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Zelnick: OnLive 'beneficial' to gaming industry, doesn't fit with Take-Two's business model
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Dec 8th 2009 at 11:30AM } 
Zelnick noted the benefits in not having to worry about costs associated with production and distribution, but explained that "the bulk of our business is packaged goods because initial releases are for the console business." He later claimed that OnLive's bold distribution model "probably won't be a sea change in our business." Shortly after that, he did 1,000 sit-ups, and then arm wrestled everyone in the audience simultaneously. Needless to say, he won.
OnLive closes 'major round of funding' with support from AT&T, Lauder Partners, et al.
by Christopher Grant { Sep 30th 2009 at 8:28PM }
To that end, CEO Steve Perlman has announced via the company's blog that OnLive has "closed a major round of funding with participation from AT&T Media Holdings, Inc., Lauder Partners, Warner Bros., Autodesk and Maverick Capital." While Perlman isn't saying just how much is "major" the press release did note that this "is by far OnLive's largest closing." The money "will be used to launch OnLive's service offerings and to protect OnLive's extensive intellectual property rights."
We can only imagine Perlman and Company are watching competitors like Gaikai and Otoy closely. With the beta soon (now?) underway, and the company's coffers filled, we can hopefully expect a steady march of progress towards launch.
Source – OnLive Blog
Source – Press release
OTOY: The game streaming service you've never heard of
by Ben Gilbert { Sep 13th 2009 at 6:30PM } 
The service is still in its infancy, as demonstrated by a TechCrunch hands-on video we've dropped after the break, but shows a lot of potential. Considering OnLive's currently holding its public beta in North America and Gaikai's kicking off a private beta in Europe late this month, we hope OTOY decides to start getting vocal soon. We're all ears!
OnLive beta program is on, live
by JC Fletcher { Sep 2nd 2009 at 6:15PM } 
Should you make the cut, you'll receive an invitation, which requires a Performance Test. If your settings make the cut (the "cut" being whatever configuration OnLive is looking to test), you'll become part of a Test Group at some unspecified time, at which point the (hopefully) awesome part begins: the part in which you play games. It'll be buggy, and you'll probably have to fill out reports about the experience, but video games.
It may not have been an "official" beta, and it may have been under carefully orchestrated conditions, but our own experience with OnLive was a positive one. We'll see how the public beta compares.
Warner Bros. promotes exec following Midway acquisition
by Ben Gilbert { Aug 1st 2009 at 2:30PM }
Warner Bros. executive Jeff Junge has a laundry list of valuable gaming credentials on his resume. From recently leading the acquisition of a failing Midway Games to an early investment in dark magic engine OnLive, and even spearheading the purchase of TT Games a couple of years back, Junge is no stranger to the game industry. And all that would help to explain why, late this week, Warner Bros. announced the promotion of Junge to senior VP of business management for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. The Home Entertainment Group includes, among many other things, the company's gaming division.According to the release issued by WB, Junge will continue to "drive mergers and acquisitions" for the company. We've been told on good faith that neither "mergers" nor "acquisitions" are any type of automobile. How do you plan on driving them then, Mr. Junge? Hmmm?
[Via Edge]
Dave Perry explains Gaikai's 'bizarre genesis'
by Ben Gilbert { Jul 28th 2009 at 8:30PM }
Years later, he found himself evangelizing his theories at Leipzig 2008, where he was approached by two gentlemen (Andrew Gault and Rui Pereira) working on the very technology he spoke about. From that partnership, Gaikai was born. Perry says what separates his company's product from OnLive's is that "it's a service" and as such there is no dictating where it can go -- OnLive is technology dependent. Though we've gotten a video tour of the service and plenty of talk from Mr. Perry about Gaikai so far, we've yet to get our hands on the service, and as such will remain (understandably) skeptical until we see more.
Playcast hoping to beat OnLive to the game streaming punch
by Griffin McElroy { Jul 20th 2009 at 11:45PM }
That's a lot of heady claims from a service we know so little about. Fortunately, an Israeli tech journalist named Denis Vitchevsky got a chance to check out the service, and came off with an optimistic impression. He says the technology is "somewhat similar to OnLive," and that the demo he witnessed "worked quite well." He claims Playcast has signed agreements with a few publishers, and is promising a huge library at launch. For now, the service is offering PC ports -- but no M rated games just yet, due to a lack of parental control features.
We're trying to get more info on the service, but as you might imagine, it takes a while for emails to zip between here and Israel.
Dyack: Industry making more games than consumers can handle
by Justin McElroy { Jul 17th 2009 at 2:15AM }
He's still banging the drum and elaborating on his point, saying that the single console would help reduce a glut of games overwhelming the consumer. "There were 300 or so games released last November. We're in a state of performance over supply. We're making more games than consumers can possibly consume," Dyack told Videogamer.com. "Marketing is having a disproportionate effect over the success of games because there's so many out there people are ignoring us."
