There were times when many of my friends, who were still new to the entire gaming and PC scene, showed up to me and asked, “Hey Pingal, could you teach me how to download graphics card?” or “how to download RAM?”. And my subtle reaction was always a – “Why am I still friends with this guy?”. Fast forward to today’s world, I feel, maybe they knew what the future had for us. Maybe they predicted the technology of downloading graphics cards and RAMs over the internet. And all I am capable of doing now is asking for forgiveness for my rudeness and stupid and judgemental conclusions.
Nvidia’s GeForce NOW is a “cloud gaming service” that has been in existence for quite a time now but only for Mac OS, and Nvidia Shield devices. At CES this year, Nvidia announced this service for Windows PCs, making it a debatable matter of discussion on various sites and forums.
Now, what actually is a “cloud gaming service” and how does it work? Let me be clear with this. It is basically a cloud computing service, that enables you to play high-end games that require a ton of processing power and demands heavy system requirements, even on a Potato PC.
Suppose you have a 3.1 GHz i3 CPU with 4 gigs of RAM and a DX9 GPU, and you want to play high-end games like PUBG, Fallout 4 or Rise of the Tomb Raider at 60FPS. Traditionally, that’s beyond your CPU’s capacity. That’s when GeForce Now comes into play.
GeForce Now once downloaded and installed, will turn your decent PC into a gaming beast in just a few minutes. The service connects your PC to high-end GTX-powered PCs over the internet, enabling you to play all the cool games just like that.
The service will free you from the tension of constantly upgrading your system to meet the requirements of the latest games, dealing with black and blue screens, load times and major “gaming” problems. However, there’s one thing that you need to take care of. And that is…
The internet connection. The service demands a minimum connection of 25Mbps and the recommendation is 50Mbps, both being a lot for an ideal gamer in India. Not many broadband companies are offering such speed at low costs, except a few like ACT – offering 200GB of data at 100Mbps for INR 1,999 per month and YOU – offering 200GB at 100MBps for INR 1724 pm. Rests are either way too expensive (for instance BSNL offering up to 100Mbps for a heart-stopping price of INR 16,999 pm) or state-exclusives, like AP Fibrenet.
If you manage to get a good enough internet connection, well then my friend, you’re ready to experience the latest of technology in the very beginning of 2018.
GeForce Now patches games for you and configures drivers and updates them whenever required. With the service, it takes no more than 30 seconds to install a game from their list of more than 160 games. For more info, you can check out their official website.
As pointed out by Andy Chak of PC Gamer, one of my inspirations behind starting this blog, GeForce Now follows in the footsteps of OnLive and Gaikai, other similar “cloud gaming service” from the past. Now, they’re just part of PlayStation.
GeForce Now is now available as a Free Beta but only for North American and European gamers. Although you can try your luck by signing up at Nvidia’s official website.
Alright, I’ll wrap it up right here. What do you think about GeForce Now? Yay or Nay? Let me know in the comments below. Also, make sure to subscribe to our push-notifications to stay updated with everything related to video games and this hot new service. Until next time, Happy Gaming!