Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends 28th

[marra]

Sorry for being lazy i hadnt realised this hadnt been posted and mines just got here in the post so ive copied my reply from hotukdeals.
if you havent heard of Onlive basically if your computer can play youtube videos you can play the latest games people have been using netbooks etc to play dirt3 amongst others personally i think its great and for the cost of one console game its defiantly worth a look basically its steam with a console which looks great may i add and is just a bit bigger that a pack of cigs making it portable as long as you have a network connection (no wifi without a bridge, dongle etc). The graphics and gameplay are no different to xbox or ps3 in my opinion and defiantly worth a look especially if you buy games regular i can only see this getting bigger and i defiantly recommend it.

onlive.co.uk/

you dont need to order everything if you dont want but you can still sign up free and get the £1 game and you can trial most games for 30mins or even rent them for 3 or 5 days in most cases,


the top/new games are NOT included in the playpack thats why it would make no sense to pay full price 30-40 for a game when you could pay £6.99 simply because you cant lol the play pack basically contains classic games or old games and if you want the new/top games you pay 30-40 for them so for the first month at least you would be better doing as Megalofobia posted and paying for the £1 game and the 100+ others from the playpack then decide if it is worth it if not cancel the sub which means you loose the 100+ but still have the £1 game to play until Saints Row 3 is released YOU WILL NOT loose your £1 game or SR3 if you cancel the play pack sub and you will still have the console the only other thing i havent seen mentioned is :

you will have all games whilst they are supported which will be a minimum of 3 years and if people are still playing said game it will continue after the 3 years. so im not telling people what to do but unless you do as below not only are you limiting your choice of games for at least a month you will pay more if you are pre ordering saints row 3, 34.99 + 6 p+p for the console = £40.99. If you order the playpack you will get 30% off your next order (Saints Row 3)


Cheapest option
Monthly membership £6.99 (cancel anytime) - Free for BT Broadband users for 3 months
Discounted Saints Row: £24.49 (30% off £34.99 for members)
Postage: £6.00
Total: £37.48

Also get your £1 game before signing up for membership or you may not get it for a £1.


YOU NEED TO ORDER IN THIS WAY.

1 buy £1 game i choose the new warhammer
2 but the months sub for 100+ games
3 preorder saints row 3 which gives you your code for a free console
4 order console using voucher code

This ends on the 28th so be quick.

Another thing to add for as long as you pay the 6.99 a month sub you will get 30% of any game and as most of the games are priced between 30 -40 you would be daft not doing e.g £30 game - 30% = £21 plus 6.99 sub = £27.99 meaning you get the game you want plus 100+ more and save £2.01 sorry if this is patronizing but i couldnt help myself lol

 

[Captin]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

I've been reading about this in the US and most peeps say it's a bit hit and miss regarding quality and playability. On their own website they say you need a 3meg connection for 30" or smaller tv's and 5meg for 40" or larger tv's, but the UK national average is still less than 3meg. so I could see that being a problem for some people.

Do you get the physical game for your £30-£40 or is it just a downloadable or virtual game, like PSN? If not it seems a lot to pay for something you can lose if you don't pay the subscription (like PSN plus), might as well get it from Amazon.

 

[marra]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

hiya mate you dont physically get the game but you dont loose the game either if you dont keep the sub thats what i meant above with the £1 game you can buy that and never use it again if you like but tbh i would not say that national average broadband was 3mb they said something on the gadget show about national average being 7mb tbh i dont know anyone on any less than 5mb which is the recommended rate. you can try it for free with the trials or just get the £1 game and leave it at that everyone to there own tbh but i think its going to be big.

 

[madnlooney]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

ive been using this for the .com service on pc. only with demos though and seems smooth

 

[Captin]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

hiya mate you dont physically get the game but you dont loose the game either if you dont keep the sub thats what i meant above with the £1 game you can buy that and never use it again if you like but tbh i would not say that national average broadband was 3mb they said something on the gadget show about national average being 7mb tbh i dont know anyone on any less than 5mb which is the recommended rate. you can try it for free with the trials or just get the £1 game and leave it at that everyone to there own tbh but i think its going to be big.

I remember reading on the BBC about the national average, but it was a while ago. Even on 5meg you dont get it constantly (not on ADSL anyway). But like other peeps have stated the onlive service in the Uk seems smooth, but I suppose it could alter as more peeps sign up.

In the speed league table, the UK is ranked 27th out of 201 countries, with an average speed of 3.8Mbps. This is below the 5.2Mbps average speed calculated by regulator Ofcom in its annual broadband report.

