Game on
OnLive is celebrating the first anniversary of its online game streaming service with a few announcements, most notable of which for those of us in the UK is the news that OnLive will be launching here "this autumn."
Although the full launch won't happen for a few months, OnLive UK will be accepting signups for early access on its site in just a few days, coinciding with the opening of this year's E3. As well as providing a taste of OnLive's service ahead of it being available to the general public, this early preview will also enable users to reserve their OnLive Player Tag - an important consideration for any gamer.
The implication from OnLive's announcement is that trans-Atlantic play won't be possible. OnLive says that spectating between the US and UK is possible, but makes no mention of gameplay between British and American subscribers. Given the technological challenges behind the OnLive system, which introduces a not-insignificant amount of latency itself, it's not surprising that trans-Atlantic play isn't possible, but still disappointing.
Pricing for the UK service hasn't been announced yet. In the US OnLive's game prices have been on par with retail, but given the propensity for US-based companies to jack up the UK prices of their offerings, we're not holding out breath for OnLive proving especially competitive.
