OnLive Takes on PAX Full Force

The game on-demand service provider OnLive took PAX by storm.  After at least a year online, the service is ready to take on the needs of the masses. When I say masses, I mean lines at PAX that were hundreds of people deep at any given time.  They were so long that event organizers had to cut people off due to fire hazard and c-blocking other vendors.  All those people were in line for their chance at a free OnLive console.  You can get one too.

First, a little more about OnLive.  As stated in my grand introduction, OnLive is an on-demand service for video games.  More specifically, it allows players to stream games to their televisions, PCs, and laptops.  There is no need to have an amazing graphic card or insane processor.  All games purchased are kept on servers and streamed to the user.  Customers can pay for games on an individual basis.  Most games are at a standard retail rate.  There are sales once a week where a not-totally obscure title can be purchased for five dollars.  The game might be a little older, but the price is still great.   Example: a couple weeks ago they had Borderlands with all DLC for $5.  Srsly.

The other pricing option is their PlayPack Bundle.  It kind of works like streaming Netflix where you can have unlimited access to more than 80 games whenever you want.  But just like streaming Netflix, you don't have access to the full catalog, and not a lot of major titles when they are first released.  To make up for this, OnLive members with the PlayPack option get an additional 30% off any additional purchase.  So that $50 game is now only $35.  And those five dollar deals I was mentioning earlier?  Yea, those get the 30% off treatment as well. 

The only problem that I found with the console is that it isn't wireless.  My apartment has a more intense wireless network than NASA.  We have everything linked up and passing back and forth.  But the OnLive console must be wired into the router.  A hardline Ethernet goes into one end of the device and HDMI comes out the other.   There is no wireless option whatsoever.  Even if we weren't addicted to our cord-free lifestyle, the router in my apartment is nowhere near where all the gaming takes place. 

So for a lot of people, this is still a totally viable gaming option with lots of potential savings.  And with my wireless dilemma, I am willing to part with my free, unopened, OnLive console to a loyal reader.  We haven't worked out yet how we will give away all the amazing things accumulated.  But keep a watchful eye on the blog to see how this $100 console and other super cool prizes could be yours.

My goal when taking pictures is to make them look as grainy and poorly lit as possible.  Mission Accomplished.