Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Putting together a review of the OnLive service was a rather difficult task, as the service has only recently launched, and as a software delivery service, it will be tinkering with its formula for several months.  I went through some of the demos that are available, as well as going through the total interface, and I came away surprised by what the service has to offer, but its subscription model leaves a lot on the table.  For those that may want to play some great, new titles, without the fear of knowing if their computer can handle the game, OnLive might be your ticket to gaming bliss.

First and foremost, I have to admit that the only reason I even gave OnLive a shot was because of a free one year membership that I was offered from AT&T.  Apparently, AT&T has a partnership with OnLive to help with pushing their packets, and being an AT&T fiber customer got me a free membership.  It seems that other broadband companies are also offering this free deal, so you may want to try getting that if it is available to you.  If you do not have access to that, you will have to pay a $15 a month fee, just to access the service, and that price includes zero games for the end user.  You get access to the service and all of its community features for that price.  This might be the biggest sticking point for consumers, as people assume they are getting something of value for their subscription fees, and for some those community features might be worth it.  Personally, I expect some games for my subscription fee, and that is a barrier of entry for me.

The software itself is a small download, and I believe is only available for PC users at the moment.  A Mac client is supposed to be coming in the near future, as well as clients for iPhones, iPads and more.  No date however has been set for those devices, and that is a bit sad, as we all remember the demos of Burnout Paradise running on an iPhone that made everyone drool with the possibilities of mobile gaming.  When you start up the client after setting up your account, your connection is then scanned for bandwidth, and whether you are using a wired or wireless connection.  If you only have wireless available to you, I would not even bother with the service at this time, as it will not let you sign in unless it detects a hardwire Ethernet connection to your computer.  I had to drape a line to my computer to test the service, which was a bit annoying.  I assume that OnLive is looking to alleviate any kind of lag that might occur, which can happen with wireless technology.  However, for travellers that might use the service on a hotel wireless, they might be bummed out to see that the tech will not work for them.

Once you enter the OnLive service, things will start to pick up for you.  The big thing that I wanted to check out was the Arena.  When you enter the Arena, you are presented with a bunch of video screens, with game feeds on each screen.  However, these are not canned video segments, these are actual game sessions in play, and you can jump into any of these video screens and spectate in the game that is being played.  Jumping into a screen and watching a game took mere seconds, and it was as fluid as advertised.  I jumped through several of these sessions, and was impressed with the response time of the video.  It is also a great way to find people that have the same gaming interests as you to make friends.

Moving forward, I went into the game section, and was a bit underwhelmed with the overall selection of games.  Right now, there are about 18-20 games available for people to rent, purchase or demo.  Yes, you read that right; you have to purchase or rent each game that you want to play on OnLive.  I was hoping that there would be an “all you can eat” plan available, but it seems that is not in the works right now.  I did wonder if OnLive is trying to test the waters to see what will be accepted by gamers, and I would not rule out an “all you can eat” plan in the future if game developers feel that the service could catch on.  While there were not a lot of games available on the service, there were several top notch titles to choose from at this time, including Assassins Creed II, Borderlands, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and several others.  There is even a DiRT 2 demo, which so far, seems to eliminate the Games for Windows LIVE client (a disappointment for me) , which might be good for those that hate the service.

I started with a demo session of Splinter Cell: Conviction, and while the game is loading, you get to watch random players video feed from the game for a quick second before you are playing.  Yeah, OnLive is as fast as promised, with my menu screen coming up within 20 seconds of selecting the game from the menu.  I picked a shooter to start with, because I wanted to see if lag would be an issue, and to be honest, it was never a problem with Splinter Cell: Conviction.  I felt the controls were very responsive, and the game, while not the quality of graphics I am used to on the PC, was running at 1280×720 in a window and was smooth as silk in the performance area.  I tried to do several quick movements, but the service never blinked, and kept up with all of my movements.

I then moved forward to another title that is near and dear to my heart, and that was the DiRT 2 demo.  I loved DiRT 2 on the PC, and felt that it was the best looking PC title released in 2009.  Also, I consider myself a solid racer in that title, earning several good comments on my driving in online matches.  So I was a bit disappointed when I experienced a choppy racing experience, ending with at least three spinouts on the first lap.  The response time for this fast arcade racing title was not matching what was on screen, and my videos seem to show the results of controller based gaming with OnLive.  I tried several times to get a race done in DiRT 2, but the controls always felt a little behind what I was experiencing, and left me overcompensating my turns and braking.  I am not sure if there is an issue with controller delay, or lag in my connection, but I tested my connection before and after each game test and always had my full 12MB connection available for use.

Moving forward, I tried out Assassins Creed II, and felt the same smooth loading and transitions that were in play with Splinter Cell: Conviction.  Granted, I did not have enough time in the demo to get into the meat of the game (OnLive allows 30 minute demo plays of a game), but from the beginning sequences, I never felt any jittering in my frames, and overall, the framerate was nice and smooth.  Visually, it was not as striking as Assassins Creed II in 1920×1200, but again, the service currently tops out at 1280×720, most likely to suit bandwidth needs and average computer specs.

The last game I hit up for my review was Borderlands.  I went with Borderlands, because it is a game that ran exceptionally well on PC’s, and was specifically enhanced for PC machines.  Again, it was less than 20 seconds to get into the game, and the action from Borderlands was almost perfect.  Occasionally, I did hit some jumpy spots and some targeting lag, but it was minimal, and never killed my gaming experience.  I do have to wonder if some of the higher paced shooters like Borderlands are affected by every so slight change in bandwidth, but overall, I was pretty impressed with the response in this high paced shooter.

OnLive also offers up replay recording of Brag Clips, where you can take a 20 second clip from a game and add it to the Brag Clip reel in your profile, and on the game page.  Also, you can go to a game page to see all the sessions running for a specific title.  Right now, you can see that the shooters are the big draw to the service, while DiRT 2 only had two players on when I was checking out the service over several days.  This might speak to the performance issues I was having, but maybe I am the only person that loved DiRT 2 on the PC.

So, with all the picking that I had in this review, you probably think that I hated my time in OnLive.  I would say that this is not the case.  I look at OnLive with a curious eye.  I love its social features, and the idea of being able to spectate in any game, at a moment’s notice is rather slick.  Also, the speed at which you can jump into a game is really nice, with a game starting in mere seconds after clicking the play button.  I should point out that if you buy a game and then quit the service, you may lose access to the title if you decide to come back to the service at a later date, which is a huge sticking point for me.   I also see this as a great service to revitalize PC gaming in a way that has not been done before.  While hardcore gamers like me will probably never find a reason to join in on the action, many casual gamers that buy baseline PC rigs, will find a lot of value with the service, as they will not need a $300 video card, or a $200 motherboard, or even the need for water cooling.  They can just click and play and be in a game, no mess, no fuss.

OnLive knows who their audience is, and I think that audience will be very receptive to the service, but a better pricing scheme will need to be worked out in order to make the service appealing to average gamers.  It is hard enough to convince casual gamers to buy a game on Steam, where they get no physical disc.  Now you are taking away the concept of even installing a game locally on your hard drive.  Also, there is no pricing discount to speak of with the games, which is a poor design decision.  But if you own a PC and would like to dabble into the world of PC gaming, I see no better way than hitting up OnLive.  You can get a taste for what is out there, with little to no upfront investment.  It takes the platform out of the equation, allowing Mac users, PC users, iPad owners and more the ability to play great games, without the need of tweaking drivers, or buying new equipment.  I would say kick the tires and try it out.  OnLive gets a 3.5 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.