Ultimately, OnLive went bankrupt and fired most of its employees a few months ago. Documents have surfaced that show assets owned by OnLive, including patents and intellectual property, were purchased by a company called Lauder Partners for only $4.8 million. That price is approximately $14 million less than OnLive assets were said to be worth.

The letter was written by Joel Weinberger, the CEO of Insolvency Services Group, the company tasked with handling the sale of OnLive assets. The letter was confirmed to be legitimate by Insolvency Services Group legal representatives. OnLive said of the low-priced sale, “When planned financing didn’t work out, the company was left with few options.”

The estimated worth of OnLive’s assets was $18.7 million. Lauder Partners seems to have gotten themselves quite a deal. If OnLive is able to transform itself into a service that can be successful and profitable remains to be seen. OnLive was acquired by Lauder Partners in August after it formed into a new company and laid off the majority of its staff.

“Had the sale to the buyer not taken place, the assignee would have been left with inadequate capital to fund the significant costs to preserve and market OnLive’s patents and other intellectual property, thus greatly reducing expected recoveries essentially to those of a forced piecemeal auction,” said Weinberg in the letter.

[via Gamesindustry.biz]

On the same day that the NPD says that good tech service is the reason why Apple has so many repeat customers, a supposed Apple Genius training manual leaks, giving us a rare look at how Apple trains its employees. The T-Mobile Galaxy S II has been updated with support for NFC and Isis, and T-Mobile has some big plans for NFC. Speaking of T-Mobile, it looks like the company has a new plan to sell against the next iPhone when it (hopefully) launches next month. MetroPCS is offering a new phone to go along with its 4G LTE push, and Samsung has released a new Galaxy S III app aimed at making things easier for those who use their phone while driving.

The Nexus 7 has snuck onto the Google homepage, and the Google Election Hub is up and running today, offering coverage from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Nokia users worldwide were treated to Nokia Belle Refresh today, and it appears that Motorola and Apple are close to striking a licensing deal in Germany. It seems that the iPhone 5 won’t be getting NFC capabilities as originally rumored, Steve Perlman actually isn’t staying on as CEO of OnLive following the asset acquisition by a silent investor, and Google has a new patent for an object recognition system that could be huge. Hopefully you’re ready to play the role of homeowner, because in Skyrim‘s new DLC, you’ll be doing just that.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is getting a handful of new color variations – we’re partial to the grey, to be honest – while the company also gave us some more details about its incoming Series 5 all-in-one PC. Curiosity has beamed back some new images of Mars, which is always exciting, and Garmin detailed its new Forerunner 10 smart watch with GPS. Radio Shack’s wireless rates for no contract phone plans leaked today, and same-day delivery service Shutl has received a significant investment from the folks at UPS.

Finally tonight, we have a review of the Acer Aspire V5 from Cory Gunther for you to check out. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday evening everyone!

I thought at the time it was rather odd that with the company experiencing such significant financial problems the CEO in charge during those problems would remain. Often when a company is forced to lay off workers and restructure the executives in charge of running the company end up tossed out. Reports indicate that as of this week, Perlman is no longer the CEO of the company.

This is rather odd considering that it has only been days since OnLive said Perlman would be staying on board. The official statement from OnLive on Perlman leaving is that he is “departing to work on his myriad of other projects.” Perlman likely took his own financial beating with OnLive having to restructure.

The Verge reports that while Perlman was the majority shareholder in OnLive originally; all his stock was apparently wiped out when the company went insolvent. The company used something called an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, and reportedly, all stock in the company was wiped out. Reports from insiders claim that the reason Perlman left was that employees asked for his permanent resignation before they would consider working for the new company.

[via The Verge]

This verdict comes on the same day that Tim Cook wraps up his first year as Apple CEO, and elsewhere in the world, a similar lawsuit between Apple and Samsung ended with both companies facing bans in South Korea. Ouch. After a bit of a shake up at the OnLive headquarters, things seem to have calmed down a bit, and Steve Perlman will be staying on as OnLive CEO. LG has teased an incoming smartphone with an S4 quad-core processor, and Google’s legendary I’m Feeling Lucky button has been given a pretty major update. It isn’t the same I’m Feeling Lucky button it once was, of course, but we think it’ll begin to grow on you after awhile.

The presidential campaigns will soon begin receiving donations through text messages, and the Nikon D600 full-frame DSLR camera may be getting a release in September. Speaking of cameras, beleaguered Kodak has come up with a new way to raise some quick cash after patent auctions left something to be desired. The much-rumored iPad Mini has apparently popped up in some photos for a pre-fab case, and it seems that Samsung has a new smartphone called the Galaxy Stellar coming to Verizon, which is all well and good, but Samsung actually has yet to announce the phone or release a list of specs.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has beaten the iPad when it comes to profit margins, and for the third time this week, Rockstar has released a new batch of Grand Theft Auto V screenshots. Astronomers have discovered a pair of new spiral galaxies that have a lot in common with our own, and it would appear that Amazon has leaked its tablet plans through a new advertisement. Wrapping up the news tonight, Facebook is having its developers use the Facebook app for Android in order to get them motivated to fix it, or at least that’s what the rumors say.

As is usually the case here at SlashGear, we didn’t just have news for you today, as Chris Burns provides a review of SuperTooth DISCO 2 for you to check out. Have a good weekend everyone!

A large portion of OnLive’s workforce was laid off, and the company began restructuring that led to smartphone maker HTC losing its $40 million investment. When things go so badly for a company, I expect to see the CEO and other executives move on, and new blood come in. That assumes the company is still viable at all. Therefore, it is somewhat surprising to me to hear that OnLive is keeping their CEO Steve Perlman.

An official statement was issued by OnLive this week giving more details on what’s going on at the company and what fans can expect moving forward. OnLive said in the statement that it has a new investor and assured subscribers that all their purchases, achievements, videos, and other content were still there and would not be interrupted. The company says it plans to continue operating its service 24/7 just as it has since launch.

OnLive announced that Perlman will continue as CEO and was concentrating on the major transition. Once the company transition is complete, OnLive said that Pearlman would focus on the company’s next product releases and promised more major announcements large and small. Those announcements include the Vizio CoStar and the Ouya console. Other major announcements are promised to be coming soon.

[via OnLiveFans]

The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus showed its face again today, complete with a 1.5GHz dual-core Exynos processor, and we were even given a glimpse at the Nikon Coolpix S800c Android-based camera. Samsung announced the GALAXY S DUOS, which features dual-SIM functionality but seems to be a tad underpowered with the Galaxy S III on the scene. We received yet another picture of the next iPhone’s reported new dock connector, and we got a better idea of what OnLive will look like moving forward. Unfortunately, it looks like HTC will be losing quite a bit of money now that OnLive has been bought out, which isn’t good news for the already-struggling company.

The Nintendo 3DS XL has finally arrived in North America, and a number of Motorola DROID RAZR HD tutorial videos were spotted before quickly being taken down. Hulu’s CEO might be exiting the company sometime next month, the Galaxy Note 10.1 has been given a pretty excellent score by the folks at iFixit, and pieces of Amelia Earhart’s plane may have been discovered off the coast of an island in the Pacific. Netflix has very quickly added 1 million subscribers in the UK and Ireland, while Barnes and Noble said it will be launching new devices in the UK this fall. Grand Theft Auto V got a round of new screenshots today, though they didn’t show much, and Sony announced that the PS Vita has passed 2.2 million sales worldwide since launch.

NASA announced the next Discovery mission today: InSight, which will be headed to Mars in 2016, while the Hubble Telescope gave us a picture of two star clusters that are on a collision course with one another. A new Android threat called SMSZombie has hit 500,000 phones in China, and it’s particularly hard to get rid of, while today the Curiosity rover laser-blasted its first Martian rock. Star Wars here we come.

