With the release of so many awesome games like Horizon Dawn Zero (PlayStation Exclusive), Forza 7 (Xbox Exclusive), COD WWII along with the upgraded version of your favourite consoles (PlayStation 4 pro and Xbox One X) and a new player (Nintendo Switch), 2017 definitely left a mark on the gaming world.

So does it left you wondering if it’s time to finally get yourself a gaming console?

And just when you were finally able to decide which console to get or which Graphics Card to buy, Nvidia pops out with its GEFORCE NOW open beta.

What is Nvidia GeForce NOW?

It’s a cloud-based GPU or that is what Nvidia likes to call it.

What is a cloud-based GPU?

Let’s start with “What is a cloud?”.

A cloud is basically someone else’s computer which you use to save your files and programs.

I hope it all started to make a little sense now.

Basically, cloud-based GPU is nothing but another computer where a High-End Nvidia GPU is installed and you’ll stream your game from there.

 Can I play all the games there?

To play through Nvidia Geforce NOW, you need to have a Steam account through which you’ll stream your game.

Not all the games of Steam are compatible as of yet, but there’s a long list of big names such as COD WWII, PUBG, DARK SOULS III etc. which are playable.

What are the system requirements?

This is where the surprise lies.

You can Game on any system running Mac 10.10 or higher/ Windows 7 or higher.

Yes, you read it right. You can now genuinely game on a Mac and not use it only as a mouse pad.

A decent internet connection is needed though, but it shouldn’t be a problem in 2018 with so many 100MBPS offers being tossed out at a price as low as ₹999 pm.

Nvidia GeForce Now’s requirement page might give a higher system requirement sheet, but they used an HP Stream laptop(during CES 2018) which has an Intel Celeron processor to showcase GeForce NOW.

Which simply means one thing, you can literally play any game on a tin can now.

How much GeForce NOW is going to cost?

Nvidia GeForce NOW is free of cost. At least the beta testing is.

You just need to apply for the beta testing program and will get a mail stating that you are now a beta tester in a few weeks if you are a windows user.

In case of a Mac user, you’ll get the beat access as soon as you apply for it as the beta program is running for a few months now.

Will I be able to play all those games all around the world?

Well, that’s not quite right as of now.

Beta testing is open in America and Europe only.

Are they being Racist?!?!

Haha, I knew that’d be the first thing that’ll come to your mind.

Well, that’s not quite right either.

Even though, it is always being a pattern to release things in the American and European countries, whether it be movies, games or technology.

But this time around, this act is simply out of resource availability.

For a cloud-based GPU to work efficiently, one needs to establish a fast and reliable connection to the server.

Which in turn means that one should be as close to a server as possible.

And as Nvidia’s resources are mostly distributed among America and Europe, they would like to test the system over there before releasing it to the people worldwide.

When should I expect it to be released in other parts of the world?

No official words have been said, but seeing the performance and how well it is working, it is just around the corner.

Should I put a hold on my plans to buy a console?

For me, a console is all about the exclusives as you can play other games on different platforms anyway.

Both PlayStation and Xbox have a lot of awesome exclusive games under their belt.

So, it comes down to what you want to play.

In my opinion, if you were thinking of getting a Playstation, go for it. But if XBOX is your choice, you might want to put a hold on it.

Reason being that all the XBOX exclusives are available for Windows as well, so if Nvidia succeeds, they might add those games to the list as well.

Now, we might want to consider the harsher truth here as well.

Even though it is free of cost at the moment, that might be because of testing purposes only.

So, the thing which we should keep in mind is that it might cost you something in the future.

The prices might not be as steep as a gaming console or a Graphics card, but they will be there.

So, the question you should be asking is :

How much should I pay for the GeForce NOW?

Playing games with the help of a cloud-based GPU means that you are using resources which aren’t yours.

And what do you do when you use something which isn’t yours? You pay RENT.

There might have to pay monthly, quarterly or annually.

And I think the price should be around the price of a PlayStation plus membership or an Xbox live membership i.e around ₹4,000 annually.

Which is understandable as we pay that much for multiplayer on consoles apart from the expenses of a console and games.

It can go as high as ₹6,000 per annum and I will be OK with that. Anything beyond that and it’s a no deal.

If you have any questions or doubts, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. I will try to answer them as soon as I can.

See you in the next one.