Fake it, till you make it.

A screenshot from Far Cry 5 running on GeForce Now RTX Cloud Service

I guess you could say I started out as a PC gamer. My TRS-80 was an iMac like desktop computer with a Z80, 8-bit processor. I would spend hours typing in the code from various magazines to create a lunar lander or some other simple animation or game. If you really wanted to play something fun, you needed a cassette or floppy disk. The cassettes would create a screeching sound that would remind you of an old 56k modem and you could find them usually at Radio Shack.

I used to love going into Radio Shack and rummaging through all the parts and components. Realistic and RCA were some of the brand leaders and LG used to be Goldstar. They had some terrible products.

Playing games on a TRS-80 wasn’t always satisfying, they were very limited in the action department and even the text adventures like Zork, could sometimes be a challenge for a 7 year old gamer.

It would be pong from sears that would plant the gamer seed deep in my brain. I could control the TV. Sure it was just a couple of white paddles and a square bouncing ball, but I was controlling it. The games would get better, tennis but with 4 paddles. Soccer! Soccer with 6 paddles!

From there my gaming trajectory went like this… Pong —-> Pong ripoffs —> Magnavox Odyssey 2 - NES —-> Sega Genesis —-> 3DO ——> 386 PC —-> Dreamcast ——> PS2 —-> XBOX —-> PC Gamer ——> PS3 —-> XBOX 360 —-> XBOX ONE ——> PS4Pro

Notice that PC gaming disappeared around the PS3. At the time I had SLI Nvidia cards and a massive power supply and fan. Then, I began editing videos and switched from a desktop PC to a MacBook Pro. That was the day that PC gaming died.

I was a die hard keyboard and mouse FPS player. When Halo arrived and it was all about the gamepad, I was lost. I couldn’t compete even a little bit. It didn’t matter if it was a run and gun shooter or something slow and strategic like Rainbow Six: Vegas. I needed a keyboard and mouse or it wasn’t enjoyable.

So I became a Madden only player for the most part over the next decade and the switch to PS4 pro was only to play MLB The Show.

Then, I got an invite to try Nvidia’s GeForce Now service. It’s a game streaming service similar to the old OnLive service and a number of others like Liquid Sky and PSNow. Google has Stadia and Microsoft is working on Cloud.

The cloud gaming service is delivering real-time gameplay straight from the cloud to your laptop, desktop, Mac, SHIELD TV, or Android device. You must own the games, and not all PC games will work with GeForce now. A number of titles from Activision, Take 2, and others have been removed from the service. Some have deals with other cloud services, others simply don’t want Nvidia modifying their games to work with cloud servers.

For me, the curiosity was too much. Could I really play the latest PC games in ULTRA settings over the cloud? The 3 month free founders membership trial for $0 was just the push I needed to give it a try.

I installed the client on my 2016 Macbook Pro 15” - and have it hooked up to a 32” external HD monitor. I installed my steam client and was able to get Portal and Half Life 2 up and running in a matter of seconds. I owned both games in steam. With all the settings turned to MAX, I booted up Half-Life 2 to see if it was as good as I remember.

Wow, so crisp, so clean, so smooth. This was amazing. To run around a FPS with a keyboard and mouse on ultra settings via a streaming video was pretty impressive. However, this is Half-Life 2 from 2004!! I needed to try something else.

The problem is that I don’t really own any PC games. I looked at the list of available titles. F-O-R-T-N-I-T-E. Hmm, i’ve heard about this game. I am not 13, but maybe I should fire this up for investigative purposes. I mean, high schools have Fortnite teams, colleges have tournaments, and it’s possible this game is still around when my 5 year old wants to go pro, so why not see what all the fuss is about.

I joined a creator server and was playing in seconds. The games seem to be pre-installed or installed instantly so there was less time to jump in that I ever remembered in a PC game.

