infexxionWhat Would Be Better On Consoles: Steam Or Onlive?
There's been plenty of rumors circulating for over a year now of either Steam becoming more integrated into PS3 with more games, or a cloud gaming partnership deal between companies to bring cloud gaming to your favorite home console device. Both of these are good ideas in themselves, they would push back the need for a next gen jump so soon, while also providing gamers more of what they want: Games. But which would be better?
Steam obviously has the biggest advantage in catalog of games The service presents a simply unprecedented catalogue of new hit games and old classics. The streamlined interface only makes it easier to buy, download, and play your favorite games. You can't forget to mention the fact that the sales are simply phenomenal, and you will find something you want for a very cheap price if you look at the right time. With a huge PC gaming community, a strong line up of games, and a streamlined, easy-to-use interface, Steam on a console would push the boundaries and deliver a simply stunning experience.
But that big strength is also its downfall. If we're talking about bringing Steam to PC, you've got 2 choices for the PC games. Omit them entirely, or port them over. I can't see the time and resources being poured into porting all or even some of the PC games into PS3-playable format, so this would probably get reduced to Valve titles, ie Left 4 Dead and Counter Strike. Having these on PS3 would be nice, but you don't need an outstanding PC to play them.
Onlive kills this problem by requiring no download of the game at all. The game is streamed to you, over the internet. Cloud gaming at its finest. Boasting a growing catalogue of their own, Onlive would eliminate both the need for extra hard drive space for games, and any system requirement issues.
The problem with Onlive, amidst lacking content, would be the high internet speed requirement, which I'm sure many PS3 owners simply don't meet, coupled with the fact that Onlive presents a noticeable, albeit small, amount of lag. Streaming the game strains your internet, and this will create about a half second delay between pressing a button and seeing something happen on the screen.
Overall, both services could be very interesting to see on consoles. They present a set of unique features, and ways to get both some of the biggest PC titles on consoles, and an alternative way to get games already on your system.
I think the ultimate solution would be a compromise: get Steam's easy to use interface, sales system, and games, and get them working in the Onlive system. This would give console owners the biggest bang for their buck. The games they want, no downloads, and a huge assortment of titles.
What do you think? Would Steam be the ultimate solution for consoles? Would Onlive simplify the process? How do you feel about either of these being on consoles? Let me know in the comments, and as always, thanks for reading!
