If you were one of the 25,000 who jumped on the OnLive wagon early, check your email before June 3 to get in on this super attractive offer.
OnLive pre-registrants get free game and one-year subscription
by Griffin McElroy 
on May 30th 2010 5:30PM
72
If you were one of the 25,000 who jumped on the OnLive wagon early, check your email before June 3 to get in on this super attractive offer.
Reader Comments (72)
Posted: May 30th 2010 5:36PM (Unverified) said
Aww this means it's too late to be part of the first 25000? Sad face. Because I would have definitely tried onlive if it was free for a year.
Posted: May 30th 2010 5:36PM BrianH said
"a free year of OnLive service with no obligation to continue subscribing once said year has passed."
except for the one where you need to keep subscribing to play the games you purchased during that year?
except for the one where you need to keep subscribing to play the games you purchased during that year?
Posted: May 30th 2010 6:46PM Morisato13 said
Wait, wtf. Not only do you have to pay a sub fee, but you also have to buy the game?! I'd understand buying the game with free sub (ala steam) or free games with paid sub (ala gamefly) but what sense does it make to pay for both?!
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:30PM (Unverified) said
You do not need to pay for subscription unless you want to play online! It has already been said. You can play demos free when it comes out without registering I believe. It works EXACTLY like an xbox...
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:40PM (Unverified) said
Posted: May 31st 2010 11:56AM Fata1Stryke said
"sub in order to play the games you own"
WTF? What's the point of "owning" them then? That's just not right.
Reply
WTF? What's the point of "owning" them then? That's just not right.
Posted: Jun 1st 2010 8:12AM AutobotIronhide said
"You do not need to pay for subscription unless you want to play online! It has already been said. You can play demos free when it comes out without registering I believe. It works EXACTLY like an xbox..."
I thought the games were on the servers not the computer?
Reply
I thought the games were on the servers not the computer?
Posted: May 30th 2010 5:37PM Cypher FDP said
I swear to God, if those little dots are supposed to be stars...
Posted: May 30th 2010 6:17PM AutobotIronhide said
They would make Big Rigs: Off The Road Racing the highest rated game on the planet.
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 5:43PM SeveringGecko said
I was really surprised when I got this email, I did not think I had made it in to the first 25k
Posted: May 30th 2010 5:44PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said
Posted: May 30th 2010 5:51PM SolaceInSound said
Got my pre-registrant email last night, 3 months was gonna be nice to try the service out, but a year is freakin sweet!
Posted: May 30th 2010 5:52PM Sidebuster said
I saw metro 2033 on that screen cap and had a thought. What happens if one of those games crashes? Do you have to contact OnLive to perform a hard reboot?
Posted: May 30th 2010 6:16PM AutobotIronhide said
According to the GI's at OnLive, the servers are "too powerful" to crash. If it did they would probably be dickholes about it and say that's impossible. My bet's on getting a good gaming rig and buying the damn game from wally world.
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:34PM CaramelZappa said
Too powerful to crash? I want to punch whoever said that in the face.
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 6:07PM Padilla7921 said
While I will never get OnLive, I will admit that this is a really, really awesome thing for them to do. Mad props for treating potential customers well.
Posted: May 30th 2010 6:58PM noahgray said
I signed up for the beta and got nothing :(
Posted: May 30th 2010 6:25PM QuePasa87 said
Sounds like desperation.
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:56PM einhanderkiller said
Sounds like good business sense. If those 1 year free trial customers buy a ton of games on the service, it's highly likely that they will keep their subscription because they don't want to be locked out of playing their games.
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 6:27PM (Unverified) said
forgive me if i'm not excited about paying full price for a game ON TOP of a monthly subscription. To make matters worse- when this house of cards inevitably tumbles, everybody who was stupid enough to sign up will lose every game they bought.
I don't mind paying a monthly subscription to play games and not have to worry about system requirements, but I'm NOT going to do all of that and pay for the games on top of it. For that price, you might as well put the monthly OnLive service fee toward buying new computer hardware and then having physical copies of the games that you can continue to play long after OnLive bites the dust.
let's hope genkai doesn't turn out to be a major turd like OnLive..
I don't mind paying a monthly subscription to play games and not have to worry about system requirements, but I'm NOT going to do all of that and pay for the games on top of it. For that price, you might as well put the monthly OnLive service fee toward buying new computer hardware and then having physical copies of the games that you can continue to play long after OnLive bites the dust.
let's hope genkai doesn't turn out to be a major turd like OnLive..
Posted: May 30th 2010 9:20PM Colossalhat said
Funny thing is Stanto, if you bought an MMO from OnLive, you'd be buying the game, paying the MMO's subscription, and the OnLive subscription.
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 7:01PM xxjnbrjsxx said
I Was One Of The Chosen Ones! LOL
Can't Wait To Get My Free Game! And I Hope The Hype Is True.
Can't Wait To Get My Free Game! And I Hope The Hype Is True.
Posted: May 30th 2010 7:27PM (Unverified) said
First off, there has been no news at all saying that onlive games will be full priced. I personally think they will be priced at 40-45 bucks since that would give the developers a good chunk more than simply selling retail, while the customer also pays less than retail price. There's no reason for the games to be full priced. If you look at any type of online distribution service (steam, newegg, etc.), the price is always cheaper than buying retail.
Also, Gaikai is only a free trial service. while in gaikai you play games on servers just like in onlive, you only play demos on Gaikai; never full games. Thats why its "free" Check David perry's own blog
http://www.dperry.com/archives/news/dp_blog/wow_streamed_to/
Just trying to clear up rumors.
