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What NVIDIA wants to offer on Mac and Windows computers all over the world with GeForce Now is comparable, in no uncertain terms, to the revolution we saw with Netflix in the world of televisions a few years ago.
The abandonment (progressive and expected, then we will see if and when) of the concept of local use of a product (video games in this case, but who knows in the future) to move to a streaming service, where the concept of ownership changes radically, as well as that of hardware and updating is adopted more or less by all hardware and software houses, some before and some after, from Apple to Adobe, from NVIDIA to Blizzard, from Microsoft to Google.
A very ambitious project, considering that the world of video games offers very precise rules and very high demands for performance and (above all) zero latency. How this system works, what it means and how we can use it has been at the heart of a test we have carried out over the last few days.
The main window of GeForce Now, with the list of available games
GeForce Now: product or service?
The idea itself is very simple: GeForce Now it is basically a service, which starts from the App (downloadable from this link) and which allows us to open a session to the NVIDIA servers and thanks to these to be able to play a rather wide selection of video games even if these are not compatible with Mac and even if we have a somewhat old model.
A game in the cloud in theory, a stream from a virtual session: because in fact GeForce Now does just that, it rents for the time game a session of a virtual PC, which downloads the video power to the server leaving the client, our computer, only the task of streaming, a bit like it does nno Netflix (for the TV series) or Dropbox (for the files).
The service is not a real novelty, because we had already tried a taste of this technology with NVIDIA SHIELD, but landing on computers is quite another thing, considering the titles in game: from the most famous Overwatch, Battlegrounds, Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six Siege and Assasin Creed to the popular Diablo, Starcraft, Watch Dogs, Guild Wars, Tera, Call of Duty, Doom, Bioshock, Borderlands and a lot of others.
The list is really mouth-watering, considering that every single title, a sentence that must be taken in its most sincere form, is playable from any computer , or almost: basically a Mac or a Windows PC able to start the App and run the streaming is enough, so hypothetically all the Macs sold in the last eight years, even the slowest ones (such as MacBook Air or Mac mini) and with quantities of Ram and VideoRam not really exciting.
nea internet at work
During the installation phase, the App recommends the use of suitable peripherals such as mouse and keyboard (on which here at Cyber Layman we have never skimped, such as the most recent tests of the Razer Lancehead or the Logitech G903, although specifically this test was done using a Razer Basilisk and a Razer Ornate keyboard) but users are free to opt for the use of their favorite peripheral.
Everything perfect, were it not for the only perplexity of the writer, who will certainly make the community discuss a lot in the coming months, even if being the service still in beta anything can happen: for the moment the subscription to the streaming service does not includes the cost of the games, which must be purchased separately.
This aspect is discriminatory: even if it all makes sense because today to play we buy a computer and the games, not all together, in a streaming service is expected to pay once alone, and have access to the entire catalog, while GeForce Now basically interfaces with Steam, Blizzard / Battle.net and other circuits, letting us log in and then obviously letting us play the titles actually in our possession.
Many titles are free-to-play and Steam offers are not lacking, but the feeling that more could be done is there and we will see in the future how the situation will evolve, especially in competitors who certainly
The service was tested on a Fastweb Gigabit home line: obviously during the connection there were other users connected browsing, we did not have a dedicated line, but despite the doubtful opinion of the App, as you can see, the Overwatch game session went just fine
Trial by fire
In practice, the service is very simple and the comparison with Netflix quite intuitive: once the App is launched, this shows the list of games with compatible, divided by genre and by proposal.
Once you have chosen the game, the App itself downloads a small App (a few MB) on the Mac and starts it, activating a sharing with a remote server : at the time of the launch of the beta program, NVIDIA informed us that there were three servers in Europe, but others will be open in the coming months.
The connection is essentially made with a Windows 10 computer (the you can see from the details and icons that appear here and there) where the games probably already reside: the system asks us to log in with our credentials for the game in question, checking if the title is already in our possession (but we can buy it directly if we want) or if it is a free title and then starts it.
An automatic system certifies that the internet line available is optimal, but in our tests we had good sessions also with various warnings.
Game resolution varies, m we almost always played at 1920 × 1200 pixels very smoothly. During the test we tried with (considerable) satisfaction Overwatch, Starcraft, Diablo and Paragon, which all answered correctly, apart from the latter which showed here and there some moments in which the connection speed was probably too low, to then resume correctly a few seconds later.
In other titles, such as the Resident Evil 7 demo, however, the game started correctly but did not intercept the mouse (only keyboard movements were possible) for which it was impossible to progress (strangely the mouse was seen in the control interface, not in the game): it should be noted, however, that the game demo is not among the titles proposed by GeForce Now, although it can be reached within the interface of Steam.
For the rest there is something to file, such as some interface problems and the language that is not always localized, but are secondary details in the face of the possibilities offered.
A few moments too long of waiting anc he in the closing of the games, which happens correctly but not immediately (it takes at least ten seconds to have a definitive closure).
The various game sessions do not weigh much on the processor or on the card video, so much so that while we write these lines with Word 2016 for Mac with iTunes turned on in a 2013 iMac in the background Overwatch is waiting for our intervention, consuming only 25% of the available Intel i5 processor power.
A screenshot of Overwatch 
A screenshot of Stacraft 
A screenshot of Paragon
The future, now
The writer is very happy with NVIDIA's choice to expand the availability of GeForce Now also to the Mac environment, because this opens up new and interesting scenarios: a streaming service allows everyone, really, to play their title in a serene way without having to equip themselves with a gaming computer. he may not be suitable for their IT choices.
Secondly, the displacement of computing and storage power allows you to have a second virtual computer available only for games, leaving no trace of progress in your own, storing everything in the cloud, which is very convenient in different situations (such as for those who play on non-personal computers).
Lastly, the possibility of being able to play titles from Mac otherwise impossible to reach (Overwatch is the most emblematic case, but not the only one) which opens up a new perspective for anyone considering the purchase of a new computer today, not to mention that at the moment the service is oriented to games, but in the future it is likely the appearance of different programs.
GeForce Now is in beta and registrations are open to everyone for a free trial: prices have not yet been announced and will probably be public when the version is announced definitive, for the which we are not able to give you a date and without which we cannot express a definitive opinion on the platform, even if at the moment the project is more than promising and the youth defects less serious than we would have expected.
In the meantime you are interested in the market niche that GeForce Now is aimed at, the service works and is free, so a try is definitely worth a try.
Pro :
Cons :
Price : Not disclosed
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