Even people with old PCs can play top games with Nvidia's new streaming service
LAS VEGAS -- Playing high-end games will no longer require having a high-end PC with the right specs. At least, if Nvidia has anything to say about it.
The company announced a new service called Geforce Now that allows PC games to be remotely streamed to just about any laptop or desktop PC even if it has low-end specs. This also allows Mac users to install and play games that are typically limited to Windows machines.
The service, which debuts in March, is compatible with "most Windows- and Mac-based desktop PCs and laptops," according to the company. It works with game stores like Steam, Battle.net and Origin, as well as free-to-play games.
The service has been in development for the past five years, the company said. Onstage during a keynote at CES, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang compared the on-demand service to Amazon Web Services, but for gamers.
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"This is one of those really incredibly hard problems," Huang said. "The computational capability necessary for video games is so high and the interactivity requirement's so high that any little bit of latency would ruin the experience."
GeForce Now will begin rolling out in March. There are two tiers of the service: the GeForce GTX 1060 PC and the GeForce GTX 1080 PC. The GTX 1060 starts at 20 hours of gameplay for $25 and the GTX 1080 costs $25 for 10 hours.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
