Truth be told, Netflix has made everybody’s life easier. It changed the game in terms of bringing hundreds of movies and series on-demand in online libraries that are easily accessible for binge watching. While Netflix is dominating this area of entertainment, when it comes to gaming on-demand GeForce NOW is set to be the pioneer in cloud and stream gaming.

Much similarly to Netflix, NVIDIA will provide through its next-gen platform a subscription-based service of games on-demand called GeForce NOW. Sounds awesome right? We certainly think so. There once was a similar service called OnLive which supported cloud gaming for mobile as well, but it came to an end after being acquired by Sony. However, let’s break down the benefits and drawbacks of GeForce NOW to give you a better perspective.

How it works & how much it costs

For the owners of NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV or SHIELD Tablet you would be happy to know that setting up the service is simplistic and intuitive. When you sign up for the GeForce NOW, NVIDIA updates the Operating System on your platform which in turn modifies your home screen turning to the GeForce NOW user interface. You then sign in using your Google account and you can take it from there. You can browse through the different libraries of free streaming games or purchase games to play using your Google account, through a quick and simple process.

The cost of the GeForce NOW service is set at $7.99 per month and £7.49 in the UK. The price includes 60 titles for unlimited streaming. For a full list of available games, see the table at the end of the article. If you do not own a SHIELD device yet, you can buy the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV from 16 GB at £149 (includes the controller). In America the prices start from $199.99 including the controller. However, the SHIELD remote is sold separately and prices are £39.99 or $49.99.

Visuals

It is well-known that NVIDIA pride themselves in the quality of graphics and visual power that its processors and cards provide. It is excitingly reassuring that NVIDIA is in charge of both, the SHIELD console and the GeForce service. Working together in harmony, these two elements will result to up to 1080p resolution and 60fp (frames per second). The powerful GTX technology is there to make sure that the quality of your games lives up to the standards of NVIDIA.

Loading Speeds

The evolution of technology has made us understandingly impatient and very demanding. We want stuff and we want them NOW! We can’t be bothered with waiting even a few extra seconds. NVIDIA recognizes that, and believe it or not, games will be loaded and ready to play within 30 seconds only! According to NVIDIA, a big size game like Batman: Arkham Knight would take approximately 3-4 hours to download on Steam with a 20 mbps broadband connection, whereas with GeForce NOW you could be playing the game within 30 seconds! Watching a movie, listening to a song, or playing a game has never been faster; and GeForce NOW is here to stay and satisfy even the most impatient of us.

GeForce: The Future is NOW

What is great about this concept is that we feel that we are betting our money on a safe horse. NVIDIA has proven over and over again that they do care about customer satisfaction. Unlike AMD, NVIDIA have their own consoles and although there is a significant focus on raw FPS performance, it is apparent that they want more. GeForce NOW is a sign that at NVIDIA they keep striving for excellence and to provide an overall amazing user experience and the free 60 to play titles are designed to hook you from the get-go.

For American users you would be happy to know that Google Fiber will be offering NVIDIA SHIELD to all prospective and current customers. The staggering speeds of Google Fiber that reach up to 1GB per second in combination with the GeForce NOW service are an omen for perfect quality, fast gaming streaming, and endless binge watching hours of your favourite movies & TV Shows.

For the European users, SHIELD and SHIELD Pro are available for purchase in countries like U.K, Germany, Norway, Denmark, France, Sweden and Finland since the October 1st, 2015.

The membership perks with GeForce NOW also include an option to buy the very recently released game titles found on GeForce NOW store and play them instantly. And it is very simple because all you have to do is open your GeForce NOW, click on the “Buy and Play Instantly” button and Voila!

Final thoughts

Admittedly, GeForce NOW is a service that brings the future to your fingertips. Designed for performance, the lighting speed serves as an advantage for active gamers. We have some concerns however regarding individuals with a capped internet connection. Also to benefit from this service you will obviously need a SHIELD device (SHIELD Portable, SHIELD Tablet, or SHIELD Android TV). Even if you have uncapped broadband, your Wi-Fi connection speed has to be minimum 10Mbps. Moreover, you will need a SHIELD Ready 5 GHz Wi-Fi router and at least 20Mbps connection speed to take advantage of the full visual potential of 60fps and 720p resolution. For the even more demanding users requiring a streaming at 1080p and 60fps you will need at least 25Mbps broadband speed.

Even while obtaining these ideal streaming conditions, NVIDIA cannot guarantee that gaming and movie streaming will be uninterrupted especially if you have other users on your network watching Netflix or Skyping. You could however try connecting the SHIELD device directly with an Ethernet cable if your Wi-Fi connection is weak. Another concern we have is that NVIDIA has a few set up rules that might face the discontentment of some users. For example if you leave your game idle for too long your session will stop so you might need to save your progress before you rush off unexpectedly. Something else that we found restricting is that NVIDIA allows only one streaming per account at a time. This rule however might be related to limiting lagging and stuttering. Conclusively, we hold high hopes for NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW and we will keep you updated about it. You can watch the GeForce NOW video at the end of this page.