Money you could put into upgrading your PC instead to play these games at a proper resolution and FPS.Leon said:Jeez, when did gamers become so stingy? The monthly fee is the price of a pizza, for Christ's sake.
Money you could put into upgrading your PC instead to play these games at a proper resolution and FPS.Leon said:Jeez, when did gamers become so stingy? The monthly fee is the price of a pizza, for Christ's sake.
Aaron said:Money you could put into upgrading your PC instead to play these games at a proper resolution and FPS.
I'm wondering what kind of setup OnLive had on the E3 show floor because I didn't know I was playing from the cloud until the guy at the kiosk told me. I'm guessing that your connection to the internet is going to be the biggest bottleneck for this service.WhiskeyKnight said:Well, like everyone else I was skeptical -- but after about 2 hours playing around with the service, I gotta say they have some pretty damn impressive coding under the hood of this thing. The compression alchemy these guys cooked up is super high tech. From a pure geek perspective -- it's just cool.
I appreciate lean, mean software. On this point, OnLive rocks. The installer is just 543 KB and the OnLive program folder is under 5 Megs. It is streamlined and bloat-free. On launch, it makes a great first impression. After the logo comes and goes, the camera zooms in on this crazy planet-sized orb made out of moving screens. Each one is apparently a live gameplay feed of someone out there using the service. You can scroll through them and seamlessly spectate on anyone playing. It works so well, it's kinda creepy.
I played through the demo of Fear 2 and Batman: AA, which brings me to OnLive's #1 problem...
In-game there is a lot of lag. Anyone who tells you it's not noticeable is lying. At first it is definitely annoying, but as I played through the games, I stopped noticing and started having some fun. As it is, I doubt serious multiplayer can work on the service -- the latency is just too high. But for singleplayer, the lag is just barely tolerable.
By the way, all this experimentation occurred on my girlfriend's three-year-old $500 laptop. We're talking about a machine that struggles to play the Sims 2 locally. With OnLive however, both Fear 2 and Batman: AA looked pretty good, the framerate was high and the resolution pretty crisp. The colors were a little bit muddy, but anytime you're compressing this much video, you've got to expect some amount of artifacting. Regardless, the graphics were of a quality this little laptop could never hope to pump out on its own.
To me, OnLive seems like Steam taken to its philosophical endpoint. I've never been much of "I GOTTA OWN IT" type guy. As I've gotten older, physical disks have become something I just don't have time for. Streaming Netflix has liberated (many of us) from the tyranny of the DVD and I hope OnLive can do the same someday. I just don't think its quite ready for prime time quite yet.
Leon said:The monthly fee is the price of a pizza, for Christ's sake.
I take the Pizza, thanks.Leon said:The monthly fee is the price of a pizza, for Christ's sake.
Assuming you go for a really expensive card ($300 USD 5850, I got one and haven't regretted it so far even though the price seems obscene), and divide that by four ($75), how many months are you talking about, and what game prices are you getting? I only did a brief search online but it sounds like some new games are kinda near full price unless they already have good "rental" prices in place.Leon said:Yeah I thought of this, but then I crunched a few numbers, and Onlive, if it works, is still a much better deal. With a fourth of the cost of just the new video card I'd have to buy, I could play/finish a half-dozen games on Onlive at a great resolution, not counting the additional features. Please correct me if I'm wrong since I haven't followed Onlive's evolution other than this thread, but how is that not a fantastic deal?
Any idea on where to sign up for Canada?
As far as I know it's only America and like Germany. Depends on the deals they makeLeon said:Jeez, when did gamers become so stingy? The monthly fee is the price of a pizza, for Christ's sake.
Does Onlive work for Canadians? I just spent 15 minutes on its website, and other than the free-year special open to US only, I couldn't find anywhere I could sign up for the service. Or did I miss something?
