Those of us who just can’t comprehend in our tiny little brains how OnLive is feasible, have been reassured by OnLive’s CEO Steve Perlman. Speaking to the BBC, he defended the service over the naysayers. Steve stated that it is possible due to their revolutionary video compression algorithm and custom silicon chip.
Steve went on to describe how the team began the ambitious project. Starting from a resolution size smaller than a mobile phone, they successfully streamed the game Quake. From there, they began to gradually increase the resolution size until eventually conquering high definition.
Very exciting but hold your horses. To receive games in their HD gloryness a 5Mbps broadband connection is required. Steve also stated that to reduce lag, three more data centres will need to be produced across the USA.
OnLive is due to be released this winter.
I’m sure OnLive will work, but if it doesn’t I’ll be sure to pay Steve Perlman a visit asking him if he’d like to purchase my magic beans.
Source: BBC
Even if this does take off, I could never give up the hard copy of a game. There is some sort of security you have by owning it. What if internet goes out, or if a game isn’t doing well and they pull it while you were in the middle of it. That and I doubt OnLive can produce that glorious “New Game” smell.
I’m still going to be behind it. However much I think it might fail, I want it to succeed more.
This concept scares the be-jesus out of me
Thus far the largest question mark in my own mind has been that of ownership. The technical expertise that I can marshal is limited at best, but if I understand the concept properly (and I may well not, just yet) then it sounds to me like any given title, be it purchased or rented, remains on the OnLive side of the table. I believe that Tim Buckley (CAD) voiced similar concerns maybe a week or so gone, but I feel that his sentiments are worth reiterating: I’m not sure that I’m comfortable either with the prospect of so tenuous a hold on my own library. The absence of a more physical medium doesn’t trouble me overmuch, but (again, provided I’ve understood the way that OnLive is meant to function) the thought of my games being restricted to a hard drive entirely outside my influence gives me more than a little pause.
In purely technological terms, I think their objective is an ambitious one – and, truth be told, I think it’d probably be a great option to have ready to hand. But there are still a few lingering questions that I’d need answered before I could say for sure where I stand on the idea.
Let’s all give Perlman the benefit of the doubt here. He has been a successful businessman in the past. I think Onlive has great potential. OnliveFans.com