rock_nog
07-05-2010, 12:18 PM
Well, apparently when they announced OnLive, that service that runs games on a server farm and streams the video to your computer, it wasn't vaporware after all. Being bored and curious, and being that they currently have a deal where you can get a year's subscription for free, I decided to give it a shot. I have to say, although there are obviously some caveats, first and foremost, the service actually works. I was surprised. Now to break it down.
First off, the video quality, as expected, isn't the best, and things tend to look blurry. However, running a couple of games that my PC can't normally handle, I guess I can't really complain too much about that. But yeah, right off the bat, if you have a decent PC, it's not really worth it, but on the other hand, for those whose PCs aren't all that great, it's got that going for it.
As for how the games handled, well it was kind of a toss up. Arkham Asylum and Red Faction played just fine on my computer, but I had some issues with lag with Borderlands. I don't know if it has to do with the style of gameplay or what, but yeah, my experience was that some games run great, others not so much. I might have to investigate with a few more games to see how things hold up overall, but yeah, two out of the three games I tried worked just fine and there wasn't enough noticeable lag to interfere with gameplay.
Finally, it's hard to talk about the service without discussing price. Basically, the service works as a rental format, where you pay several bucks for a several-day pass to play the game as much as you want. My first reaction is that based on this, I don't think the service is going to take off. On the other hand, for once, you can rent games for the PC, which thinking about it, is kind of interesting. And besides, you do have the market for people who want to play the newest games, but don't necessarily have the money for new hardware, so there might yet be a market.
Anyway, that's my take on it. It definitely works, I just have no idea whether, especially given the fact that it's basically a rental service, it will take off. I might even consider putting some money down so I can play Batman for longer than the 30-minute demo period (forgot to mention, you get to try all of the games for 30 minutes before you have to decide whether or not to pay for them). It certainly worked extremely well, and I've really been missing out.
First off, the video quality, as expected, isn't the best, and things tend to look blurry. However, running a couple of games that my PC can't normally handle, I guess I can't really complain too much about that. But yeah, right off the bat, if you have a decent PC, it's not really worth it, but on the other hand, for those whose PCs aren't all that great, it's got that going for it.
As for how the games handled, well it was kind of a toss up. Arkham Asylum and Red Faction played just fine on my computer, but I had some issues with lag with Borderlands. I don't know if it has to do with the style of gameplay or what, but yeah, my experience was that some games run great, others not so much. I might have to investigate with a few more games to see how things hold up overall, but yeah, two out of the three games I tried worked just fine and there wasn't enough noticeable lag to interfere with gameplay.
Finally, it's hard to talk about the service without discussing price. Basically, the service works as a rental format, where you pay several bucks for a several-day pass to play the game as much as you want. My first reaction is that based on this, I don't think the service is going to take off. On the other hand, for once, you can rent games for the PC, which thinking about it, is kind of interesting. And besides, you do have the market for people who want to play the newest games, but don't necessarily have the money for new hardware, so there might yet be a market.
Anyway, that's my take on it. It definitely works, I just have no idea whether, especially given the fact that it's basically a rental service, it will take off. I might even consider putting some money down so I can play Batman for longer than the 30-minute demo period (forgot to mention, you get to try all of the games for 30 minutes before you have to decide whether or not to pay for them). It certainly worked extremely well, and I've really been missing out.