OnLive to offer $14.95/month subscription

At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Steve Perlman said that game purchases & rentals will over an additional charge. They didn’t say how much OnLive would charge. The service will start June 17.

Challenging console makers Microsoft Corp., Nintendo Co., & Sony Corp., OnLive Inc.–the Silicon Valley company generating a Web-based video-game system–said it will offer a $14.95-a-month subscription.

Billy Pidgeon, a New York-based independent game analyst, said, “It could be disruptive to the console vendors. This also wouldn’t be nice for retailers or anyone selling physical program formats.”

OnLive doesn’t need discs like Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, & Sony’s PlayStation 3. In lieu, it stores games on servers that players reach through the Net. The service will be available first on PCs & Apple Inc. computers, & later on televisions with a microprocessor OnLive designed.

Among the publishers putting titles on the technique are Electronic Arts Inc., Ubisoft Entertainment SA & Take-Two Interactive Program Inc. Right now, the world’s largest game publisher & maker of the “Call of Duty” franchise, Activision Blizzard Inc., isn’t participating.