Looks like the OnLive Open Beta is upon us. Now, we’ll see how well this service will hold up over a more unpredictable and widespread Internet.
I still think this is a shaky idea at best, at least here in the US. Sure, people will love not having to upgrade a PC or deal with shelling out $60 for a game they’ll play for a month or two but I think people still like to hold on to certain games (so maybe this becomes a great way to demo games). In other words, you won’t eliminate the need for consoles in homes but you might create a sort of “pre-market” for games.
The tricky part might be the competition…they’re competing against the console makers themselves (game devs will make more money selling to individual gamers than to a single company that buys a bulk batch of licenses) as well as anyone else in the living room that wants to own the game market in some way (cable operators, InstantAction and other online services, and Microsoft and Apple with their home TV systems).
And, of course, there’s the whole issue with lag. Broadband is fast but for many it’s not consistent which will suck for FPS and racing games which already cause a lot of frustration when lag strikes.
kn
