Big Changes In Computer Gaming On The Horizon

I read about this last night. Cool stuff, but as someone that considers computer building a fun hobby, this seems strange to me. I take great pride in putting my personal computer together, but I can still see the appeal in this, that's for sure. Now back to hop in to a game of Left 4 Dead!

Could be huge depending on how you look at it. The game manufacturers can drop prices making them more affordable without having the overhead of making the cd, the case, etc... With the cloud computing / high performance computing merge happening, what we know about it so far could just be a drop in the bucket when it comes to the full capabilities. Having been at the Supercomputing conference last year, I managed to talk with a university professor in a scuba tank in Australia on a huge monitor with absolutely no lag or decrease in picture quality. Absolutely stunning!

FYI - I got my url. Once I can PM, I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I'm waiting to see how it pans out. There have been a number of contenders to be the all in one gaming/internet access/phone portal that hooks to your tv. most bit the dust, a few made it to production but nothing has been able to shake off straight consoles at this point.

But i can also remember a time when the same was said about PC games, and how people would always buy the physical game.

Now you have Steam that provides content to anyone anywhere they log into their account. The Onlive system is similar so its possible that it could be a big deal. It will probably depend on content provided

I can see some people would use it, but I only play firs-person shoot em ups which required massive hardware resources to give great graphics and multiplayer gaming experience.

There's no way they could give the same experience without having decent graphics hardware locally to do the job.

Andy

The fact that it's April 1st today might explain it

Or it could be the next phantom game console by infinium labs.

I'm totally suspicious until they roll out the thing. Anyone notice the launch has been delayed?

I could see something like this happening, but would assume that you would need a television that is a hybrid with a computer. So you would have ram & a HD.

I don't see this getting bigger then console's or pc gaming. Been gamer myself sence before I can remember and this has no appeal to me, what about upgrading gfx cards and gpu's for system, i don't think they will give these upgrades out free.

This is what is considered a "disruptor" existing comsole companies will not be able adapt to new concepts that ONLIVE will be indroducing. I bet we see more from it that you expect.

Who want to buy new gaming consoles and buy new games every few years just to kee up with technology. I don't have room for each of the consoles out there, all thoes boxes and wires.

Why would we need huge PC and garphics cards when all the rendering can be done centrally.

I'd adopt a service like this is aheart beat if the game producers were onboard. I got my onlive domains.

Pretty sure this is going to fail, online games would have way to much lag, and could you imagine the bandwidth costs? Besides, this has been attempted a few years ago by a company which ended up with a $62mil loss, can't remember the name though... Guess I'll go search around.

Edit: Ah found it, I can't post links so google "Phantom" (game system). Very similar concept

Lol, it's from the same guy who did WebTV.

Interesting post, thanks.

I don't think it will 'replace' traditional gaming consoles -- you are going to still have your power users who love their NES, PSIII, XBOX, etc, etc.

What it is *going* to do is 'expand' the market. So those people who currently think gaming is too expensive are now going to have easy access. So I wouldn't say it will replace it -- but it will expand it.

Anybody in here a Seinfeld fan? George Costanza: Big changes coming, what do they say, oh yeah, in the offing, big changes in the offing.

To everyone that is looking at the past as a reason for it's failure, shouldn't we take into consideration the fact that technology is moves forward and times can and do change. I haven't looked at this console specifically but read a book last year written at the dawn of the internet talking of it's forthcoming demise and providing a million reasons why it would be impossible or wouldn't catch on. The world is shaped by innovation and people who aren't willing to accept that something just isn't possible.

Think how convenient it would be to just set your TV to download the latest games before you go out in the morning. I don't really play computer games anymore but even when I did there were some pretty impressive MMORPGs coming out with millions of people playing in entire virtual worlds and downloading patches over 200mb at any time of the day.

If not this particular one, something is bound to come along at some point and succeed. There are entire websites dedicated to rumours and speculation about forthcoming gadgets so I, for one, would not disregard this as a niche just yet.

it will fail. the reasons? I worked for video game industry for 6 years. there are many companies tried to beat consoles, they all failed.

1. where are the games? do not tell me gaming company will provide games soon. how soon is soon? it means game publishers needs invested lots of $ to make good games for them, it also means onlive needs lots of cash to pass that waiting time. they will need several BIG hits to make gamers like them.

2. use TV to play online games? some companies tried to compress standard PC into a console size box, and play all PC games on TV, failed.

3. a free box to play online game? the graphics will not be good. no good graphisc, noone will play. unless it has some inovation, like wii.

anyway, just my 2 cents.

good luck


david

It's not an April Fool's joke. OnLive was being peddled to software companies as early as 2 years ago.

And yes, the system can provide high quality graphics, just like the new generation of consoles. Graphics-processing is not an issue with this new platform.

Think of it as one powerful central console unit capable of playing multiple games for multiple parties at the same time. This powerful console will merely transmit the video and audio to the remote player's TV, much like how a cable company operates.

How can the remote player control the action? Via a remote control, of course! The OnLive remote control is the only device that will communicate with the powerful console, commanding the actions that the remote player wants to be performed.

It's an amazing concept, really, that is based on a simple idea that is already being utilized for many applications these days.

Will it replace consoles, though. Nah. OnLive doesn't have the muscles to compete with established players like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. OnLive won't have the first party games that usually define consoles, and to a certain degree, determine their respective success.

And OnLive, as of this writing, only has a handful of software developers signed up, and as avid gamers know: games make game systems.

Like any other console, success will be dependent on the developers that sign on. If it has a killer app or 2 at launch, it could really take off.