OnLive is an interesting idea for gaming - but from what I've heard on the video quality and lag, it's nowhere near as good as just installing the game directly on your system.
Truth be known - it takes a LOT more network bandwidth to stream video than it does to send game updates. It's just not a system that will ever be superior than having the game installed on the system. The problem isn't the power of the servers, or the bandwidth of the connection - it's the relative bandwidth between video and game updates.
As Netflix subscribers surge — in no small part thanks to its on-demand streaming-video service — competitors are lining up to get in on the action. One of them is OnLive, which recently launched a $9.99 monthly service for streaming PC games to play on nearly any computer or using just the $99 MicroConsole box attached to your HDTV.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company is planning to offer movies through its streaming service in 2011. OnLive apparently will make some titles available through the monthly subscription as well as “other pricing schemes” (which I assuming would be a la carte rentals).
OnLive might seem like it has its work cut out for it against a force like Netflix, except for one tiny detail: One of its investors is the Warner Bros. studio. That means Warner Bros. could provide OnLive a sweetheart deal on new movies that it won’t offer other streaming competitors.
And movie and TV networks and studios will be pursuing any angle to make sure that Netflix doesn’t become the 800-pound gorilla that brings down cable TV — and the lucrative programming fees that go with it. The Journal also reports that Vizio and Amazon are looking into new streaming subscription ventures, and content providers could play each of these services against the others to extract as much money as possible and provide them with exclusive content to stymie Netflix.
Netflix, however, has gobs of cash and is rumored to be offering up to $100,000 per episode for in-season TV shows to offer more up-to-date content to streaming subscribers. While the company adds new TV and film titles each day to its on-demand library, few are brand-new releases. The competition needs to do better than that in order to make a dent in Netflix’s momentum — it has over 50 percent more subscribers than it did just last year.
