Enter GeForce NOW, Nvidia’s attempt to seize the game
streaming crown. In Beta since 2015, it saw its public launch
in January this year. Structurally, it’s more closely aligned to
Shadow than Google Stadia. Rather than being a platform
with its own storefront, it offers an alternative way to play
games you already own (or are free to play). When launched,
it connects remotely to an Nvidia virtual machine. From here,
you can launch games that you own in your various online
accounts, such as Steam, the Epic Store, EA Origin and Uplay.
GeForce NOW has several advantages over Shadow.
Firstly, around 400 games on NOW can be played instantly,
with no requirement to install them on the virtual machine.
A few of them include Metro Exodus, Borderlands 3, Apex
Legends and Path of Exile. Other games, such as Hitman 2,
are also available, but first need to be installed during your
session; given you’ll need to install them again when you
leave the session, this isn’t that practical.
GeForce NOW is also much more affordable than Shadow.
It’s free by default, although you’ll be limited to play sessions
of one hour, and have only standard access to the servers,
so you may have to queue before being able to play. If you’re
willing to pay £4.99 a month for a Founders Pass, however,
you get priority access to the servers for six hours at a time.
The Founders Pass also lets you play games such as Metro
Exodus with RTX enabled.Launching games
Launching games is straightforward, albeit rather counter-
intuitive. To access a game, you first have to search for it
via the searchbox at the top of the menu, then add it to
your GeForce NOW library. Some games are featured in a
Netflix-style carousel menu on the front page, but there’s
no comprehensive list of which games are available on the
NOW menu. In other words, you need to find out for yourself
whether a game you want to play can be streamed.
Once you launch a game, assuming you don’t have to queue,
you’re taken to your virtual machine’s desktop. From here,
you have to log in to the appropriate storefront account – EpicReviews
REVIEWS / GAME STREAMING
SUPPLIER nvidia.com/geforce-nowNVIDIA GEFORCE NOW/
FREE (basic account) /£4.99 per month (Founders Pass)
GAME STREAMING SERVICE
G
ame streaming is an increasingly hot prospect, as
various tech companies scramble to become the
Netflix for games. It’s a prize that’s both elusive and
tantalising. The lofty demands for both sharp image quality
and low latency make game streaming much harder to
realise than streaming video. Game-streaming services do
exist, in the form of platforms such as Shadow and Google
Stadia, but both are far from perfect.This is how
Borderlands
3 looks when
your connection
begins to struggleBorderlands 3’s
bright colours
and clean lines
translate well
over streamingEnter GeForce NOW, Nvidia’s attempt to seize the game
streaming crown. In Beta since 2015, it saw its public launch
in January this year. Structurally, it’s more closely aligned to
Shadow than Google Stadia. Rather than being a platform
with its own storefront, it offers an alternative way to play
games you already own (or are free to play). When launched,
it connects remotely to an Nvidia virtual machine. From here,
you can launch games that you own in your various online
accounts, such as Steam, the Epic Store, EA Origin and Uplay.
GeForce NOW has several advantages over Shadow.
Firstly, around 400 games on NOW can be played instantly,
with no requirement to install them on the virtual machine.
A few of them include Metro Exodus, Borderlands 3, Apex
Legends and Path of Exile. Other games, such as Hitman 2,
are also available, but first need to be installed during your
session; given you’ll need to install them again when you
leave the session, this isn’t that practical.
GeForce NOW is also much more affordable than Shadow.
It’s free by default, although you’ll be limited to play sessions
of one hour, and have only standard access to the servers,
so you may have to queue before being able to play. If you’re
willing to pay £4.99 a month for a Founders Pass, however,
you get priority access to the servers for six hours at a time.
The Founders Pass also lets you play games such as Metro
Exodus with RTX enabled.Launching games
Launching games is straightforward, albeit rather counter-
intuitive. To access a game, you first have to search for it
via the searchbox at the top of the menu, then add it to
your GeForce NOW library. Some games are featured in a
Netflix-style carousel menu on the front page, but there’s
no comprehensive list of which games are available on the
NOW menu. In other words, you need to find out for yourself
whether a game you want to play can be streamed.
Once you launch a game, assuming you don’t have to queue,
you’re taken to your virtual machine’s desktop. From here,
you have to log in to the appropriate storefront account – EpicReviews
REVIEWS / GAME STREAMING
SUPPLIER nvidia.com/geforce-nowNVIDIA GEFORCE NOW/
FREE (basic account) /£4.99 per month (Founders Pass)
GAME STREAMING SERVICE
G
ame streaming is an increasingly hot prospect, as
various tech companies scramble to become the
Netflix for games. It’s a prize that’s both elusive and
tantalising. The lofty demands for both sharp image quality
and low latency make game streaming much harder to
realise than streaming video. Game-streaming services do
exist, in the form of platforms such as Shadow and Google
Stadia, but both are far from perfect.This is how
Borderlands
3 looks when
your connection
begins to struggleBorderlands 3’s
bright colours
and clean lines
translate well
over streaming