OnLive invited us to their E3 booth to show us its newest advances in cloud gaming. In the past, many gamers were very skeptical about the service. How could a cloud-based gaming service come with no lag? When using OnLive, the data needs to go from the OnLive wireless controller, to the micro-console, to your ISP, to the server farm, and all the way back. Also, the server farm needs to render the video, audio, and your controller’s input and still give you no lag. Well, OnLive has done it and isn’t stopping at the micro-console, your Mac, or your PC.
OnLive’s concept is to make console gaming available without a console. On this year’s E3 show floor, OnLive introduced to us its newest controller. The outside of the controller is the same. But inside is new technology that uses the lowest latency radio frequencies that can now connect to your iPad, iPad 2, Motorola Xoom tablet, and Android tablets.
Since the data and video is being streamed like a Netflix movie, your platform of your choice does not need much memory space or a beefy graphics chip. It just needs the installed OnLive app and the OnLive controller. Right now, OnLive is working on a way to put its service onto the iPhone. Of course, you can’t actually game on a very small screen, but they are hoping to make a way for customers to connect an iPhone to a TV and use the iPhone as the micro-console.