We wrote about OnLive previously when it went into beta testing. You can think about the service as essentially "Netflix Instant Queue for games," where your monthly subscription costs gives you instant access through your PC or Mac to a library of video game titles, including high-profile new releases from launch partners Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. At launch, we should expect between a dozen and 25 games to be live on the service, with more to come as game publishers negotiations proceed.
One of the perks of this type of system is that players don't need to have screaming fast hardware to play the latest, graphics-intensive game titles -- all that processing is done on the server side, and images are sent back to the player's computer (or OnLive's Micro Console TV Adapter unit) over the network. Mac users also stand to benefit in particular from a service like OnLive, in that many PC titles never get released on the Mac or are only ported long after release. Still, the service will face competition from Valve's Steam, which recently announced native Mac support for its digital distribution platform and several of its popular titles.
OnLive does offer something fundamentally different, however -- instead of downloading video game software to your local computer, OnLive keeps its games running in the cloud and users play them instantly across the network. Not only is the service disruptive in terms of consumer behavior, but could upset the existing supply chain by disintermediating retail stores and even in some sense consoles themselves.
If you're interested in checking out OnLive in action, the company just expanded its beta program to accept another 25,000 users. Successful registrants will also be rewarded with three months' worth of free service.