OnLive App Brings PC Game Streaming to Portable Devices

OnLive brings its cloud-based gaming services to smartphones and tablets with a new app for iOS and Android. The app allows those that subscribe to the service to stream playable PC games to smartphones and tablets. Some companies, such as Rockstar Games are even working with OnLive to tailor the experience; the company is creating a specific touch screen interface for L.A. Noire as part of a collection of 25 games with reconfigured controls ready for the launch.

Some games will have tailored controls to support tablets from Apple, Samsung, Motorola and HTC, and more, but many will not. The rest will have a simple virtual key pad added to the screen by OnLive to make them playable. OnLive also plans to sell a new controller that works with most of the aforementioned portable devices that will sell for just under $50.

Content providers have the option of deploying the different control types across titles for OnLive, according to Perlman, with the touch screen implementation adding an exclusive element to the service.

CEO Steve Perlman admitted that his company has been unable to manufacture enough of the controllers for the UK market - but they are working on it. Supply for US consumers is apparently plentiful.

"The new controller works with tablets and phones, but it will also work with new TV interfaces and Blu-ray players that are coming out," Perlman told GamesIndustry.biz. "It's been approved for the UK. It sounds ridiculous but we've run into demand [problems] just from developers getting these.

While the monthly service costs money, the Android and iOS app will be free. Perlman was cautious about making any predictions on how popular the app might be with customers.

"We have a very difficult time predicting," he said. "We tried to predict what the demand would be in the UK and we very much underestimated that, so we're trying to be as conservative as we can. We're dropping this into a sea of 500 million devices but not everyone is going to be interested in OnLive."

In the US, the company has also signed deals with AT&T and Verizon's 4G LTE services for HD-resolution high-speed gaming. The new app follows the release of OnLive's previous software for iOS, which allowed users to view games being played by other people via the OnLive MicroConsole.

On a related note, OnLive says that it would love to be able to have a similar app like it does for Smartphones and tablets on consoles like PS3 and Xbox 360. You can read that particular story on MCV.

Source: GI.biz