Nvidia Grid Review: Cloud Gaming at its Finest

Final Thoughts

Nvidia has really gone above and beyond for their game streaming service. They’re not the first to provide such a service and they’re certainly not the last. However, they are so far the best. Lag is the critical component for streaming games in this fashion and the servers that Nvidia have built are literally a real game changer. I used OnLive’s game stream service for a few month, and it was fairly decent for less time critical games. Onlive lacked that high precision that I required for first person shooter and driving games, the video quality was nowhere near as good as that provided by Nvidia and I certainly wasn’t getting 60fps video either. What ever magic Nvidia have used to get such incredible performance from the same internet speed I used for Online, it’s certainly working well.

The Nvidia Shield is quickly defining its self as one of the most versatile gaming devices on the market. It’s also one of the most powerful Android gaming devices thanks to the Tegra K1 GPU that powers it. The K1 means it’ll run any high-end Android game you throw at it with relative ease. Then you’ve got the Game Streaming service, which allows your Nvidia powered PC to do the rendering and stream to your tablet. In home streaming means you can stay in bed, while still enjoying a few games of Skyrim, why bother sitting at your desk on a cold winters day! Then we’ve got the console mode, hook the Shield up to your TV to play games, movies and more from the comfort of your sofa. Finally, we’ve got the GRID features we’ve tested today. The service is only in Beta and it’s already running like clockwork, with twenty premium quality games to choose from. How many high-end gaming devices come with twenty free games?!

If this is what Nvidia can do with a competitively priced tablet and some Beta software, I can’t wait to see how much better the final GRID product really is. Twenty games may not be enough to compete with services such as Steam right now, but Nvidia will be adding games regularly, so it won’t be long until they have a more complete service. If you’ve got a steady internet connection and an Nvidia Shield, stop wasting time and give GRID a try.