Game streaming company OnLive has been reborn and launched two new cloud-based initiatives called CloudLift and OnLive Go. OnLive suffered from "a cocktail of financial issues," and went silent following a series of unfortunate events that peaked in August 2012, reports Engadget. From that time on it has been working quietly to restructure and reenergise.
New hire and former IGN exec Mark Jung, OnLive executive chairman, told GameSpot "Not that we ever went anywhere, but we're back". He then pitched the idea behind the new OnLive CloudLift product; "We've listened to our players. They want the convenience of instant access to their games wherever they are, but they also want to own the game and be able to play it locally on their home PC," Jung said. "With this new offering, we’re continuing to expand on the compatibility, freedom and instant access our users enjoy, with the added flexibility of owning a local copy of their games."
CloudLift is a $14.99 a month service which allows users to play any of the games they own on Steam, or other download services, on other devices they may own. Supported games also support multiplayer functionality. We are also told that OnLive will sell Steam download game codes which come with a free 7 day trial of CloudLift. At launch time CloudLift includes support for 20 games including Batman: Arkham Origins, The Lego Movie Videogame, Dead Island and Saints Row IV with more in the pipeline. Cloud play is available on PC, Mac, TV and Android tablets.
OnLive Go applies OnLive streaming technology to MMO and virtual world games. For instance the service is offering a mobile interface for 'Second Life' which allows Android device users to play or demo these games, which would otherwise require a large install payload, quickly and easily.
Meanwhile OnLive is still selling subscriptions to its PlayPack of 250 "great games" which you can play anywhere, anytime on multiple devices. This $9.99 more 'traditional' games streaming service can be investigated further here.
GameSpot says that the OnLive service has invested in "significant technology upgrades" over the past year. TIME magazine reporter Jared Newman found the service to be much improved but a "little laggy" on his 30 Mbps connection in initial testing.
