British Telecom has signed a deal with OnLive of the United States to stream video games as part of BT’s high-end domestic broadband package, the company announced today.
BT will acquire the exclusive rights to OnLive’s service within the UK, and as part of the deal has taken a 2.6 per cent shareholding in OnLive.
OnLive was announced with great fanfare last year, amid claims that it could spell the end of the video games console. The service offers a library of titles from leading games publishers, including Ubisoft and Electronic Arts. The games are played in real time over the internet.
BT subscribers who sign up for the package will receive an “OnLive micro console” about the size of a Freeview box, and a controller. Users can choose whether to rent or buy games, basing their decision on short free trials, and the service is also compatible with personal computers.
Not heard of OnLive?
OnLive is a gaming-on-demand game platform, announced at the Game Developers Conference in 2009. The service is a gaming equivalent of cloud computing: the game is synchronized, rendered, and stored on a remote server and delivered online.
You don’t have the games ever. Not a download, not a disc. The games are ran online at OnLive’s data centre and then the video output of the console or computer is streaming down to your PC or OnLive micro console.
The service has been in testing the USA for quite a while now, and with this announcement, a public beta begins it the UK!