Wikipad and OnLive Announce Partnership
Onlive and Wikipad announced on Monday that the former company's game streaming service is available now on the 7-inch Wikipad Android gaming tablet. Onlive will also eventually support Wikipad's Gamevice controller for mobile devices when it finally arrives on the market.
The Wikipad 7 arrived back in June 2013, costing $249 USD here in the United States. The gaming tablet has since received a $50 price cut, knocking the pricetag down to a tastier $199. The specs show a Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of DDR3 memory, 16 GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot that supports 32 GB of storage.
The gaming tablet also packs a 7-inch IPS screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution and five-point touch input, dual-band Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, a front-facing 2MP camera, and HDMI output for pushing the gaming experience on an HDTV. There's also a handful of sensors and a 4100 mAh battery.
Wikipad reports that OnLive has been optimized for the Wikipad 7's built in controls, allowing owners to stream and play some of their favorite PC games on the tablet. OnLive actually just announced a new "CloudLift" subscription service that allows gamers to stream PC games they've already purchased through Steam. OnLive also has a separate all-you-can-eat subscription service that doesn't require customers to purchase the games.
The upcoming Gamevice will be a detachable peripheral that adds dual analog sticks, both L1/R1 and L2/R2 buttons, an analog D-pad and four analog action buttons. "Using proprietary technology, Gamevice allows users to connect their mobile devices in the Gamevice arm, and with the simplest of adjustments, use the flex bridge to lock it in place," states the PR.
OnLive is currently available as an Android app for smartphones and tablets. The app is also available on Nvidia's Shield handheld console, Mad Catz's M.O.J.O. micro console, and Smart TVs by LG Electronics. Now the Wikipad 7 and the upcoming Gamevice can be added to that list.
"Wikipad and Gamevice showcase perfectly how OnLive is bringing big games to small devices," said Rick Sanchez, VP of Product and Marketing, OnLive. "The OnLive Game Service and CloudLift subscriptions are the delivery mechanisms that make high-end gaming possible on tablets. These superb hardware offerings from Wikipad enhance the player experience immeasurably and make even the latest, most graphically intensive games truly portable."
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Is it a bit too late to add OnLive to the Wikipad 7? The platform is already a year old, and depends on an older Tegra 3 processor. We've already seen the Tegra 4 in Nvidia's Shield and the Tegra 4K is on its way. But OnLive won't depend heavily on the processor, as most of the work is done on OnLive's servers. That's the beauty of OnLive; you can play AAA PC games on the highest of settings, and play them on devices that don't have the hardware to churn out that kind of graphical goodness.
For more information about the Wikipad 7, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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icemunk $200 for a tegra 3 with 1GB of ram.. yeesh, that was good specs not too long ago, but nowadays, nope. Heck, I ordered my last tablet with an RK3188 (which is faster than a tegra 3) for $65.Reply