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It’s being marketed as “cloud computing” for video games, but I consider that whole concept more of a marketing term than anything else, much like “Web 2.0,” which I always thought of as so much claptrap, conceptually. Neither Web 2.0 or cloud computing are really new to anyone who’s spent much time online.

Part of the very well-run operation at OnLive.com are Web-based video games that can be played via computer. Nothing new there, although OnLive.com has an extremely good selection of games, and all the software I saw ran very well.

But a difference is that players need not eat up hard-disk space by loading massive games, either from Web downloads or from compact disks. all that software sits on the OnLive.com servers, and players just use it when they want to use it. Very neat, since it is a good selection of games.

The other way to get to OnLive.com‘s games is via a very small console that allows players to skip the computer altogether.

What is it? It is a small black chunk of technical wizardry about the size of an older cell phone — less than 5 inches long, 3 inches wide, about ¾ of an inch thick. It hooks up to the Web, to an HDTV, and responds to a wireless game controller.

Riley and I plugged in those cables and were connected to OnLive.com, where we found 38 video games waiting for us. that was last weekend; by Wednesday, there were 46 games.

Some of the titles include “Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4,” “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” “Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands,” “Saw,” “Dirt 2,” “Madballs in Babo: Invasion,” “The Maw,” “Lego Batman,” “Mafia II,” “Shaun White Skateboarding,” “Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition,” “Defense Grid Gold” and “NBA 2K11.”

OnLive is a strong concept, one I suspect is going to be a major game-changer in the industry. It costs only $99 for the little black console, which comes with one very cool controller that has all the needed buttons and batons and rumble. Compare that to $200 for a Wii, or $300 or more for a PS3 or Xbox 360.

We also played without the console, by using my home computer, which is a few years old and has a good but not super-great graphics card. The game graphics were pretty good, with just a little pixilation now and again. OnLive says its app runs on almost any PC or Mac, but really, you’re going to want a very good Web connection, a fast processor and a good graphics card.

To run the computer version of OnLive, I ran over to Fry’s and coughed up a little dough for a PC game controller, which I didn’t happen to have before. I got a Logitech Rumble F510 for about $30 or $40. A good investment. if you already have a game controller for your PC, you don’t need to spend any money at all to go to OnLive.com and try a bunch of games in demo mode. Then buy the ones you want, at competitive prices.

And, players don’t have to worry about software upgrades — that takes place at the OnLive servers.

But even better, actually, was using OnLive’s little console, on a borrowed HDTV.

The games ran fast, most of the time with no noticeable lag, and the graphics were completely beautiful on the HP HDTV monitor we’d borrowed — better than what I was able to achieve on my home computer.

I had a lot of fun with “Madballs in Babo: Invasion,” which was new to me, and also played “Defense Grid Gold,” to compare it to a version I have played for hours on an Xbox 360. Both games ran very well. Riley spent days playing “Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4,” “Batman: Arkham Asylum” and “Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.”

I had to use a crowbar to get him away from the games.

The OnLive.com operation was announced at the Game Developers Conference in 2009, then launched in June of this year, offering 10 games right away, and now 46 games, last I looked, including some A-list material.

OnLive.com is backed by a bunch of entertainment industry powerhouses and is staffed by some of the brightest lights of the computer gaming industry. It is a strong product that seems to be steadily getting better, in terms of delivery across the Web and in its list of games.

Its niche in the market is a little hard to define.

On the one hand, it is extremely competitive, cost-wise. Lots of game demos than can be played for free on the Web, and full games at competitive prices. Very little hard-disk space needed to run the OnLive.com Web app.

And the little black console and controller package is dirt-cheap. It’s a great product and the $99 price is flat-out crazy.

But users will have to have invested in a pretty good computer to begin with, for that way of playing, or own an HDTV for the console route. they aren’t cheap.

So, you have an inexpensive but great video games operation for use on higher-end computers and TVs.

But, of course, recycling centers are piling up with older model TVs as consumers being home those pretty flat-screen HDTVs, so the market is probably there.

If OnLive.com were not privately held, I’d want to buy its stock. I think it’s going to be a success.

E-mail John Orr at jorr@dailynewsgroup.com.

<a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_16925870tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_16925870Thu, 23 Dec 2010 07:14:18 GMT 00:00″>Latest Peninsula news

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