Hey, you're a consumer, right? Are you feeling overwhelmed?
Dave Perry gives first video tour of Gaikai
by Ben Gilbert { Jul 1st 2009 at 1:30PM }
The video (found after the break) has the latter demoing Gaikai, streaming games from Mario Kart 64 to Spore to EVE Online, all from his Vista-powered PC running Firefox on an 800-mile trip between the server and his home. He claims in the video to be streaming all of the games demoed from sub 1-megabit internet speeds and says that "even a NetBook" could run Gaikai with no problems. From what we can see, things are running smoothly, though unlike OnLive, we've yet to get our hands on the equipment. Perry says we'll see more at this month's Develop Conference, so for those of you itching for more Gaikai, you've got a two-week wait on your hands. Perhaps you should play some of those old, less magic-filled gaming consoles you have.
[Via Edge Online]
Pachter: Crysis via OnLive like 'playing on a fully-optimized gaming PC'
by Richard Mitchell { Jun 30th 2009 at 8:00PM }
Pachter states that OnLive should appeal to families that have yet to buy into the current generation of consoles, especially if the service is priced right. The sweet spot, apparently, is right around $5 a month. A higher price could be met with "consumer resistance," says Pachter. Furthermore, Pachter is already predicting that OnLive may not last long as a standalone service, suggesting that it might be purchased by another company and offered as "part of an expanded service offering."
For example, Microsoft could purchase the company to further expand the Xbox as an entertainment hub -- Pachter notes Microsoft's previous acquisition of WebTV, which was co-founded by OnLive CEO Steve Perlman. That's assuming neither Apple nor Verizon beat Microsoft to the punch, of course.
It's too early for us to say if any of this will come to pass -- we're not analysts, after all -- but we were certainly impressed with our own OnLive experience. Still, until we can plug OnLive into our internet and play Crysis for ourselves, we're a bit skeptical. That's okay though, because we're supposed to be.
Verizon to offer GameTap-esque service in the Northeast starting this summer
by Ben Gilbert { Jun 15th 2009 at 3:45PM }
For now, the service is only going to be offered in
Impressions: online and live with OnLive [update]
by Kevin Kelly { Jun 3rd 2009 at 2:00PM }
Even though OnLive said it wouldn't be at E3, we still got to give the streaming game service a shot. It wasn't actually on the show floor, but inside an actual home ... as in luxury downtown condo that no one actually lives in. OnLive rented the place for the experience, and the service was running over a normal at-home internet connection.
As proof, it showed off an actual Time Warner cable modem to prove that the experience was real, complete with blinking lights (pictured above) and bundles of cables. Update: An OnLive executive told us that speeds through the modem were peaking at four to five megabits per second, which is near the top limit of a low end cable modem usage tier, although average speeds were two to three. They were able to dial up or down what the OnLive service was using on the fly, although the cable internet connection maxed out at six mbps, which again is standard for a low-end connection.
We wanted to crack that sucker open to make sure it wasn't filled with pixies armed with LED lights, but time did just not allow. So how did everything work? You'll have to head beyond the break to find out.
As proof, it showed off an actual Time Warner cable modem to prove that the experience was real, complete with blinking lights (pictured above) and bundles of cables. Update: An OnLive executive told us that speeds through the modem were peaking at four to five megabits per second, which is near the top limit of a low end cable modem usage tier, although average speeds were two to three. They were able to dial up or down what the OnLive service was using on the fly, although the cable internet connection maxed out at six mbps, which again is standard for a low-end connection.
We wanted to crack that sucker open to make sure it wasn't filled with pixies armed with LED lights, but time did just not allow. So how did everything work? You'll have to head beyond the break to find out.
Gaikai (the other OnLive) won't be at E3 either
by Alexander Sliwinski { May 26th 2009 at 8:15PM }
It appears we'll have to wait until both services go into beta to get a better idea of how each will work. OnLive announced last week that it would not attend E3 and would have "plenty" to show throughout the rest of the year. We're definitely looking forward to testing out the server-based future of PC gaming.
OnLive won't be AtTending E3
by Alexander Sliwinski { May 20th 2009 at 3:20PM }
Wünder product OnLive will not be shown at E3. The company's COO, Mike McGarvey, noted in a recent blog entry that E3 is a "retail-oriented conference, both for retail platforms and retail publishers, and OnLive is neither." McGarvey did confirm that the company will show "plenty" this year in preparation for its "external beta and launch." Oh, OnLive, you sound so magical. We want to believe, make us believers!
[Via BigDownload]
BigDownload pours one out for failed PC online gaming services
by Xav de Matos { May 6th 2009 at 5:15AM }
