Items tagged with game streaming
Don't look now (er, do look, actually), but Netflix apparently has aspirations of being the Netflix of games! That is to say, it is reported the company wants to expand into video games (as previously rumored) and has brought on some key talent to help lead the effort. Should Netflix pull this off, it could be a major disrupting force, just as it was (and still is) for streaming movies and TV shows. I have to say, Netflix's ability to pivot and evolve with the times is impressive (save for that short-lived Qwikster spin-off a decade ago). Navigating the online landscape is not easy, yet Netflix took its popular DVD-by-mail subscription service and adeptly expanded into streaming movies and TV...
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In 2020, Amazon Luna was announced as the company’s first foray into video games to compete with Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud program. Through many trials and tribulations, the game streaming service is finally becoming more accessible. Starting on Prime Day (June 21st), Amazon Prime members can access Luna for free for seven days, but the Luna controller is on sale for the first time right now if you want to jump in as soon as possible. For just $5.99 a month, players can play a rich library of games from Ubisoft, Capcom, 505 Games, and Team 17, among others. From action to racing games, the Luna library is also constantly growing with both new and old titles like...
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Some significant changes are coming to NVIDIA's popular GeForce Now cloud gaming service. GeForce Now celebrated its 1st anniversary back in early February and currently has 9 million subscribers. At launch, GeForce Now provided two tiers of service: Free and Founders. The former offered standard access to GeForce Now with 1-hour session lengths. The latter, which cost $4.99/month, brought priority access, extended session lengths, and RTX support. NVIDIA announced today that the free tier would stick around, but the Founders tier will no longer be available for new subscribers. Instead, NVIDIA is introducing a new Priority membership which is priced at $9.99/month. It should...
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Just in time for the holidays, we’re back with another HOT giveaway, courtesy of our friends at EVGA! Up for grabs this time around are six (6) of EVGA's new XR1 USB 3.0 Capture Devices, which are the first to be certified for OBS (Open Broadcaster). Whether you want to capture a feed from your PC, console, or camera, the EVGA XR1 has you covered, with and easy to use control dial, dedicated audio inputs, 1080p60fps capture, 4K60 pass-through, and an advanced 1440p@120Hz pass through mode. All you have to do to earn entry points and win one of these cool devices is like and subscribe to a handful of social media sites, and you’ll automatically be entered. There are no less than...
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In September, Apple revealed new App Store guidelines for game streaming apps. However, these rules were not conducive to streaming as they required games to be downloaded first from the App Store. This sort of requirement is not workable, so companies such as Microsoft with Project xCloud and NVIDIA with GeForce NOW sought workarounds. It seems NVIDIA was the first to the pass, as it is now offering GeForce NOW in the iOS browser, Safari. According to NVIDIA, “GeForce NOW transforms underpowered or incompatible hardware into high-performance GeForce gaming rigs.” Previously, only Android devices had the game streaming capability due to Apple’s draconian rules. That changes...
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It looks like someone else is trying to circumvent Apple’s obtuse rules for their App Store. Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate streaming subscription service -- namely, Project xCloud -- was blocked from the App Store because each game could not be individually reviewed. However, this will not stop Microsoft from developing a web-based application for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. In August, Apple explained why Xbox Game Pass Ultimate got the boot from the App Store. Besides the rule for Apple to individually review games on the App Store, all games are required to appear in charts and search, which would likely not be possible for a streamed game. More recently, game streaming...
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Amazon is entering the game streaming fold with its new service, Luna. At launch, it will be available on Fire TV, PC, Mac, and Apple mobile devices with Android coming soon. In the meantime, you can request early access and help develop this cloud gaming platform from Amazon. According to Amazon, Luna is a new cloud gaming service that leverages AWS's power to stream games to devices. With Luna+, the premium subscription, gamers get access to a library of games a la Gamepass from Xbox. This subscription will start at $5.99 a month and enable 4K/60FPS gameplay on two devices at the same time starting soon. Akin to Gamepass and EA, Luna subscribers can also pay to access the Ubisoft library through...
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Subscribers to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service can now try out Microsoft's new game streaming platform today, August 11. Microsoft is launching a new version of the Xbox Game Pass beta app for Android users that enables game streaming, which was previously known as Project xCloud. The official launch date for the new game streaming service is September 15. Microsoft says that the limited beta starting today is meant to ensure a smooth transition to the cloud gaming experience on Android. Microsoft also confirmed that existing Xbox Game Pass beta app users would have the opportunity to test a subset of available titles. Players should be aware the service is a beta experience, and may not...
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While Microsoft has been testing its Project xCloud game streaming service on iOS devices via TestFlight, the service is set to launch exclusively on Android devices. A launch for iOS devices may never happen thanks to App Store guidelines that are unfriendly to streaming games from the cloud. In fact, Microsoft has already ended its Project xCloud trial early; timing that just so happens to lineup with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20/Note 20 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S7/S7+. Both device families come with a special version of Xbox Game Pass that supports cloud game streaming. The current testing phase was previously scheduled to end on September 11. Project xCloud is Microsoft's game-streaming...
