Okay so it was out in the US a while a go, and now it's available in the UK. Assuming you haven't been bombarded with the adverts on YouTube, you won't know what OnLive is. As little is said about the new service. So what is it? It's a gaming network like Xbox Live or Steam where there is access to a store and online gaming, as well as demos. What really sets the service apart is its host of streaming games from their servers, to your webbook. Meaning any game on their service is playable on any machine. a vary enticing offer! As well as it being a greedy publisher’s delight with a 0% chance of piracy, it should fly. Sadly it doesn't. I own a gaming pc and know what good games look like and unfortunately, the de-saturated and pixelated display takes all that excitement away.
After an easy registration and a good dose of cloud gaming hype I downloaded the OnLive app. After a quick, fuss-free install and a clean log in... all seemed well as I perused though the excellent selection of games in the library. I decided to give Space Marine a try, the demo loaded sharpish and I was directly in the main menu, but as I started playing I encountered some problems. The already sandy hue of the game was exacerbated by the streaming process, the resolution seemed quite low and left a blocky pixelated mess on my HD screen. I tried some other games such as Dirt 3 and Homefront but was left feeling underwhelmed by the display and felt two steps removed from the controls. At this moment in time I'd say Steam offers the better service. That is, until the technology is in place for better resolutions and better controls within OnLive.
Okay so it was out in the US a while a go, and now it's available in the UK. Assuming you haven't been bombarded with the adverts on YouTube, you won't know what OnLive is. As little is said about the new service. So what is it? It's a gaming network like Xbox Live or Steam where there is access to a store and online gaming, as well as demos. What really sets the service apart is its host of streaming games from their servers, to your webbook. Meaning any game on their service is playable on any machine. a vary enticing offer! As well as it being a greedy publisher’s delight with a 0% chance of piracy, it should fly. Sadly it doesn't. I own a gaming pc and know what good games look like and unfortunately, the de-saturated and pixelated display takes all that excitement away. 
After an easy registration and a good dose of cloud gaming hype I downloaded the OnLive app. After a quick, fuss-free install and a clean log in... all seemed well as I perused though the excellent selection of games in the library. I decided to give Space Marine a try, the demo loaded sharpish and I was directly in the main menu, but as I started playing I encountered some problems. The already sandy hue of the game was exacerbated by the streaming process, the resolution seemed quite low and left a blocky pixelated mess on my HD screen. I tried some other games such as Dirt 3 and Homefront but was left feeling underwhelmed by the display and felt two steps removed from the controls. At this moment in time I'd say Steam offers the better service. That is, until the technology is in place for better resolutions and better controls within OnLive.
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