Finally tonight, we have a couple of original articles for you to check out, like this review of the Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE and this column explaining why you might take a pass on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which is supposedly getting a reveal at IFA 2012. Enjoy the rest of your evening, folks!

OnLive services will reportedly continue to work without any issues for users, but those employees who have been left without a job will be offered consulting roles with the company in exchange for options in the new company. When the company secures more funding, it plans to hire back more of its former employees. In a statement, the company says that “asset acquisition, although a heartbreaking transition for everyone involved with OnLive, allows the company’s core innovation and ongoing offerings to survive and continue to evolve.”

Employees aren’t the only ones affected by the changes: HTC estimates that it will lose out on its $40 million investment in the company that it made in February 2011. HTC cites the troubles that OnLive has been facing, saying in a note to investors that the company faced difficulties due to a “lack of operating cash and an inability to raise new capital.” It’s yet another blow for HTC, which has been seeing financial trouble itself in recent months.

The company recently had to pull out of South Korea and Brazil due to lack of sales in both markets, and posted a troubling second quarter financial results. Profits were down 57% compared to the same period in 2011, with HTC posting a net profit of ~$248 million overall. Revenues for July 2012 were also down 45% compared to the same time last year.

[via TechCrunch/PCWorld]

Of course, that statement was specifically vague, as OnLive didn’t clarify who its new investors were or just how many employees would get to keep their jobs. One of those fired employees has given a better idea of what’s going on behind the scenes, telling PCMag that “definitely over half” of the company’s employees were let go during a meeting on Friday morning. It appears that the employees who were fired on Friday won’t be getting their jobs back as the company makes this transition, as some employees received job offers on Friday while others received notices of termination.

Not only that, but this ex-employee says that those who were fired weren’t given any kind of severance package, only pay for their last week of work. Things seemed to have changed around the OnLive offices pretty quickly as well, with those given the boot being told to vacate the premises by the end of the day. So, things may not have gone as well as OnLive executives would have us believe, but as with every story, there are two sides to hear.

Indeed, there still is a lot we don’t know about this whole OnLive deal, and we’re hoping that things become at least a little more clear in the coming days and weeks. If what this ex-OnLive employee says is true, then that’s a real shame for those who lost their jobs. We’re hoping that’s not the case, but we won’t know for sure until OnLive gets a bit more specific – if it ever does at all. Stay tuned, because this OnLive story is definitely far from over.

According to Lenovo, Windows RT tablets could cost $300 less than Windows 8 tablets, and it appears that Yahoo is on the lookout for a new COO. After discovering a glitch with digital signatures earlier in the week, Microsoft is once again publishing Windows Phone apps, and Twitter’s new API update restricts some third-party apps, so watch out for that. UK retailer Clove is reporting that the black Samsung Galaxy S III will be out in October, and a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 bundle comes packed with bonuses that students are going to find hard to resist.

There’s a particularly nasty Trojan dubbed “Shamoon” that’s making the rounds, and in some rather surprising news from the day, it seems that OnLive is shutting down today. OnLive executives said throughout the day that everything with the company is fine, but later, more evidence that supports such a shutdown surfaced. Not good. Both models of the Nexus 7 are now in stock again on the Google Play store, and third parties were right there to begin pushing all sorts of accessories for it, while we’re hearing rumors that claim Apple’s set-top box will come with cloud DVR and a simple UI.

The beta for Steam’s upcoming Big Picture Mode will be kicking off at the beginning of next month, and HP is getting serious about tackling the consumer tablet division (or at least trying to again). The iPad Mini – and future iPad iterations for that matter – will apparently be getting a special ITO film, and Warren Spector is really pushing for Epic Mickey on the Xbox 360 and PS3, but he needs your help in convincing Disney.

Finally tonight, we have a number of original articles for you to peruse. Don Reisinger asks if there will one day be a universal gaming console, Ben Kersey has SlashGear’s review of The Expendables 2, and Chris Burns has a hands-on with the Motorola PHOTON Q. Enjoy your weekend, folks!

Kotaku has spoken to a source from within the company, who says that OnLive has filed for a special alternative to bankruptcy that exists in California. Called Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, it affords some protection from creditors to broke companies. This employee also says that everyone at the company has been laid off, though some of them will be returning soon to start a new business from the ashes of OnLive.

Over at Gamasutra, we hear a lot of the same. Gamasutra confirms that all of OnLive’s employees have been laid off, and that the mass lay off occurred this morning. OnLive officials are still being intentionally short when answering questions too, never saying much more than “everything is fine” or something to that effect.

It’s been a very up and down day when it comes to OnLive news. On the one hand, we have employees saying that the company is shutting down, while PR and executives are saying that nothing is wrong. Whatever the real story is, something is clearly going on behind the scenes at OnLive. Whether that’s simply a round of layoffs, a company-wide shutdown, or the formation of a new company is currently up in the air, so keep it here at SlashGear for more information as this story develops.

Update: OnLive confirms that it has indeed been sold to a “newly-formed company” The Verge reports. OnLive says in an email that all of its services and partnerships will continue on as normal, and that this company will be “hiring a large percentage of OnLive, Inc.’s staff across all departments and plans to continue to hire substantially more people, including additional OnLive employees.” Apparently, the reason why OnLive executives were being so vague and short in statements throughout the day is because they weren’t allowed to comment on the deal until it had been completed. OnLive did not name the company that has purchased it.

So there you have it: OnLive has been sold, a lot of people get to keep their jobs, and there is no planned interruption for any of OnLive’s services or partnerships.

This comment was all that Forbes contributor Jason Evangelho was able to get out of the OnLive official aside from the basic “thanks for the note, we do not have a comment.” OnLive has not made any comment on the possibility of layoffs, whether they actually exist or not. They’ve also still left open the possibility of a purchase from on high. If another company has acquired OnLive, it would be easy to see how a rumor might spread that employees would be turned out quickly.

Earlier today, the rumor went something like this: Mashable appears to have been the first to receive the tip that an email was being sent out to news groups and partners from employees of the company:

“I wanted to send a note that by the end of the day today, OnLive as an entity will no longer exist. Unfortunately, my job and everyone was included. A new company will be formed and the management of the company will be in contact with you about the current initiatives in place.” – supposed OnLive employees

Now we must wait to see if OnLive will bring on a more extensive statement on the current status of their company and their employees. We’re expecting this situation to mostly be made up of bits of rumor and phone-game sorts of here-say, but you never know! Stick around on SlashGear to hear more as we find out!

When asked about support for the Nexus 7, OnLive online support replied, “We don’t have support out for it yet, but we hope to shortly.” There is no specific date for Nexus 7 support offered, but considering that the tablet has a lot of buzz, I would imagine OnLive is working hard right now. The Universal Controller sells for $50 and connects to Android tablets, smartphones, and other devices.

OnLive has been around for a while now and is a streaming video game service that streams games over a Wi-Fi connection at quality comparable to that found on modern consoles and computers. Perhaps the best thing is that the games offered are actual PC versions, not mobile versions with watered-down controls and graphics. Another cool thing about OnLive is that one account will let you play on your computer, tablet, and other devices.

[via Gottabemobile]

Marvell’s ARMADA 1500 HD Media SoC is the star of this announcement. It’s a dual-core CPU with integrated Qdeo video processing technology, capable of more than 6000 Dhrystone MIPS. It also comes with support for 3DTV and full HD streaming to complete the package. Sadly, Marvell has yet to announce which upcoming Google TV devices will utilize the ARMADA 1500, so we’ll have to a while longer for those details to surface.

