Nvidia Cloud Gaming Unveiled

Written by: German Lopez (@LopezIRL) | January 8, 2013 7:12 am

5 Comments

Nvidia cloud gaming seeks to jump-start industry

Speaking on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nvidia chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang revealed the GeForce Grid gaming system for cloud gaming. Huang said the Nvidia cloud gaming system will allow gamers to play games through a web-based cloud like never before.

Nvidia cloud gaming allows gamers to use even low-end computer devices to play games by streaming them through the Internet. The games draws their power from the Nvidia cloud gaming system, a data center called the Grid. The streaming software makes it so all the graphical heavy lifting for gaming is done on a server far away, while the computer device displays the images sent through a web connection.

With its unique system, Nvidia cloud gaming will allow gamers to easily access saved games from multiple devices, including tablets, smart TVs, and PCs. In the demonstration, Andrew Fear, senior product manager for Grid, was shown seamlessly transitioning the same Trine 2 game from a smart TV to a tablet. All Fear had to do to pick up his saved game was access the Grid interface.

Cloud gaming has been attempted before, but it hasn’t met much success. The main concern with cloud gaming services in the past has been high latency, a natural consequence of streaming a lot of game data.

OnLive has been one of the bigger cloud gaming services in recent years, but it’s run into problems. In August, the OnLive company filed for bankruptcy. The service remains live, but it’s under new management.

But Nvidia could have the technology to pull it off. The PC hardware giant, mostly known for its graphic cards, is partnering up with Agawi, Cloudunion, Cyber Cloud, G-Cluster, Playcast, and Ubitus to get Nvidia cloud gaming going.

What do you think? Can Nvidia pull it off and revolutionize PC gaming? Make sure to comment below.

For more Nvidia news, check out the unveiling of Project Shield, Nvidia’s handheld console.

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Comment

Demi_God

I think the implications of this technology extend far what you listed.

This sort of technology could actually be the backbone for the next generation of console devices. Kinects, Wii controllers, DDR pads, and that fact you can use a full sized TV, have always been a big draw to consoles.

If Nvidia Cloud gaming can do what it says it can do, console hardware can be boiled down to a low end processor and a good internet connection. The console hardware would no longer be the bottleneck for the quality of its games.

The other major implication is China. They play a lot of older games, or inferior games simply because of the upgrade expense for new computers at internet cafes. It could potentially open up a huge market for numerous game companies who never thought of exploring that market.
http://twitter.com/AmythielOMG Kamil

Latency will always be a problem with cloud gaming, no matter who does it, unless they have a lot of data centres spread all over the world. I see no reason to believe this will do better than OnLive technology wise, all the bells and whistles stated this could provide have been brought up when OnLive was around the corner.
http://twitter.com/arsenicspritzer ArsenicSpritzer

This sounds like it has less to do with revolutionizing PC gaming, than it does with homogenizing it, while at the same time seizing control of game access and doling it out on their terms. It would also bring PCs one step closer to consoles since it would be killing the wild west atmosphere of the platform.

Thanks, but I’ll be keeping my support behind Steam and other digital download services. I like the chaos of PC development. That’s why we’re always on the cutting edge of gaming, while everyone else worrying about how to shoehorn our innovations into their anemic architectures.
Jeremy Keat

Need a new ground breaking discovery or improvement upon ping/latency, then this whole distant communication deal will be behind us. But since the speed of light with the resistance of the mediums it travels is our limit, a huge hurdle to the conventional process.

Still though much of us would like and require better internet that our ISPs are screwing us over keeping us in the 20th century on services and pricing models. I just hope this doesn’t chunk out the progress video cards for PCs while they dedicate funding and push everybody into drinking their cool-aid and paying a sub for it.
Germaximus

lol@jumpstart gawd #OnLive 2 years owning the cloud gaming industry