One of the big demos at GDC (Game Developers Conference) this year was OnLive, a video game streaming service that promises no installs or downloads to play games.  OnLive is pushing a one console vision of the future of gaming.  No more Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, PC and Mac wars.  Players of OnLive will be able to play any game by any publisher, or at least that’s the goal.   However is this actually going to work?

Publishers & Developers

As a publisher or developer a one console world is nothing but good things.  For publishers you want the console your making games for to have as large of an install base as possible, so if there’s only one console, that’s going to be a hell of a lot more customers for you then 3 seperate consoles and PC gaming.  As a developer you no longer need to created multiple ports of the same game.  This brings down the cost of creating games so perhaps developers and publishers will take more risk in creating different types of games, which benifits the gamers.

Gamers

For gamers, it’s not as simple.  While the benefits seem obvious at first, there are some drawbacks, but first lets looks at the benifits.

Benifits

• No need to purchase a new console every 5 yrs or if you’re a PC gamer, no need to constantly upgrade your PC to meet gaming requirements.
• No downloads or installs.
• No more console exclusives.  Want to play Halo and Mario, you can. (You actually can’t yet cause neither Nintendo or Bungie have signed up, but that’s the plan)

Disadvantages

• You have to be online.  We all have issues with our ISPs, so if your cable goes out, so does your console.
• Lag.  Since all the games have to be streamed to you, there is going to be lag.   This might be expected when playing a multiplayer game, however I don’t want lag when I’m soloing.
• Bandwidth.  We’ve heard that ISPs are limiting customers bandwidth, so how exactly will this affect a OnLive gamer?   Will I even be able to play if my ISP tags me as a bandwidth hog and limits my monthly bandwidth?
• How will my save games be handled?  Are the games saved on their servers?   Will the micro-console have a hard drive?
• No modding.  While not a big deal for console gamers, modding is a big part of PC gaming.
• Hardware updates.  How will this work?  While hardware is being upgraded am I going to be able to play my games?
• No competition.  With one console there is no competition for OnLive to create new innovations in the gaming world like Nintendo has with the DS and Wii.  Or like Microsoft has with its Xbox Live service.

As you can see there are definitely pluses and minuses with OnLive.  I would love to see a once console world only because I hate having to choose a console each life cycle.  But the big question is can OnLive get past all the technical issues and make it as the true next gen console?

Onlive is being released this winter 2009, probably right before the holidays.  Nintendo and PS are going to be 3 yrs old by then and Xbox360 4 yrs old, so a new console emerging might be the right timing, but honestly I think it might be a year early for most consumers.

What OnLive needs to do is build their publisher list.  They need to get big exclusives like GTA, Halo, Gears of War, Metal Gear, ect, if they really want to have a chance.  Right now the big game names OnLive has are PC titles or multiple platform games.   I honestly don’t think PC gamers are going to be the first adopters of this, in fact they will probably be the last so OnLive really needs to get console exclusives if they hope to make it.