For the past few years, OnLive has been working hard to make cloud gaming the big new thing. The idea seems to be catching on, with some PC platforms like GamersGate offering streaming demos through Gaikai. Earlier this month, we learned that Sony had purchased Gaikai, so it may not be long before OnLive has some serious competition on consoles. Still, this partnership will make OnLive’s presence in the gaming world that much stronger, so it’s doubtful that the the company is worrying about its competitors (or potential competitors, for that matter) much today.

[via Talk Android]

After all, it’s already being touted that users will be able to hack the device in order to play unofficial game titles through the Android software. Streaming video game devices appear to be the big thing these days. Onlive is as popular as ever, and is poised to get a large boost when it fully integrates with Google TV. And Sony just acquired Gaikai, the other key player in the “Netflix for video games” market.

Of course, Android isn’t exactly the biggest name in the world of gaming, or even in the world of mobile gaming. So it certainly will be a test to make Ouya a success. According to a now-removed listing on AngelList.com, some of the individuals involved in the Ouya project are people who have previously been part of such high-profile projects as One Laptop Per Child, Jawbone Jambox, Peek, and Color. It’s expected that the Ouya will sell for $99.

[via Examiner]

However, it was discovered that in the technical specifications and documentation for the impending Blu-ray device, Sony listed OnLive connectivity as an optional accessory. Now, however, the company has wiped any reference to OnLive in connection to the player. What most likely happened was that Sony was working on the Gaikai deal behind closed doors, but wanted to have the OnLive compatibility there just in case.

Or, it could very well be that the team working on the Google TV Blu-ray player had no clue about Gaikai and so they just put OnLive connectivity there since it is compatible with Google TV products. It will be interesting to see Sony specifically exclude one of the newest Google TV services from a Google TV product, but that’s the way the business world works.

[via VentureBeat]

Sony has been talking about its “Four Screen” strategy since late 2011, with then-CEO Howard Stringer using the phrase to describe an holistic ecosystem of PC, tablet, smartphone and TV. Sony “spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs” Stringer said at the time, a platform that was just ready to launch the chief exec insisted.

The strategy was one picked up by Stringer’s replacement, Kaz Hirai, arguing that user experience and not hardware would turn Sony around. ”The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio,” Hirai said when he took the new position, “in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.”

Sony isn’t the only firm chasing “new and exciting ways” to encourage people to stick loyally to its products and services. Possible candidates for an OnLive grab include HTC, which has already invested $40m into the company back in early 2011, though has so far failed to capitalize on that bar an abortive preload on the HTC Flyer. It’s also questionable whether it would go up against Sony on mobile gaming: last month, HTC became the first third-party company to sign up as a PlayStation Certified partner.

So, who else has a gap in its mobile gaming strategy? Microsoft’s Windows Phone has the promise of Xbox LIVE running between it, Xbox 360, Windows and the new Surface tablets, along with Xbox SmartGlass to sew up the multi-screen gap. That’s not to say a cloud gaming system like OnLive wouldn’t fit in there too, and the two companies have already been working together to some extent on OnLive Desktop. A hosted desktop in the cloud might be an interesting addition to Windows RT tablets, and bypass future need to develop ARM-specific Office releases.

Then again, perhaps Samsung is a better candidate. The South Korean company has already admitted that it is relatively lacking in software “competitiveness”; more recently, its new mobile CEO reiterated that “a particular focus must be given to serving new customer experience and value by strengthening soft capabilities in software, user experience, design, and solutions.” It has a cloud-based photo and video sync system, but no serious gaming option despite, like Sony, having a footprint in TV, phones, tablets and PCs.

Google and Apple are the two cash-rich heavyweights, and each might be a good fit for OnLive. There’d be no shortage of server-farm space with either, certainly, and both iOS and Android could certainly benefit from an injection of cloud gaming. For Google, it would also turn new devices like the Nexus Q and existing, struggling platforms like Google TV into instant consoles; the same could be said for the Apple TV, and Apple already has AirPlay Video for using an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch as a wireless controller.

Then there’s NVIDIA, though so far it’s shown more interesting in supplying CUDA processing to cloud gaming companies than actually owning one itself. Back in May, in fact, it announced a deal with Gaikai to use GRID processing to power streaming game content. Where that deal stands in the aftermath of the Sony acquisition is unclear right now.

What we do know is that gaming is going to be an increasingly vital element for any company hoping to take the reins of its future in the mobile space, and the cost of acquiring OnLive would likely be quickly outweighed by its value in that ecosystem. We can already hear the rustle of checkbooks.

Who do you think would make the best fit for OnLive? Or should the company continue to go it alone? Let us know in the comments!

Sony has not said when it expects the $380m acquisition to close (assuming it clears the usual regulatory hurdles) but it’s not hard to speculate around where the company could take the cloud technology. The company has been talking about its “four screen” strategy for some time now, bringing together its PlayStation, VAIO PC and tablet, and freshly-acquired Xperia strands into a more holistic platform.

There’s also the possibility of a more computing-related use for the Gaikai tech, perhaps augmenting Sony’s existing PlayMemories Online service that rivals Google Drive. “With this acquisition,” the company said in a statement, “SCE will establish a cloud service and expand its network business by taking full advantage of Gaikai’s revolutionary technology and infrastructure including data centers servicing dozens of countries and key partners around the world.”

A deal with a cloud gaming provider was rumored back in May, with Sony tipped to be weighing a takeover of either Gaikai or OnLive. It’s unclear at this stage what will happen to Gaikai’s existing deals with other providers; the company is ramping up for a launch with Samsung to put cloud gaming on the South Korean firm’s Smart TVs this summer.

Meanwhile, Sony’s second-gen Google TV range looks to be readying for OnLive support, though there’s no word on when it might actually be enabled.

Vizio say that the Co-Star has support for Flash and HTML5 in the web browser, allowing users to make full use of the internet without encountering any problems. The box can be plugged in to exisiting satellite or cable boxes via HDMI as well, allowing customers to use Google TV while keeping an eye on live television. If you’re trying to cut the cord, then all the relevant streaming services as onboard, such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and YouTube.

On top of all of that, Vizio has partnered with OnLive to bring streaming games to the box. You’ll be able to control everything using the provided Bluetooth remote, or by using a separate QWERTY keyboard. Connectivity for the box includes 802.11n WiFi and a USB port for hard drives and other accessories. DLNA support has also made the grade, allowing you to wireless pipe media to the box from DLNA enabled devices.

Pre-orders for the Vizio Co-Star begin in July from Vizio’s website. The box will cost $99.99, and the company will throw in free shipping for a limited time.

Sources indicate that the deal is close to being signed, and it has far reaching implications for the Japanese company. It would enable Sony to potentially offer PlayStation games on devices other than its consoles, such as Smart TVs, phones, and tablets. Gaikai recently partnered with NVIDIA and LG to bring its game streaming service to televisions, and that could be what Sony is hoping to do with a purchase of such a company.

It makes sense, with Sony already invading homes with televisions, tablets, and smartphones, so why not use them? The company has tried to PSOne games on Sony smartphones, and devices like the Xperia Play failed to take off, but unifying PlayStation games that would work across all Sony hardware thanks to streaming would be a smart play. Whatever happens, Sony is expected to reveal all at its E3 press conference on Monday June 4th. The live press conference will kick off at 9pm EST/6pm PST.

[via Edge]

The two Kepler GPUs on the GRID card will be able to crunch their way through the latest games without too much trouble, while CUDA performs H.264 video encoding duties in realtime. NVIDIA say that takes pressure off CPUs, reducing energy consumption and proving more efficient than other solutions. On top of that, the company says its fast streaming technology cuts lags down to just 10ms, although ultimately your internet connection will be dependant on how well you can play the game.

