The creators of the Ouya Android OS home console, which was revealed as part of a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month, have today announced that OnLive will be available through the console from launch.
OnLive's cloud games service allows users to stream remotely-operated games onto a variety of connected devices. This technology has been a hot topic in the games industry in recent years, as it essentially eliminates the need for large client downloads and the requirement that users have the latest and most expensive CPUs and graphics cards.
Bruce Grove, general manager for OnLive, explained as part of a Kickstarter blog post that through the OnLive service, Ouya owners will be able to stream hundreds of console-quality titles, with instant game demos also offered.
The OnLive app for Ouya is due to be released alongside the console itself, at the start of 2013. It's notable that OnLive is already available as an app for the Android operating system via Google Play, hence this move makes a great deal of sense for both parties.
The move comes as a similar deal was struck up earlier this month -- Sony Computer Entertainment put a significant foot forward into the cloud gaming space, revealing an agreement to acquire game streaming service Gaikai.
I guess for people who like OnLive that's a positive development, but it seems to go heavily against their initially stated goals of an "open," "indie-focused" platform. OnLive's service is about as closed and locked down as you can get.
Not really. OnLive is just an added service. No different than if it added Netflix or Hulu Plus support.
It still has an open and indie focused store which will be the primary source of gaming, especially for those who do not meet the bandwidth or location requirements of OnLive.
Yeah, that is one of the biggest problems with OnLive as far as I am concerned. That and the high bandwidth requirements. I run a 1.5 Mbps DSL line at home. I can watch Netflix and Hulu with little issue, but trying to stream an HD game through that is impossible.
Have you tried their PC client Zach? You might be surprised. It's much more latency than throughput that's the problem. That's the reason I couldn't use OnLive, though the games looked great and ran at expected fps. Input lag was what killed it for me, but Nova Scotia has poopy internet.
edit: I ask about the PC client because it's free, not because it's better than their other clients :p
It still has an open and indie focused store which will be the primary source of gaming, especially for those who do not meet the bandwidth or location requirements of OnLive.
edit: I ask about the PC client because it's free, not because it's better than their other clients :p
The same day Google reveals their Ultrafast internet initiative.
ice/
https://fiber.google.com/about/