Cloud-Gaming Service Set for Thursday Launch

The OnLive streaming PC game service is launching Thursday.

PC gaming will officially move into the cloud thanks to Thursday's launch of the OnLive service for PC and Mac. The company--OnLive Inc.--announced its launch plans on Tuesday during E3 2010 and includes a limited-time and limited-availability 1-Year Free Founding Member Program for qualified users, backed by AT&T. Interested gamers can now head over to the official website and sign up to be placed on the waiting list. After the first free year, participants will receive a discount for the optional second year, costing $5 per month.

"The incredible support we've received from our publishing partners has been instrumental in helping us get OnLive into people's homes," said Mike McGarvey, COO of OnLive. "These partnerships provide us with the great games we require to deliver the Just Play experience which introduces instant access and play functionality for the first time."

As for the initial games, OnLive will offer twenty-three hot titles including the following:

• Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Square Enix / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• Borderlands (Take Two Interactive Entertainment)
• Dragon Age: Origins (Electronic Arts)
• Just Cause 2 (Square Enix)
• Mass Effect 2 (Electronic Arts)
• NBA 2K10 (Take Two Interactive Entertainment)
• Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Ubisoft)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction (Ubisoft)
• Unreal Tournament III (Epic)

According to the company, the service will also offer new games as they are released including F.E.A.R. 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Alpha Protocol, and more. All in all, more than twenty-five publishing partners have signed up to offer games. Eventually OnLive will migrate to HDTVs via OnLive's MicroControle TV adapter, and possibly pose as a viable threat to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.