Is OnLive Gaming Any Good?

If you listen carefully, you can hear the dark, prophetic mumblings of doom: ‘the home console is dead, long live cloud gaming'. But what exactly is cloud gaming? To the uninitiated, it sounds like something Lakitu might dabble in on his rare days off from harassing Mario. To those in the know, it’s been heralded as the ‘future of gaming’. At this early stage, it feels a little naïve to be making such grand proclamations. But that shouldn’t stop us from having a look at what all the fuss is about.

Cloud gaming allows users to play games without the need for a console or a disc. This might sound like some kind of ominous, voodoo magic but the reality, sadly, is rather less interesting: games are streamed from powerful servers directly to the user’s PC or Mac. Yup, it’s as simple as that. Those of you with low-end computers needn’t worry - all the processing power required to run the games is built into the servers themselves. Not bad, eh?

OnLive is one such cloud gaming platform. It launched in the UK on the 22nd September. I was lucky enough to attend the Eurogamer Expo in London where OnLive were giving away thousands of their Microconsoles free of charge. This nifty bit of kit allows users to access OnLive via their shiny HD TVs. The Microconsole package (£69.99) includes the console itself, a controller, and all the cables needed to connect it to your TV. Instant gaming on the cheap. What's not to like?

Well, the thing is this: there's still an air of uncertainty among gamers as to whether or not OnLive is worth their time and money. Many of us already have an unused Wii gathering dust beneath the TV. And let's not forget the Wii U, scheduled for release sometime in 2012. What exactly does OnLive have to offer the dedicated gamer? Well, to help you make that decision, I've compiled a list of things I liked and disliked about OnLive:


What I like About OnLive

You can pick up Deus Ex Revolution for £1. Seriously, ONE POUND. As part of its launch promotion, OnLive is offering gamers their first OnLive title for the same price as a McDonald's cheese burger. Bargain of the year.

The Microconsole itself is very pretty, and the control pad looks like the Knight Rider when it's charging.

You can, at any time, press the record button on your OnLive control pad and record what you're doing. These are called 'Brag Clips' and can be viewed by anyone who’s signed in to OnLive. Here's one that made me lol:



You are given a free 30 minute demo of practically every game on offer. You can waste an entire day just browsing OnLive's generous catalogue of games. If you see something you like, simply click on the 'free trial' button and you're away: 30 minutes of free, uninterrupted gameplay.

You can watch what other people are playing, like a digital peeping tom. There's even an option to 'Cheer' or 'Jeer' the hapless player you've just hijacked. Trust me, this adds a whole new dimension to the game. When someone's watching you, you're notified on screen. I first became aware of this unsettling perk when I was playing my free demo of Tomb Raider Anniversary. I was being mauled to death by a giant bear at the time. Inevitably, some joker 'cheered' my disembowelling.

Click 'Arena' on OnLive's intuitive interface to access a digital patchwork of games being played by other people.

In a move that can only be described as genius, OnLive's Microconsole is compatible with Microsoft's Xbox control pad. The OnLive controller, while perfectly serviceable, doesn't quite match the comfort and quality of Microsoft's tried and tested control pad.


What I Dislike About OnLive


The current catalogue of games is hardly mind-blowing. Dedicated gamers will have already played most of what's on offer. And console-exclusive titles will remain just that: exclusive to their specific platform. You'll never find Halo or Mario Galaxy on OnLive.

A small selection of OnLive's better titles. Hardly mindblowing, but give it time...

The micro console tends to get very hot.

I know it's early days and there's bound to be teething problems but there's been a few occasions when I've had trouble connecting to OnLive due to the 'high volume of players'. This is a major problem for a service that promises 'instant access to games at any time'.

The very nature of cloud gaming means that you’re denied a hard, boxed copy of the title you’ve just purchased. As any gamer will tell you, there's a deep satisfaction to be had when casting a loving eye over an alphabetically arranged shelf of video games. The tactile joy of opening a brand new box is hard to beat. OnLive may be practical but it fails miserably on this front.

OnLive has unlockable achievements for its games. For many this is a welcome addition. But for an anal achievement whore like me, it's a constant worry. I like to have all my achievements in one place. Spreading them out over Xbox, PS3 and now Onlive feels like I'm somehow diluting them. Silly I know, but I bet I'm not alone...

Yet more achievements to obsess over! A welcome blessing or a nagging curse?

 

Compromised picture quality. OnLive's visual and audio performance is good, but there's a drop in quality compared to the eye-searingly gorgeous Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. If you're the kind of person who needs to see a game looking as good as it possibly can, you'll be disappointed.

What does streaming games mean for those with bandwidth caps? As an example, at the 5 Mbps OnLive requires for HD gaming, a Comcast user capped at 250 GB monthly could expect to get around 3.8 hours per day of game time - assuming they used their connection for nothing else. Heavy internet users with bandwith caps are going to burn through their monthly allowance in no time at all. This is bound to be a huge turn off for potenetial adopters of OnLive.


Conclusion


Registering for the OnLive service is free. You can then either buy games individually or pay a £6.99 monthly subscription to access a defined library of over 100 titles. If you want to use OnLive on your TV, you'll need to buy the OnLive Microconsole package, which costs £69.99 and comes with a wireless controller.

OnLive's streaming game system is a great concept, and the ability to access a library of games with no downloads, discs or storage worries will tempt curious gadget heads to give it a try. Discerning gamers will be put off by the occasional lag, though, and the list of available titles is underwhelming.

Still, OnLive is an exciting proposition, and it costs nothing to try it out. It probably won't suit you if you're pernickety about lag and image quality, but I'd recommend checking it out nevertheless.