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Recent reports on NVIDIA's game streaming GeForce NOW service has mostly focused on a small handful of publishers bowing out at the 11th hour, presumably because they want a piece of the pie. That is not the case today. NVIDIA announced a concrete release schedule for new titles, with Control being among the first of the new batches bound for GeForce NOW. NVIDIA says it intends on adding more games to GeForce NOW every Thursday. That is a huge deal, assuming NVIDIA can stick to its promise. Part of that is out of NVIDIA's hands, as a spattering of publishers play hardball. However, in the midst of it all, NVIDIA contended it still had 1,500 additional games queued up. "Since opening GeForce NOW...
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Samsung and Microsoft have been expanding their partnership together over the last few years, and the two companies now appear ready to tackle gaming. Samsung and Microsoft recently announced at Samsung Unpacked that they will be working more closely together on gaming streaming services and game availability. Samsung and Microsoft’s first step will be to offer Forza Street in the Galaxy Store. Forza Street is a racing game that was released for PC and Xbox last April. This will be the first time that the game will be available on a mobile device. It is possible that other Microsoft games will be available on mobile exclusively through the Galaxy Store. The two companies have provided less...
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As most of your are probably aware, Google Stadia is an ambitious new game streaming service. It supplants the need for dedicated gaming hardware that renders high-end graphics by processing the workloads in the cloud and piping the final frames over the Internet to your device. In theory, all your device needs is a fast and stable Internet connection and software support for Stadia. It is a lofty goal. If successful, the monetary and complexity barriers to gaming are reduced even beyond traditional console setups, and cost is limited to just the price of game titles and maybe Stadia's Pro subscription. The core Stadia service, called Stadia Base, will be free in the future (early 2020). Users...
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To succeed in business, as the saying goes, you need to do it first, do it cheaper, or do it better. Google's Stadia platform certainly is not the first game streaming platform to hit the market, with incumbents like NVIDIA with its GeForce Now service deployed for a while now. Pricing models are not yet disclosed either, though we would not expect Google to undercut the market per se. If Google is going to keep its head above water in this competitive but quickly expanding market, the company will need to bring platform improvements its competition cannot match. Sony's Playstation Now, Nvidia's GeForce Now, and several other platforms have been growing in game streaming space and justifying...
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It seems that everyone wants in on the game streaming market of late. Reports have indicated that Verizon wants into the game streaming segment, as does Amazon. Start-ups like VectorDash have announced game streaming services that leverage unused GPU power from crypto-mining rigs recently as well. And of course Google unveiled plans for its Stadia game streaming at GDC 2019 this week. Today, a new report claims that retail giant Walmart is looking at getting into game streaming as well. The report comes from USGamer, claiming that multiple sources familiar with Walmart's plans have noted that the retail giant is looking into its own streaming game platform. The unnamed sources...
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After a public beta test last year with Project Stream and weeks of teasers, Google today officially unveiled its new game streaming service: Stadia. Stadia is a culmination of years of development work and infrastructure buildup, and is Google’s attempt to bring high-quality AAA games to every display in your home or on-the-go with your smartphone/tablet. You can seamlessly shift your current gaming experience from a TV to smartphone to a laptop or any other supported device. In fact, streaming can take place on Chromecast and Pixel devices along with the Chrome browser. Gamers will be able to purchase games straight from a YouTube or Twitch live stream (i.e....
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Google has sent out invites to an event happening at the annual Game Developers Conference or GDC. The event will be on March 19 at 10am PST, and the focus of the keynote is expected to be the unveiling of all the details on Google's game streaming service. Rumors suggest that Google is working on a subscription-based streaming service that could be distributed via a Chromecast device or a console made directly by Google. Google's invite gives up no detail about the topic of the event, it's simply a bright light at the end of the hallway with the tagline "Gather around." Google has been working hard recently in gathering up engineers for its in-house chip design, hiring talent away from Qualcomm,...
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Is your launch day Xbox One seemingly a little grey around the temples these days, and you don't see the point in upgrading to an Xbox One S or the more powerful Xbox One X? Well, we know that Microsoft is currently developing its next generation Xbox console, and a new report suggests that the device may be a little over two years away. This information comes from Thurrott, which indicates that the next Xbox is being developed under the codename Scarlett. However, the big news is that there won't just be a single device launched, as was the case with the Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Instead, Scarlett encompasses an entire family of devices. The devices will reportedly launch in 2020,...
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Nintendo isn't the most tolerant of game companies when it comes to letting fans make derivative materials or post lots of videos of Nintendo games online. One prime example is when Nintendo killed off the browser-based Mario 64 remake back in 2015. More recently it forced the indie developer making Super Mario 64 an online multiplayer game to remove all his videos from YouTube. Nintendo has a Creators Program in place that allows people to make videos including Nintendo IP in them, but Nintendo gets paid all the advertising revenue for monetized videos. It then shares that video with the gamers using a 70% cut for channels and a 60% cut for individual videos. Nintendo has made a big change to...
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It’s Happening! NVIDIA is bulking up its GRID cloud gaming service with the introduction of 1080p 60 FPS streaming. This is big news for gamers as 1080p60 is the same performance target that developers aim for with the latest and greatest games running on Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. NVIDIA is actually the first company to offer 1080p60 streaming over the Internet, however, plenty of services offer the capability with local playback. To take advantage of this new capability, you will need to sign up for the SHIELD Hub beta and of course have possession of a SHIELD gaming device. But that’s not all; in order to ensure a lag-free gaming experience, you will need an Internet connection...
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