other games News: Nvidia Announces New Game Streaming Service Called Grid

[Armory Staff]

/files/u166440/nvidia_logo.pngSubscription-based, game streaming service coming in May

For the past three weeks, Nvidia has been teasing a new gaming product that it would unveil at GDC. Now, while the company’s new Shield Gaming console is an intriguing device, we were also interested in something else the company talked about. Along with the new console, Nvidia also announced a subscription streaming service called Grid.

 

According to Nvidia's live presentation at GDC, the Grid streaming service will be backed by Nvidia Grid supercomputers all around the world. Set to launch in May, the service will have two tiers. Grid will allow consumers to stream games at 720p at 30 FPS while Grid Plus will offer games at up to 1080p and 60 FPS both with a latency of 150 milliseconds. Sadly, it was not revealed how much either tier would cost per month.

 

But for those of you who are not keen on paying to stream a game, you will be able to purchase AAA games from the Grid store which, at the moment, will offer 50 titles though Nvidia says that more games will be added each week. 

 

However, while this all sounds good and what Nvidia showed at its GDC presentation looked impressive, there are some problems that Nvidia may not have considered. Internet infrastructure is one such problem. Remember a service called OnLive? For a game to be streamed at 720p and 30 FPS it recommends a 5MB/s or faster connection and, at minimum, 2MB/s. Then there is the consumer’s home router and even the ISP that could cause issues with Nvidia’s Grid streaming service.

 

What do you think? Are you interested in Grid and do you think that there are obstacles that will get in the way of the company’s lofty ambitions for the service? Sound off in the comments below!

 

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