When OnLive first started showing videos of console class games being played from the cloud there were a lot of naysayers. People couldn’t get a grasp on streaming such high quality real time graphics over the net and allowing near seamless control mechanics. There’s bound to be some kind of lag between you hitting a button and the video game responding on your screen. While not perfect though, the service launched to quite a bit of fanfare and has been doing quite well. TechCrunch is reporting that today we will finally be able to play these games via iPad and iPhone.
If you aren’t in the know, OnLive streams some of the latest titles you’d usually only find on consoles directly do your computer, and any minute now, your mobile device. The games are all stored in the cloud and available anywhere you may roam. While the service has a few issues and inconsistencies with performance, when you sit back and think about what is actually happening, it’s pretty damn impressive.
As far as the app itself, OnLive hasn’t strayed from the UI that its current user base has come to love, and the entire library will be instantly available on the mobile platform. The only restriction is the use of the OnLive wireless controller, although as many as 25 titles, including DiRT 3, will be playable via touchscreen controls. Having given this a test this morning on my Kindle Fire (I know, but hey, the size is epic), I can say that the response and graphics are amazing.
I loaded up DiRT 3 and there were a few controller quirks, such as my car getting stuck in reverse indefinitely. I’m guessing that this issue will likely not have slipped past the developers though, and was hardware specific to my device.
The OnLive app itself will be free to download, and you will simply pay for the games you want to add to your library, which will be playable on the go or from your usual OnLive devices. One thing I didn’t know existed, perhaps due to my own ignorance, is OnLive enabled TVs and BluRay players.
Our current searches aren’t picking up the app yet in the iOS App Store, but as it hit Android early this morning, we’re sure it’ll show up soon. We will update this post with the link as it becomes available.
Source: TechCrunch
