OnLive's Epic Plan For a New Type of Video Game [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

An anonymous reader writes "OnLive's had a tough twelve months any way you look at it, but as a new profile of the cloud game streaming service points out, throughout it all, service never dropped, and the number of platforms it's on keeps growing. Up next is the tiny Ouya console, but in a wide-ranging interview, OnLive's general manager talks up plans to bring MMOs to the service, and even a whole new type of video game, one that will run on many servers, not just one PC: 'Look at how CGI has changed cinema over the last few years — you can do CGI essentially realtime. It could completely change what a video game looks like. That leads us to new technologies. Then game designers say, "What could I really do with a computing platform that is so powerful but also available across so many devices?" You're no longer constrained by computing power — that has tremendous opportunity.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

[Rickstilwell1]

If OnLive really wants to expand, they should become a service like Netflix and pay royalties to the big three to offer their service on those platforms. It could gain them more exposure and marketshare that way. Some people who already pay for Xbox Live aren't going to buy the standalone Onlive device
because they already have a paid subscription to something.
I don't see any reason why OnLive wouldn't be operationally incompatible with those systems if it is talking about running on Ouya.

[Jorpho]

If OnLive really wants to expand, they should become a service like Netflix and pay royalties to the big three to offer their service on those platforms. It could gain them more exposure and marketshare that way. Some people who already pay for Xbox Live aren't going to buy the standalone Onlive device
because they already have a paid subscription to something.
I don't see any reason why OnLive wouldn't be operationally incompatible with those systems if it is talking about running on Ouya.

I can see that maybe happening someday in the distant future when using OnLive might make more sense than providing backward compatibility. But these days? It is not in the best interests of the Big Three to allow such a service anywhere near their platforms.