The Government has offered Australia's three mobile operators, and vividwireless, renewal of their existing spectrum allocated on 15 year licences in the late 90s and early 2000s at set prices, while the Government expects to rake in $3 billion.
So, OnLive crew, launching in continental US at the end of the year is great, and I know there are plans to roll-out around the world, but will there be local server farms outside of the US? And if so, how will these integrate with each other? Will I need to move to the US for a competitive edge in multiplayer games?
It is great that you have EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, THQ, Atari, Warner Bros Games, Codemasters, Epic Games, 2D Boy and Eidos onside. But what of the other biggies, Activision/Blizzard (World of WarCraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Guitar Hero) and Valve (HalfLife and Left4Dead)?
Oh and then there is Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Any chance they are interested in coming on board?
Peripheral support, how much will the USB equipped Microconsole (required for gameplay through a TV rather than a PC or MAC) support. Will my choices in Keyboard and Mouse be limited? Will I be able to plug in other game controllers?
And finally, I can see many PC gamers not picking up this service, they tend to be people enjoying much higher resolutions that 720p, and gaming online without too many issues using the patch level or modded versions of their favourite games. When it comes to band-width usage, cost and flexibility, it might be a difficult call to make for those that even have the option given their network options.
I applaud the effort, and truly hope it gets off the ground, it is competitive innovations that drive and improve any industry, this can only help push gaming into a new era simply by its existence.
That is, so long as there is competition. If for example, other forms of home interactive entertainment dry up as a consequence of this dominant model that will be a dark day for gaming.
If the publishers decide that all that is needed is a 720p experience for all they produce, gone will be a need for pushing hardware or even software innovation. Games will become cookie cutter in design and we will be stuck in a technological rut until the next inevitable technically superior competitor arrives.
The good news is that OnLive, as ambitious and new as it sounds, will not drive away the need for this generation of gaming devices, and if network technology rollouts continue at current pace, probably not the next generation either.
David Bass
| ComOps, a leading Australian provider of business software products and services, has won a competitive tender to deploy its Salvus safety, r…
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