The Game Developer's Conference (GDC), also known as E3's little brother, is releasing some very interesting videogame news stories. Rearden Studios is planning on introducing a gaming service and "microconsole", called OnLive in the near future. It is a new way to play games online without having to buy titles. It may sound alot like the vaporware Phantom console or the new Zeebo (also making a debut at the GDC), but it is much different.
OnLive will use your internet connection to allow you to "view" the game on your computer or TV while it is playing on 1 of 5 servers located at various locations across the country. Lag is reported to not be an issue and the developer's claim you only need a 1.5 Mbps connection for Standard Definition play and 5Mbps for High Definition.
The system is designed to allow players to stream on-demand games at the highest quality onto any Intel-based Mac or PC running XP or Vista, regardless of how powerful the computer. The system will also stream games directly to a TV via a small plug-in device, and players can use a custom wireless controller as well as voice-over-IP (VoIP) headsets in conjunction with it.
Deals have been made with nine publishers: EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Eidos, Codemasters, Epic, Atari, WB and 2D Boy, and, according to Perlman, it only requires minor modifications on Rearden's end to get titles to run on the service.
We may be playing videogames in a completely different way in the future.
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