So what’s the plan beyond that? NVIDIA and Gaikai showed off a virtual console though, streaming games to an LG Smart TV controlled using a wireless game pad. It looks like the duo will leverage Smart TVs and Android devices going forward rather than offering dedicated hardware like OnLive’s Game System.

Several game developers seem to be onboard with the scheme, such as Epic Games, Capcom, and THQ, although it remains to be seen when the final app will appear. In the meantime, wander over to Gaikai’s website for a glimpse of the shape of things to come.

[via Android Community]

OnLive and Microsoft began talks to get the service legit and now apparently licensing has been made. OnLive’s services are now in compliance with Microsoft’s licensing agreements according to a report. Rather than hosting Windows 7 virtually, the service has switched to a hosted instance of Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft’s licensing rules stipulate that Windows 7 can only be hosted virtually if each user has a license for the OS from Microsoft.

Office can’t be provided as a service at all unless hosted on Windows server and Remote Desktop Services. OnLive is expected to tweak Windows Server 2008 R2 to look like a Windows 7 desktop. What’s not clear at this time is if the price of the service will increase based on the new licensing terms. If OnLive’s competitors were correct in that the five dollar monthly fee was a price that loses money, it would seem pricing would have to increase. That is assuming Microsoft isn’t going to cut a better deal for On Live than competitors have simply to get its services on the iPad.

[via ArsTechnica]

Microsoft’s corporate VP of Worldwide Licensing and Pricing, Joe Matz, revealed in a blog post today that the company is currently in talks with OnLive to resolve the issue. He clarified that if OnLive wants to remotely host Windows 7 for customers, then those customers must first have their own licenses to the software directly with Microsoft.

“We are actively engaged with OnLive with the hope of bringing them into a properly licensed scenario, and we are committed to seeing this issue is resolved,” wrote Matz. “Customers that want to work with partners to have them host Windows 7 in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solution on their behalf, can do so when the customer provides the partner licenses through the customer’s own agreements with Microsoft.”

Released earlier this year, the OnLive desktop app gives iPad or Android tablet users instant access via the cloud to Windows desktop software, such as Office Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Free account users get 2GB of cloud storage along with access to the software, while pro plans were in the pipeline that would cost up to $9.99 per month for priority access and additional cloud storage of up to 50GB.

[via Wired]

“You can expect even the most elaborate Flash websites to load in seconds, even if it would have taken your home computer minutes to load the same page” OnLive CEO Steve Perlman promises. ”Animation, video and sound come through impeccably and instantly. And, large cloud storage files and Web email attachments—even 50 MB PowerPoint presentations—to upload or download in less than a second.”

Apple has always strongly defended its decision not to allow Flash on its iOS devices, blaming Adobe for never releasing a version of the software that’s efficient and streamlined enough to meet with iPad and iPhone owners’ approval. Adobe seemingly agreed, and announced it would cease development of mobile Flash efforts and instead concentrate on HTML5.

Still, even with HTML5 gaining traction, there’s still plenty of Flash-based content out there on the internet. Some is simply video and gloss, but other sites use Flash-based UIs that render them impossible to navigate on an iOS gadget. That’s what OnLive Desktop Plus will help address, and the company says that because it’s servers are running all the Flash content and merely pushing on-screen changes to your device, your bandwidth use might actually decrease.

All of that comes at a price, however. Unlike the original OnLive Desktop service, which is free, Desktop Plus will demand a $4.99 monthly subscription. That does at least get you access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Reader, along with 2GB of cloud-based storage to use.

Meanwhile, OnLive has promised that a version of OnLive Desktop for Android tablets is “coming soon,” along with Android smartphones, PCs and Macs, and even monitors and TVs hooked up via an OnLive MicroConsole thin client.

Free account users get 2GB of cloud storage to host their files, along with access to the Microsoft Office suite of PowerPoint, Word and Excel. There are also a few basic utilities and games, though true gamers should probably look to OnLive‘s traditional cloud-based gaming package of full titles.

However, in the pipeline is OnLive Desktop Pro, a more advanced version of the service that boosts an account to 50GB of cloud storage, gives “accelerated priority access” to the remote servers, and bundles additional apps and features for $9.99 per month. Both free and pro packages mix together multitouch gestures, onscreen keyboards and even handwriting recognition, in an attempt to blend the best of the iOS and Windows worlds.

Sharing files between OnLive Desktop and other devices is supported, and an Android version is in the pipeline. You can download it from iTunes now [iTunes link].

[Thanks Carl!]

Whatever the year, it’s clear that Sony will eventually launch a new console. Microsoft will do the same. And Nintendo is already planning to do so in the coming months.

But all this talk of consoles has me thinking: do we really need more hardware?

The fact is, we’re inching closer to the day where hardware connected to our televisions will be a thing of the past. Samsung and DirecTV at CES this week announced a “boxless” solution that lets users have the full DVR experience on their 2012 Smart TV without actually needing to hook the device up to the set. There’s talk of Apple wanting to include apps, iCloud, and other features into its own television.

And all that fails to mention we have downloadable games already available to us both on the PC and on game consoles. We’ve already come to the point of being able to enjoy content without being required to have a set-top box to do it.

So, how important will consoles be in, say, 2014 or 2015? Will broadband speeds be fast enough to accommodate downloading a big game, like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3? Will televisions come with application stores in them to allow us to access games without requiring that middleman?

It’s certainly a possibility. But there’s one major issue standing in the way of us finally detaching ourselves from the console life support: the hardware companies themselves.

Like it or not, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony all rely heavily upon hardware to make their businesses as big as they are. And there’s a good chance that they will be the first companies to denounce ideas of eliminating hardware and getting direct access to titles from game makers.

Microsoft and Sony might be especially outspoken about such a plan. Those companies have not done nearly as good of a job as Nintendo delivering first-party content consumers actually want to play. If television makers and game developers sync up, there’s a solid chance those companies’ game divisions will be marginalized, to say the least.

As for us? Well, we can only hope to get the best experience, regardless of whether that comes via consoles or downloadable content. But I suspect the latter will deliver a better experience at some point in the future.

Who’s with me?

Riding high on Android and with its expertise in search, Google should’ve swept the board when it first turned its hand to smart TV. Instead, Google TV was lambasted for its confusing interface, patchy functionality and ever-changing line up of content (made unpredictable by Google’s apparent refusal to pay for licensing deals but instead attempting to harness free online streams). With the second-gen system now ready for prime time, the search giant has managed to coax some big names back onboard, as well as tease gamers with the promise of OnLive for console-quality play without any extra hardware beyond a wireless controller.

Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizio were all expected to bring Google TV powered sets to the show, and all but Samsung delivered. LG spared us the heavy-duty specs, only saying that its two Google TV sets would drop later this year and use a homegrown quadcore ARM chipset. Like Vizio, which announced the R-Series of Google TVs, LG has reskinned the core Google UI to suit its own interface styling. Vizio also had two set-top boxes, one adding a Blu-ray drive, the VAP430 and VBR430, which promise to make Google TV more affordable.

Sony, meanwhile, took another approach, not bothering with fully-integrated Google TV HDTVs but instead looking to two new set-top boxes instead. It’s possible the company learned the hard way from its first-gen Google TV sets, though the new Network Media Player NSZ-GS7 and Blu-ray Disc Player NSZ-GP9 are arguably more useful given there are plenty of people content with their existing TV but still wanting a smart upgrade.

Finally, Marvell brought along its ARMADA 1500 chipset and a reference design Google TV STB to demonstrate it. The company is pushing the design to its hardware partners, along with a useful upscaling addition that promises to make lower-res content and UI look better on a 1080p Full HD display.

