OnLive, the streaming gaming service, is
coming to the UK on 22 September, bringing cloud-based game goodness to a range of platforms, including
PC,
Mac, iPad,
HD tellies and
Android devices.
We'd forgive you for never having heard of OnLive, so here's the idea behind it. Cutting-edge gaming requires hefty hardware, which can be expensive and bulky. But OnLive is an online service that takes care of the computational grunt for you, streaming the whole game to you over an Internet connection. You're playing the game on your screen, but what you're actually seeing are images streamed from OnLive.
The benefit is you can play graphically demanding games on anything with a screen and a Web connection, without the need for discs or downloads. The snag? Your gaming experience will depend on the speed and latency of your broadband.
When it launches, you'll be able to rent, demo or buy an impressive selection of titles, including
Red Faction: Armageddon,
Split/Second and
Homefront.
There are no pricing details yet, but we'll let you know when they're announced.
We'll be keen to try the service when it launches, and see if it's any cop. We love the idea of
playing massively demanding games on Android tablets, but we don't know if this will please hardcore PC gamers, who demand millisecond response times, and will be upset if the online component introduces even the tiniest bit of lag.
OnLive's success will also depend on whether publishers decide to make their games available on the platform. Whatever happens, we like the sound of a gaming shake-up, so we'll be keeping a close eye.
If you're fidgety and can't wait, you can
head over to the OnLive site and sign up ahead of time. Or tell us what you think about streaming gaming in the comments below, or on our
Facebook page.
