So recently I just beat Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It's a scary game with good atmosphere, with a mediocre story (with gigantic plot holes) and questionable gameplay. However, I played it on OnLive, a new game streaming service. Like Netflix, but for games. You buy games (or rent them) and play them through their client, on their server. This basically means that anything that can watch youtube in 720p can play these games. At first, I was skeptical of the service, and wouldn't have paid much attention, but when they offered Amnesia for free, I signed up. After my playthrough with it, I'd say I'm optimistic, but it's still bad.
My first impression was that it LAGS. When I have a pointer, the mouse feels significantly unresponsive, giving a slight delay before it moves. There seems to be some kind of prediction for your mouse, the longer you push in a direction, the faster it moves, which only adds to the laggy response. If this had been on a console, I don't think I would've noticed as much, (Then again, HDTVs lag more compared to my LCD screen) but it was a bad start.
The next thing I noticed was the stream quality. The stream is definitely a HD stream, but at the end of the day, its a stream. Every once in awhile the stream will break up, and leave the player sitting there waiting for the lag to settle down. And then there were the disconnects during prime time. Expect to get disconnected during prime time once. Good thing though, is that OnLive will recognize the disconnect and pause your game. OnLive can even lag when browsing through the menu, which is understandable given the architecture, but still somewhat disconcerting. However, at the end of the day it did not heavily affect my gameplay in Amnesia, as most of the game is spent exploring. Had it been any type of FPS or action oriented game, this could have been rage-inducing. And its hard to say whether it would have been unplayable or not.
I did however go and try the Dirt 2 demo. I could not turn accurately, so the game handled like driving on ice. with a grease spill. The game is basically unplayable in my opinion. Now maybe this was due to my incompetence, or maybe the game's unforgiving mechanics, so I tried to watch some other people play on OnLive through their spectator system but no one seemed to have a good grasp on the system and the lag.
Speaking of which, the one aspect of OnLive that really stands out is the spectator system. At any time, you can watch someone else playing the game, and cheer/jeer them. You can also friend them if you like their game play. You can speak to the player, through their beta voicechat system, but in noisier parts of the game, it was hard to hear the spectators. This creates an experience similar to an arcade (Or more closely to Tech Rec) where people can help you through the game. Or in the case of Amnesia, try to troll the hell out of you. (Although the cheers really helped me continue through the game) This is the best part of OnLive, and I really wish they would fix their technical issues (or rather, business/server speed issues), because it really is a fun way to play. Of course if you can handle the lag that is...
So at the end of the day, the question is whether OnLive is worth it or not. Is it worth it to be able to play triple A games from your netbook? Is it worth it to be able to watch/and be viewed by random strangers? The experience is undeniably a few steps below a true console or gaming rig, but what of the budget gamer? Is it better to pay for OnLive games or build your own PC? If OnLive games are as cheap as steam sales, then I would say sure, go for it. It is quite an impressive technical feat, but its still somewhat lacking. However, if this service were to become popular, maybe ISPs will work towards improving their services, with the rise of Netflix, and the move towards internet-based services, which would be a great thing for everyone.
At this point though, I'd say there are 2 factors to determine whether to purchase an OnLive game. A) Is the game suitable for OnLive with its lag, but "Let's Play" features? and B) Do you have a good gaming rig? If the answer to those is maybe, go ahead, make an account on OnLive. The client is small (Like 2 megs), the account is free, then play the demos, and spectate. If you find it to your liking, go for it. (And add me!)
PS - Also, OnLive requires a >3 Mbps connection, with recommended 5Mbps. Get good internet.
Edit: Memorial Day sale at the moment, with games being slightly cheaper.