As for Samsung, it stuck with its homegrown smart TV platform for CES, though reiterated its support for Google TV and promised that “a forthcoming offering will deliver an entirely distinct experience in the category” later in 2012. That’s not to say its hardware this week has been underwhelming, however. Our playtime with Samsung’s 60-inch smart TV – which packs Kinect-style motion and voice control – suggested the non-traditional navigation may be gimmicky but the core software is very strong, while integrated DIRECTV support and the potential for hardware upgrades along the line shows services aren’t being left behind either.

LG may have had Google TVs to show off, but it also pushed ahead with its own platform, and some models ramped up the extras to stand out of the crowd. The Cinema Screen 3D HDTVs, for instance, can use their 3D screen technology for dual-view gaming, each player getting their own full-screen view simultaneously.

Vizio, too, used its own VIA smart TV software on some of its other models, echoing Philips’ push for true theater-aspect 21:9 screens with the new XVT CinemaWide line-up. You’ll need a big living room to accommodate them – and Vizio will need more luck than Philips, which eventually axed its range – but if you’re a keen movie buff they might be a solid alternative to a projector.

Lenovo isn’t a name generally associated with TV, so the company’s K91 entrant to the home entertainment segment came as something of a surprise. Headed to Lenovo’s home territory China first, but with broader international availability expected after that, the K91 actually runs Android but Ice Cream Sandwich rather than Google TV (v.2 of which is based on 3.x Honeycomb) and has a custom UI to suit sofa-bound users.

Finally, Canonical is hoping the hunger for Linux-based smart TV platforms will see its own embedded Ubuntu system picks up steam. We were impressed by the performance on the Ubuntu TV the team had prepared for CES, though Canonical wouldn’t say much on the “multiple manufactures” apparently in talks about using the system. It’ll go head to head with Google’s renewed Google TV drive, that’s for sure, and the search giant’s known brand and significantly improved second-gen software could prove difficult to beat.

Convinced by Smart TV? Considering buying one of these sets, or holding out for more new hardware later in the year? Let us know in the comments!

The app will use the Universal OnLive Wireless Controller announced last week, hooking up to the TV or Google TV STB directly. The first 30 minutes of most of OnLive’s 200 games will apparently be free to try, with per-title purchases supported after that; alternatively, there’ll be the subscription-based OnLive PlayPack Bundle for unlimited access to more than 140 of the cloud-based games.

Vizio will be showing off a playable version of OnLive on Google TV as part of its V.I.A. Plus smart TV system at CES 2012 this week, and you can bet we’ll be headed over to see if we can take part in some cloud gaming fun today. The app is expected to be preloaded onto future Google TV sets and adapters.

iPad users will be able to easily and securely view and edit cloud-hosted documents with Windows desktop apps in a smooth and seamless experience. Instant-response multi-touch gestures combined with a full on-screen Windows keyboard and handwriting recognition will make it easy to view and edit even complex documents directly on the iPad.

The OnLive Desktop app is free and comes with 2GB of cloud storage along with access to available Windows 7 apps, which so far include Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and several utilities and games. An OnLive Desktop Pro option will be coming soon that offers 50GB of cloud storage and accelerated priority access, and additional PC apps and features for $9.99 per month. The free OnLive Desktop app will also be heading to Android soon.

The iOS and Android apps themselves are free, though you’ll of course need to pay OnLive for the privilege of using the games. If you’re on a budget, though, you can bypass the wireless controller and just stick with the touchscreen on your phone or slate, though only 25 titles actually support that method of input; if you want to use most os OnLive’s near-200 games, you’ll need that controller.

Up to four controllers can be paired with a PC using a bundled USB adapter, along with a Bluetooth headset for in-game voice communication. It’s powered either by a pair of AA batteries or an OnLive rechargeable pack, which rejuices via a USB connection and is apparently good for up to 36hrs of play.

Those gaming on their phone or tablet can play against others using their PC, Mac or the OnLive Microconsole itself, and all the usual social and “Brag Clip” features are present. Touch-supporting games include L.A. Noire, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and 5-7, and Defense Grid Gold.

[via Android Community]

HTC is arguably at a disadvantage from the off in comparison with its mobility rivals. The smartphone market, outside of Apple for the most part, has become a vast game of spec-sheet bingo, with flagship, mainstream and budget products competing on how many buzzwords they can tick off. Advanced users familiar with the tech look for key features like the current generation of high-speed dualcore processors and pixel-dense displays, while the less involved can only compare long lists of checkboxes in stores to figure out which of the increasingly identikit devices is “best.”

When your worth is the sum of your components, HTC’s shortfall in manufacturing begins to drag. Samsung has a huge advantage in producing its own displays, camera modules, chipsets and memory, while LG has its NOVA display prowess. Apple has not been shy in flexing its mighty bank balance and tying up the latest and greatest in hardware for its phones and tablets. In comparison, HTC has been left to pick up what suppliers will allow it to have.

Meanwhile, its lead with Android – founded on the very first Android smartphone, the G1/Dream – has lost momentum. Samsung usurped HTC’s Nexus role with the Nexus S and leveraged its leading-hardware position to produce the Galaxy Nexus after it; Motorola Mobility, now in Google’s pocket, looks increasingly likely to produce the fourth Nexus device, despite Andy Rubin’s protestations that it will be an independent decision.

Where HTC should have pushed ahead was in software and services; in fact, at one point it showed all the signs of doing so. HTC Sense was the perfect sop for the smartphone-naive public, back in the days when Android’s own UI was more hotchpotch than holistic. The company even led the way for features Google later integrated into Android itself, such as synchronizing Facebook details with individual contacts.

With HTCSense.com and the investment in OnLive, it looked like HTC was doing its best to innovate on software and services to balance out its shortcomings in raw components. The online Sense service was to be a cloud hub of contacts, messages and content, offering free tracking and remote access if your lost your phone or left it in your desk drawer at work, while offering a distilled selection of apps that HTC had picked out of the Wild West melee of the Android Market. With the addition of gaming it could have been a legitimate selling point, not just to first-time smartphone buyers drawn in by HTC’s eyecandy-rich UI, but to upgraders too. After all, why jump ship from HTC to, say, Samsung if you lose access to all those useful cloud services in the process?

Unfortunately, Sense online ran out of steam and HTC seemed to lose interest. What could’ve been a strong differentiator – something that would have a powerful impact on users’ daily experience with their phones – it became little more than another pointless pop-up in the notification bar. For most, the only reminder that HTCSense.com is there is the “Matched Contacts” dialog that periodically appears, asking you to link new profile information on your phone with that of other registered Sense users in the cloud. Problem is, once you’ve gone through and signed off on the links, nothing actually happens. It’s smartphone busy-work, another missed opportunity for HTC to put its merits front and center before an audience near-addicted to tapping on their phones.

With Ice Cream Sandwich receiving rave reviews, the Sense UI is losing some of its schtick. HTC is still positioning it as the straightforward, multimedia-rich way to interact with your device, but the OS it covers up no longer really demands such short-cuts. Instead, with fragmentation the platform bogey man of the moment, it introduces a cavalcade of delays to updates.

That’s easy to gloss over when you’re writing about the mobile industry, or investing in it. When you’re a user, less than a year into your 24-month agreement, watching your friends get OTA updates bringing shiny new features to their smartphones and wondering where yours might be, you may not know it’s called “fragmentation” but you definitely know you don’t like it. After two years of that, it’s perhaps enough to make you look elsewhere for your next smartphone hit; that’s when HTC’s value-added services should be coaxing users back into the fold, but we’ve already seen how that’s not happening.

