OnLive Micro-Console and Service Review (December 2010)

OnLive Micro-Console and Service Review

Features
The OnLive Micro-Console has support for 1080p video, 5.1 surround sound, stereoscopic 3D, four controllers, and four bluetooth headsets. 1080p gaming should be available by next year, along with voice chat.

The Wireless Controller is probably the most impressive part of the hardware, sporting a very comfortable design, hefty balance, smart button layout, and convienent media bar along the bottom. The triggers have a very natural pressure to them, and the shoulder buttons are easy to get to without getting in the way. The D-Pad is very nicely designed, making it perfect for fighting games and exact movements.

As for the OnLive Service itself, gaming on the service is very much community focused. You have the norms such as friends lists and messaging, but OnLive also has features like the Arena, Brag Clips, and Zero Latency Multiplayer. The Arena is a spectators sport, where you can watch other OnLive members play games in real time. While watching you can Cheer or Jeer them depending on how well they are doing. Brag Clips are another great feature that records the last 10 seconds of the game you are currently playing.

Multiplayer in OnLive is unique compared to other consoles. Unlike other games you play online where you can see players jittering around on the screen, people using hacks and exploits, and other latency related issues, OnLive is completely devoid of these things. OnLive is basically run like a giant LAN network, so when you're spectating someone or playing a multiplayer game with them, there is no latency/lag/pause/jitter. What they see is EXACTLY what you see.

Lag
When talking about OnLive you have two forms of lag, internet performance and game performance. Internet performance can become an issue if your connection isn't stable and contains jitter. As far as game performance goes it is pretty much on par with other consoles. Very few games dip below 30 FPS, with majority of them performing at a solid 45 to 60 FPS.

Games
Jumping into a game and playing instantly couldn't be easier or more gratifying. For each game you have the option of playing a trial, renting for a few days, or purchasing the full title. The current game selection is around 35 titles right now, though they hope to have around 50 or 60 games by the end of the year. Once the PlayPack service launches on January 14th, they expect to have around 40 titles for that as well.

They also have another 100 titles currently in development for release in 2011, many of which are day-in-date with console releases. Still for a new console launch it has more games than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launched with. There are no exclusive titles yet of course, but given time I'm sure we'll see some interesting software come to OnLive.

Video Quality
There are two video streams that OnLive uses while a game is being played. One is the media stream, which is used when spectating someone or when a brag clip is taken. This stream is usually lower in quality, more akin to a YouTube video. The second stream is the gaming stream, which is used when you're actually playing a game. The gaming stream is optimized for playing the game and looks crisp and clear. Of course you may see some compression if you look for it or take a screenshot, but OnLive is made to look great in motion and not in a still frame.

When I sat an uncomfortbale distance from my screen (about a foot or so) I could see compression, however when I sat back and relaxed to just enjoy the games (about three feet away) I didn't notice any compression at all. When playing on a PC or Mac with a resolution of 1920x1080 OnLive might not look as good, since the image is being scaled up and causes blurring. You're also sitting much closer to a monitor than you would a TV, so compression will be much more noticeable.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• onlive
• micro
• console
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• on
• live
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• xbox
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• microsoft

[voidremoved]

I got to try out the onlive controller. its funny how when u press the LB or RB you can feel the opposite button lift up a bit.... or maybe its just the control that i tried. anyways nobody i know knows how to tell when the wireless controller is fully charged, anybody know a way to tell? like a battery level meter? i thought there might be something similar to the ps3, but saw nothing. the onlive site just says it takes about 4 hours to charge :P no word on how u tell its "done"

[Saieno86]

@voidremoved There's a little green light inside the controller you can see from the bottom through the media controls as it charges. Blinking means its charging, solid means its full.

[crackfirecmh]

@MrBlueVillain press alt + B. 

[discjockeyjole]

This looks good, but I can never leave steam :D have to many games there already..

[onlive101]

onlive is best

[MrBlueVillain]

How do you make brag clips on "OnLive"?

[damitchman9]

@TbirdReal Actually it is guaranteed for 4 years of availability. I still love the service because that contract they have with publishers will probably be extended. I am soon going to buy Borderlands for Onlive. I love that game! Plus, I am beginning to use Onlive daily as well.

[TbirdReal]

@damitchman9

Once you buy the game from them, you have it for life, unless you rent it then thats a different story. =) let me know if you have any more questions that i can answer, i use onlive daily!

[S1RD4RKN4]

@Saieno86 i played the pc version and my internet is good but in the game i get some bad quality and some random 1 sec freezes, is the quality low cause my monitor isn't hd

[damitchman9]

Doesn't your games expire after two years after buying them? Also, great review!

[Saieno86]

@Silent33091 Instead of making a hypothetical scenario like that, just look at the actual information that is made available. There are well over 5,000,000 people on OnLive from around the world, and how OnLive makes money depends on what is going on. Its common knowledge that OnLive gets paid for demos played, they also get a cut of every game that sells. They've also made deals with all the ISPs and their hardware is custom silicon that is only useful for running OnLive. They aren't just PCs.

[Silent33091]

@Saieno86

Well lets say the monthly fee of an pc like that+bandwidth costs around 50-80$ on average 3-9 users need 1 pc/day, so users need to spend an average of 14$ each month on new games so that onlive doesnt loose money, anything above that is profit, but the problems will arise when the playerbase grows and older players wont buy new games just play :D

btw yes wireless controlers do have delay, but i wasnt talkin about those