The gameplay was, well Fortnite and I don’t need to use this space to tell you how much I dislike the game. I’ll just say it looked like Fortnite running very fast and colorful. I was still not satisfied this was worthwhile. you can play Fortnite on a lot of platforms and running it at high resolution doesn’t really provide that much more than medium quality as far as cartoony graphics go.

It would take another week before I stumbled upon a game that would begin to reveal just how great cloud streaming to a MacBook can be.

GeForce Now can run on a variety of platforms. (Not the iPad or iPhone yet however)

DAYZ is a survival video game developed and published by Bohemia Interactive. The game has intrigued me for awhile because, well The Walking Dead. An online open world somewhat realistic based FPS with a 3rd person view! The graphics aren’t the latest and greatest but absolutely look great when all the settings are turned up.

DAYZ was having a free weekend so for a few days I was able to get into this multiplayer world and have some pretty fun experiences that are so different from those on my console. Sitting at a desk a few inches from a nice bright monitor. A new RGB mechanical keyboard from CORSAIR and a Logitech gaming mouse felt like slipping on a brand new pair of comfortable sneakers. PC gaming is different and it’s so special.

The free trial ended and I was left feeling a little disappointed but I wasn’t sure buying DAYZ would be a good idea. Unlike Madden and MLB The Show, DAYZ doesn’t really end. It just keeps going, zombie after zombie, griefer after griefer. Could I really get sucked into a dystopian zombie filled town while my son, daughter and wife watched me turn pale and spend late nights running from hordes?

Ok, this is fun, but no extensive game library is a big deal. I’m probably done.

What? An announcement from Nvidia and Valve? According to Venturebeat, “Valve is expanding Steam’s integration with cloud-streaming services. The company released new Steamworks documentation for developers that details how Steam Cloud Play works. As part of this effort, Steam is natively supporting Nvidia’s GeForce Now. That doesn’t mean all of your Steam games work with that streaming service now. But it does mean that it’s easier for developers to add GeForce Now functionality to their games from within Steam’s creator tools.”

Hmm ok, maybe there will be some progress on games from the steam store. You can also play some of your games from Epic’s store and Ubi’s store. I thought I might be able to play the free copy of GTA5 that Epic was giving away a few weeks ago but nope. That isn’t compatible with the service either.

Oh well, maybe another time. Wait what? A free FAR CRY 5 weekend from UbiSoft?
This is the kind of game I needed to test. Ultra graphics on a slick FPS from UbiSoft will tell me if this is a service that can truly replace the latest hardcore gaming rig.

The game was installed instantly and I was playing in seconds. The game was gorgeous with everything turned up to ultra settings with everything maxed out. It’s really liberating making those choices in the graphics menu. It doesn’t happen often!

The game is fun, what a crazy world they created in Far Cry 5. a lot of very nice polish on a game that held me captive for a few hours right away. Even though I am using a wifi connection I was able to play with only a couple of hiccups here and there. I’m going to try and connect a cat 7 ethernet cable via USBC port to see if that eliminates the hiccups completely.

So it works! It’s absolutely worth the price of $0.00 for 3 months of instant access and RTX support. If you don’t want to sign up for even a free membership, you can play anytime but you’ll have to wait in a que sometimes and with the pandemic, sometimes I was 237 in line. Yikes! Once you’re in you can only play games on HIGH setting, not ultra. You only get an hour too, then it will kick you out so someone else can play.

The founders membership offered instant access and ultra settings. After 3 months it’s just $4.99 a month for 12 months. That’s really not bad if you consider the cost of building a gaming rig that can do this inside your house.

I am still on the fence because I don’t own a lot of games and with an XBOX Series X and PS5 both coming later this year, it maybe worth it to wait another year and see what’s happening with the latest technology from everyone.

For now, I’ve got 2 and a half more months to try out these free trials, and maybe at some point I will bite the bullet and buy some new PC games that I can play with Geforce now and hopefully use them when I eventually build a new PC.

Until then, I’m gonna fake it till I make it.

GeForce NOW is available here. Let me know what you think, comment below!