We tested the NVIDIA GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, with which you will be able to play PC games on your Mac, iPhone or iPad with the only requirement of having a good internet connection.
GeForce NOW, your games in the cloud
Cloud gaming platforms are changing the video game market. Being able to enjoy the best games for PC or video console without needing to invest a lot of money in hardware that will become obsolete in a short time It is an idea that is convincing more and more people, to which must be added the enormous advantage of playing anywhere or on any device. Did you imagine being able to play on your Mac? Or enjoy your favorite PC game on your iPhone while enjoying your vacation? This is now possible thanks to these services.
NVIDIA's GeForce NOW differs from other platforms in several ways that leave it, in my opinion, far ahead of its rivals. The first of them is that it is the only one that allows you to play with the same quality that you would on a top-level gaming PC. with ray tracing and NVIDIA DLSS in those supported games, as if you had a computer with GeForce RTX graphics card. The second is that you will not have to pay twice for the same game, since their platform links to the main video game stores, such as Steam, EPIC Games and Ubisoft. Right now it has more than 1300 references, many of them free, and new games are included every month (this month of February it adds 30 new games to its catalogue).
The platform has three types of subscription, including a free one that is perfect for trying it out and getting an idea of how it works. The priority subscription already gives you access to games in 1080p 60fps quality, and the jewel in the crown, the RTX 3080 subscription offers you all the enormous potential of the graphics card of the same name to enjoy the games at maximum quality. What do you need? Well, in addition to your device (Mac, iPhone, iPad) you need a good internet connection, with low latency (<80ms although <40ms is recommended) and a remote control or keyboard and mouse.
Application or Web App, it doesn't matter
How we access the platform will depend on our device. For Mac computers we have our own application that we can download red on the GeForce NOW website (link). If we want to use it on iPhone or iPad, Apple's restrictions at the moment do not allow it to have its own application, but there is no problem because we can install it as if it were a Web application and we will not notice the difference. The official website itself tells us how to do it in this link.
Browsing through the application or the web app is identical, it adapts to the screen of the device you use, and it gives you access to the entire wide catalog of games that the service includes. First you will be able to see the games that you have already associated to your account, «My library», but you can also access a wide variety of free games, such as Fortnite and Apex. Do you want to play Fortnite on your iPad or iPhone? Well, right now it's still in Beta but it will be available to everyone on GeForce NOW soon.
To add games to your library you will need to purchase them from one of the online stores included: Stream, EPIC Games, Ubisoft, GOG, etc. All the games that you already have purchased in these digital stores can be played on GeForce NOW, you will not have to pay for them again, something that sets this cloud gaming platform apart from the rest.
In the case of the iPhone or iPad there is no application that can be downloaded from the App Store. Apple's restrictions, at the moment, do not allow this type of application, and until Cupertino does not want to bet seriously on streaming games on their devices, we will have to settle for using web applications. Nor is it a major problem, because the process of creating the web app is simple, and it has to be done the first time, then you will no longer notice that it is not a real application. The navigation and options are the same, and you enjoy the same, which in the end is what really matters.
Gaming with GeForce NOW
Being able to enjoy the best PC games on your Mac anywhere is a reality, and the experience couldn't be better. My 5 2017K iMac is perfect for playing Cyberpunk 2077, who knew? and all of it without taking up space on my hard drive, without the fans going crazy and with sensational performance using the RTX 3080 subscription at 1440p. And it is that when playing through the internet the differential element is the type of connection you have, your hardware does not matter a bit. In the case of the iMac I have an ethernet connection with 300MB download speed and a latency of about 20ms.
One of the doubts I had when I started testing GeForce NOW was its performance when you use it in portability. I've been using Stadia for a while, including Xbox Cloud Gaming in beta, and the experience was far from satisfactory when not playing on my desktop. Well, the truth is that Xbox not even playing on my iMac convinced me. The tests on the MacBook Pro were more than satisfactory, although to achieve the highest quality I had to limit myself to playing in areas with good WiFi coverage at home. The same on the iPad and the iPhone. However, in other areas where the signal is not as strong, I did sometimes get messages that I was not going to be able to use the best possible quality, something that did not spoil the gaming experience either. GeForce NOW uses upscaling techniques that actually achieve very good results and allow you to play in very good conditions.
The screen of the device itself is a determining factor depending on the game you want to enjoy. It's a real joy to be able to try out Cyberpunk on the iPhone, but obviously it's not recommended to really enjoy everything the game has to offer. But the simple fact of being able to play it away from your main computer already seems incredible to me. Other games like Fortnite can be enjoyed very well on a screen like the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Yes indeed, to enjoy the games it is more than advisable to use control controls, which is not a problem thanks to the compatibility of our devices with the controls of PS4, PS5 and Xbox. Other controllers like the Razer Kishi for iPhone or a keyboard and mouse for your Mac are also great options.
