100 PCWorld NOVEMBER 2020FEATURE PLAY XBOX GAMES ON A CHROMEBOOK
Rewards to let it pay for itself (go.pcworld.
com/mred). Alternatively, you can remotely
play games from a physical Xbox console on
your network, which Microsoft calls Remote
Play. Remote Play (go.pcworld.com/rmpy) is
free to use.
You’ll need a dedicated controller, which
you can connect via Bluetooth or a cable.
(While you can pick from a list of controllers at
the bottom of this article [go.pcworld.com/
conl], I typically just use an ancient wired
Xbox 360 controller, as our wireless Xbox
controllers are often in use by my kids.)
Finally, Cloud gaming also requires
Microsoft’s Game Pass app for Android (go.
pcworld.com/gpan), which is why you’ll
need a Chromebook capable of running
Android apps. (Apple has, for now, blocked
Game Pass for iOS, which we think isridiculous [go.pcworld.com/rdls].) Remote
Play uses the Xbox app (Beta [go.pcworld.
com/xbta]). Downloading the Game Pass
app for Android and installing it should be a
snap. You’ll need to sign in with your
Microsoft account and enter your password.WHAT PLAYING CLOUD
GAMES ON A
CHROMEBOOK IS LIKE
We used the four-year-old HP Chromebook
13 (go.pcworld.com/4yhp) as our test bed,
powered by what was, even then, an anemic
Core m3. When you load the Game Pass app,
you’re presented with a choice of games,
with a slim navigation bar that allows you to
pick from the cloud, console, or PC as your
platform. (You can remotely install a game on
your PC from here, too.)
When you
select a cloud
game, there’s
a pause while
the server
remotely
loads and sets
up your game.
When it
launches,
you’ll see
everything
that you’d see
on the game
as it loads on aVisual quality takes a hit in graphics-intensive games like Forza Horizon 4, though
you’re moving quickly enough that the background tends to blur, anyway.