Have you seen the screenshots?Leon said:Yeah I thought of this, but then I crunched a few numbers, and Onlive, if it works, is still a much better deal. With a fourth of the cost of just the new video card I'd have to buy, I could play/finish a half-dozen games on Onlive at a great resolution, not counting the additional features.
K.Jack said:Onlive:
pic
Retail:
pic
pic
I think OnLive is upscaling from something lower than 720p.
Ricker said:Both those Borderlands screens look terrible,even comparing to the 360 version....
$14.95 a month x 3 = $44.85Leon said:Yeah I thought of this, but then I crunched a few numbers, and Onlive, if it works, is still a much better deal. With a fourth of the cost of just the new video card I'd have to buy, I could play/finish a half-dozen games on Onlive at a great resolution, not counting the additional features. Please correct me if I'm wrong since I haven't followed Onlive's evolution other than this thread, but how is that not a fantastic deal?
poppabk said:$14.95 a month x 3 = $44.85
NVidia GT240 (should handle any game at 720p with better visual quality than onlive) = $44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130529
Game prices are not cheaper than retail for the newest games they have listed. For some games you can get them for 5 days with prices about half to one quarter what it would take to own the game in a sale.
I'm not seeing how this works out unless you can plow through borderlands in 3 or 5 days and then never want to play it again, and only want to game a couple of months out of the year.
Without the monthly fee this would make a great rental service for PC games. With the monthly fee it just doesn't add up long term. The other advantage will be for more portable hardware once they relax the hard line requirement.
I'm on the hivemind hate-train for onlive too, but that arena feature is pretty damn coolbathala said:just saw this review on GT http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/onlive-review-by-saieno/346052?playlist=featured
wow that Unreal.
Arena is impressive, real smooth transactions too.bistromathics said:I'm on the hivemind hate-train for onlive too, but that arena feature is pretty damn cool
Ricker said:Both those Borderlands screens look terrible,even comparing to the 360 version...I have FIOS and a crummy PC that can barely run WoW for example,on the highest settings hehe,so I would love to try this....hopefully they strike a deal with Bell or something up here in Canada soon,if it catches on in the States.
You were playing a PC shooter with a 360 controller? :lol :lol :lolKibbles said:Wow this sucks. Doesn't even run on my AT&T connection... which is weird cause it's sponsored by AT&T. So I logged in at a friends house who has a really fast connection it seems but we tried playing UT3 with the 360 controller and noticed quite a bit input lag. I mean I guess it's fine for people who don't have consoles and a computer that can run the game, but otherwise I see no purpose to have this over the former. I take it you won't be able to play PC mods either?
Gotta call and cancel now too because they make you put a credit card in.
Absolutely untrue for me.Triple U said:WOW.
Just got in and the tech behind this shit is amazing. Sure for the bitchy nitpickers(read elite master race) there are some notable comprises in IQ but im more or less playing a game from a couple hundred miles away and its amazing. No lag at all(not tested multi) from my at&t dsl connection (while my bro is on XBL at the same time btw). while im still iffy at this point as to whether I will actually buy some games I'm 100% sold on this tech.
The tag is dexvex so feel free to add me......
Hazaro said:Cons:
-Horrendous difference of mouse settings per game
-Noticeable mouse delay (Enough so that you had to take it into account, occasional misclicks in Brain Game, JC2 headshots, etc.)-Tearing
-Full Screen doesn't run so hot
-Any interruption in service will cause video macro-blocking + either no action for a few seconds, or force the connection to pause.
Hazaro said:Absolutely untrue for me.
There was noticeable delay in every game I played + the menu.
*My Connection is 25Mb down, 1 Up. Should have low ping considering I am in CA.
In some games it was very easy to adapt (Shatter and AAAAAAAAAA) and became unnoticeable.
But other games like JC2, UT3, Borderlands, that Brain Game, and similar titles it was something I had to constantly be aware of when I was using a mouse and keyboard.
