OnLive Gaming has announced a new set of features on their platform, the first of which is Parental Controls. While they are a family service, they know there are a bunch of games in the Arena that some kids may not be ready for. Now they have taken the first step to enabling parents to manage how their kids to use the OnLive Game Service by sharing their own accounts in a restricted mode.
Customizable Options for Parents
Once an account is set up with Parental Controls, anyone accessing the Game Service with that account will experience whatever restrictions are applied. For example, no M-rated titles, no chatting with strangers, no Brag Clips, no spectating—just clean fun! When a parent wants to play they enter their secret passcode to temporarily remove or adjust the restrictions and jump back into the action!
Group Voice Chat Beta
OnLive has had two types of voice chat: Game Chat (for multiplayer sessions) and Spectator Chat (for chatting while watching someone play a game). Now they’ve added a third: Group Chat (for voice chatting with friends, no matter what they are doing). Here’s how it works: Let’s say you have 10 college buddies you like to play multiplayer games with. Now, you can create a group for them on the service that will persist from session to session. Instead of trying to track them down individually, now you can jump into a group voice chat no matter what they’re doing on the service. Voice chat while they’re playing a game, spectating others or just browsing the Marketplace … and if they’re not signed into OnLive, you can invite them to join you via integrated email notifications.
Make one group for gamers you meet on the service who play a certain multiplayer game. Make another for friends you just want to hang with when you find a great game to spectate. It’s all about easily connecting—and yakking it up—with the gamers of your choice and making the most of your gameplay time. Of course, as always, OnLive voice chat works across all platforms and worldwide, so whether your friends are using a TV, PC, Mac or are across the pond when the UK service goes live in a month, OnLive voice chat just works.
Facebook Achievement Sharing
First, OnLive made sharing gaming highs and lows a reality with automatic exporting of Brag Clip videos to Facebook. Now, your friends will recognize your crazy gamer skill with automatic Facebook sharing of Achievements. And if the game has Achievement Brag Clips configured, the epic video of your Achievement will also get shared! It feels so good collecting Facebook “likes” and comments as your friends anywhere and everywhere learn of your latest game progress—or even watch a Brag Clip video of you smashing that boss.
