Death to the Games Console!

Games on Demand is coming! And according to the company behind it, this online service about to be released will revolutionise how we Game. The promise is to deliver games to your living room - LIVE, and without the need for an expensive console or a high-powered personal computer.

OnLive's launch of the world's highest performance Games On Demand service means instant delivery of the latest high-end titles over home broadband Internet to the TV and entry-level PCs and Macintosh® computers will soon be possible.

Founded by noted technology entrepreneur Steve Perlman (WebTV, QuickTime) and incubated within the Rearden media and technology incubator, OnLive spent seven years in stealth development before officially being unveiled.


OnLive lies directly at the nexus of several key trends, all of which are reshaping the way we think about and use digital media:


• The shift to cloud computing, displacing the limitations, cost and complexity of local computing;
• An explosion of consumer broadband connectivity, bringing fast bandwidth to the home;
• Unprecedented innovation, creativity and expansion within the video game market.


Pioneering the delivery of rich interactive media to the home, OnLive will change the way that entertainment applications are created, delivered and consumed. Some say, it’s the future of gaming and – potentially – the death of traditional gaming devices as we know and love them.


OnLive – say it avoids all need to trudge to the shops, hand over your hard-earned cash and trudge all the way home again with the latest hot game. Instead, this ‘cloud’ service will deliver top games direct to your PC or TV screen instantly, using a small receiver unit that hooks up to your existing broadband connection


All the heavy work, so to speak, is performed by powerful remote servers using clever compression routines. Players simply provide the required inputs using a joypad, as normal. The results of their efforts are then streamed back with almost non-existent lag. OnLive will run on a network of server centres placed so that no user is more than 1000 miles from one. In broadband terms that’s just down the road, figuratively speaking.


OnLive is set to launch in June 2010 in the USA, with a worldwide rollout expected to follow shortly thereafter. Users are expected to pay a $14.95 (£9.99) subscription fee each month, plus the cost of either buying or renting each game. In this regard OnLive has several very significant advantages: there’s no need to invest any further in a game you’re not enjoying; you can sample all the latest releases with minimal costs; and you’ll be able to remove some of the clutter from under/behind the telly and clear a bit of shelf space into the bargain.


OnLive also enjoys the support of many high-profile games publishers – removing the need to manufacture and physically distribute games is an obvious benefit. Big-name titles such as Borderlands, Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed are among the launch games announced so far. As you might expect the Big 3 console competitors have met the announcement with luke warm enthusiasm, perhaps understandably.