http://www.onlive.com/game-system?utm_content=MCLaunch_Members&utm_campaign=OGS+Launch&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email\

Wasn't sure if anyone here uses it. I signed up for the free membership and still recieve emails and this popped up.

I saw the demonstration video on Gametrailers. The quickness of popping in and out of games was pretty cool. If they can truly deliver on this with max graphical settings, minimal lag, tons of games and being able to handle a large load of players then that's pretty cool. 

However, if you're even a little uneasy with something like Steam, then I'm sure having to buy games that are only available on Onlive's servers is more than a little concerning.

Haven't the monthly subscription fee's been removed? If it stays that way then that would be good.

I was like..."sweet cant wait to try this"...but then I realized that I can try it alredy with a PC without paying a cent.

And i did...here are my findigs so far.

1. Visual quality is on par with consoles if not slightly worse. Blurry sub 720p stuff...Some games look worse than others, depending how the engine hides compression and resolution drop

2. Frame rate and controller response is good. That isn't a problem for me at all

3. Only about 30-40 games are currently available

4. ~10 minute of playing = 400 megs of bandwith used. Lets say 1 hour per day of usage x 30 days in a month...~72 gigs of bandwith is needed per month for 1 hour of gaming per day

5. User interface can be controlled with keyboard and mouse, and a controller...360 pad in my case.

6. Not all games can be played with a controller. Each game has a listing of what input devices it supports. FEAR 2 for example is mouse and keyboard game only.

7. Lots of cool features, such as the ability to join and observe someone elses game and cheer when they make a nice kill, as well as take movie clips of your game and share with people.

From what I saw, I would say that the service works as advertised. But thats not good enought to steal PC users from Steam. Console owners may want to give this a go...but even that is a mutepoint considering that your freinds list will be empty and you are playing pretty much the same games as you do with consoles.

Only people for which this is a must buy are gamers with little to no money to spend (college students, highschool kids?) who have an older PC and access to a decent internet connection with no bandwith limits.

Onlive gets A for effort though...great idea, cool tech, but no real impact or relevence at the moment.

I didn't know they removed the monthly fee. I might check this out again. I agree that last time I used it it was no match for steam, but I could see steam using this tech to expand on what they offer, or in 2-5 years maybe onlive will have enough of a following to start competing with steam. We shall see. I'm suprised I never hear about it on gaming web pages though

The monthly fee removal is a pretty big deal. The most mind boggling thing about OnLive was that you had to pay a monthly fee (originally a substantial $15/month) to play the games you already bought.

Yes, you're using their servers and their bandwidth in addition to your own, but it's still pretty hard to shake the concept of only having access to something you "bought" if you maintain a montly fee.

While I do see this sort of thing being the way of the future for consoles if the mindset continues to shift from local hardware to online services, it still feels as though OnLive is trying to capitalize on the market a bit too early with a bit too little in terms of what they currently provide (game performance and selection).

I'll continue to stick with Steam, periodic hardware updates and the ability to play local content at optimal performance until this changes drastically.

http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/onlive-is-3d-and-motion-control-ready/

While it could be jsut clueless PR, it may be something worth looking at down the road. 3D on PC can be pricey and if they manage to imlement it on Onlive, it may be worth it.

So, is that right?  OnLive no longer is going to go with a monthly subscription model?  If so, this might be worth it more.  I do think they need to partner with Internet providers, like phone company and cable and have these companies provide OnLive as a premium service for their customers.  Work out this partnership with them, so you get into more homes.

For free, OnLive looks like a good place to demo some games before deciding to buy.

In theory yes...but with less than 40 games available though... I don't see these guys getting releases at same time as retail other than select few partnerships they make.

I do wish a bigger company like microsoft or Valve got behind a product like this and gave it proper support.

It's the publisher support/library that will ultimately make or break OnLive. And yes, for a service that has been up for about a year, 30 odd games is underwhelming to put it mildly.

If they aren't able to sell the service at a "premium" monthly fee like a successful MMORPG, then I'm not sure how a deal with a major ISP could be made to add the OnLive service as a premium feature customers would be willing to pay for.

What they need to be improving is their business relationships with major publishers to get more content available.

While it would be interesting to see Valve make an attempt at a cloud based platform service for Steam, given the investment for the infrastructure required to make it work, I would imagine Valve is perfectly content to stick with their current, highly successful "bring your own hardware" model.

The biggest thing going for OnLive's service portal hardware is that it is quite a bargain considering that $99 buys you a controller ($40-50), a full access pass (the equivalent of a license) and the hardware interface. Good deal, minimal investment for those simply curious about the service, but that library... far too limited currently.