OnLive UK price and launch offers

Cloud-gaming service OnLive has officially launched in the UK as of today, bringing with it high expectations on whether the time is right for video game streaming.

The service works by having technologically-advanced servers do all the processing work for the games and then they simply send a video feed to the player, which can be seen via the OnLive application or on TVs using the “mico-console”.

There is no charge for the actual OnLive software, users can sign up and download it for free. However, the micro-console is a separate piece of hardware and can be bought from GAME and Gamestation for a retail price of £69.99.

Games can be rented for 3 or 5 days, or gamers can opt to buy a ‘full pass’. Additionally, OnLive offer a subscription service called ‘PlayPack’, which allows subscribers to access a catalogue of over 100 games – this costs £6.99 per month. PlayPack subs also benefit from a  30% discount off all normal prices.

To celebrate the launch, OnLive are running a couple of short-term promotions:

• The first game any newly registered user purchases will only cost them £1 (excludes pre-orders)
• Anyone who pre-orders Saints Row: The Third gets the Professor Genki’s Hyper ordinary Pre-order Pack for free. Not only that, they get a free OnLive micro-console (excludes P&P)