I can imagine that using a controller it would feel much more natural and analog than the instantaneous aiming of a mouse. It was probably that which broke the immersion for me.
Pros:
-Really surprising how well the tech is working
-IQ doesn't matter that much when playing (I say this having spent 4 hours playing demos so far + Having played many of these games at max @ 60 fps @ 1080p)
-Arena, Spectating, etc works really well. I spend a good amount of time watching people struggle with the brain game:lol Also the only good gamer I saw playing was playing LEGO: Harry Potter which actually looks really good.
-30 minute 'full' demos on everything. This is probably the best thing about OnLive so far. Just fantastic.
-Occasional moments of 60fps!
-Service itself is slick and easy to navigate, everything is simple, fast, and works well
Cons:
-Horrendous difference of mouse settings per game
-Noticeable mouse delay (Enough so that you had to take it into account, occasional misclicks in Brain Game, JC2 headshots, etc.)
-Tearing
-Full Screen doesn't run so hot
-Any interruption in service will cause video macro-blocking + either no action for a few seconds, or force the connection to pause.
Nitpicks:
-Brag Clips so far are mostly poor
-Arena actually isn't all people playing, I ran into some recorded footage
Not enough people on to spectate right now (No one was playing Shatter!)
I had some issues with the controls in Just Cause 2 but FEAR 2 wasn't nearly as bad. I had to tweak the sensitivity on both ends but after that the experience was somewhat similar to using a dirty wheel mouse. I think part of the problem was the framerate.Hazaro said:Absolutely untrue for me.
There was noticeable delay in every game I played + the menu.
*My Connection is 25Mb down, 1 Up. Should have low ping considering I am in CA.
In some games it was very easy to adapt (Shatter and AAAAAAAAAA) and became unnoticeable.
But other games like JC2, UT3, Borderlands, that Brain Game, and similar titles it was something I had to constantly be aware of when I was using a mouse and keyboard.
I can imagine that using a controller it would feel much more natural and analog than the instantaneous aiming of a mouse. It was probably that which broke the immersion for me.
Pros:
-Really surprising how well the tech is working
-IQ doesn't matter that much when playing (I say this having spent 4 hours playing demos so far + Having played many of these games at max @ 60 fps @ 1080p)
-Arena, Spectating, etc works really well. I spend a good amount of time watching people struggle with the brain game:lol Also the only good gamer I saw playing was playing LEGO: Harry Potter which actually looks really good.
-30 minute 'full' demos on everything. This is probably the best thing about OnLive so far. Just fantastic.
-Occasional moments of 60fps!
-Service itself is slick and easy to navigate, everything is simple, fast, and works well
Cons:
-Horrendous difference of mouse settings per game
-Noticeable mouse delay (Enough so that you had to take it into account, occasional misclicks in Brain Game, JC2 headshots, etc.)
-Tearing
-Full Screen doesn't run so hot
-Any interruption in service will cause video macro-blocking + either no action for a few seconds, or force the connection to pause.
Nitpicks:
-Brag Clips so far are mostly poor
-Arena actually isn't all people playing, I ran into some recorded footage
Not enough people on to spectate right now (No one was playing Shatter!)
In the here and now, the question marks on performance and value combined with the lack of games mean that we can't really recommend the system, but you would hope that the content side of things would improve at least. From there it's just a case of whether the individual can get over the video and lag issues.
Instant 30 minute sneak peek type demos, instant rentals. Play on your laptop anywhere you have a half decent wireless connection. Spectate someone playing a game.Bizzyb said:If I already own a PS3 and a 360, what is the point or advantage of getting Onlive?
poppabk said:Instant 30 minute sneak peek type demos, instant rentals. Play on your laptop anywhere you have a half decent wireless connection. Spectate someone playing a game.
Shanadeus said:And if you don't want the backlog (which only cost $7.99/month) then you can use the service itself for free and just pay for the games you buy - which are very often on 50-70% sales.