Microsoft to release OnLive rival in 2012?

Microsoft already has a solid foothold in the gaming industry, with gaming PCs running on Windows, console gamers with the Xbox 360, and a number of users gaming with their Windows Phone devices, but it looks like the company is ready to take it another step further. According to reports online, Microsoft is rumored to be launching a new service, similar to OnLive, which will let users play Xbox 360 games on all Microsoft platforms.

For those of you not in the know, OnLive, is a cloud based video game platform that allows users to play Xbox 360 and Windows games on the PC or OnLive gaming console with nothing more than a stable high-speed internet connection. In the future, it will be available on smartphones, tablets and Blu-ray players as well. It basically gives gamers the luxury of playing games without having to go through the hassles of installation or making sure their gaming rigs are powerful enough. Since it is cloud based, it will also allow gamers to save their games and resume it from the same point even if they switch devices.

Microsoft’s upcoming portal is said to allow consumers the ability to play Xbox 360 games on the Xbox 360, PC, Windows Phone devices and tablets similar to how OnLive works. Users will only need to purchase the game for the Xbox 360, and it will work on other Microsoft platforms. Sounds like a great idea, though to compete with OnLive it’ll probably boil down to the game selection, pricing and extra features. And seeing how this is a relatively untapped market, the potential to blow up is there. What do you think of Microsoft joining the cloud-gaming business?

George Wong
Categories: Gaming, Web
Tags: cloud, Microsoft, onlive, Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox 360