BBC News - Snapshot of global internet speeds revealed

Granted the story was from July Last year


So when you buy the games do you get a physical download you can backup or burn off? What happens if you cancel your subs and a month later your pc crashes, can you get the games again or have you wasted the money, or are you only allowed to play the game whilst you subscribe?

 

[marra]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

you dont actually get a physical download mate you literally just press play and your done so even if your pc crashes all you need to do is install the onlive app again and your good to go no downloads or installs and if you cancel your monthly sub theres no difference you cant still play the games you have bought how ever you access them the console its self in length is about the width of a dvd case so im pretty sure there isn't any hard drive in it any extra content is hosted on the cloud servers too so you could not use onlive for 12mths and go back on and pick up where you left off instantly. the only games you wont be able to play if you stop the playpack sub is the playpack games, so if you was to go on now and buy dirt 3 for a quid and nothing else thats all you would ever spend.

Actually mate go on to onlive site and register a account thats free and give one of the free trials a go, it wont cost anything and i bet you like it lol

 

[Captin]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

I'll give it a go. But I aint paying £30-£40 for something that only exists in the cloud, if onlive goes titsup then the money is lost. I'd rather pay more and get a disc I can install on my pc. Or download the game as I dont play online games anyways.

 

[marra]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

yeah thats fair enough mate i think that will put some people off until its been around a while aparently it is doing well in the US and if the info is right its owned by game and gamestation i cant see it going bust but time will tell i think its more aimed at console users because all the games are console games

 

[Captin]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

Just been looking at wiki and it reckons that the first round of investment was from Warner Bros, Autodesk and Maverick Capitol, with further investment from AT&T and Lauder Partners, then more from British Telecom and Belgacom, but doesnt mention it being owned by anyone. But with that backing it should be fairly stable.

It's been going since June 2010 in the US. I've seen lots of mixed reviews, because all games are 720p some people say the graphics are not as good as the PS3 or Xbox 360. Various shows like Tekzilla and Cnet IPTV shows slate it, but others say it's OK. It only uses full HD for spectators or for gamers to record Brag Clips of their games.

Here's one review,

In examining latency, Eurogamer's DigitalFoundry initial test found that in some of their test scenarios, users of OnLive could expect 150ms of latency over a consumer Internet connection; however, they also noted inconsistencies, in that some games had higher latency, and that this would also depend on the quality of the customer's internet connection. Furthermore, they also noted that while acceptable, these values ran contrary to figures suggested by OnLive before release of lag "being under 80ms" and "usually... between 35-40ms". In their later full-feature article on OnLive, DigitalFoundry noted that "during intense gameplay, OnLive is hovering right at the boundary of what is acceptable lag and often exceeds it, resulting in a variable, often unsatisfactory experience", but that "the latency level is probably the most pleasant surprise with this system. Let's be clear: it is most definitely not a replacement for the local experience, but if the system can be tightened up and that 150ms becomes the norm, then it's clear there is potential here for the infrastructure to find a home with certain types of game or certain types of player".

In terms of video quality, DigitalFoundry noted that video compression meant image quality also varied depending on the title. Games with a lower number of frame-to-frame differences, or games where such changes were less important, such as Assassin's Creed II or Batman: Arkham Asylum fared well, with these games being "strongly suited to video compression" and "cut-scenes in particular can look very good". However, games that had a greater amount of motion or relied on fast reactions, such as Colin McRae: Dirt or Unreal Tournament 3 fared less well, with questions about the playability of the latter when video compression artifacts were taken into account. DigitalFoundry felt that the quality of rendering was mostly good, with high frame rates, but with less consistency than console counterparts and with screen-tearing in some scenarios.

Overall, DigitalFoundry felt that OnLive offered interesting new features, being impressed with the ability to watch other player's games in the "Arena" function, and the ability to try out full 30-minute demos of games. While acknowledging that the rental aspect was appealing, and acknowleding the "incredible achievement" of coming "within spitting distance of console response times", DigitalFoundry questioned the overall value proposition for the customer. They remarked that "the bottom line is that the gameplay experience is not better than what we already have—by and large it's tangibly worse", and noted that high system requirements for a computer capable of playing the games streamed by OnLive meant that a graphics card upgrade would provide comparable performance. However, they also noted that deals such as those with BT to provide a straight connection to data centers meant latency could be improved, and that for some consumers, such as those with less technical experience or who did not want to buy a console, OnLive may be more suitable: "there are some games where the system works—by core gamer terms—tolerably. They are clearly playable....Perhaps it is simply the case that OnLive isn't for us committed gamer types. A less discerning type of audience will probably be happy with the whole offering as it stands now".

