OnLive, Vizio strike deal to stream vidgames

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Chris Morris

Streaming movies directly to Internet-enabled TV sets has already become familiar, but manufacturers are about to begin adding top-tier videogames to their bag of tricks — which could prove to be a fundamental shift in the vidgame industry.

OnLive, a cloud-based game streaming service that has been making headlines for the past few months, announced Tuesday that it has struck a deal with Vizio that would put the service on all 2011 model HD TVs and Blu-ray players as well as forthcoming smart phones and tablets from the company.

CES 2011: Vizio TVs get a streaming game service

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Chris Morris

OnLive, one of the most promising streaming game services, has just become a legitimate threat to consoles.

The cloud-based gaming company today announced it has signed an alliance with Vizio to bring OnLive to that company’s TVs and mobile devices.

OnLive, one of the most promising streaming game services, has just become a legitimate threat to consoles.

The cloud-based gaming company today announced it has signed an alliance with Vizio to bring OnLive to that company’s TVs and mobile devices.

The Money Making Game #3: Is OnLive the Next Big Thing?

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Chris Morris

We certainly have no problem getting caught up in the fun of playing games, but the people who create them have their pocketbooks to worry about, too. In this column, finance expert and GameSpy contributor Chris Morris guides you through the tricky corridors the gaming industry’s financial side, touching on big-time business decisions and how they matter to the common gamer.

OnLive’s initial announcement of its self-titled, gaming-on-demand service prompted a lot of skepticism. With vaporware services like Phantom still fresh on the brain, gamers didn’t trust the company’s claims of immediate streaming and strong publisher support.

Even the inclusion of CEO Steve Perlman — who previously led development on the technology behind QuickTime and founded WebTV — didn’t do much to lower eyebrows about the project. Infinium Labs’ Phantom, you’ll recall, had Xbox co-founder Kevin Bachus running the show.

OnLive offers streaming of video games

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Chris Morris

While gamers have been able to rent new titles by mail for years, the options have been limited when it came to streaming services.

That’s changing now, as OnLive looks to leverage cloud computing and a Netflix-proven business model to offer instant streaming of new hit titles to players. Last month, the company released a set-top box, letting customers buy recent and catalog releases on an a la carte basis; this week it released an iPad app; and starting in January, it will offer a pair of new payment options.

OnLive, Amazon set their sites on Netflix

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Chris Morris

Those pundits who have been focusing on the threat OnLive, a video game streaming service, poses to the traditional video game industry might want to expand their focus a little.

The company now says it plans to expand into subscription video streaming in 2011. And Amazon could be right behind it.

Sony adds BBCA programming to PS3

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Chris Morris

Sony’s keeping up the pressure in the console wars. The company has begun streaming content from BBC America onto the PlayStation 3.

Episodes of “Top Gear,” are currently available for $1.99 (standard def) and $2.99 (HD) per episode. Other programs, including “Doctor Who” and “Being Human” will arrive in December. To promote the new offering, Sony is offering users the chance to download an episode for free through Dec. 7.

Google/Miramax deal in the works?

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Chris Morris

While the networks and other content providers are throwing up hurdle after hurdle to slow Google TV, the search engine giant is looking for new ways to ensure the service stays relevant.

The Wall Street Journal reports Google is in talks with the holding company that’s in the process of aquiring Miramax to license the digital rights to the studio’s entire film catalog. If successful, the films would be available two ways: Via paid rental on YouTube and, for older catalog titles, free to watch, with ads.

Hulu Plus comes out of beta, gets price cut

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Chris Morris

Hulu’s subscription service – taking the Web-based operation beyond the PC – has moved out of its beta period and is welcoming all who are interested. Hulu Plus officially launches today – and, even better, it’s getting cheaper.

The company has scaled back the $9.99 monthly fee it has charged since late June to $7.99 – and says it will issue refunds for the difference to early adopters who were in the beta. The price cut is a welcome one, but still higher than the $4.99 figure many people were expecting.

Sonic’s RoxioNow gets big HDTV boost

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Chris Morris

Sonic Solutions’ RoxioNow has taken a big step forward in its ongoing expansion, today announcing an integration of the streaming media service onto HDTV chipsets from Trident Microsystems.

The service, which is used by Blockbuster, Lionsgate and Best Buy (among others), will now be built-in to forthcoming sets – a more direct approach than the app format many other companies are taking with today’s Internet-enabled sets. Trident is one of the top three semiconductor providers to both TV and set-top box manufacturers. Its clients include Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic, Motorola and Roku.

Google TV suffers another blow

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Chris Morris

Search giant Google says it wants to take TV into the future, but the networks are pretty comfortable with the present. Fox has joined CBS, NBC and ABC (along with Hulu) in blocking its content from appearing on Google TV.

Uses who use the service’s Web browser to access the network’s site will still see the Web page itself, but will receive an error message when they attempt to stream any programming. Typical PC users, of course, still have access to all of the content.

Chris Morris: Journalist

Tag Archives: streaming media