OnLive, announced this week at the GDC, is basically a gaming thin client. You plug the OnLive “microconsole” into your TV, connect it to the internet, and you are presented with a wide array of games. This, of course, is no different from an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. The difference is that all the graphics rendering is done at OnLive’s facility, making the hardware you purchase relatively inexpensive. It streams the game graphics to you over the internet. Being in the profession I am, I have concerns about scalibility, latency, and cost. Computing power shifts back and forth between client side and server side every decade or so. Some games, like RPGs and strategy games I can see working very well. Other games, shooters for instance, I don’t know about. But if it works as they claim, this will be a revelation in the gaming industry.

OnLive, announced this week at the GDC, is basically a gaming thin client. You plug the OnLive “microconsole” into your TV, connect it to the internet, and you are presented with a wide array of games.

This, of course, is no different from an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. The difference is that all the graphics rendering is done at OnLive’s facility, making the hardware you purchase relatively inexpensive. It streams the game graphics to you over the internet.

Being in the profession I am, I have concerns about scalibility, latency, and cost. Computing power shifts back and forth between client side and server side every decade or so. Some games, like RPGs and strategy games I can see working very well. Other games, shooters for instance, I don’t know about. But if it works as they claim, this will be a revelation in the gaming industry.