Players will further be permitted to download cloud games they own to other computers

Mar 6, 2014 12:58 GMT  ·  By

OnLive has announced the launch of CloudLift, a brand new service that allows subscribers to link to their Steam accounts and play select games through the streaming service.

OnLive sounded like a great idea on paper, but in practice it struggled with many issues, as streaming games from the cloud sounds like a novel and most definitely attractive idea, but unfortunately the reality is that it can't hold a candle to a dedicated home rig, for several different reasons.

Since the time when OnLive seemed like a redundant service that would offer limited functionality at best, not many people being on the road long enough to warrant a subscription fee and buying a game they already own, the team behind the whole idea re-invented the concept and came out with a better notion of what gamers would find useful, dubbed CloudLift.

CloudLift allows gamers to play downloaded games they already own anytime and anywhere via the cloud, on whatever devices strikes their fancy. The feature is currently in open beta, and its comes at a subscription fee of £10 / $15 / $12 per month, not including the cost of the games.

The system allows players to both access games they already own as well as to buy download codes from the OnLive service, with Cloud play available on PC, Mac, TV and Android tablets, complete with cloud save sync.

The most important of its features is that the new service enables users to download and/or play their games locally when they are using a platform capable of doing it, as well as to enjoy the benefits of OnLive's portability when they are not.

This means that more games will be added more easily to the service, and most importantly closer to their retail launch, as the games will not require any modification in order to be eligible for OnLive, which is great news, because their catalog of supported games is quite lacking for now.

In addition, the team is looking to add MMOs to the platform, and two are already on-board, Linden Lab's Second Life and Gaijin Entertainment's War Thunder.

Players can try any game in the OnLive library free for 30 minutes, as well as watch both live and recorded performances from the gaming community.

Future plans for OnLive include a broader retailer availability, with intentions for subscribers to be able to access their Origin and uPlay accounts underway.

The CloudLift service currently offers a 7-day free trial, so interested players can visit the OnLive website and find out more about the service or sign up for testing.