It uses cloud based computing to do all of the processing then transmits it to the device. The video review I saw said you needed a reliably fast broadband connection for it to work smoothly.

wow that's a quick judgement.

things i've read from people who've actually tried it are almost always positive with one exception, they wish the service had more games. technically though, they appear happy with the performance.

this company seems to need to hit a critical mass to be sustainable and i have no idea what those numbers would look like but i can tell you they're working towards it steadily.

they're currently ironing out details on significant deals with electronics manufacturers to have their capability build into devices, mainly tv's, but also in portable electronics.

they've given away the microconsole (and controller) with several pre-orders so far. at the moment it looks like you can get it with duke nukem forever.

i don't know whether it will or won't be onlive, but i can see a service like this being part of the gaming landscape from here on out.

after all, it's the universal console the developers have been clamoring for, for the consumer it essentially eliminates hardware costs, and for the publishers it eliminates the used game market.

Im sure it runs fine in s. korea where they have 50 meg download speeds  :)      Never heard of this onlive until now but seems cool.   

Aye, it could have several multilayer benefits
if (and only if) these are true

1. They have a closed system like xbox or ps3, where only Onlive players play
2. the servers you join, have to be on the same server farm as your client

if both of those are true, i can see a few benefits to Onlive, unfortunately, again, your ping will essentially become you skill, this is great if you happen to be close to the server farm... but bad for everybody else

ha, if only if it was just server side hit detection.
its server side everything.

from what i gather, the onlive console is basically a video player. it receives a video stream from the Onlive servers.

The problem is, this changes ping from being a factor, to being pretty much the only factor.
Why?

lets say a normal ping is about 30.
This means, it takes 15 milliseconds for you to reach the server
And it takes 15 milliseconds for the server to reach you

on a normal computer with a dedicated server
The players you see on your screen are 15 mili behind (the servers view, not the players), and they will have another 15 mili to move before whatever you do gets to them

On an Onlive server
The players are STILL 15 milliseconds behind their actual position,
the difference is, you are now 30 milliseconds behind your actual position.

How so?
Every command or movement you send, has to get to the server, and then back to you. where you see yourself, is not where you actually are, but where you where .015 seconds ago, and you have a full .030 seconds of movement/action that you have already made, that has not yet taken effect. the actions you are taking NOW, don't affect what is happening NOW but what you will SEE .030 seconds later.

it doesn't sound like much, but when it affects basic things like movement and aiming, you end up overcompensating for everything. an easy example is aiming for somebody, lets say somebody pops up to your left, so you aim left until your crosshair is over him, well guess what, even if you pull the trigger, you turn left for another .030 seconds and then shoot.

i can't see onlive being anything but sluggish and slow unless they magically have a way of reducing ping to nothing.

may god help you if Onlive servers arnt centralized and programed to pick only servers from the server farm you on, because this is calculated to be a 0 ping server or singleplayer.