconsole” adaptor. Sound good? Keep on reading to hear about the amazing innovations OnLive has made since last year’s E3.
The OnLive service struggled to get off the ground at first, due to the questionable decision to charge a monthly service fee, in addition to the price of the games you could purchase. However, they’ve since scrapped this idea, opting instead to let players use the service completely free of charge – you only pay for the games. Additionally, players can now rent games for either a 3 or 5 day period, charging different rental prices for different games. And as if that all wasn’t enticing enough, OnLive has also released a “play pack,” containing 60 titles that players can rent for just $10 per month.
Besides just improving the actual service, OnLive has also collaborated with Visio to produce a line of TVs with built-in OnLive support. Previously, customers had to purchase a microconsole in order to use OnLive on a television; now, they can purchase an OnLive-enabled Visio television and stream directly to it, with no other accessories needed but the controller.
In the end, OnLive’s schtick relies heavily on the mobile market – the concept of a completely portable gaming system that you can take anywhere and play on multiple platforms without having to wait for a game to install. Although we had a limited amount of time to speak with OnLive representatives, we did get a chance to ask about the future of the service. And it sounds like it’s only going to get better. While they can’t make any promises, the reps did mention plans to extend OnLive support to other mobile devices like smartphones.