Based on the latest batch of leaks, HTC’s 2012 line-up shows real promise. Gone are the “big screens for the sake of big screens” of me-too handsets like the Sensation XL, replaced with top-tier hardware, aesthetically pleasing design and an apparent recognition that more-of-the-same is a shortcut only to mediocrity, not a consistent cash-flow. We’re seeing devices that can legitimately compete with the spec sheet prowess of Samsung and Motorola phones, for instance.

Hardware is only half of the story, though, and we still need to see whether HTC can deliver the second part. The company needs to screw its courage to the sticking place, and trust in the strengths of its software and service acquisitions. In today’s market, that means recognizing that a smartphone or a tablet is part of an ecosystem: communications, entertainment, gaming, social media and more. HTC has stuck a toe in before: OnLive for cloud gaming, the MediaLink DLNA-streaming adapter, HTC Watch for movie purchases and rentals. Now it needs to commit to them in a way that convinces carriers, investors and – most importantly – customers that there’s more to company strategy than a scattershot of ad-lib devices and ephemeral services.

UK gamers can choose the £6.99 per month OnLive PlayPack Bundle program, which includes over 100 titles. Meanwhile, BT broadband and BT Infinity subscribers will get three months of access to the PlayPack Bundle free. For those not opting for the PC/Mac software client, the OnLive Game System hardware – which plugs into a TV – is priced at £69.99 ($108) and will be offered with the wireless controller as well.

OnLive has also signed a deal with GAME, which will see the company’s hardware go on sale in the retailer’s stores. Service highlights include “massive spectating”, Facebook integration, Brag Clip videos and spectating voice chat (both within the UK and with US gamers).

UK Launch Title list:

4 Elements
Aaaaaa!
AC-130: Operation Devastation
Advent Rising
Alarm for Cobra 11 Nitro
Alien Shooter: Vengeance
Alien vs. Predator Classic 2000
Aliens vs. Predator
Alpha Prime
Alpha Protocol
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda
Around the World in 80 Days
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Deluxe Edition
Assassin’s Creed II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Bloodrayne 2
Blowout
Borderlands
Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition
Braid
Brain Challenge
Ceville
Conflict: Denied Ops
Darksiders
Darkstar One
Defense Grid: Gold
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Dimensity
DiRT 2
DiRT 3
Disciples III: Renaissance
Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga
Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon
Duke Nukem Forever
Elements of War
Elizabeth Find, MD: Diagnosis Mystery
Evil Genius
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
F.E.A.R. 3
Faery: Legends of Avalon
Fate of the Pharaoh
Fishdom 2
Flatout 2
Frontlines: Fuel of War
GearGrinder
Glyph 2
Grand Ages: Rome
Hitman: Blood Money
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Homefront
Homesteader
Infernal
Just Cause
Just Cause 2
Kane & Lynch 2
King’s Bounty: Armored Princess
King’s Legacy
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
LEGO Batman: The Videogame
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Luxor 2
Madballs in Babo: Invasion
Mafia II
Men of War: Red Tide
Metro 2033
Mini Ninjas
MLB 2K10
MX vs ATV Reflex
NBA 2K10
NBA 2K11
NecroVision: The Lost Company
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Ninja Blade
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Osmos
Pathologic
Patrician IV
Port Royale 2
Prince of Persia
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlord
Red Faction Guerrilla
Red Faction: Armageddon
Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa
Royal Envoy Premium
Saints Row 2
Shatter
Shaun White Skateboarding
Shellshock 2: Blood Trails
Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Star Wolves 3: Civil War
Super Granny 6
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
Syberia II
The Ball
The Bard’s Tale
The Maw
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Tomb Raider: Legend
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Trapped Dead
Trine
Tropico 3
Tropico 4
Unreal Tournament III
Vegas: Make it Big
Virtua Tennis 2009
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Chaos Rising
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Wheelman
World of Goo
Zombie Shooter 2

Coming Soon
Assassin’s Creed Revelations
Assault Heroes 2
Batman: Arkham City
Bulletstorm
Call of Juarez: The Cartel
Civilization V
Driver: San Francisco
F1 2011
Fallout Tactics
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
Football Manager 2012
From Dust
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
Limbo
Might & Magic: Heroes VI
MLB 2K11
NBA 2K12
Operation Flashpoint: Red River
Orcs Must Die
Red Bull X Fighters, International Freestyle Motorcross
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
Saints Row the Third
Sniper: Ghost Warrior
Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition
Trine 2
Wargame: European Escalation

The boxed PC version of the Deux Ex: Human Revolution game was prepackaged with a coupon from OnLive that gave customers a free online version of the game to encourage customers to try the OnLive cloud-based gaming platform. When GameStop discovered this, they issued a memo to employees asking them to remove this coupon.

Many gamers wanting to purchase the title and to receive the coupon were outraged at GameStop. However, the publisher behind Deus Ex, Square Enix, has issued a statement in support of GameStop’s decision. Their statement reads:

“As part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s boxed offering on PC, Square Enix included a third-party coupon. GameStop was not made aware of this inclusion and Square Enix respects the right of GameStop to have final say over the contents of products it sells and to adjust them where they see fit in accordance with their policies.”

GameStop has issued a new email to employees asking them to place all the regular PC editions of the Deus Ex: Human Revolution game in the backroom, where they’ll wait to be recalled. The company has also openly stated that the OnLive service directly competes with its own streaming service that is still under development by its Spawn Labs Cloud Gaming Division.

[via Wired]

In an email from GameStop Field Operations Manager Josh Ivanoff, employees were asked to “Please immediately remove and discard the On Live coupon from all Regular PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Our desire is to not have this coupon go to any customers after this announcement.”

GameStop has officially confirmed that it is pulling these coupons, stating that Square Enix, the game publisher of Deus Ex: Human Revoltuion, pre-packaged the coupons without first informing GameStop. When asked by VentureBeat, a GameStop spokesperson said:

“We pulled the coupons because, like all retailers, we prefer not to promote our competitors and their competing offerings and services in our stores. Unfortunately, the coupon was packed without our prior knowledge.”

Additionally, GameStop has its own cloud gaming ambitions as digital distribution of game titles is increasingly eating away at the company’s core business of buying and selling physical copies of games. However, OnLive expects to offer more combo package deals like this one that will give customers a digital copy that they can access anywhere when they purchase a physical copy. Some of those upcoming titles include Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Space Marine, and Saints Row: The Third.

[via VentureBeat]

As in the US, both pay-per-play, outright purchase and the OnLive PlayPack Bundle – which gives unlimited access to over 70 of the titles the service offers – will be available. Pricing is yet to be confirmed at this stage, either for the games or the Micro Console itself; in the US, the console hardware is $99 with further wireless controllers at $49.

The release is also likely to see HTC enable OnLive gaming on its high-end devices, such as the HTC Flyer. While the Flyer launched in the UK before it made its US debut, so far UK gamers haven’t been able to take advantage of HTC’s $40m investment in the games service since it was US-only. It’s not just the Flyer, however; OnLive has generic Android tablet and iPad apps too.

Those attending the Eurogamer Expo may be able to grab one of the “thousands” of free OnLive Micro Consoles the company plans to distribute at the show. Everyone else can sign up for priority access here.

According to Perlman when the OnLive servers were co-located with DIDO servers, the latency of the OnLive games was less than that of the same game running on a local console. That is one hell of a statement. Latency is the devil when it comes to online gaming. Perlman claims that the latency with DIDO should be a mere millisecond or two. The DIDO magic is in how it transmits data across the network. DIDO cuts out the intelligence integrated into the radios at the PC and the access point and replaces them with the much more robust and powerful cloud-computing servers.

