OnLive GoesLive!

[TheGeekRedneck]

Over the past year or so an up and coming gaming service called 'OnLive' has been generating a continuous murmur in the gaming community, and as of today it has finally launched (for early beta signups, anyway).

So what is OnLive? Imagine a world where the ability to play the latest graphically intense games was no longer dependent on the hardware you have installed in your PC, but rather more dependent on the quality of your broadband connection. In fact... imagine a world where gaming becomes truly platform independant, requiring little more than a handheld controller connected to a set-top box or a Television/Monitor with the video decoding over IP ability built in!

The folks at OnLive have been hard at work not only envisioning this world, but actually bringing the idea to fruition.

Think of the OnLive service as a 'window' to a multi-platform gaming machine that could be located hundreds or thousands of miles away. As long as your computer (or device) is capable of playing a 720p HD stream, you can play even the newest game titles with all the eye candy turned on. It's an intriguing thought...

YouTube- GDC 09: OnLive Video Gemo - Crysis

YouTube- GDC 09: OnLive Video Gemo - Crysis

The technology is quite promising and is said to work quite well in it's current beta form. There is a bit of lag involved but the beta testers currently privy to the service say that you adjust to it and compensate for it pretty easily.

System requirements? Well, currently you basically need something capable of playing 720p video with a broadband connection of at least 5mbit/sec downstream data rates. PCs with Windows XP, Vista, and Seven are supported as well as Macs with OSX. Given that the software is available for OSX a linux port should be available fairly soon.

This is an interesting time for gamers indeed...