I dont think it's going to replace local gaming, it hasnt made much of a dent in the console market in the US. Plus there's a few competitors now, the biggest being owned by Gamestop which is the biggest game retailer in the US. Competition may be good though.

But as always the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say.

 

[marra]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

cheers for that mate im not sure where my info came from then it looks to be a load of bull about game and gamestation, some good info there and i didnt know about the 1080p just for spectators bit either, actually going off my post about average broadband speeds too i probably should get a early night lol, cheers mate.

ps still insist you give it a try though lol ive not got round to setting the console up tonight ive finally managed to get 15 prestige on black ops on the ps3, ill get it sorted tomorrow the problem is my turtle beach headset got here at the same time so i tried them out 1st going to gamefest as ended up costing me a fortune on stuff i never intended getting.

 

[Captin]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

I've just spent the last couple of hours trying various games and watching as a spectator. Whilst I can say I'm pretty impressed at how the games run and how smooth the whole operation seems, I don't think the graphics were as good as the PC games. Deus Ex for instance seemed quite a low res when compared to the PC version, in fact most of the games did. Quite a lot of "jaggies". Nearly the whole time DU Meter said it was using 6.4meg download bandwidth (I have 2 screen so I use the second screen for gadgets and info). There were only a few glitches, like freezing for a micro second.

Personally (not being an online game player) I think I'll just stick to the downloadable "free" versions that are available, but I can see the appeal of this onlive, but I wont be spending my money on it.

Tomorrow I will compare some of the games to the PS3 versions to see if they are the same or worse.

Maybe the resolution difference that the US version has IE 720p for playing games and 1080p for spectators isn't the same over here as everything I saw seemed 720p or lower, and I have the monitor set to 1920x1080p and the onlive program didn't change that.

I've seen Saints Row 3 demoed on the PS3 and seen various shows like destructoid reviewing it and it looks really good, but alas my PS3 being on CFW means I wont be playing it anytime soon, unless they release it for PC. I'll have to make do with the 30 min demo on onlive to see if it's as good as I've seen on the PS3.

 

[jamesyboyjim]

Ive played saints row 3 and I can tell you now it's nothing special, just a less glitchier version of 2 but this time you can jump into cars and onto people lol

Id be tempted with onlive if it wasn't for the fact that I know my net connection would let me down

 

[Captin]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

Just a follow up. I've played a few demo's now and done some stalking/spectating too.

I find that the service is getting a bit choppy, probably as more and more people sign up. There are lots of freezes and dropouts. It also takes a lot longer to sign in. They have just updated the software (I'm using the PC version) and it made a slight difference.

I'm on Virgin 100Mb and can get a good 90Mb sustained download from the newsgroups, so I don't think bandwidth is an issue.

It may be different with their own hardware, but I know my PC has far higher specs than their hardware.

Still don't think I'll be giving them any money, but the account is free so I'll keep it open and spying on peeps, you never know I may be watching you.

 

[marra]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

cheers for the follow up mate, i havent been on for a few days but when i went on the other day it took me a min or 2 to sign in but when i was on it was fine i think it is down to the time of day either way it isnt good if their servers cant keep up, i do get a message about a network error when i sign but there is never a problem which is weird but im yet to have any lag apart from my 1st ever game on there perhaps the games are on different servers but either way they need to keep up with demand i had a game of homefront multiplayer that was great i havent played it before that was in the playpack ill be playing that again a few of the other multiplayers didnt have anyone online fear 2 i think one was which was bit of a let down.

 

[deedie]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

I didn't see it mentioned in here, but if you are a bt broadband customer, then u can get a 3 month free trial. If you want to try it out.

 

[marra]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

Anyone that did go in for this deal check your email i just got a code sent for any game from the market place for free due to them struggling to get the consoles sent out on time i got mine last week so im thinking theyve sent it to everyone.

 

[Exos]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

Tried this tonight, mostly seemed ok, not choppy, but played a free trial of Tropico 3 and it reminded me of a telesync screener quality, graphics were not great given that i would consider it a low end game.

I'll most likely keep it, even just for the free £1 game or to use as a reference point using the trials for me getting something that will actually run directly on my PC.

Idea is good though, just whether or not people will sign up for the paid subs or buy content, which i doubt.

Edit: I'm on 24MB (get around 12-16MB)

 

[marra]

Re: Onlive Saints Row 3, a £1 game, 100+games for a mth & onlive console £38.50 ends

you should try the trial on something like dirt 3 mate that would of give you a better idea. Apparently its been a hit more developers have signed up since the uk launch and more games have now been confirmed i also noticed a link on game's website im not sure what they're going to stock on their web site though for onlive tbh