Soooo... OnLive.

I'm not the best at spotting trends, and no one in their right mind would place business or social analysis in my hands, but I have a feeling that this is what you might call "a big deal." (video here.. it's long, but worth it to get an in-depth explanation.)

I don't even know where to begin. I don't exactly know that this is a console killer - in its usage so far, it appears to be mostly good at letting you play PC games on an HDTV - but the features are intriguing, to say the least. Spectating someone in Resident Evil or Gears who's on top of the leaderboards in an entire country, in real time? Hot. Especially enticing is the "brag clips" mechanism, which allows you to retroactively save the last 10-15 seconds of your gameplay. Reminds me of recording live TV, but in the past. Somehow. Anyone who's ever missed taking a screenshot of an awesome gaming moment or forgotten to start a demo (ahem*me*coff) will love this feature.

Spectating, I think, could open up more avenues for people who are on the fence about buying (there appears to be just a "rental" option, as well as downloading for purchase). For me, I could see myself checking out other people's methods of play as well. One thing that's missing from my FPS gaming is having someone else around to bounce ideas off of, and to see the techniques that they use. Sure, you can spec teammates while you're dead, but 20 seconds worth of playing - if they even survive that long - isn't enough to learn anything of value. This could lead to big improvements...and accusations of cheating. Hrm.

Of course, there's the obvious question of whether or not this whole thing will even work. It's not due to roll out until next year, which I can dig. The fact that the studio behind it kept it under wraps for seven years is pretty hardcore in itself. I suppose my biggest problem, besides my piteous bandwidth, is the fact that unless they introduce a keyboard/mouse peripheral, I probably won't be able to use it for my favorite games. I've played TF2 on my 32" LCD before. It was nice. A pain to be sure, but nice. But as I've stated, I'm complete ass when it comes to console FPSes. To think, in a future so beautiful to other gamers, I will still be the outcast.. *tear*