How will the new cloud-based gaming platform affect the entrenched console vs. PC platform debate of the gaming world?  Matmi’s lead developer, James Tibbles, buys himself a box and gives OnLive a road test.  Here’s his report.

I’ve been a gamer since the days of the Sinclair +2 Spectrum (yes, I am that old) and have experienced the formation of the gaming world’s console vs. PC platform divide first-hand.

Let me get this out of the way now and declare myself a console-ist which happened for the simple reason that I had a laptop at the time without a mouse.  You just couldn’t interact easily enough with games to do anything but end up shouting at the screen in frustration.  Give me that joystick and make it snappy!

But whether you’re a PC or console freak, we both have a problem.  We’ve always been reliant on newer, faster, whizzier hardware to run the increasingly CPU-sapping games coming onto the market.  That’s the rub – sooner or later, you’re going to have to shell out for new technology.  But maybe not any more.

Released in the UK in September, OnLive is a cloud-based gaming platform that runs on any platform with a reasonably fast Internet connection.  It’s been around since 2007, but Internet speeds weren’t quite up to the mark so OnLive’s taken a few years to get any traction – but it’s now well and truly arrived.

So what do you get?

• Free OnLive membership (no subscription unless you fancy additional package deals).
• Free to play most games 30 minutes a day.
• The ability to watch others play games, and view new game trailers.
• A vast amount of well-known games, and the comfort of knowing the hardware and game library will be continually updated, automatically.
• Single and multiplayer online.
• No need for top of the range graphics and sound card because you’re effectively watching a video, not rendering 3D environments on the fly.
• No need for a hard drive.
• Customisable controls if you’re using a keyboard.

I joined the OnLive service and played via PC first.  After a quick program download I signed in.  The OnLive system starts up just like you’re accessing a dashboard on a modern day console.  Even the introduction is video streaming – a rotating sweeping logo comes in to screen then fades out.

Then you’re in to the menu system – a grid-like layout allowing you to browse through games in the marketplace, change your settings and even watch other people’s games currently in progress (this is live streaming after all).

A brief look through the marketplace and it’s great to see so many well-known game titles available to play.  F.E.A.R 3 and Split Second immediately took my interest.  Another great little feature is that most games are available to play for free for 30 minutes a day. The system simply disables any save abilities and brings you back to the dashboard after your 30 minutes are over.

Being the gamer that I am and being impressed so far, I decided to give the OnLive gamepad a try.  I know this sounds counterproductive – that you’re back to buying hardware – but it does give you a great gaming experience.  Dual thumb-sticks, standard main controls, 4 trigger buttons and (this bit’s really nifty) additional keys to control video recordings, allowing you to very easily record, review and upload your video clips.  This is great for a chuckle, especially recordings that point out game flaws such as walking through walls and defying gravity. Top that off with the usual rumble pad and menu buttons and the OnLine gamepad is possibly the nicest controller I’ve ever used.

I plug it in to my TV, boot it up and continue my OnLive journey.  As before, the dashboard comes up, and intuitive navigation kicks in. This time I load up F.E.A.R 3 (a game I previously purchased and played on the PC version of the OnLive system) which takes seconds.  Then it takes me to my last saved point and away I go.

I only have two criticisms.

The gamepad doesn’t come with a wireless connection as standard – you have to connect via a wireless bridge – so it loses a point in my eyes.  And while I was playing Split Second, one of my favourite racing games, the screen jolted and stuck for a moment or two, then a “network problem” message popped up.

These blips continued intermittently – 3 times in 3 hours of play – so it didn’t really bother me, but I did decide to upgrade my 6mpbs Internet connection.  Running games via a streaming system, no matter how fast your Internet connection may be, your controls simply won’t be as quick to respond as you may be used to.  Short of restructuring the entire infrastructure of Internet communication (which, impressively, Steve Perlman – OnLive’s founder, is currently working on) this will always be cause for concern.

So is OnLive really the console and PC gamer killer?

I don’t think so, but it’s definitely a game changer, sitting itself quite happily, comfortably and perhaps permanently in-between the hard-core PC gamer, the console lover and those who don’t have hundreds of pounds to spend on either.

Streaming gaming has real potential to please all people and end the divide, and it’ll make tablet owners happy too.  Personally I’ll keep on playing via the console rather than the PC, but I can also see myself plugging in my mouse and keyboard, just to get that extra control in some more PC-based games.

Despite my new dependency on constant fast internet access, what pleases me the most is that I no longer have to worry about keeping my hardware completely up to date. But instead I now worry whether or not OnLive can keep their hardware up to date!

With OnLive being so cheap, sexy, unique and fun to use I’m proud to add it to my console collection, and I look forward to watching the service expand and improve over the coming months and years.

The future of gaming is here. All hail streaming media! All hail the big fluffy cloud!

It’s back to our very own Moo (not Moon) for our next own-brand iOS/Android app release! Meet the milk-loving alien stunt driver, Roscoe, in the one and only “Dark Side of the Moo” (yes, really!).

The creative craziness is consistent at Matmi – but I’ve just noticed the materialisation of subspace subterfuge. Maybe it’s the Matmisphere effect (or maybe we are being brainwashed by alien forces…), but our next app release, “Dark Side of the Moo”, is due out later this Summer (what Summer?). Roscoe, our featured alien, is bereft. His favourite lactating lounge, “Udders”, has run out of milk and he decides to nip out to Earth to top up stocks (OK, it’s a stretch but go with me…).

