Since last year there's a service called Onlive that came out. Now what is it you ask, well, it's basically a service that lets you play PC games only needing an internet connection. In theory, this is a cool idea, but in execution, well, it's not so pretty, I'll list the pros and cons of it.

Pros:

Accessibility-Don't know how to upgrade PCs and figure which parts you need to be able to run a game? Have no fear, Onlive is here, as you just need an internet connection, that's all. Just download the program, install it, create an account, and you're set. Pretty easy eh? If you want to play it on your TV, you can do that by either hooking your PC to a TV or buy a Onlive Microconsole for 100 bucks that includes a controller. Buying games is similar to Steam so there's nothing hard about that.

Being able to spectate-It's Xbox Live's cross game chat with a twist: You can watch people play games. That's right, a friend can watch you play a game. Do you realize how helpful this is for helping people how to play, where to go and just chat in general. IMO this is the coolest feature Onlive has.

Free Trials on most games-You are given 30 minutes to try full games, but better make the best of it as there are many to try, even on games you think wouldn't get a trial. I tried it on 4 games so far(as of this writing) and I want to buy some games now, lol.

And now for the bad, this will get ugly.

Cons:

Game selection-Well, it's still new, but honestly, it needs more games. This is the list of Onlive games:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OnLive_games

While you will find games you would want to play, I'm sure there would be more you would really want to play. Where's Skyrim, Sonic Generations, BF3, Crysis series, etc.?

Where's my options and files-Onlive requires you to be online 100% of the time. If a server goes down or your internet, you're out of luck. Yes, this includes single player games. There are no game files, so you can't tinker with any of them or play offline, and that's disappointing if you want more control. Speaking of control, it lacks being able to change any video options besides 1, lol. No graphical options is odd and you can't even change the res, you can at least change resolutions on consoles. Also no way to turn off v-sync which locks framerate. The restrictions prevent it from being the best experience.

Fast internet-You must have a fast ass internet to even try Onlive, because if you don't have one, your performance will vary and with v-sync on there's chances of input lag which you don't want.

Input lag-This is common unless you have great connection, and it makes certain genres like shooters hard to play. Basically, what action you do, like turn a mouse, will respond over a second later, and this is very, very bad for aiming, let alone movement. Games like Quake are impossible because that game series requires perfect aim to be good. Blame the lock on 60FPS people. I was playing Mafia II and I was like "Man, it's hard to aim, could had died at times too."

Performance-I'm not sure what it is, but I can never get constant 60FPS on any game I tried, not even on BloodRayne, a 2003 game, in fact, the whole game seemed to be in slow motion for some reason, I remember playing it faster than that. Games like Batman AC went under 30FPS at times, WTF? These games are at their lowest and I can't get better performance? That sucks. If they can take out v-sync, then maybe we can go over 60FPS for once and see what we really could get.

Lowest settings-To make games run good, every PC game is on low settings with no AA and 720p(1280x720). Now, if you don't care about graphics, that's fine, but honestly, you're better off going to play on a low end PC or even a console. At least you'll have options and should know what to play the game at smoothly. Plus the next reason will give you reasons to avoid it.

Compression and blurriness-My god, this is it, this is what will determine your fate in trying Onlive. Are you ready? Ok, do you want a clear picture? Well, good luck with that, because due to bandwidth, expect that to happen and it honestly ruins it. This alone will make you get a cheap PC or a console. The image quality is so bad that it can affect graphics as you can't make out what goes on, I mean, take a loook at this screen I took from Batman AC, just right click and then view image or copy url and paste into a new tab or copy image in new tab:

Note that it does that when action goes on, because Onlive can't handle it. Hell it still looks bad when you are just standing still, like this screen:

Even good looking games would look bad on it, like Metro 2033, yep, I have screens of that. Now lets compare the console version, the version it's competing against:

Looks much better and performs more consistent, lol. It's one thing to have low settings, it's another to have things that shouldn't exist. Man I wish it could go away.

To show how much difference it can make against a gaming PC, lets compare Metro 2003.

Onlive:

My PC:

Note that I got higher FPS and better graphics, what does that tell you? Exactly. I just compared screens of Onlive, console and high end pc gaming, and the difference clearly is there.

Conclusion:

Onlive needs work, it has cool ideas, but honestly it's not ready yet. If you want a simple PC experience and can put up with flaws, you can give Onlive a try. If you want the best versions, complete control over your games and want better graphics and performance, avoid Onlive like the plague, a console would be a better choice for even low end. Now going back to my gaming PC and consoles.

BTW I reached Level 56.