Well I finally started playing with OnLive, and to put it short, I’m fairly impressed. I received a beta key a while ago, but never bothered to try out the service because I had no faith in the concept and I already had a gaming PC. And now that I know it’s possible, I can see that it’s definitely not for everybody.
To sign up for the service, you have to apply on their website and receive an email a few days later. They currently have a deal with AT&T that gets you a full year of the service free, but that doesn’t include any games, just the ability to view other games in progress, watch trailers, and play demos. However, it’s the perfect thing to test the service and make sure the connection is fast enough in your area.
Setup is simple and you’ll be brought to the main menu without much hassle. From here, you can access the store and some of the other features of OnLive. The store doesn’t feature any new games, but gut instincts tell me that developers will take advantage of the system close to the launch of titles in the future. There are several AAA games worth trying out such as Unreal Tournament 3, Splinter Cell: Convicion, FEAR 2, Borderlands, Batman Arkham Asylum, and some various sports games. On the indie side, there is AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Trine, World of Goo, and Defense Grid. Suspiciously, games with an emphasis on multiplayer are missing.
OnLive’s demo system is practical. Instead of downloading 2 gigs off some third-party website to try a game, you simply click a button and watch someone else play for a couple seconds prior to being dropped right into the game. The demo is not fenced-in and limited like ones downloaded on the web because OnLive gives you full access to the game for 30 minutes. This is ideal for someone who has a general idea of what a game is about, but are unsure of whether “It’s for them.” For example, I’ve heard a lot of mixed things about Alpha Protocol, and it should be available on the service soon, so it’ll be easy to check if it’s my kind of game.
Also, from what I tried, games that require you to set up a GameSpy ID no longer require that when using OnLive. It did not ask me to make a dumb account to just test out UT3, which is a welcome feature.
A neat feature that OnLive has is the ability to spectate any game in progress. No consent is required of the spectated player, and the viewer can choose to give the player either a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. There is no clear way to check if you have spectators and there is no way to communicate with your viewers, which prevents immersion-breaking booing and nay-saying. One complaint about the spectator system is the UI in the upper-right corner that never disappears, and while it is useful, it would be convenient if the UI was activated by mouse movements or to simply be smaller.
As for the technology, the streaming works and the only noticeable technological issue is subtle mouse lag. It is a hindrance, however the player learns to cope with it very quickly. I noticed it more in games like UT3 and World of Goo where mouse precision is of utmost importance, but it is easier to get used to in third-person action games.
The second most important question that is asked about OnLive is “How do the games look?” From someone with a mid-range gaming PC sporting an Nvidia Geforce 9800, I can answer that with “Not very good.” If good visuals and crisp sound means a lot to you, then look elsewhere because neither are strong points of the service. The visuals in 3D games appear muddy, fuzzy, and ultimately, pretty bad. The sound is also much lower quality than something you would play locally, but it’s still passable. In games like Splinter Cell, I found the visuals to hurt the experience because it was occasionally hard to see enemies in the low-quality graphical fog.
However, I’m not the ideal person for OnLive because I have a gaming PC. I’m used to cranking up the graphical setting and enjoying the beautiful visuals that this generation of video games have to offer. But, if I was still casually gaming on my old HP computer, OnLive would be a dream come true.
