OnLive Gaming Service September 2011

OnLive is a service that allows you to play PC games via the Cloud, a method of streaming video games content directly from the company's own servers. In doing this, players can access a wide range of games, without needing a high-end PC or having to purchase the games from the high street.

Why choose OnLive?

As all the processing is done by OnLive’s servers, PC and Mac users with low-powered machines can play titles that would have previously been unavailable to them. This forms the main drive of OnLive’s appeal, and with many modern games requiring expensive PC set-ups (to enable them be played at their ‘optimal settings’ at least), it’s easy to see why the service exists. It will also work with other devices, such as Apple iPads.

OnLive is also available as a standalone console, which can be connect to a TV, priced at £70. The console also includes a wireless controller.

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OnLive is also available as a console

How much does it cost?

Getting started with OnLive is a fairly simple process. Customers must sign-up on the website, and then download a small program that acts as a portal to the service. From here they can play or purchase games, or watch other games live.

Pricing of content depends on the format in which it is bought. Games can be rented for three or five days, at a nominal sum. As an example, for five day access to new title Dirt 3, the price was £5.99. Games can also be purchased to own, although the pricing of these does seem a little high. Recent title Deus Ex: Human Revolutio, for example, would set you back £34.99, although a boxed copy for the PC can be purchased for around £25 from online retailers.

Finally, there is the subscription service, which is probably the best choice for those who will make regular use of the service. Priced at £6.99 per month, customers are given access to a large library of games, any of which are fully playable without restriction.

What's it like to use?

Once a game is purchased, it can be launched instantly. Thanks to all content being streamed, there is no waiting period for files to download, and this is one of the most impressive aspects of OnLive. To be able to select the latest title and start playing instantly is quite jaw dropping on the first occasion, and certainly beats rival service such as Steam in terms of delivery.

We suspect the main audience for OnLive are those whose own machines cannot run demanding games, and again, it was certainly novel to see cutting edge games playing on an entry-level laptop without any issues.

Of the games we played, we did find that the performance was relative. Driving games for example appeared to be quite responsive, but first person shooters did suffer from noticeable lag between inputs on the controller and the corresponding action on-screen. When moving too quickly, the image on screen can become slightly distorted and blocky. Not a huge issue, but enough to take the player out of the experience.

Players can launch games instantly from the home screen

Are there any problems?

Whilst there is no denying that the feat achieved by the service is impressive, there are a few niggles with the service which reared their head during our hands-on. The main concern is the constant broadband connection that the service relies on. Any dips in this can cause lag issues or even disconnection, and OnLive does recommend its customers use a wired connection rather than wireless, where signal drop-outs are more likely to occur.

During our time playing, on both ethernet and wireless connections, there were occasional periods of slow down. These were less frequent on the ethernet connection, but still noticeable. We tested the service on a 10Mbps broadband service, and in theory the higher connection speed, the fewer issues. However, there are many variables to take into account that could affect the service, such as time of day, connection throttling and so on.

Data usage should be a consideration for those who are not on unlimited broadband plans. With an hour's play equalling roughly 500MB of data, the service is very data hungry.

Graphically, compromises have been made. The image is not the crystal clear picture we would expect when playing a game locally on the PC, but instead has a slightly washed out look. 

The Cloud

As the service is cloud based, users can access their account and play games anywhere with a broadband connection. Game saves are also held in the cloud, enabling users to access their game progress from any location and pick up where they left off.

There aren't many services which can offer this in the current climate, least of all without the need to download any content.

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Availability and requirements

OnLive is available on PC and Mac, as well as iPad and Android tablets. OnLive claims that its service can be accessed through devices with minimal specs. The service should even work on netbooks and tablet PCs. 

A minimum broadband speed of 2Mbs is required, with 5Mbps being the recommendation.