Users of OnLive can rejoice, as they’ve announced the free OnLive app for mobile phones and tablets. If you own an iOS or Android device that happens to be on their compatible list, you can play on your phone over Wi-Fi or your phone network.
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Cue obligatory soundbite from their CEO Steve Perlman:
“Today marks a major milestone: OnLive is now delivering the latest, console-class, top-tier games — literally to your fingertips—on tablets and phones for instant, on-demand play anywhere, anytime. Through the free OnLive app, tablet and smartphone gamers can play top console and PC titles like Assassins Creed®: Revelations and L.A. Noire — one of the most highly acclaimed, graphically sophisticated games to date—with exclusive OnLive Cloud Touch controls or with the new mobile-compatible Universal OnLive Wireless Controller. Tablets and smartphones, the fastest-growing consumer product categories in history, are now capable of running the hottest, highest-end games. Gaming and mobile devices will never be the same.”
Usefully, anything bought for use on the phone app will work on the PC, Mac and OnLive Console versions. Just hope your data plan is big enough…
Full press release available after the jump.
OnLive, Ltd., the pioneer of cloud gaming, announced that it is bringing console-class gaming to tablets and phones with the revolutionary OnLive app for tablet and mobile platforms. The latest, top-tier, high-performance games—previously limited to only consoles and computers — will be available for instant play via the free OnLive app on over 500 million mobile devices over Wi-Fi or mobile networks in the US and UK. A growing library of 25 console-class games have been adapted for touch-screen control, including the gritty, award-winning hit L.A. Noire from Rockstar Games and family titles like LEGO Batman™: The Videogame, which will be given free to anyone who downloads the OnLive app. Additionally, almost all games in OnLive’s growing library of nearly 200 games are playable with the new Universal OnLive Wireless Controller, compatible with many tablets and smartphones.
OnLive harnesses the power of the cloud to instantly deliver high-end games on demand over the Internet with the simplicity of streaming video. OnLive’s breakthrough cloud gaming technology arrived in the UK in September, enabling UK gamers on PCs, Macs® and TVs to instantly jump into console-quality games on demand, without discs or lengthy downloads, regardless of the performance of their local device. With today’s launch, gamers can now experience the same instant-play, top-tier games on tablets and smartphones, despite the fact that these games require vastly higher performance than is achievable on a mobile device.
“Today marks a major milestone: OnLive is now delivering the latest, console-class, top-tier games — literally to your fingertips—on tablets and phones for instant, on-demand play anywhere, anytime,” said Steve Perlman, OnLive Founder and CEO. “Through the free OnLive app, tablet and smartphone gamers can play top console and PC titles like Assassins Creed®: Revelations and L.A. Noire — one of the most highly acclaimed, graphically sophisticated games to date—with exclusive OnLive Cloud Touch controls or with the new mobile-compatible Universal OnLive Wireless Controller. Tablets and smartphones, the fastest-growing consumer product categories in history, are now capable of running the hottest, highest-end games. Gaming and mobile devices will never be the same.”
Marking the most dramatic departure possible from the side-scrollers and 3D puzzlers that have defined the current tablet gaming marketplace, the award-winning L.A. Noire is now the first high-performance console video game developed specifically for touch-enabled play via tablet cloud gaming — with exclusive distribution on the OnLive Game Service. The release of a game this immersive and cinematically engaging heralds a new era — and new market— in high-end gaming.
Over 25 OnLive titles, including L.A. Noire, family titles like LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and 5-7, and indies like Defense Grid Gold, will work with touch control on tablets and smartphones. And most of the nearly 200 games in OnLive’s growing library, including recent top-tier releases like Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Lord of the Rings: War in the North, are immediately playable on virtually any device with the Universal OnLive Wireless Controller, which utilizes OnLive’s exclusive adaptive wireless technology to automatically find an optimal wireless connection for a given tablet, smartphone, PC, Mac, TV or Blu-ray player. The Universal OnLive Wireless Controller will be available soon for purchase in the US and the UK, for $49.99 and £39.99 respectively.
As always, any game purchased on one OnLive app device (TV, PC, Mac, tablet or mobile device) can be played instantly on any other OnLive app device with full cloud save game data intact, allowing users to start play on one device, and continue playing on any other device, whenever and wherever they want.* OnLive’s cross-platform capability extends to multiplayer gaming, enabling, for example, a tablet gamer to play with TV, PC, Mac and smartphone gamers. OnLive’s exclusive social features, such as international massive spectating and Brag Clip® videos, are available on tablets and mobile devices, as well as chat and Facebook posting of videos, messages and achievements. And unlike downloaded games, OnLive games are streamed over the internet just like streaming music and video, never taking up storage on any mobile device.
The rollout of the OnLive app to UK gamers, occurring simultaneously with its US release, is the first of many groundbreaking initiatives overseen by OnLive’s new UK General Manager, Bruce Grove, who was previously the Company’s Sr. Director of Engineering. With more than ten years of engineering management for enterprise systems, software, gaming hardware and jet engines — including tenures at industry giants such as Dell and Sun—Bruce is uniquely qualified to understand the challenges of bringing an entirely new, revolutionary technology to an ever-increasing audience. “Having been a part of the OnLive team as it grew from a small handful of people to our first launch in a new country, I’m hugely excited to be taking on the role of GM here in the UK. Following our phenomenal reception at launch in September, it’s really important to maintain that momentum and keep growing this market. You can expect to see lots more great stuff in the future.”
The OnLive app is available for free download for tablet and mobile devices starting today (release dates and times subject to mobile app store certifications). The Universal OnLive Wireless Controller will soon be available for purchase in the US and UK through the OnLive web store at www.onlive.com/store and www.onlive.co.uk/store. As always, most OnLive games purchased on one device or through the OnLive website can be played on all devices, and L.A. Noire and other touch-adapted games will continue to work with controller and/or keyboard/mouse as they did before, including with the Universal OnLive Wireless Controller.*
