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Cloud gaming service OnLive adds $10 monthly flat-rate plan

Gaming service OnLive is announcing a flat-rate plan, which bundles some of its games together in an all-you-can-eat package for $9.99 per month.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
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Dan Ackerman
2 min read

We recently looked at gaming service OnLiveand its MicroConsole device, which streams cloud-based PC games to your TV. Today, the company is announcing a flat-rate plan, which bundles some of its games together in an all-you-can-eat package for $9.99 per month.

Available to users of both the MicroConsole and OnLive's PC/Mac client software, the flat-rate package is called the PlayPack, and a free beta version is live right now for MicroConsole owners. The full version will be available January 15 with about 40 games.

We checked out the beta version last night, and there are a few dozen games listed. Many are casual or older games, but more-recent ones include Ninja Blade and HAWX (both are, as with all OnLive games, the PC versions, so there may be subtle differences from the console versions you're likely more familiar with).

Most of the newest games available in OnLive's a-la-carte store (confusingly called PlayPass, which is very similar to PlayPack) are not part of the flat-rate package. According to OnLive, that's because of deals with individual game publishers. OnLive CEO Steve Perlman told us that the games list in the flat-rate plan will grow over time, and will offer a certain number of games that overlap with the a-la-carte list. But if you're looking to play recent games such as Mafia II or Splinter Cell: Conviction, you'll have to purchase those individually.

Stay tuned for a full review of the OnLive MicroConsole hardware, or check out our hands-on impressions here and the hands-on video below.

Watch this: OnLive MicroConsole