Since its release earlier this year, the OnLive gaming service has generally been regarded as a cool and nifty way to stream console games to your Mac.

It's about to get a bit more affordable.

On Thursday, Online announced the beginning of its OnLive PlayPack - a flat rate pricing plan allowing people to play all of the more than 40 games offered in the plan, as much as they want for $9.99 a month.

For users looking to try this out on a demo basis, simply access the OnLive Game Service via the "My Games" section, click the "OnLive PlayPack Beta" and the site will show all the games available (the PlayPack Beta is not accessible via the "Marketplace" until it is a purchasable item).

Additional details include the following:

- The PlayPack is immediately available to OnLive Game System owners and will become available to OnLive members starting January 15, 2011.

- The PlayPack kicks off with titles such as Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider: Underworld, NBA 2K10 and Lego Batman and will include a combination of recent, indie and classic games.

- OnLive will continue to offer its current free trials, 3 and 5 day rentals and Full PlayPass options for a la carte new release games.

- The $99 OnLive Game System is now shipping to customers who have placed pre-orders.

The OnLive Gaming Service requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later, a web browser and a 5 MBps wired or Wi-Fi connection to run on your Mac.