This milky madness is packed with car jumps, bovinators, stunts, golf buggies, psycho cows, the FBI, impossible jumps over school buses and a very thirsty Roscoe who only wanted a pint of milk, after all! There are no prizes for spotting all the bovine related language and items, but we’re especially proud of ‘intergalactating’ and ‘moustache to the other side’ (groan…).

Find us on twitter for an update and gird your milky loins in readiness for a bovine space bonanza! (You only get to write a sentence like that at Matmi and understand it).

Mooooo-ve on up there, Roscoe!

Matmi is no stranger to pinball games, so taking this stereotypically male game and making it over for a female audience has been a challenge we’ve really enjoyed. With our latest iteration of the genre, Cute Pinball, we have gone from monsters to make-up with global make-up brand, MAC Cosmetics.

MAC Cosmetics teamed up with Matmi based on our track record in branded entertainment as well as our multi-award-winning mobile app, Monster Pinball. They caught the pinball bug and asked for a Japanese styled game with characters and icons, taken from their new “Quite Cute” range of make-up aimed at the teens/early twenties age group.

Cute Pinball is a pinball game like you have never seen before. It’s full of kooky characters and crazy sound effects with more shades of pink than there are in lipstick (and that’s not us being stereotypicaly about females and pink!) You’ll find dripping lips, melting lollipops, sparkling diamonds, pirate bunnies, fried eggs and bouncing balloons with TWO extra pinball tables to reach from the main board. You certainly won’t be lost for bonuses to hit (my personal favourite is the dancing chicken drumsticks ) but be warned, we have heard that it can be dangerously distracting from work.

Talking of work – Cute Pinball is definitely appealing to the intended audience. Our stats show a 96% player profile of females aged 18 – 24. Oh yes! The masters of gaming at Matmi do it again! The game is already starting to gain some recognition in the gaming press too, the well respected site Kotaku featured it on their front page, a mere 2 days after it was launched.

So far, we have covered teeth (in Brilliant Brushers) and now make-up. Who knows? Maybe in the not-too-distant future we will further our personal presentation and create a full-body Matmi make-over. Mmmm – Jeff with sparkling pearly whites, pink lipstick and a six pack. More likely to be a six pack of beers, but watch this space anyway…

…must dash, need just one more go, have to reach number one spot on the score board!

For full disclosure, I should say now that we do actually know the developer of ‘Drift Away‘. Having said that, my view of the game stands. I loved it!

‘Drift Away‘ is an absolutely gorgeous game, available on the iPhone. As the App description says, it’s like yoga for the mind.

You guide a bubble through a wonderful scenic landscape, enjoying the serenity whilst listening to soothing classical music. Animals, insects and other natural obstacles hinder your path so be careful or your bubble will pop! Split your bubble in two to squeeze through small spaces and pinch them back together to return to your original size.

I picked it up yesterday and just couldn’t put it down. The mixture of amazingly realistic scenery, lovely modelled bubble and perfect physics engine creates a fantastically addicting experience.

The use of the iPhone touch screen to guide, split and merge your bubbles to reach the checkpoints is not only fun but a great little brain teaser at times. And I love to tease my Matmian brain, keeps it sharp (-ish).

Travel through enchanted lands collecting magical bubbles. Some bubbles hold special powers that will help you on your journey. Look out for special collectables that have been left by previous travellers. They may bring you good luck!

Drift Away certainly is an experience I’ll never forget. Absolutely brilliant concept and execution. We’d recommend it to anyone. And at the cost of 59p for hours of serene enjoyment, it’s a bargain.

So I’d just like to give a shout out to Pete Scott from Blue Beck Ltd. You’ve done a fantastic job with this App. We have enjoyed working with you in the past and look forward to working on some exciting co-productions in the future. Keep up the good work!

Drift Away on your iPhone with your bubble...

As some of you may have already heard, there has been another hugely exciting announcement from the Unity3D guys. They announced that they will add the ability to export projects to Flash’s 3D API Molehill.

This is excellent news for Flash developers as the Unity tool is a fantastic environment for building games. Using the Unity tool you will be able to program in either ActionScript 3 or using one Unity’s existing languages such as C#, Boo, or JavaScript.

Flash’s new 3D API, codenamed Molehill, “exposes a very low-level shader-based interface to the graphics hardware. Adobe has decided to focus on that low-level part, and do that really well. The molehill pre-release will not be shipping with a 3D engine, scene building tools, model and animation importers / exporters, physics, lighting or lightmap creation tools, etc.”

The latest information released stated that Unity will be keeping the Unity Player and it will be up to the developer to decide when to target Flash or Unity Players or other platforms like desktop, mobile that are currently available and use the rendering platforms that work best with each (DirectX/OpenGL/OpenGL ES/Molehill… maybe WebGL in the future).

If this works out, it will help to break down the barriers some Unity3D developers may have encountered when it came to getting users to break away from the Flash plugin player and download the Unity Webplayer. I’m sure many of us who have published a Unity3D game to be released via the web have hit this issue. But with the option to utilise the already widely accepted Flash player, it opens up all the Flash portals for Unity developers (and hopefully over time, the Unity Web Player itself will continue to gain more acceptance on the web). It also means Unity can now truly say they are a complete cross-platform developing package. Exciting times…

If you want to read more about this, you can see what the Unity guys themselves had to say. As usual, they have been very open about future developments and have published a useful Q and A here.