GDC 2009: OnLive Unveils “Cloud Gaming” Service
Imagine a world in which you can stream games directly onto your television or computer at 60 frames per second, with graphical settings at maximum. Well, OnLive is setting out to create that world, introducing a new service that could theoretically eliminate the need for high-end PCs and consoles altogether.
IGN has the details on OnLive's on-demand gaming service, which utilizes cloud computing to stream games directly into virtually any PC or Mac. Users will also be able to play games on their televisions with the use of the OnLive MicroConsole, which supports HDMI and other goodies.
Gameplay is reported to be extremely smooth, with a 1.5 megabytes-per-second connection required for standard-definition video (480p), and a 5.0 mbps connection needed for HD (720p). As IGN points out, the service will theoretically let you play Crysis on a netbook. And provided that you had the right connection, it would run almost as smoothly as it would on a high-end PC.
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