That processing allows the DIDO servers to shoot the signal to only one computer so the machine doesn’t have to sift through all the data for multiple computers in a single stream to find its own data. The DIDO data center would create the radio signal and send it across a wired cable so the only radio needed is at the access point. In a nutshell, DIDO is able to create an independent waveform for each device on the network with only that devices data. That means each individual computer no longer needs to sift through packets not containing data it needs.

[via PCMag]

The OnLive Player App will bring gameplay of almost all OnLive games to the iPad and Android tablets. Currently, there are over 100 games available for the high-end cloud gaming platform. Games can be played on tablets directly using the touchscreens or using OnLive’s new Universal Wireless Controller. Without the controller, the tablet itself can be used as a touch and motion controller and can be used with an HDTV.

Some other features include full voice chat in multiplayer mode, spectating live gameplay, instant no-obsolscence gameplay, and Facebook integration with Brag Clip videos. The OnLive Player app is set to launch sometime later this year. The following video previews some of the games available for OnLive, including Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Split/Second Velocity, NBA2K11, Homefront, Pure, and Amnesia The Dark Decent.

Press Release:

OnLive Unveils iPad/Android Tablet App That Far Outperforms New Consoles

iPad, Android Tablet Instantly Becomes Touch/Motion Controller or Standalone Cloud Gaming System With Touch/Motion or Game Controller; Seamless Integration of Tablet With or Without HDTV; First Touch/Controller Game From Major Publisher Unveiled for OnLive; Unparalleled Multiplayer Mobile or In-Home Experience; Available in Autumn 2011 in US and Europe

LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – Jun 7, 2011) – E3 Expo 2011 – OnLive, Inc., the pioneer of cloud gaming, is pleased to report that gamers throughout the world can immediately experience the seamless integration of tablets and HDTVs with high-end gaming. Their current iPad or Android tablet and current HDTV will not only provide this experience in 2011, but will provide it with far higher performance, richer gameplay and deeper social integration than any console announced for 2012, with more than 100 games available today.

OnLive is pleased to announce the OnLive® Player App for iPad and Android. Like the recently announced consoles, the OnLive Player App will enable gameplay of virtually all OnLive games on an iPad and Android tablet with touch or OnLive’s new Universal Wireless Controller. In addition, the OnLive Player App allows the tablet to be used as a touch and motion controller combined with an HDTV (or PC/Mac® if preferred), and allows both synchronized or independent video on the tablet and HDTV screen, enabling combined gameplay with tablet and HDTV, or separate gameplay on tablet and HDTV.

Full voice chat-enabled multiplayer is supported, both in-room and with others throughout the world, providing a complete multiplayer experience whether at home or on the go with a mobile device.

Core patent-pending exclusive OnLive cloud gaming features such as massive spectating of live gameplay throughout the world, instant no-obsolescence gameplay, Facebook integration with Brag Clip™ videos, etc., will work seamlessly on both tablets and HDTVs and will continue to distinguish OnLive from consoles, both in 2011 and beyond.

“The power of the cloud is definitely the theme this week, displacing what had been assumed to be platforms that could never be displaced,” said Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive. “The OnLive Player App for iPad and Android shows how with the power of the cloud, the question is not whether cloud gaming will be able to catch up to consoles, it will be whether consoles will be able to catch up to cloud gaming.”

OnLive is excited to demonstrate the first game from a major publisher supporting both OnLive’s iPad/Android tablet touch and game controller, as well as running seamlessly on an HDTV, PC and Mac, to be released later in 2011. Come to OnLive’s booth (South Hall, Booth #801) for a demo.

For gamers preferring a smaller screen, OnLive will provide the exact same functionality on iPhone and Android smartphones, allowing them to be used both as game systems themselves with touch and the OnLive Universal Wireless Controller, or as a controller to an HDTV (or PC/Mac), for simultaneous or independent play.

OnLive is also unveiling as part of this experience the first 10 gigabit cloud-based full-featured browser for iPad, Android and HDTV; bringing the full richness of the Web loading from ultra-fast 10 gigabit/second Web connections to OnLive’s cloud-based servers, including support for full-featured Flash and video sites. Mobile and home devices will no longer be limited to the speed of their local connection for Web browsing or Web plug-in compatibility, opening up access to Flash games and social gaming for tablets and HDTVs.

All OnLive games played using the OnLive Player App will play seamlessly across all OnLive-compatible devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android, on HDTV via the OnLive Game System, on connected HDTV and Blu-ray/media players and on PC and Mac.

The OnLive Player for iPad and Android is being showcased live at OnLive’s booth (South Hall, Booth #801) and will be available later this year. For a video presentation please visit http://www.onlive.com/corporate/pressroom.

About OnLive
OnLive is the pioneer of instant cloud gaming, delivering real-time interactive experiences and rich media through the Internet. With groundbreaking video compression technology, OnLive harnesses cloud computing to provide the power and intelligence needed to instantly deliver the latest, premium game titles to any HDTV via the OnLive Game System or nearly any PC and Mac via a small browser download. The OnLive Viewer app is available for the iPad and full gameplay is coming to both iPad and Android tablets. OnLive is currently available in North America, and will be available in the UK and expanding into Europe later this year. OnLive technology is backed by hundreds of patents and patents pending. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. OnLive investors include Warner Bros., Autodesk, Maverick Capital, AT&T, British Telecommunications (BT), The Belgacom Group and HTC. More information is available at www.onlive.com.

OnLive and Brag Clip are trademarks or a registered trademarks of OnLive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The new sharing system will help publishers take advantage of social media to help spread the word on their games. The sharing links can be pasted into an email, a tweet, a Facebook status update, or embedded on any web page. If the you already subscribe to OnLive, then all you have to do is click on the Play Now link for the game to start without the extra step of having to sign in.

If you are not currently a member of OnLive, you will first be taken to an age filter page if the game contains mature content. After that, it takes about 10 seconds for the OnLive plug-in to load and the game demo to start. Today’s $5 game deal is Mafia II, which contains mature content, so hopefully you’re of proper age. And if so, let us know how you like it.

[via VentureBeat]

OnLive lets gamers stream games to their MicroConsole and play games off the “cloud” that is OnLive’s servers. It gives gamers the ability to play games at 60 fps on either their computer or HDTV. Homefront is a futuristic first-person shooter where North Korea has invaded and occupied the U.S. The gamer then has to fight back the occupying forces. It is one of THQ’s marquee games this year. You can use OnLive’s system to stream the game to your computer or use the MicroConsole and stream the game to your television.

“This is a watershed event: It’s the first time a game system has ever been given away with a purchase of a game, “said OnLive Chief Executive Steve Perlman. “Homefront is one of the biggest games out this quarter, and we wanted gamers to see just how incredible is to have the hottest title playable with the instant-play, massive spectating audience on their HDTV that is only possible through OnLive.”

OnLive currently has more than 70 games in its games library at the moment and if the company can add to that, it could start to be a serious competitor in the industry. The small MicroConsole is only about an inch high and is much more portable than other high-end video gaming systems. OnLive has been working on its server based gaming for more than eight years and recently inked a deal raising $40 million from HTC with the entire deal totaling around $1.8 billion

[via VentureBeat]

The full cloud gaming service is integrated into the HTC Flyer. Those familiar with the OnLive will instantly recognize the same user experience that is on the PC and TV versions of the service. The noticeable difference is that virtual control pads show up as soft keys on the screen of the tablet.

Another part of the demo that stood out included Steve Perlman demonstrating the OnLive service also running on the HTC EVO 4G hooked out to a TV via HDMI out. He then used the existing OnLive controller to play the same game that was being played on the Flyer through the EVO 4G on the LCD TV.

