With a staff comprised of people who have worked with Eidos, QuickTime, WebTV and Mova, and seven years of stealth development, it's no surprise that OnLive is pretty big.

Officially announced tonight at GDC, it's games on demand - or cloud computing for gaming. They're promising the latest high-end AAA titles will be available instantly, via either an entry-level PC or Mac (through a 1MB downloadable browser plug-in) or your television (thanks to a handy little "microconsole" about the size of an iPhone or an external hard drive).

Read full article by Jessica Citizen

If this actually works (bandwidth and latency issues will surely make the games too slow to respond) this could have a major impact on gaming.

I'm really hoping this takes off and is a wonderful idea/product. What I'm still confused about is, the microconsole, if used, connects through to your TV, but does it use the internet as well? Or the coaxial cable from a TV antenna? Or am I thinking it's doing something it's not and it just displays it on the TV.

The onlive box will connect to the Internet to download a streaming video (and audio) of the "Game feed"(and then output video to the TV). It will also receive input from a controller, which it will then be sent back to the server. Think of it as a "thin client" or RDP style box / terminal that accesses games that will be stored and run in some data centre across town.

Connects to the internet and the TV, much like a standard console does today. It has a 1GB ethernet port in the back which will take a cable (sorry, no wireless), and that's how the games get to the TV. I had the same confusion initially

Not for it here

This will certainly be good for those of us who have laptops and like to game, hook the laptop up to the tv and enjoy a big screen game of say - COD4 or something. If that would work anyway.

Still, definitely a great idea and I will keep two eyes open and looking for more news.

They could make an absolute KILLING if it turns out to be what they say.

Sounds a little like what Phantom is going to do (*coughcough*) only in an even more unworkable and unrealistic fashion. Why would you do this when you could get a 360/PS3 and not have to rely on your internet connection being available and on them not going bust and...

Interesting idea. If it ever comes down here I'd certainly look at it more carefully. But we're not within 1,500 miles of America, as far as I know?

If anyone is interested:

OnLive GDC 2009 - Interview Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxReVwEYTAs

OnLive GDC 2009 - Interview Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJIxF6kdZZc

No, but you may be within 1,500 of Sydney. Just because it's starting over here doesn't mean it'll only be over here.

Is it me or wouldn't this destroy ones internet quota ridiculously quickly. I wouldn't see this system working in Australia unless some ISP put it on their free-list for downloads.

Very interesting idea. I don't think it will take off though.

*looks at internode unmetered content list and starts to dream*

+1

I've also pondered about making something similar to this but glad someone finally had the balls to do it. The problem is the bandwidth costs- and sure if Node decided to host it unmetered-- well LOL instantly node would get swamped with customers wanting in on it.

This has the potential to really screw a lot of Digital Distribution companies though, whilst it would be AWESOME for consumers its possible it could destroy companies such as FilePlanet (D2D), Valve (Steam), StarDock (Impulse) and Paradox (GamersGate) whom presently offer AAA new releases as well.

Getting the ISPs involved would be a priority for them, if they don't then they'll fail- no one will pay for that kind of bandwidth.