At CES in Las Vegas, Dell presented a new concept for its Alienware range. This concept is called Nyx. And it takes up certain concepts of cloud gaming to adapt them to local use. The goal: to offer gamers the possibility of playing wherever they want while using the computing power of their gaming PC. Explanations.
Imagine this situation. You want to play one of the latest games that have just been released. A “AAA” game from a big studio, like Halo Infinite from 343 Industries, a title we tested late last year for its launch. To take advantage of it, you have two solutions. Either have the appropriate equipment at home. An Xbox Series X for example. Or subscribe to a cloud gaming service, here the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Read also – Xbox Cloud Gaming finally arrives on Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One
In one case, you are material dependent and its location in your home. A gaming PC or a game console, it cannot be carried around under your arm. While you would like to be able to play from time to time in your room where there is no console or computer. In the other case, you are dependent on your Internet connection. Cloud gaming transfers computing power to remote servers, allowing you to play with devices that would not normally support it.
Alienware invents home streaming gaming system
In each case, there is therefore a technical condition which can have a consequence on your performance in game (we are talking about multiplayer games where the slightest slowdown can be fatal). Dell therefore imagined a system that “ would offer the best of both worlds “. Remote computing power to lighten the gaming support and separate the player from their PC. And a local system that reduces the need for bandwidth and latency.
This system is called Nyx and it was presented by Alienware, the gaming division of Dell, at CES in Las Vegas. Nyx is not a new console or a simple controller, although the controller that you can see in the visuals accompanying this article seems to be inextricably linked. This is a software system that links a local PC to an application. The PC will continue to host the games. And the application will connect to the PC to retrieve a video stream. Home cloud gaming. And the application could be compatible with Android, iOS, web browsers or even SmartTVs: anything is possible.
With Nyx you can resume a suspended game anywhere
The system will of course manage the suspended games, thus allowing the player to change screens or media whenever they want, without losing its progress. It also manages multiple sessions. This means that he is able to manage several games at the same time (up to 4). The limits of the system will obviously depend on the technical characteristics of the host PC, but also on the configuration of the local network.
Finally, the system is compatible with all games, whether purchased on the Microsoft Game Store, on the Epic Game Store, on GOG or on Steam. This is the beauty of the system compared to certain cloud gaming solutions, even GeForce Now, which is however the most open on the market today. Nyx is still a prototype. It is therefore not a product that will be marketed (at least, for now).
Local streaming gaming: an idea that’s not new
The idea behind Nyx is not new. It is moreover already used in commercial products or software already in operation. On the one hand, we are talking about Steam Link (not to be confused with the Steam Deck) which allows you to play a game hosted on a PC remotely. All that is needed is compatible hardware. Nvidia Shields are natively compatible. And an app exists on Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS. Some Samsung Smart TVs are also compatible.
And we are also talking about the Remote Play of PlayStation 3, 4 and 5. Here again, the console manages the game and sends the audio and video stream to a remote application, which is PSP compatible (with the PS3 only), PSVita (PS3 and PS4 only), Windows, Mac, iOS and Android (PS4 and PS5). Note also that Sony’s Remote Play also works away from home. It is class.
