Armageddon a free OnLive MicroConsole with Red Faction pre-order

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Even if the game part of OnLive isn't a success, the technology is still amazing. I was watching a demo of OnLive running on an iPad streaming a Windows computer running a touch-friendly version of Maya and thought it was pretty impressive. They even put a lot of effort into making their wireless controllers have low latency. The latency on their controllers is less than both the 360's and PS3's. Also, on the PS3 the more controllers you have the higher the latency of each (almost hits 1/10 of a second if you have 4 controllers if I remember correctly), but with OnLive the increase in latency in minimal.

@Aguiluz
They've improved the input lag significantly since beta. During beta, playing first person shooters just didn't feel right. It felt like your input was lagging behind by maybe a third of a second. But now, it's wayyyy better. I can actually play Unreal Tournament 3 just fine. If you're super twitchy then it can be a problem, but for most players it'll be good enough.

The one major issue I have with the service is the image quality. It looks great on a TV or projector, but sitting in front of a monitor playing OnLive lets you see all of the muddy imperfections.

@einhanderkiller

Be this the video of which you speak?

http://video.allthingsd.com/video/dive-tech-onlive-now-more-than-just-a-game/2D385273-C40C-41D7-B01D-39A6E3B50F9F

It's a pretty sweet vid, and definitely harbinger of the future of mobile computing.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

I was sceptical, But after downloading the free client, ive had great fun with it playing the game trials. Its all so fast and good.

"I like the look of this game, Ill watch someone playing it live to see if i like it, Yeah, looks fun, Ill try the demo." 5 seconds later and im starting the game up.

Its brilliant. I just wish i had a better connection. Even though at the moment its acceptable. Some games feel like im playing a youtube video though.

@Jawmuncher

Out of curiosity, how is OnLive?

@Shadowbender

I actually find it a good service.
My biggest issue with it is just the games, since all of them are MP.
So something like RF:A is on onlive, I end up preferring to play on a actual console rather than that system.

If they offered more in the range of PC exclusives and such i'd be much more interested.

@Shadowbender

You know I gotta say I have been enjoying Onlive quite a bit. I finally took the dive and got some games I haven't played anywhere else and Its been most enjoyable. Super fast start up and I never feel any lag really.

I also like the idea of old pc games like deus ex being on the subscription plan. I use a mac for my art and design so my old pc copy of deus ex is useless. With this (if it ever comes to onlive) I can just fire up the onlive program and jump right in between art sessions.

@Shadowbender

I've been using it for almost a year, and I have slowly come to love it.

The best part is during the daily commute, when I can pull out my laptop, hit up the nearest hotspot, and fire up whatever game I was playing at home the night before, from exactly the save point where I left off. I even used it at a public library terminal once.

Probably the best part about the service are the sales. Two weekends ago, I picked up Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood + The Da Vinci Disappearance for $12.50. Over the time that I have been an OnLive member, I have scored big time on many of the sales, picking up Borderlands: GOTY Edition for $7.50, Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition for $7.50. And since they started their $5 Friday's promotion every week, have picked up both Mafia II and Splinter Cell: Conviction for $5 each. In many respects, it's kinda like getting those awesome sales on Steam, but with the added bonus of being able to instantly boot up, and play your games instantly from anywhere you can get a broadband connection.

Overall, it's a really nice service and the results are better than I had initially expected. And the company works diligently behind the scenes to continue to improve it. If there were anything negative I'd have to say about the service, would be the lack of games on it. Of course that is not 100% their fault, as some publishers are taking a wait and see approach - which I do not understand, considering these are just the PC versions of games, with a few tiny modifications to make them compatible with the OnLive platform features. But you know, publishers treated Steam the same way for years and years, and now they all support Steam, so I figure ultimately, they will warm up to OnLive in time. But between the convenience of the service, and all the great sales, if they start padding their game library with more new releases from more publishers, OnLive will likely wind up taking my 2nd most used gaming platform spot away from my PS3 - not a knock against the PS3, just that in recent months I have found myself gaming over OnLive almost as much as I currently do on PS3, and more games added to the OnLive roster would definitely see my using the platform more and more..

@Tachyonic Cargo
If I hadn't recently purchased a new computer, I would've definitely gone the OnLive route.

@Shadowbender ... Onlive is great. I play boarderlands GOTY edition every day. Me & my lil bro actually play together on the same connection. he uses the onlive micro console and i use my pc.

Even with us both playing there is no humanly perceptible lag. i paid so much on my pc then buying a graphics card. But all i do is play boarderlands on onlive. i have about 11 PC games to.

Our DL speed is 40mbps though.

honestly i love it. and i play about every day. you should sign up and try boarderlands for 30 mins. i think you will like it.

@Shadowbender

I hope it doesn't.

@This Little Man Says His Name Is

Nor me. I've tried it on PC. Although it is an incredible bit of software, and kudos to the company who created it , but if this is the way forward, I'll have to give it a miss. Right now, Steam beckons.

And personally, having the game installed over streamed, makes it feel more yours, and available. My network generally has poor connection, and having to reboot my router every few hours to just slog through the single-player campaign would, inevitably, drive me insane.

@Shadowbender

Now imagine that at full screen (the Gaikai demos are not at full screen), and in actual HD resolutions, and in 5.1 surround, and with voice chat, and with spectating, and with Achivements, and with a universal Friends List, and being able to save your game and log back into it from the same spot from any broadband connected computer, and being able to use it on your television without an HTPC, and with your choice of either keyboard/mouse, or game controller, and that is pretty much the OnLive experience.

@Warjekk

Physical disk > stream any day.

@Migz7

But for a shooter where the story was the big selling point of it, having a bad story makes it a bad game. If they built it focusing on multiplayer with the story as a side thing, that would have been fine. But they didn't, that's the problem.

@goaliebrain
Just curious but do have any idea how much bandwidth you use while using onlive? I like the idea but being a canuck with a 100gb per month limit, it doesn't seem worth it.

@chrispowell They have to make money somehow. I would assume they feel early adopters are more likely to already be drinking the Onlive kool aid. Its not like they don't have ridiculous sales week after week so I wouldn't feel too bad. We don't even know if Red Faction Armagetton will be a good game or not. The free microconsole is the biggest incentive for me. I hope a lot of other people take advantage of this deal so the Onlive community grows.

@dragunrising Well after playing it for a half hour I feel like it would probably be a pretty good game.