Throw out your consoles, the future has arrived

on April 17, 2009 by Administrator

The Games Developer Conference took place recently and out of it came an idea that has the potential to dramatically change the current games industry model - its name, OnLive. What OnLive is designed to do is eradicate the need for expensive and high-end technology in the home, allowing its users to play their favourite games on entry-level hardware.

The concept is made possible because all of the processing and graphical work is not done by the machine that sits in front of you, but instead by a much faster piece of equipment in a server house. The console in this future is nothing more than a hub, transmitting your controller inputs across the internet and receiving in return the game's image to display. For many gamers this may seem like one giant and complex waste of time. It's hard to see why changes need to be made to the 5 year life cycle most have become accustomed to with today's consoles. So why is it then that although many analysts have questioned whether OnLive itself will succeed, everyone seems to agree that the model at least will inevitably triumph over the current one?

The answers lie less in the benefits it will provide the gamer and depend more on what it will provide to the developers and publishers. For example, as the game is digitally stored at the server end of the connection and not within your home, the system will theoretically remove the possibility of software being pirated, sold second-hand or tampered with. This will allow much more money generated by game sales to go directly to the creators. There are some who belief though that not every pirated game is a lost sale, and that the second hand market brings in new gamers, whilst encouraging present ones try out the untested waters. Tampering with games is not always a bad thing too; many PC games in fact thrive on their unofficial modding communities, but with no files to edit it is unclear as to how this could continue with a game streaming service.

The question of ownership also comes into play with a service like OnLive. Although digital markets are becoming more commonplace they are still very much in their infancy. Many websites selling MP3s, for example, first began selling DRM coded files but quickly moved towards simple, access anytime music to match consumer demands. With OnLive however this would not be possible; when you purchase a game through the system you are technically buying access to it rather than anything physical, and if the creators of OnLive were to ever close down your game collection may just disappear overnight.

For the majority of us though, who still struggle to stream low quality videos from the internet without them stopping to buffer every 30 seconds, these concerns are perhaps a little premature. Although OnLive intends to begin its service this year it is likely to be at least another generation before this writer can realistically begin considering whether or not to join in. Perhaps by then some of the fears of a streaming, digital future will have been alleviated but until that happens then I for one will be taking a long hard look at my old game discs, files, cases and manuals with a new-found appreciation.