Do you remember the grand unveiling of streaming service OnLive last year? It promised people with low end rigs the ability to play titles like Crysis and Grand Theft Auto IV without having to upgrade their systems, all because of a little something known as cloud based streaming. And all of this would leave the plyer poorer by only a very negligible amount.
Well, OnLive had a subdued launch earlier this year, and unlike when the service was first demoed, there weren’t any games on offer that really could potentially tax your machine. This is because OnLive as a service isn’t meant for high end games like Crysis, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman says.
However, he goes on to add that the serivce, which launched in the US last month, has done very well, with the number of subscirptions far exceeding any initial projections they might have had.
As per him, OnLive is best used for the lower and middle rung games. As far as high end games are concerned, it’s best to use OnLive as a ‘demo service.’
“If you’re a hardcore gamer and you’ve got a big rig and you want the highest quality graphics then OnLive is not the place where you’re going to play your high-end game,” he admitted.
“Then again, to not have a huge download in order to trial something before you make the purchase decision, why not? Just click OnLive and give it a go. If you like it, terrific. Download the thing from Steam or order a copy on DVD.”
Well, this kind of defeats the purpose. I don’t own a super rig, wich means playing stuff like Metro 2033 is out of the question for me. If OnLive could have enabled me to have a proper experience of playing these games, I’d have been happy, and I would have gone for it without any hesitation. As it stands now, though, OnLive can only give me access to that which I already have.