Onlive Game System Hands-On Impressions

For those that don’t know, Onlive is the streaming gaming service which up to now was only playable via a PC or Mac.  Granted many computers these days are also hooked up to our big HDTVs, for those that don’t have the ability to use a TV as a computer screen or just lack the tech savvy Onlive now has the solution in its Onlive Game System, formerly Onlive MicroConsole.  The Game System is a small device that hooks up to your TV and home broadand connection via ethernet and gives you full access to your Onlive library of games right on your TV.

The unit itself is quite nice, nice and small where it won’t take up much room on your TV and sporting an array of connections for easy installation in any entertainment set-up.  HDMI is standard with a component cable available for purchase for those who don’t have an open HDMI input.  There is also an optical audio connection for connection to a surround sound system, and lastly a ethernet port for connection to your home network.  Since WiFi remains in “beta” for Onlive via computers the Game System does not have a wifi radio however if you have a wifi bridge there are settings to optimize your experience.  The front of the System has two USB ports for charging the included controller or for using a mouse and keyboard.  Being a fan-less unit it makes absolutely no sound (though does get pretty warm) which makes it great for Onlive’s future media plans and would be a great device for services like Netflix streaming.  Oh how I would love to not use my jet engine sounding Xbox 360 for watching Netflix.z
The controller is very similar to the Xbox 360 controller and feels just as comfortable.  One big difference with the Onlive Game System controller is the inclusion of media buttons (Play, Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind).  While at this time the media buttons do not function Onlive is planning for future media streaming and they will be activated then.

Using the system is just like using the system on your PC.  You’ll have the same menus and system settings at your disposal.  One thing I noticed is while you can adjust your screen size (aka safe area) you can not alter the screen resolution.  Now using HDMi this option isn’t really needs as HDMI connections will auto-select the maximum resolution but I’m sure some might want to run the unit at 720p instead of 1080p.

Now how about the gaming experience?  I must say it’s pretty much an identical experience as on the PC, just now with a nice controller and on a much larger screen.  Being that Onlive is a streaming service lag can become a major issue.  And like playing on the PC I ran into mixed lag depending on the game.  I felt little lag in controls on a game like Batman: Arkham A

sylum, yet playing Dirt 2 the little lag in the system lead to out of control racing.  Lag is by far only a minor issue compared to the video compression.  On a smaller PC screen the video compression was noticeable but livable, but now at 1080p on a 40″ screen the video compression is quite noticeable.  While static images look great and comparable to normal consoles once there is movement the video becomes great blurred, this is how h.264 video compression works, it blurs pixels instead of displaying each individual pixel, once the motion stops the image quality increases greatly.  Now that said I can see more casual gamers not being as phased by the video compression problems as myself, and as the system evolves and video compression technology changes the image quality will only get better.  Also I’m sure smaller screen sizes will help the video quality as well, which makes this great for a college dorm.

Overall the Onlive Game System is a nice little piece of hardware.  While the service still suffers from minor lag and the video compression issue the hardware itself is top notch.  Onlive is a solid alternative for the non-hardcore gamer.  I really like that now I purchase one copy of a game and can play it on my TV, desktop PC and Macbook when on the go.  You can’t do that with any other game system!  I can see the Onlive Game System being a nice addition to a dorm room, where room and money are limited.  It’s also great for a kids room, where video quality isn’t a big deal.  The Onlive Game System is nice hardware and the system is slowly improving.