After eight years of development, remote gaming service OnLive is scheduled to roll out on June 17.
The company also announced its service pricing: users will need to pay $14.95 per month, which will allow them access to the service. However, the company did not disclose the price to rent or purchase games.
The first 25,000 users who preorder via the OnLive preorder site will receive their first three months of service free, the company said in a blog post. (Preregistration does not require a credit card, at least initially.) In addition, loyalty programs and special deals at the June E3 show (when OnLive launches) will also add other discounts, the company said.
"Everyone here at OnLive is just incredibly excited about this milestone," Steve Perlman, the company's chief executive and founder, said in a blog post. "It's the realization of a dream that we knew would be a huge undertaking, but also one that would change everything."
OnLive's claim to fame is that it puts PC users closer to console gamers in terms of hardware investment. Instead of being forced to constant shell out hundreds of dollars in CPU, graphics, and memory upgrades, OnLive completely abstracts both the game as well as the processing power required to run it, placing both inside a remote server. The service turns the user's PC into something like a dumb terminal, meaning that, at least theoretically, even an older laptop with a high-speed broadband connection should be able to run the latest games.
The service will be enabled via a PC browser plugin; later, a "MicroConsole" TV adapter will allow users to play them on their HDTVs.
Because the service is video-based to begin with, normal features -- gamertags, friends, and chat -- are supplemented with live spectating, so-called "Brag Clips" video recordings, and instant game demos, which can be instantly accessed and shared, Perlman said. Users will also be able to pause and resume, even on a different platform.
Users will be able to buy and rent "instant-play, top-tier, newly-released games," but OnLive will announce the actual prices closer to E3, Perlman wrote, adding that he expected prices to be "competitive" with retail offerings. OnLive has put up a page with games it expects to support (including "Borderlands," "Crysis Wars," "Mass Effect 2," and "Dragon Age: Origins") although whether or not all of them will be available at launch is unknown.
Previous demonstrations of the technology have worked well, although it's unclear how the network will hold up under strain. Perlman has said previously that the OnLive service will render games at about the equivalent of 720p, so games on high-resolution PC screens may look a little fuzzy.
The OnLive technology could seemingly pose a threat to companies like AMD, which manufactures both CPUs and graphics chips. But AMD invited an OnLive competitor, OTOY, to a Sept. 2009 launch event where it announced its Eyefinity technology.
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