Console Gamer meets Cloud Gaming

User blog

It's been claimed to be a revolution in the gaming industry so naturally I couldn't resist trying out Onlive to see if it really does live up these big claims.

Onlive just recently launched in the UK and are offering a nice introductory order of one game for £1. The process was surprisingly simple, I created an account, downloaded the app and then before I know it, I was drawn into the world of Onlive.

The user interface was nice and friendly and my first port of call was the arena to check out what everyone is up to. This is probably one of the best features and that's purely because I can sit there and watch whatever game I want and really get a feel of a game - unless they quit and then of course I'll have to find someone else to stalk.

I can see that it isn't much different from just watching a few clips on Youtube, but you're diving straight in. It's a great experience and you get a great sense of what the game is like.

So next on my list was the marketplace. There were some games that had free trials which was pleasant so I started off with Assassins Creed Brotherhood. A couple of seconds later, I was playing Assassins Creed and it was just a bit of a 'wow' moment. Wow in the sense that it only took a couple of seconds and I was straight in.

Now Onlive is really a mix bag for me because there were two main scenarios when I was playing; scenario one is noticeable blurriness and input lag and scenario two, nice crisp visuals and smooth gaming. It quite often switched between one or the other.

So that is only a small snippet of what I experienced with Onlive. Do I believe it is revolutionary? Not yet, but it has so much potential to be something so revolutionary. If they nail those visuals and improve latency, I can see it as being so fantastic.

Have you experienced Onlive? Maybe you have the microconsole? It'd be great to hear from others about their Onlive experience, especially those on the other side of the Atlantic who have had it longer than us Brits.