Hmm, Joystiq reviews the Onlive Microconsole (the little box that puts Onlive in your TV" and it seems kind of exciting! Dec 2 launch date, preorders now. You also get
a voucher redeemable for one free game from the service's library.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/onlive-microconsole-review/
Once in a game, I was wowed by the quality of the picture and the framerate. Assassin's Creed 2, Dirt 2 and many others looked noticeably better than their console counterparts, with higher framerates as well. My experience with the video looking compressed was mixed. Unreal Tournament 3 got downright muddy at times, while the aforementioned games and others such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, a very dark game, were razor sharp from my viewing distance, with compression artifacts only visible if I stood an abnormal distance from the screen (2-3 feet)
On the topic of control lag and latency issues in general: I didn't notice them. I'm sure there's lag, but in the (many) games I played it just didn't have any noticeable effect. Any dropped frames or stuttering -- which were infrequent -- were the result of the games themselves. The video streaming itself was entirely devoid of hitches or jumps in speed or quality.
My first impression of the MicroConsole: its packaging is really nice. The console, controller and necessary cables come neatly packaged in a hefty black matte slip-top box with varnished/raised accents -- not the sort of look you'd expect from a $99 product. Opening it up, the concept of a "micro" console is driven home immediately. All you'll see is the small, DSi-sized console and its controller. Underneath them lies a power supply -- the unit only requires a measly 6 watts -- an ethernet cable, a standard to micro USB cable for controller syncing/charging and something that more expensive, HD consoles leave out: a nice, long HDMI cable.
99 bucks? And apparently better looking games than console? I mean, with the right funding, couldn't this be some kind of console killer in time?
Isn't average joe going to find this very compelling? He walks into a store and sees this for 99, or Xbox or Playstation for 199 or 299. And knows the games are 10 cheaper also. I dont think average joe cares about the fact his game may live in the cloud, and he cant store his disc away.
And it's so tiny. They show a comparison pic to iPhone and it's barely bigger than an iPhone.
Man I am kind of excited about this. For 99 bucks I will get one just to play around with if nothing else. Shoot I spent 150 on Kinect for the same reason lol. They also mention the games top out at 50, 10 cheaper than console. Though of course, you dont get a disc, and the game is not as "permanent".
I mean on the surface, this really seems like it has the
potential to be groundbreaking. I bet they can get that box down to $49 easily too soon enough. And I wonder if casuals even care about lag.
This Onlive company really seems to be on the ball.
Activision too, could be all over this, or a similar concept. COD drives something like 80% of gametime on Live, but only MS sees the dollars. So I often think Acti should make a "COD box", with COD exclusive, but didn't know how they could do it under traditional console terms. Well, here's how...
One downside I noticed: The reviewer states he has 68 Mb/s internet. Would have liked to see testing with a reasonable 10 Mb connection.
