This is MASSIVE, game-changing news. OnLive have announced that their amazing on-demand cloud based gaming service will be available very very soon for you to play on your iOS or Android device (in fact NOW if you’re of the Android persuasion). What does this mean? Well imagine being able to play games like LA Noire, Arkham City and Saints Row the Third on your mobile or tablet, without the usual cut-down graphics, running and looking just like their console counterparts. Now imagine being able to connect the OnLive controller to your phone via Bluetooth and play these games with a real controller, not just with on-screen soft controls.
That’s what OnLive have done. We’ve had a play around with the Android app over 3G (yep, you don’t need WiFi) and a few laps of Split/Second was more than enough to see just how fantastically this works already. Playing LA Noire on the bus, or putting in a few laps of DiRT3 on the train sounds just perfect to me. And of course, you can access your saved games across all devices, so you can start on your desktop PC, play for a while on the way to and from work, then sit down with the MicroConsole in the evening and carry on where you left off.
Unbelievable. Here’s some pictures so show you how great it is.
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As for OnLive themselves, this is what they’ve said about it…
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OnLive, Ltd., the pioneer of cloud gaming, announced that it is bringing console-class gaming to mobile tablets and phones with the revolutionary OnLive app for mobile platforms. The latest, top-tier, high-performance games—previously limited to only consoles and computers—will be available for instant play via the free OnLive app on over 500 million mobile devices over Wi-Fi or mobile networks in the US and UK. A growing library of 25 console-class games have been adapted for touch-screen control, including the gritty, award-winning hit L.A. Noire from Rockstar Games and family titles like LEGO: Batman, which will be given free to anyone who downloads the OnLive app. Additionally, almost all games in OnLive’s growing library of nearly 200 games are playable with the new OnLive Wireless Controller, compatible with most tablets and many phones.
OnLive harnesses the power of the cloud to instantly deliver high-end games on demand over the Internet with the simplicity of streaming video. OnLive’s breakthrough cloud gaming technology has enabled gamers on PCs, Macs and TVs to instantly jump into console-quality games on demand, without discs or lengthy downloads, regardless of the performance of their local device. With today’s launch, gamers can experience the same instant-play, top-tier games on mobile tablets and smartphones, despite the fact that these games require vastly higher performance than is achievable on a mobile device.
“Today marks a major milestone: OnLive is now delivering the latest, console-class, top-tier games—literally to your fingertips—on mobile tablets and phones for instant on-demand play anywhere, anytime,” said Steve Perlman, OnLive Founder and CEO. “Through the free OnLive app, tablet and smartphone gamers can play top console and PC titles like Assassins Creed: Revelations and L.A. Noire—one of the most highly acclaimed, graphically sophisticated games to date—with exclusive OnLive Cloud Touch controls or with the new mobile-compatible OnLive Wireless Controller. Tablets and smartphones, the fastest-growing consumer product categories in history, are now capable of running the hottest, highest-end games. Gaming and mobile devices will never be the same.”
Marking the most dramatic departure possible from the side-scrollers and 3D puzzlers that have defined the current tablet gaming marketplace, the award-winning L.A. Noire is now the first high-performance console video game developed specifically for touch-enabled play via mobile cloud gaming—with exclusive distribution on the OnLive Game Service. The release of a game this immersive and cinematically engaging heralds a new era—and new market—in high-end gaming.
Over 25 OnLive titles, including L.A. Noire, family titles like LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and 5-7, and indies like Defense Grid Gold, will work with touch control on tablets and smartphones. And most of the nearly 200 games in OnLive’s growing library, including recent top-tier releases like Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Lord of the Rings: War in the North, are immediately playable on virtually any device with the OnLive Wireless Controller, which utilizes OnLive’s exclusive adaptive wireless technology to automatically find an optimal wireless connection for a given tablet, smartphone, PC, Mac, TV or Blu-ray player. The OnLive Wireless Controller will be available soon for purchase in the US, and the UK, for $49.99 and £39.99 respectively.
As always, any game purchased on one OnLive app device (TV, PC, Mac or mobile device) can be played instantly on any other OnLive app device with full cloud save game data intact, allowing users to start play on one device, and continue playing on any other device, whenever and wherever they want. OnLive’s cross-platform capability extends to multiplayer gaming, enabling, for example, a tablet gamer to play with TV, PC, Mac and smartphone gamers. OnLive’s exclusive social features, such as international massive spectating and Brag Clip® videos, are available on mobile devices, as well as chat and Facebook posting of videos, messages and achievements. And unlike downloaded games, OnLive games are streamed over the internet just like streaming music and video, never taking up storage on the mobile device.
In addition to play over Wi-Fi, OnLive is also unveiling compatibility with AT&T and Verizon’s 4G LTE cellular service, enabling full, HD-resolution, low-latency cloud gaming everywhere there is 4G coverage on devices such as the HTC Jetstream, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom. With this new compatibility, OnLive is truly playable everywhere, whether indoors, outdoors or even in the back seat of a car at highway speeds, for the first time bringing complete mobility to console-class gaming.
The OnLive app is available for free download for mobile devices starting today (release dates and times subject to mobile app store certifications). The OnLive Wireless Controller is available for purchase in the US and soon in the UK through the OnLive web store at www.onlive.com/store and www.onlive.co.uk/store. As always, OnLive games purchased on one device or through the OnLive website can be played on all devices, and L.A. Noire and other touch-adapted games will continue to work with controller and/or keyboard/mouse as they did before, including with the OnLive Wireless Controller.
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