G
eForce Now actually works. Let’s just
take a second for that statement to
permeate: after a decade of embarrassing
showings from cloud gaming services like
OnLive and Gaikai that always showed us
games smeared in vaseline and with the reaction
speeds of a tectonic plate, there’s now one that really
does let you play top-end PC games using the strength
of your internet connection alone.Well, that and a server farm full of RTX 3080s, which we’ve
had a famously hard time getting our hands on at consumer
level since release. Still, it’s a profound achievement on
technological terms – the two-way transfer of data that can
manage precisely timed inputs and high resolution rendered
frames at the same time, producing an experience that feels
like something close to PC gaming.
Though not indiscernible, of course. Running a game
locally, even on technically inferior hardware to the
components within Nvidia’s fantastically titled SuperPODs,
produces sharper image quality and noticeably more
responsive inputs, especially if you’re fortunate enough to
have even a first-gen RTX card. And for some of us, that
slight discrepancy is enough. PC gaming’s never been the
preserve of players who can just sit and be fine with
minuscule fidelity compromises.It’s awfully close, though, particularly if you’re using
Nvidia’s top-tier monthly service – which is only accessible via
a £90 payment for six months’ access to RTX 3080-equipped
cloud power. And the fact that the graphics giant has refined
this tech during a period when the supply chain between
consumer and graphics card has been severely disrupted is
enough to give anyone a wandering eye to this other world of
PC gaming. PC gaming without the PC.
Even Microsoft is getting in on the action. The top tier of its
Xbox Game Pass includes a similar streaming function,
although its own server farms are running gaggles of Xbox
Series Xs, which doesn’t conjure quite so impressive an
image. But the latency is minimal, the games library is vast,
and the onscreen fidelity is at least passable. With not one but
two giants bearing down on the physical PC’s relevance –
something you’d imagine both Nvidia and Microsoft would
have a deep and vested interest in – a future in which we don’t
need any local hardware beyond a screen and peripherals
seems to have already arrived. And the weird thing is, you’re
probably feeling sad about it.IT’S FOR ‘HOMEWORK’
Perhaps it has something to do with PC gaming’s origins in
those friendly beige home computers our families bought
and set up in the spare room so that we could use Encarta
and type up especially well-researched homework reports.POD
in the
machine
Nvidia’s
SuperPODs are
serious slabs of
hardware. The
Bluefield 2 data
processing units
within them can
handle
everything from
conversational AI
to self-driving
cars, and they
interface with a
range of DGX
supercomputer
systems for
which running a
game really
quickly is like
tying their
shoelace.CLOUD STRIFE
Streaming services threaten the PC’s place in PC gaming
Spooky rooms like this
one facilitate cloud
streaming.Image credit: Nvidia
T E C H
REPORT