Streaming games on demand spearheader OnLive has announced a partnership with BT, whereby the British communications firm has taken a 2.6 percent share in the company and will have the exclusive rights to bundle OnLive service with its broadband packages in the UK. "We're really excited about OnLive's potential in Europe, and looking forward to kicking it off in the UK through our partnership with BT," OnLive CEO Steve Perlman said in a post on the company's blog.
"Today we are announcing that BT, the largest broadband operator in the UK, has formed a partnership with and has made an investment in OnLive. We'll be working together with BT to bring the OnLive Game Service to the UK, such that it operates reliably and with high quality over the UK's Internet backbone to BT's broadband customers," Perlman wrote. "I know everyone would like the exact details of when OnLive will be available in the UK, but we are not announcing dates just yet. We're completely focused on our US launch this summer. Once we get the US service up and running, we'll be sharing more details, including when we'll be starting a UK public Beta."
Addressing those in the region who already have broadband service, Perlman said that "UK gamers will also be able to order the OnLive Game Service directly from OnLive to run over any UK ISP," adding that, "What's great about Western Europe geographically is that so many countries are within a 1000 mile (1600 km) radius, which is within the latency limit for a single OnLive data center. We've tested OnLive across all of Western Europe spanning from the UK to Italy and from Scandinavia down to Spain."
The OnLive service is slated to launch in the US this June 17 for PC and Mac users, with an initial lineup of titles numbering in the teens. The company's stand-alone "micro-console" hardware has yet to be dated for release here, but will be available at the service's UK launch. We're in touch with OnLive with the hope of bringing you more details regarding this morning's announcement later today.
Reader Comments (27)
Posted: May 13th 2010 5:09AM (Unverified) said
You're giving Tiscali WAY too much credit there, they are much worse than BT.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 9:22AM (Unverified) said
False, Pipex sucked worse then the other too. On the other hand I like BT, they gave me a free black wireless hub.
Are pipex still around, last I remember they had those adverts with the Hoff.
Reply
Are pipex still around, last I remember they had those adverts with the Hoff.
Posted: May 13th 2010 9:58AM (Unverified) said
They aren't the worst, they are the most expensive though.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 5:07AM (Unverified) said
Just one data centre...would be worried about redundancy of that for an always on service.
Even Blackberry with its 4 core centres had enough issues last year keeping its service running to mass hysteria from business people....gamers would freak with any downtime!
Reply
Even Blackberry with its 4 core centres had enough issues last year keeping its service running to mass hysteria from business people....gamers would freak with any downtime!
Posted: May 13th 2010 5:19AM Dark Archon PSN Archonik XBL Dar said
Good thing I'm with Virgin then. BT sucks. Yeah, I know Virgin's not the best either, but still: it's not BT.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 5:20AM (Unverified) said
People still care about OnLive? I was sort of hoping they'd gone bankrupt by now.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 8:47AM (Unverified) said
@dAnixx: Please tell me you're joking.
The day OnLive becomes the "future of Gaming" is the day I quit being a gamer.
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The day OnLive becomes the "future of Gaming" is the day I quit being a gamer.
Posted: May 13th 2010 6:08AM (Unverified) said
HUGE boost for Onlive, for sure, but a massive blow to the majority of the country who are not, and NEVER will, go to those overpriced twats for their broadband service.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 8:01AM borland502 said
I wish OnLive success, but I'd much rather use the technology to have my one powerful desktop feed graphical prowess to any laptop I own. I have far more interest in that scenario.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 8:34AM (Unverified) said
BT's homehub has been ruining my online gaming for years.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 10:02AM (Unverified) said
I've found if your biggest importance in gaming is online and you use the stock routers you can't complain.
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Posted: May 13th 2010 10:17AM Alexisonfire said
I can't wait for this to launch.
Then in can fail and fall into obscurity. Then I can quit reading about
Reply
Then in can fail and fall into obscurity. Then I can quit reading about
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