OnLive Streams Video Games to Your Desktop Starting June 17

By Nick Mokey March 10, 2010

A year after OnLive first debuted its radical cloud-based gaming service to a crowd of skeptical developers, its back to prove it’s not vaporware. On Wednesday, OnLive announced at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco that it would launch the service June 17.

Although the tiny “microconsole” OnLive discussed last year is still in the works, Windows and Mac users will be able to play games on their home computers over OnLive starting June 17, for $15 a month. That only represents a “service fee” to play game demos and access community features – access to full titles will require an additional per-title fee that OnLive hasn’t yet announced. Launch titles will include Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age Origins, Assassin’s Creed II, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Borderlands and Metro 2033.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

OnLive claims its unique cloud-based gaming technology will allow even inexpensive PCs, like netbooks, to run the latest gaming titles. Rather than forcing a desktop computer to crunch the hard numbers for these processor-intensive titles, OnLive uses a high-speed Internet connection to let servers afar do the heavy lifting before zipping the frames back to the PC.

“The OnLive Game Service creates a new opportunity for consumers to play the latest games without spending hundreds of dollars on a hardware system to make it happen,” said Mike McGarvey, COO of OnLive, in a statement. “As a Mac user myself, I’m excited about the opportunity to help bring high-end gaming to this new and significant market.”

Although promising in theory, initial beta testers reported a noticeable lag between input –like wiggling a mouse – and on-screen response, a problem inherent with OnLive’s heavy reliance on networks.

To get the ball rolling, OnLive has baited early adopters with the promise of three months free for the first 25,000 people to preregister. At the moment, only gamers within the 48 contiguous United States are eligible to register, reflecting the service’s need for a fast – and geographically close – connection to its servers.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Streaming Services

Managing Editor

As Digital Trends’ Managing Editor, Nick Mokey oversees an editorial team delivering definitive reviews, enlightening…

Gaming

The best video game consoles for 2024

A PS5 sits on a table.

It's a fantastic time to be a gamer — when it comes to platform choice, there have never been more options available.

You could grab a PlayStation 5 and enjoy its killer lineup of exclusives or dive into the Xbox Series X's deep game library (not to mention the fantastic deal that is Game Pass). Fandoms aside, the race between the two major consoles is closer than you'd think.

Gaming

Video game adaptations are about to change the game in 2024

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal as Ellie and Joel looking at the camera in HBO's "The Last of Us."

I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me 10 years ago that the best TV and movies I would see in 2023 would be adaptations of video games. And yet, here we are. It's been a slow, grueling road filled with more downs than ups, and yet the code seems to have been cracked. Video game adaptations aren't just good now; they're often spectacular.

While we got a few hits here and there in years prior, such as the animated Castlevania series and Witcher show, it was in 2023 that shows like The Last of Us on HBO really made a statement to the world that, when understood and handled correctly, these adaptations could stand alongside any other prestige production. While it is satisfying in its own right for fans to get more quality content from our favorite franchises, the success of these shows and films will only be leveraged more by the industry in 2024 and beyond.
Adapt and survive
Repackaging games for film and TV is the equivalent of 1980s and '90s cartoons made exclusively to sell toys. Not to sound too cynical, but from a corporate perspective, they are funded with the intention of converting a new audience into gamers. And we have seen compelling proof that, when it works, it is very effective. Even a game that was dragged through the mud as much as Cyberpunk 2077 saw a huge surge in sales following the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime, even before the full 2.0 version and Phantom Liberty DLC launched. The same applies to older titles like The Last of Us, Mario, and The Witcher.

Gaming

The best video game villains of all time

Young Sephiroth standing in fire.

A hero is only as great as the villain they are up against, and you can't find stronger antagonists than in video games. Only through games can you feel a true, personal rivalry and a drive to overcome a villain, as you become far more attached to the world and characters. The best villains aren't just an ambiguous force or cartoonish monster doing evil for evil's sake -- they're just as deep and complex as the hero. They have personality, goals, and agency within the narrative that inspires you to overcome all the challenges ahead to take them down. Some have been around for decades, while others made a single, powerful impression, but all the best villains stood out for one reason or another. It was a tough challenge to narrow it down, but here are the best video game villains of all time.
Sephiroth

It could easily be argued that we wouldn't have gotten all the expanded Final Fantasy 7 content and games if it weren't for Sephiroth. Yes, Cloud and his buster sword are iconic, but when people think of FF7, they think of the man with long, silver hair and an absurdly long katana standing in the flames of a burning village. Being visually striking and intimidating is one thing, but this was many players' first time experiencing a villain who actually impacted their game. We won't spoil it directly since the trilogy of remake titles is ongoing, but Sephiroth cemented his place among the most love-to-hate villains partway through the adventure with a single thrust of his sword.
Vaas