P.S. My screen name is Dura on the Westcoast server for Onlive. See ya there
Also, Gaikai is only a free trial service. while in gaikai you play games on servers just like in onlive, you only play demos on Gaikai; never full games. Thats why its "free" Check David perry's own blog
http://www.dperry.com/archives/news/dp_blog/wow_streamed_to/
Just trying to clear up rumors.
P.S. My screen name is Dura on the Westcoast server for Onlive. See ya there
Posted: May 30th 2010 7:43PM BrianH said
". I personally think they will be priced at 40-45 bucks since that would give the developers a good chunk more than simply selling retail"
Hate to break it to you, but every other online service sells the games for full price, i don't see why this would be any different.
either way, your still going to have to pay the subscription to play your games.
Reply
Hate to break it to you, but every other online service sells the games for full price, i don't see why this would be any different.
either way, your still going to have to pay the subscription to play your games.
Posted: May 30th 2010 7:59PM (Unverified) said
I'm mainly using steam to buy games and the only games that stay full priced long are insanely popular ones. If Onlive takes any lessons from Valve, they would make sure to give out periodic sales/deals. Especially when it is just starting up for example, i wouldnt be surprised if they had some sort of sale for the "grand opening"
Also, you are paying the subscription costs because you are playing on their servers. They cant operate them freely, therefore you have to pay the subscription.
Reply
Also, you are paying the subscription costs because you are playing on their servers. They cant operate them freely, therefore you have to pay the subscription.
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:02PM BrianH said
"Also, you are paying the subscription costs because you are playing on their servers. They cant operate them freely, therefore you have to pay the subscription."
i'm not arguing against that, but my question is why, why would you want to pay a subscription?
like you said, you do use steam, so i can assume that your computer can run games on it's own.
Why would you willingly pay a subscription to use a service like this?
Reply
i'm not arguing against that, but my question is why, why would you want to pay a subscription?
like you said, you do use steam, so i can assume that your computer can run games on it's own.
Why would you willingly pay a subscription to use a service like this?
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:13PM (Unverified) said
I use steam, yes, but pretty much just for indies or small games. I only have a laptop, and cant hope to play recent titles on it if i'm relying on the power of my laptop alone. Onlive potentially gives me that option. This service isn't really for people who already have a gaming rig. If you do then i can see how this service might even seem useless to you. This is more for people who are stuck with an old comp, or a lightweight laptop. Along with that option, I can access those games on any pc i happen to be on, or when the microconsole comes out, any tv i'm near. That new advantage and flexibility is why im willing to pay the subscription.
Reply
Posted: May 30th 2010 11:07PM (Unverified) said
i'm not convinced the biggest issue i have with this is i'm paying real money and i'm not owning anything and the day i want to stop paying them i get caught off. now call me old fashion i don't like this idea of permission to play.
now this promotion is really interesting they reallly want people to sign up i wonder how long it will take for them to hit the 25k mark? it will be interesting to hear what their year end numbers will be. i wonder how many numbers would they need to be a success or a failure
now this promotion is really interesting they reallly want people to sign up i wonder how long it will take for them to hit the 25k mark? it will be interesting to hear what their year end numbers will be. i wonder how many numbers would they need to be a success or a failure
Posted: May 30th 2010 11:07PM (Unverified) said
good point the price for games hasn't been listed has it? how much would anyone be willing to spend on a game purchase from this service? what would be your deal breaker? (besides msrp)
Posted: May 30th 2010 7:44PM DarknessBear said
You are missing that you need to give them your credit card, so they can "verify age". That was a deal breaker for me... sorry I don't trust that.
Posted: May 31st 2010 12:13AM RageOverdose said
I'm not fond of it either, but I plan to be monitoring my bank account to make sure that they don't pull anything. That way, if something comes up that's not supposed to be there, then I can make the card useless by calling my bank.
But...That's the fun of having a debit card. I don't know if an actual credit card is harder to get deactivated...
Reply
But...That's the fun of having a debit card. I don't know if an actual credit card is harder to get deactivated...
Posted: May 31st 2010 2:20AM sqwarlock said
I was in the OnLive beta. Tried it once, wasn't thrilled, didn't pre-register.
If I had, this would've been a great surprise, but as it stands I'm not pissed that I'm missing out on it.
If I had, this would've been a great surprise, but as it stands I'm not pissed that I'm missing out on it.
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:42PM gnordy said
I got an invite and I am looking forward to trying out the service. I don't know if I will stay past the year, but it is nice to have along time to find out.
I don't see a reason to rip the service before it is even available. Every system has benefits and limitations. It is up to each of us to decide if these benefits outweigh the limitations and are still worth the cost.
I don't see a reason to rip the service before it is even available. Every system has benefits and limitations. It is up to each of us to decide if these benefits outweigh the limitations and are still worth the cost.
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:43PM (Unverified) said
I got the email. But I didn't pass the test they make on your internet speed:( It has the option to sign up anyways, but I'm not sure if games are even going to work as according to them my internet is not fast enough.:(
Posted: May 30th 2010 8:46PM (Unverified) said
So a year free of a service that can't possibly live up to what it promises, and uses a terribly pricing scheme? Cool, I guess.
I'm sorry, OnLive. I want to believe you can deliver on your promises, but the laws of physics dictate that your service will be rife with input lag.
I'm sorry, OnLive. I want to believe you can deliver on your promises, but the laws of physics dictate that your service will be rife with input lag.
Featured Stories
Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma
Posted on May 25th 2012 3:30PM