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OnLive Inc is attempting to give angry gamers nationwide a cheaper alternative to traditional video game consoles by eliminating hardware and providing a fee-based, streaming HD video-game service. The OnLive MicroConsole™ is about the size of a small router and would allow you to play many games such as Mirror’s Edge, Bioshock, Grid, or Crysis Warhead on your television via a broadband connection. Playing on a PC would require a simple Firefox (or IE if you’re a PC illiterate) plug-in from OnLive’s website, no console required. Supporting 4 wireless controllers and 4 Bluetooth headsets, the sleek MicroConsole has HDMI and S/PDIF ports and USB input for easy keyboard hookup. After seven long years in development OnLive is gearing up to be the most formidable newcomer that Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo’s business structure have seen to date. The question remains… will this type of system appeal to the hardcore enthusiasts? That’s for all of you angry-gamers reading this at home to decide.

According to OnLive, their servers coupled with a proprietary video compression algorithm can produce 60 Frames Per Second in 720p HD utilizing a 5 MB per second connection (Cable)... lag free. To make things even more economical, standard 420p definition video games can be played via a 1.5 MB per second connection (DSL). Supposedly a packet can be transferred from the console to the server and back in less than a blazing 80 milliseconds. A very bold statement from this young upstart that might shake things up a bit for the Big Boys. There will be a built-in editing mode that allows you to rewind and record your favorite in-game pwnage and create “Brag Clips” much like Halo’s FileShare. 16 games were announced at the 2009 Game Developers Conference and the system is looking strong with chat capabilities and partnerships with companies like 2K Games, Ubisoft, Eidos, and EA.

Games would be available for demo, purchase, and play via OnLive’s five regional servers. Whether or not they can handle the lag is still keeping this editor skeptical, sight unseen that is. Beta-testing is currently underway but it has a relatively small number of users on a very large network. Will OnLive‘s servers be stable enough to support thousands of gamers downloading content simultaneously or will it crash and burn before it even takes off? The fact that their servers are regionally based means that gamers can only interact with others in their service area. To the casual gamer this may be no problem but to the hardcore crowd this alone could be a deal-breaker. Think about it, what the fuck makes you think I only want to play with people that live within a few hundred miles? Many of you reading this have online friends from half-way across the world that you game with on a regular basis. Will Major League Gamers and clan-players embrace or shun OnLive‘s system? Pricing details have yet to be announced and will be disclosed closer to launch, currently scheduled for Winter 2009.

OnLive claims video game prices will be significantly reduced compared to current hardware prices by reducing shipping, manufacturing, and distribution costs. There will be a monthly fee for the service and free playable demos will be available with the option to buy but NOT for download. Will the gaming community be forced to swallow the idea of purchasing a digital copy of a game without the ability to download or own it? Since the inception of digital content Americans have spent millions of dollars on downloads such as movies, tv shows, and video game expansions from Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. If your Xbox breaks you can still keep the hard-drive or transfer items via memory cards. If OnLive goes out of business or you lack an internet , it will be as if everything that you purchased ceased to exist. You would be buying the rights to play the game for as long as you continued to pay the monthly subscription fees. In comparison to a stack of games some people may like or dislike this type of arrangement.

The technology created by Founder and CEO Steve Perlman has the potential to revolutionize entertainment as we know it. The early stages may begin with gaming or renting a streaming movie but the possibilities are endless. That all depends on how well OnLive’s product and servers function. It should find a niche in the billion world-wide gaming community but how large a piece of the pie it grabs is still to be seen. Retailers such as Best Buy, Gamestop and Play-n-Trade may become bystanders... But let’s be honest… Who fuckin cares about retail stores? Let those corporate pricks worry at least a little bit. Chip manufacturers such as Intel and AMD may see a slight decline in sales but it appears OnLive is using Nvidia graphics cards to power their servers. Smart move Nvidia, a big Angry-Gamer thumbs up goes out to you. One thing should not be forgotten though; several companies such as Sony have tried to create similar products in the past… none have succeeded.

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