OnLive Adds Parental Controls, Facebook Integration and Group Voice Chat

The developers working on streaming video game service OnLive have announced that they are continuing to add features to the program and that users are now able to share their achievements on the Facebook social service, chat with a group using voice and that content can be locked down using parental controls.

A restricted mode is offered so that children can use OnLive and are able to play some games but cannot chat with others, post clips and be a spectator in a game created by someone else.

The company says that this is just a first step and that more parental controls will be offered in the future.

The group chat function allows users to create a list of friends and chat with them via voice while playing games, when spectating or accessing the OnLive game market.

Facebook integration allows players to show off their in-game achievements with an associated video clip.

OnLive has managed to have a successful launch and the service is planning to also come to a number of European markets during the fall of the year while streaming is also offered on iPad devices and on Android tablets later in the year.

OnLive is an innovative service that allows players to buy games and play them without ever downloading an install kit or picking up a physical disk.

The games are stored and played on the OnLive servers and only information like graphics and control inputs are moved between the player computer and the company server banks.

A ever-growing number of publishers now offer their titles on OnLive and the service has been promoting its features via a free voucher inserted in the PC versions of the recently released Deus Ex: Human Revolution, from Square Enix and Eidos Montreal.

Some analysts believe that similar services will be offered for the next generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft.