Hardware Review: OnLive (From Surrey Comet)

Hardware Review: OnLive

10:19am Thursday 27th October 2011 in Video games By Adam Pettifer

Could this be a cloudy new horizon? This is actually pretty revolutionary - for all the talk in recent months about cloud computing, with companies such as Apple rolling out massive cloud based services for its users – here is another real application for it – cloud gaming.

Think about it – we all know that PC based versions of popular games almost always look better on top end PCs. The specs of the Xbox 360 are now nearly 6 years old – understandably top-end PC gaming hardware has moved on. So how to get the same high quality graphics, frame rate and speed without spending thousands on a custom gaming PC?

Well – OnLive aims to answer that. OnLive believer all we really need is to see streaming video of the game in question and the ability to send controller inputs upstream to OnLive’s cloud PC farm. Minimal hardware costs for the user – it’s all taken care of by Onlive.

For £69.99 you can order the OnLive MicroConsole – a tiny console about the size of a Nintendo DS. This sleek looking little unit comes packaged in the highest quality console packaging I’ve ever seen. Included in the box is an HDMI lead (a good one too), a wireless joypad, a charging lead for said joypad’s rechargeable battery (but also a set of conventional batteries to use if you wish) and an ethernet cable. For the money – it’s a decent amount of kit.

The joypad looks very much like the Xbox 360 joypad with a few additions. Along the bottom of the unit are buttons to play, record, rewind etc. These are for recording “brag clips” – clips of your best gaming exploits to share with friends, straight to Facebook etc. Nice touch.

The only thing desirable and lacking is built-in wi-fi. This wasn’t an issue for me – our router lives under our TV – so it was easy to set the OnLive MicroConsole up there. But I could see how this would be an issue for some users. But – built in wi-fi would surely drive the unit cost up… it’s swings and roundabouts.

With everything plugged in, I turned the system on – a very slick start up menu appeared with several choices. All the usual Friends, Options, Profile choices were there. But a couple of interesting features also stand out.

Arena mode allows you to watch any game currently in progress. So if you were interested to see how the new Deus Ex DLC played, you could look for a user playing it and watch them play. It works both ways – by default, any player can view the game that you are playing, but this can be turned off if wished.

The Marketplace feature is central to the whole experience. All the games are listed here for activation (not download) and once you have saved a payment method in the console settings, it’s possible to purchase a game and be playing it within seconds. It’s a pretty impressive selection of games too – lots of triple-A titles such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution are available, with pre-ordering available for games such as Saints Row 3, Batman: Arkham Asylum (sadly running a couple of weeks later than the consoles) and L.A. Noire.

There is also a package deal available called PlayPack. For £6.99 a month, users can have unlimited access to over 100 of the titles available. This includes a lot of old favourites and underrated classics such as Borderlands, Metro 2033, Alien Vs Predator (new and old) and the original Deus Ex.

The Showcase feature is the final tab. Special offers and events are listed here, as well as significant launches. One of the first events was a group playthrough of Deus Ex: Human Revolution with the developers. Users were invited to spectate and chat with one programmer per group of viewers, watching as they explained how best to play the game, some of the design details etc. I took part in this and it was a fascinating commentary – it was a pretty unprecedented thing to offer and it bodes well for the direction the service could be taken in.

In terms of performance, again I deliberately played Deus Ex: Human Revolution as I have just completed this on the Xbox 360. I have to say the frame rate was smoother (higher) and the whole experience was akin to playing on a higher spec’d PC than the Xbox version. The joypad felt virtually the same to use as the Xbox joypad – very enjoyable.

However, at a few points the performance of our internet connection caused a few stutters and slight jerkiness. At one point, my wife loaded a web page with her MacBook and the frame rate slowed down and the game lagged slightly. But on the most part – it was very successful. As long as you have a decent broadband connection, you should be fine almost all of the time.

In addition, the OnLive application is available for download for PC and Mac – all of the streaming game services are available to play on these platforms too. From low-powered netbooks, to actually having a selection of good games to play on Mac – it is an innovative extra to provide. There is also an iPad app to use the Arena feature with too So, all in all, it’s a convincing and innovative debut for the OnLive system. For the first time a while we have a fourth format for home video gaming. I feel optimistic about the prospects for this little machine and I hope it catches on – as time goes by the service will surely be upgraded and performance improved. At the moment you have to order the MicroConsole from the Onlive website, but there is also talk of the OnLive system being offered in mainstream game stores soon – I hope it is a success.

The OnLive MicroConsole is available now from www.OnLive.co.uk