T3 - UK (2020-04)

(Antfer) #1

3rd


BEST ON
TEST

64 T3 APRIL 2020


State of the art


1st


2nd


5 TOP TIPS FOR SUPER SMOOTH GAME STREAMING


WE’RE IMPRESSED Genuinely
smart transition from T V to PC
to smartphone A A A gaming,
with high graphical quality and a
smart, lag-reducing controller.
WE’D IMPROVE Promised
features are missing and Stadia
(for the time being) just doesn’t
have enough games overall.
THE LAST WORD One to
watch, but not ready just yet.

WE’RE IMPRESSED Simple to
set up and use; has hundreds of
games; offers the option for
downloading select titles if your
connection isn’t up to scratch.
WE’D IMPROVE Streaming
quality is the lowest on test; is
available on too few platforms
and can sometimes be stuttery.
THE LAST WORD Great games
deserving of better streaming.

GOOGLE STADIA


£8.99 a month, store.google.com


PLAYSTATION NOW


From £8.99 a month, playstation.com

01 WIRED
CONNECTION
Have the option of hooking up
to a wired Ethernet connection?
Then use it – it will usually
RIIHUbDIDVWHUPRUHVWDEOH
FRQQHFWLRQbWRWKHJDPH
streaming servers, delivering
better picture quality and a
smoother gameplay experience.


02 WIRELESS
CONNECTION
If you’re on a mobile device, or
can’t get near enough to your
router to use a wired


connection, try to make sure
you’re connecting to your router
over a 5GHz frequency, if
available. It allows for much
faster network connectivity,
making it a better choice for
streaming of any kind than a
2.4GHz option.

03 PAUS E YOUR
NETFLIX STREAMS
Game streaming services are
happy to hog your broadband
connection, and don’t like
having to share it with any other
service. If you’re looking to sit

down to an intense session,
make sure no one else at home
LVVWUHDPLQJPXVLFRUĆOPVRU
GRZQORDGLQJDQ\JLDQWĆOHV/HW
your greedy game streaming
platform of choice slurp all
those Mbps up.

04 RESOLUTION
ROLLBACK
If you’re still struggling to get
DbVWDEOHVWUHDPJRLQJWU\
dropping the resolution
GRZQbDbWDGåWKHPRUHSL[HOV
DbVWUHDPbLVSXVKLQJWKH
PRUHbLQWHQVLYHLWèVJRLQJWR

EHbRQ\RXUbFRQQHFWLRQ0RVW
streaming services offer an
adaptive option, which scales
the image quality to match
WKHbFDSDELOLWLHVRI\RXU
broadband service.

05 HDR HEAVEN
If your game streaming service
of choice offers a HDR option
(the fancy new display tech that
delivers added vibrancy to light
and dark parts of a scene), leave
it on! HDR isn’t data intensive,
and shouldn’t affect the quality
of your stream.

NVIDIA GEFORCE NOW


From free tier (unlimited one-hour sessions), nvidia.com

THE OVERALL


WINNER IS...


VERDICT:


WE’RE IMPRESSED Nvidia
GeForce Now currently offers a
superb selection of games, offers
real game ownership once your
subscription ends, doesn’t care
which PC digital download store
you get your games from, and
streams stably at a good price.
WE’D IMPROVE A few missing
PC game stores, like GOG.com,
and higher resolution streaming


options would make a great
service even better.
THE LAST WORD It’s not
perfect, but it’s the most
comprehensive and open game
streaming service available
WRGD\båDQGLVRQO\SRLVHGWR
JHWbEHWWHUDVPRUHJDPHVEHJLQ
to offer ray tracing.
Free download pdf