Until recently the only way to get the latest games was to go to a store and buy a CD or DVD in a retail package, or to order the retail package from an online store such as Amazon. Even with the discounts available online the cost of gaming was high if you wanted to play the most recent releases.
More recently it has been possible to download games and avoid the cost of the retail package, however the cost of the games was still a high one-time purchase fee. What if you downloaded and paid for the game and didn’t enjoy it?
Services such as onlive now offer the latest and most expensive games on a play-on-demand basis. So long as you have a good internet connection you can play the games without downloading, and only pay a subscription fee. The tech behind these services is only possible with the use of high spec servers, high bandwidth connections and clever code.
Another advantage is the savings you can make on your home gaming rig – no need to update to the latest processor and graphics card every few months because the ‘heavy lifting’ is done on the server and not on your local pc. Have you tried online gaming services? Do you find them to be good value? Let us know in the comments.
