OnLive launches in North America

OnLive

OnLive, the streaming game service, has just launched in the US. To promote it, they're offering a first-come first-served Founding Members Program that'll net you a year of free OnLive for signing up. Or will it?

Not exactly! During your first 12 months of free OnLive membership, you'll be eligible for a fraction of the features that OnLive is offering. From the selection of terms and conditions: "Your access to the service will include free demos and community features [...] but will not include any games, content or other services that are offered for purchase, and which must be purchased separately."

So you can sign up to the service which allows you to spend money on games, but the games browser is only free for the first year. After that it's $4.95 a month. It sounds a little weak to me. That's like if Steam cost you five bucks a month.

As soon as someone gets this running in their home, we'll let you know if it's really worth the asking price. OnLive is due to launch in the UK next year.