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Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

Ars reviews the OnLive microconsole, service

The OnLive service works much better than we expected, and the things you can …

Oh, and gameplay

So how do games run? Very playable, very playable indeed. Then again, I am running on FiOS.

FiOS is great with OnLive, but I did have the chance to test it on other, slower connections as well. Even then, I can still say that OnLive is entirely playable, but there are some issues. Latency, bandwidth and caps, distance from the nearest server, and even whether you use a gamepad versus a keyboard and mouse makes an impact. Latency is by far the most prevalent factor, and unless you're playing next door to one of OnLive's servers, you'll feel it. Even with my 20Mbps down and 4Mbps up, I could tell that the game was not running natively.

Three main indicators give away the fact that this isn't a native game: framerate bumps, sudden resolution drops and gameplay blips. The framerate is supposed to be 60fps, and it often is, but there are hiccups, most likely due to packet loss or someone else in the house using the Internet. The 60fps doesn't look or feel steady; it acts more like a spiky 45fps, with sudden drops that occur randomly, but not when the action gets hot or the graphics explode onscreen. The resolution is also variable, and the image is compressed to help with latency. One second you might see the pores in someone's face, and the next their head will look like an angular peach. It doesn't happen often, and this problem is much worse when on Wi-Fi.

The hardware that's running the games seems to handle everything very easily. The only actual slowdown has come from connection issues.

What is clear is that certain games run better through OnLive than others, namely slow-paced titles. Games like The Maw and Darksiders don't require quick action, and are completely playable. Not only that, but they easily rival console games, though right now they still look graphically worse due to the compression and variable resolution.

Very fast-paced games, like Unreal Tournament 3 or FEAR 2, have more issues because of the constant movement, but you can get used to it. It's not that it feels terrible, just different, and not quite as precise as the game running on your own hardware.

Playing a game like UT3 is possible, just not optimal. I managed to win two competitions hosted by OnLive, and that earned me $125 total. I played both competitions on my netbook, which has trouble playing some flash games. I played not on FiOS, but at a local college library sharing the Internet with thousands of other students, and over a hundred in the same room. No other service would allow for something like this to happen.

Yes, one could argue that I could buy some laptop that's small and thin that can play games. But I was playing UT3 at 720p on a computer I already owned, and using minimal power. I didn't need to buy any new equipment. I didn't need to use a power cable, nor did I need a recharge immediately after the hour long tournaments. All I needed was my existing hardware and an Internet connection. Oh, and a gaming mouse.

Then, just yesterday, I wanted to show a game to someone visiting my house, so I pulled out the same laptop and booted OnLive. After a minute (the Wi-Fi service is still in beta, and is thus slow to boot), I was in Borderlands showing off a gun that I had found the night before. There's no other way to do something like this. I couldn't actually play Borderlands well, because it's an action-intensive title and I was too far away from my wireless router to maintain a steady connection, but the technology is solid.

Bottom line: the game does matter. For any game where a millisecond matters, you'll want to stick to a native PC or console.

Ben's thoughts: a second opinion on the service

Our gaming editor Ben Kuchera also played games using the OnLive service for a number of hours. Here are his thoughts.

What struck me most about the service is how fast it is. I clicked on Unreal Tournament 3 to use my 30 free minutes and I was playing a game in under a minute. That's pretty amazing. Even better was how well the game played on my 13" Macbook Air, a system that wasn't exactly built for first-person shooters.

The game played very well, and was much more responsive than I was expecting. My timing felt a little off, but nothing I couldn't take into account after a few minutes. My main problem was the muddiness of the image; the compression really takes a toll on fine detail. That being said, this is much more than I could expect from this system were I playing a game installed onto the SSD.

The thing I'm most looking forward to is the addition of a subscription-based service. While I doubt I would be willing to buy a game through OnLive, I could definitely see picking up a month or two so I could game on my various laptops and netbooks while I traveled. I was playing on my home Internet connection, which is good and speedy, but be aware you may get less optimal performance if you're trying to game on a coffee shop Internet connection. As WiFi becomes faster, cheaper, and more available, OnLive will only get better.

My main beef is that the game selection is sad. Everything else worked great—above and beyond what I expected. Go ahead, give it a shot for yourself.

To Stream Or Not To Stream

As a technology, OnLive is exciting. It's Netflix for games, but not limited to games. In the future, it could do TV, movies, music—theoretically, it can do everything, on a little box, with minimal lag. As time progresses and the code is cleaned up, and as more users get better Internet with lower latency, it will improve. And, as some European users have noted, it's actually playable across the ocean too, though lag times are in the seconds, not milliseconds.

You don't need to take it from us, though; install the client and try the service out for yourself, because connection speed is the only thing that really matters for the service. Also, all the games have free trials. Trying games this way is easier than even downloading a demo.

There are some downsides here. You're limited by your Internet connection, the selection of games is slim, and if you buy a game you're still tied to the service. The upside is the ability to play the games on nearly any system. All told, OnLive may not be a slam dunk, but it's a great first step into a brave new world.

The Good

  • It works! Games are faster than on consoles or PCs
  • Free service, games are all PC-priced ($50 or less) with free trials
  • Works with gamepads and keyboard + mouse
  • "Owl" gamepad excels over Dualshock 3 and 360 controller
  • Simple and slow-paced games feel native
  • Works on any Windows and Mac computer, regardless of power
  • Works over Wi-Fi (not the microconsole)
  • Has amazing potential for future use

The Bad

  • Overall video quality suffers greatly based on connection errors, spurts
  • Microconsole bundle is expensive for an unproven service
  • Ridiculously stressful on your Internet, low latency requirement can be a killer
  • Only 35 games, and new releases are few and far between
  • Social aspect still very weak

The Ugly

  • If you're on a metered connection, you're going to be owing some money

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