OnLive Micro-Console Goes On Sale In US For $99, The Cloud-Based Streaming Future Of Gaming Hardware?

Written by Rob Nichols on November 18, 2010 · Filed under Games 

We have covered the development of the OnLive gaming service since we first heard about the OnLive streaming gaming concept to it actually being a reality earlier this year with the OnLive release.

It’s been a long and arduous journey and even now, with the online service having been functional for a couple of months, divides opinion among gamers. The guys at OnLive claim that there have already been over 2 million sessions played on PC or Mac and the number of games has been steadily increasing having started at just 23 and boasting 40 at this point in time. Of course, that means a lot of work to be done, but now the console is shipping in the US, it may be about time more games came to the platform.

We have covered the OnLive Micro-Console hardware before, but just to reiterate, it is a stylish black box about the size of your hand with the company’s traditional orange text and logo. Connectivity is primarily in the form of HDMI output and either a 3.5mm audio jack or optical audio for the fully immersive experience. It has Wi-Fi and Ethernet to get you set up streaming those games from the web.

If you are reading in the US, it may be interesting to note that Joe Bentley, VP of Engineering at OnLive claims every intention of adding NetFlix streaming to the device after users reported ambiguous media buttons on the remote. So, not only could this become a great game streaming device, maybe it could mature into an all round media device rivalling and indeeed exceeding in gaming respects the new Apple TV and the Boxee Box.

So, what’s in the box? Well, along with the main console you get a controller which in terms of design is a sort of fusion between a PS3 and wireless Xbox 360 controller, but shares the company’s colour schemes. There are the customary A, B, X and Y buttons on the right side with a D-Pad on the left and a pair of analog sticks below.

The layout isn’t out of the ordinary so it won’t take time to get used to, however to make it that little bit more exciting, you can in fact attach USB peripherals such as gaming keyboards and mice so you can keep up with the ardent PC gamers. Overall the control options look good, certainly much better than those shown in use on the OnLive iPad tech demo, but how many people will want to play a FPS-style game on a touchscreen?

So, for just $99 you can pre-order it ahead of the 2nd December 2010 release date. Apparently it uses less than six watts under full load, so the microconsole won’t dent your wallet or your carbon footprint!

I for one am quite excited about this form of gaming and believe it has a lot of potential, but I know for a fact that many completely disagree and to be honest I’m not the most vehement gamer.

What do you think to the potential future of gaming being streamed games from the cloud? Would you play over a regular console or do you think that the required super-fast internet connections are not good enough yet to deliver lag-less gameplay?

Via – Geeky Gadgets