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Reader Comments (24)

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 9:21AM WC said

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http://www.onlive.com/playpack

The link, for anyone who wants it, since Joystiq doesn't seem to bother.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 9:48AM Poor Tom said

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@WC The link is in the Press Release they posted.
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 9:23AM JeremyVersion1 said

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It's actually a good service, which shocked me. I'll probably pay the ten bones a month now.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 9:37AM SilverFireshot said

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I picked up the console during the CES sale, but I have been in beta for awhile. I think this subscription is exactly the model they should have. I have two games right now but I got them both for free. I'm just as weary as anyone else about actually purchasing a game from them since I'm basically renting it. However, this subscription based model is perfect for the service. And $10 a month is really no big deal for quite a few games.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 9:46AM Marzz said

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Onlive is absolutely wonderful for playing stuff at work. Tiny little client, no memory footprint to speak of, and no game installs. The input lag is a bitch but I can deal with it.

$10 a month for those games, unlimited play? Yeah... I think I can handle that.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 12:41PM dvdjunkie32 said

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@Marzz Wouldnt that eat up a lot of bandwidth at work though?
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 12:48PM Marzz said

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@dvdjunkie

I work in a 3-person office, where the most anyone else does is use Facebook and gmail. I don't think the bandwidth is going to hurt anyone, honestly.
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 5:29PM CamelCamelCamel said

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@Marzz I guess you'd better hope they don't use Facebook, gmail and Joystiq!
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 9:50AM eat it said

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nice. if they start to get a just a few more decent games up there I'll hop on board.

this would be great for some of the mediocre games or games that I'd rather not spend $40 on.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 10:07AM BigE4284 said

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@eat it

You'll need an internet connection though.
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 10:15AM eat it said

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@BigE4284

yeah I'll get that eventually. I'm in no rush
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 10:05AM PhilipDuck said

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Hmm ok but game list not really the greatest, NBA 2k10? Cmon! Could they not have paid a bit more to 2K and got 11

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 10:15AM xboxmoonknight said

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there goes not using this service in Canada, cap means no streaming due to the low bandwidth allowance

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 10:38AM Shadowlayer said

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You know what the worst part is? that THIS IS THE FUTURE

I remember when I was a kid and these same guys made the XBAND

It was crazy back then and it barely worked at all, but now every console has online capabilities

But the XBAND didnt get any of it, so 20 years from now this remote play will be everywhere, but Onlive will be long gone

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 11:16AM 182 said

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it's a shame my connection fails at connecting to onlive.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 11:27AM Alexisonfire said

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If you view this as compared to a renting service such as Netflix or even traditional Blockbuster in-strore renting, this is a good deal to have a for a month or two.

If I didn't already own all the best titles in here (Play King's Bounty!), I'd consider subscribing for a lazy summer month.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 11:45AM mellymell said

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I'll pass! If I wanted to play all those old games I would go back to the future! ha x2





Posted: Feb 1st 2011 11:45AM Invigilator said

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In the future, with universally high speed internet, cloud based server gaming will undoubtedly be big, if not the prevalent form of gaming.

That said, this current incarnation is weak in value. I've tried it on my own PC and the input lag is horrendous, the visual quality sub-par, and the resolution around console levels. Assassin's Creed II for instance looks far better on my Xbox 360 than it does on my PC with Onlive, and on the console it doesn't have the horrible input lag and doesn't suddenly go all macroblocked when my internet slows down for a second for some reason.

My PC with a GTX 460 can support image quality and resolutions that are vastly superior to what Onlive offers. Why would I pay 10 bucks a month AND the full price of games for inferior quality in a small selection?

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 12:06PM ripvanwinkle said

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@Invigilator reading the article is always a nice thing to do.

"Why would I pay 10 bucks a month AND the full price of games for inferior quality in a small selection?"

You're not. 10 bucks a month for unlimited access to ALL those games.
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 12:33PM Scuffles said

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I seem to recall saying that they should do exactly this, back when they first announced their horrible monthly fee to play games you payed full price for business strategy. That went over about as well as a case of bubonic plague and was as such scrapped. (no I'm not going to let them forget about that)

Now all they need are a few more big name titles, titles that are available on release and they got it made in the shade.

Tho I'm still waiting to see them implement premium memberships with a monthly fee for preferential hardware/bandwidth allocation. But I suspect that won't come until they have enough people knee deep in purchased software, locking them into their services.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 12:35PM whatthegeek said

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I've seen a lot of complaints about the input lag, but I haven't had any problems with it. I haven't bought any games through Onlive yet, but I did beta the Playpack, and I was able to play UT3 effectively. There was an occasional hiccup similar to a small "skip" on a DVD, but it didn't inhibit play, and it didn't happen very often.

For the record, I'm in NJ, and on FiOS. I imagine proximity to an Onlive server, and internet connection play a huge part in whether or not you experience input lag. My connection is fast, and I really don't experience any sort of lag or latency with any of the various internet services I use. Back when I was with Comcast, their traffic shaping practices caused issues with a lot of different services - if I watched several Youtube vids in a row, all of a sudden I'd see Youtube traffic slow to a crawl. I guess the moral of the story is that you should demo something on Onlive before subscribing in order to get a feel for how well your connection will handle it.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 12:53PM Marzz said

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@whatthegeek

Exactly. Here at work, the connection is wired, stable, and is the fastest connection our local Cox ISP provides. The games are stable (if a bit muddy looking thanks to compression) but the input lag is noticeable, if slight. At home, on wireless (despite being less than 10 feet from the router) there are stutters and stalls everywhere, even if I do have the fastest residential service- Wireless is a huge detriment.

There's a 30-minute demo on almost every game on the service, try it out.

With that said, I'm not in love with onlive, but it's actually shaping up to be halfway decent.
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Posted: Feb 1st 2011 2:58PM Undying said

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Sure is 2009 in here.

Posted: Feb 1st 2011 3:18PM Moofey said

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Was impressed by the beta, went in to subscribe today and since doing so it keeps saying I'm not.

Until I hear back from their support team, great service bro. -sarcastic thumbs up-

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