Check the out full demo in the video:

As well as working as a regular capacitive touchscreen with multitouch gesture support, the Flyer’s display packs an active digitizer. Bundled is a battery-powered stylus – it uses an AAAA battery which HTC says should rarely need replacing – that’s pressure sensitive, and allows for handwriting recognition, sketching and flowing ink in the newly adapted Sense. HTC has created a new app, Notes, specifically for stylus use, into which you can paste and annotate text and photos, and then sync them wirelessly to Evernote. Notes will also allow you to record audio in a feature called Timemark, time-linking your handwritten jottings to index points along the track so that you can skip easily to each section. They’re also linked to the calendar, so you’re offered a new note when you have a scheduled appointment, or the chance to append to old notes for recurring appointments.

That’s not the extent of Sense’s adaptations, however. HTC has completely redesigned the UI to suit a tablet’s 1024 x 600 display, with a new 3D homescreen complete with floating widgets. In landscape orientation, icons are arranged into a carousel, while in portrait orientation – which HTC user experience manager Drew Bamford tells us the company expects most users to favor, given the Flyer’s compact, notepad-scale dimensions and option of two-handed stylus use – there’s a new 3D grid of apps.

The HTC Flyer may not run Android 3.0 Honeycomb out of the box – HTC says that “soon after” launch there will be a Honeycomb OTA update, and the company assured SlashGear that the timeliness of that update shouldn’t be impeded by carrier modifications – but it still gets dual-pane apps of HTC’s own making. There’s multi-pane browsing, calendar, email and address book, and, perhaps frustrating some would-be users, even when Honeycomb arrives, like HTC’s smartphones there won’t be a way to turn Sense off (short of flashing a custom ROM, of course).

Third-party developers won’t be left out of the Flyer’s unique stylus use, with HTC hoping to quickly release the necessary HTC Scribe Technology driver to allow other apps to take advantage of the dual-mode touchscreen. HTC isn’t saying which company provides the stylus technology, though Bamford did tell us that they’d auditioned “pretty much them all” before settling on the system that best fit with the existing touch panels the company uses. To apps themselves, the nib is presented as another touch point, albeit coded as a different type, so apps can respond differently to the stylus and a fingertip touching the same controls. The finger will still reign supreme for general use, however, with the stylus not expected to be used for navigation. Finally, there’s a new content drive that will see HTC put OnLive streaming gaming and a “Watch” app for streaming movies and TV on the Flyer.

All that software magic is wrapped in a unibody chassis combining matte-finish aluminum and sturdy white plastic. There are front and rear cameras, a 4,000 mAh battery and a custom microUSB port that ensures not only backward compatibility with regular accessories but HTC’s new high-power charger. Battery life is tipped at a whopping 820 to 1470 hours of standby – that’s over 61 days – while video playback is up to four hours. The first Flyer units will have integrated HSPA+ connectivity, albeit for data only, while a WiFi b/g/n-only version will follow “pretty soon” after. There’s also Bluetooth 3.0, 32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot.

They’ll be the first in a new range for HTC, too. “We’re pretty serious about this category,” the company told us at a pre-briefing last week, “we’re not just dipping our toe into the water.” While they wouldn’t be drawn on what sort of models are next on the roadmap, we’ve heard separately that a 9-inch slate is a strong possibility.

The Flyer will come with the stylus – that has two buttons, by default mapped to erase and text-select – and a pouch case with a loop for the pen itself. There’ll also be a range of accessories, including a second case that can turn into a stand, a desktop dock, and a Bluetooth keyboard for easier text entry. HTC isn’t talking specific pricing at this stage, but will say that it’s targeting the sort of “high end” tablets, like the iPad, that we’ve already seen on the market. The HTC Flyer should arrive globally in early Q2 2011.

Press Release:

HTC UNVEILS HTC FLYER, THE FIRST TABLET WITH HTC SENSE

Aluminum unibody design with touch and pen interaction make HTC Flyer unique

First tablet with HTC Watch video service, HTC Scribe Technology
and OnLive gaming

BARCELONA, SPAIN – Mobile World Congress – February 15, 2011 – HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today announced its first tablet, the HTC FlyerTM. HTC Flyer blends HTC’s trademark design language with an all-new HTC Sense user experience that has been reimagined for the tablets. Using an intuitive and innovative approach to tablets, HTC Flyer combines natural touch and pen interaction. HTC also announced HTC Watch, a new connected video service that will debut on HTC Flyer tablet, and will collaborate with OnLive Inc. to launch the first cloud-based mobile gaming service on a tablet.

“Clearly, smartphones have transformed our lives but as we observed how people use smartphones, computers and other technologies, we saw an opportunity to create a tablet experience that is different, more personal and productive,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “We are progressing down a path as an industry when people will no longer be in a single device paradigm, but have multiple wireless devices for different needs; this is the direction we are moving.”

Encased in a sleek aluminum unibody, the HTC Flyer tablet exudes the iconic style and build quality HTC is known for. It is also ultra-light, weighing as little as a paperback book, and compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket only. With a seven-inch display, lightning fast 1.5Ghz processor and high-speed HSPA+ wireless capabilities, the HTC Flyer tablet is perfect for those who have been waiting for a tablet that is both compact and powerful.

HTC Sense for Tablet
HTC Sense revolutionized smartphones by placing the person at the center of the experience. HTC Flyer’s tablet-focused HTC Sense experience focuses on surprising and delighting people with its gorgeous 3D home screen. A unique carousel of widgets puts a user’s most important content and information at the visual center of the experience. The HTC Flyer tablet also offers uncompromised Web browsing with Flash 10 and HTML 5.

HTC Scribe Technology
Touch interaction lights up the HTC Flyer tablet experience, but it also offers a groundbreaking pen experience. With the new HTC Scribe Technology on the HTC Flyer tablet, people can rediscover the natural act of writing. HTC Scribe Technology introduces a wave of integrated digital ink innovations that make it easy and natural to take notes, sign contracts, draw pictures, or even write on a web page or photo.

HTC Scribe Technology on the HTC Flyer tablet transforms traditional note-taking into smart note-taking by integrating natural onscreen writing with thoughtful and integrated innovations. A feature called Timemark enables you to capture the audio of a meeting in line with your written notes, so tapping on a word in your notes instantly takes you to that exact place in time in the audio recording of the meeting. Notes are also integrated with the calendar so when there is an appointment reminder you are automatically prompted with an opportunity to begin a new note or in the case of recurring meetings, to continue where the last meeting left off. In an industry first, the HTC Flyer tablet also features built-in synchronization with Evernote, the world-leading notes application and service.

Streaming Mobile Movies with HTC Watch
The HTC Flyer tablet premieres HTC Watch, HTC’s new video download service. The HTC Watch service enables low-cost on-demand progressive downloading of hundreds of High-Definition movies from major studios. The intuitive, natural design of the HTC Watch service makes it easy to find the latest movie and video content, while advanced technology on the back-end enables instant playback over the HTC Flyer tablet’s high-speed wireless connection.

Mobile Gaming with OnLive
HTC takes mobile gaming to an entirely new level by being the first mobile device in the world to integrate OnLive Inc.’s revolutionary cloud-based gaming service. OnLive is leading in the home gaming market by letting people play top video games on their televisions without the need to buy expensive gaming hardware or software. When integrated fully, the OnLive service will enable customers to pipe the OnLive service through the HTC Flyer tablet’s broadband wireless to their television sets, or let them play directly on the tablet. When integrated on the HTC Flyer tablet, people can play a variety of games, including hits like Assassin’s Creed II, NBA 2K11 and Lego Batman.

Availability
HTC Flyer will be available to customers globally during Q2 2011.