GeForce Now, Samsung leaks galore, and more tech news - Android

Nvidia GeForce Now is a game streaming service much like Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud. Connect to the cloud and game, without needing the latest hardware. Stadia launched a few months ago to weak reviews. (I paid up for Stadia, and I don’t use it much.)

But, GeForce Now is officially out of beta and open to all, with no more waiting lists or technical exclusivity.

• Right now, anyone can sign up and start playing games at no cost.
• So, why would you? Well, it’s free.
• You can join and play (most) games you already own from services like Steam and free-to-play games like Fortnite (which remains so much fun, by the way).
• The free period is capped at a limited one-hour session length, which is ideal to test how the streaming works in your home or wherever you game.
• And if it’s looking good and you want to play for more than one hour, as an introductory special, Nvidia is offering its premium subscription at just $4.99 per month for 12 months, with a 90-day trial period.
• That price will last throughout 2020.

What’s good?

• In a blog post from Nvidia announcing the launch, which features a load of delicious shade-throwing at Stadia, the company details its pricing and compatibility.
• It’s good for PCs, Macs, Android phones, and Nvidia Shield devices for now.
• Note not all games on Steam, Uplay, Origin, Epic Games Store, Battle.net, and so on, will work: not all publishers allow Nvidia to host their games, like Rockstar Games and Square Enix.
• A key point: if you buy more games, they’ll remain yours since they aren’t locked to a standalone platform like games bought in Google Stadia. Taking your game library with you is a big selling point of Steam, and that remains part of GeForce Now’s offering.
• As for how it all works, setting your games to highest-quality in GeForce Now suggests an estimate of 15GB per hour of bandwidth, on par with Stadia.
• Add in that every supported game uses its service’s cloud save feature and you have yourself what outlets are calling “a stunner” and “unmatched”.
• They might be right.
• More on what GeForce Now is here.