Video game makers and developers have long game streaming as an alternative, or even replacement, to desktop consoles and computers.
A technology that basically consists of sending a video transmission of the game to the user, leaving the heavy work of rendering 3D graphics in cloud services.
Last year, Nvidia introduced GeForce Now to the Brazilian public, still in the air of an experimental project.
The novelty is that since Wednesday the 5th, the platform has received a list of free games to test, making the service even more interesting, which does not need to be purchased to run.
You can decide whether it’s worth investing in a subscription with the notes of this analysis, which brings up the details and barriers that still exist in playing via streaming, a test from an account submitted to EXAME by Nvidia.
How does it work
GeForce Now is an application. It can be downloaded from the Abya platform website or the Android and iOS store. However, there are some minimum requirements to be able to access the application in reasonable quality.
For example, Android phones need at least 2GB of RAM and Android 5.0 compatible with OpenGL ES3.2 or higher. iPhones and iPads must use the Safari browser running iOS 14.2, iPadOS 13 or later.
At connection, Nvidia recommends at least 15MB/s for 720p streaming at 60fps and 25MB/s for 1080p and 60fps streaming.
However, using a 500MB/s wired connection, the service has occasionally shown that it needs more speed to balance resolution. On the smartphone, online games like Fortnite using iOS performed well, with an unnoticeable delay between commands and video response.
The biggest advantage of having a higher connection speed is that the servers can offer the most advanced technologies of Nvidia graphics cards such as Ray Tracing and DLSS when needed.
How much?
The monthly subscription fee is R$44.99 and the six-month subscription is R$40.50 per month. There is a free option that lets you play for 30 minutes but does not have priority access to enter the servers.
But in 2022, Nvidia suspended new users entry to the Brazilian version of the service. But the break should be temporary and only when the company expands the capabilities of the server.
There is an option to use a VPN to simulate access from outside the country and buy subscriptions from the USA, for example. However, depending on the VPN type, there may be a compromise in connection performance while gaming.
What games are available?
Unlike game libraries like Microsoft’s Game Pass, which offer a catalog of games for a subscription fee, Geforce Now focuses on integrating stores with Steam and Epic, which require games to be purchased before.
Therefore, the role of the service is simply to rent game renders and make them playable on different platforms.
Check out the list of games here to see what’s available to play on Geforce Now.
Worth it?
Game streaming has yet to break the lag barrier between commanding the game and displaying it on the screen.
In offline games, GeForce Now provided an enjoyable and uninterrupted experience.
In online games running on PC like Fortnite and Warframe, motion lag was sometimes annoying.
However, as previously mentioned, the latency was smaller on the smartphone, or gave the impression of being smaller in the overall presentation of the experience.
The platform also proved to be unstable in terms of resolution continuity and audio continuity. Regardless of the title, the quality drops sharply and there is no way to determine which factor is responsible for these drops.
The recommendation is for those who do not have a state-of-the-art console or a powerful computer. It is also suitable for those who want to play a certain game for a short time.
It’s an interesting alternative, but so far it won’t be of interest to those who have the resources to run games the traditional way.
Source: Exame
