Ara 
I have been a cloud enthusiast for over a decade, since the early days of alwaysonpc, which was a Linux virtual machine that you could access and control via web browser and do office work on OpenOffice (LibreOffice), along with the blazing-fast web browsing experience (100 Mbps!). Doesn’t seem that impressive nowadays, but it sure was back in 2009, when all I had was a 1up/0.5dn connection. A door to a world that was then unreachable.
I also happened to test GeForce Now’s indirect precursor, Nvidia Grid, back in 2015. The idea was essentially the same, a powerful computer that you could use to run games or just about anything. Alwaysonpc on steroids, but running Windows 7 instead of Linux and with a huge variety of 3D modeling software and coding suites. A cloud workstation rather than a cloud gaming per se, hence the “indirect”. But given you could install anything (that would get wiped as soon as the machine was shut down), it was also a reasonably decent cloud gaming experience.
I would have tested Shadow Pc, another cloud gaming provider that followed the Nvidia Grid footsteps with the whole “rent a desktop” idea, which I find to be more useful than the GFN model because of the freedom it provides. Want to install mods? No problem. Want to do work rather than just gaming? that’s fine! Tempting, but I ended up not trying that one because of the price (no free demo).
When Nvidia announced GeForce Now and had the beta thing going, I pogged. I remember to this day, - proper - cloud gaming at last. Well, not exactly proper because they didn’t have South American servers and I had horrible latency, but even so it was still a fun experience and a taste of what was to come, at some point. When it finally arrived in South America through ABYA, the price was not only high but twice as much as they charge in North America. 10 USD a month instead of 5. The exact opposite of fair regional pricing.
With that being said, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and consequently xCloud (as it’s part of the “bundle”), is around the same slightly abusive ballpark, with the sole exception that you also get the games, while you would have to own every game you want to play GFN-wise. Which, for my case specifically, being a pc game collector and overall a huge enthusiast, isn’t exactly a problem, but paying twice as much as the first world counterpart, with wait lines and limited to 6h per session feels a little bit like a scam, making xCloud look very attractive in hindsight.
Even so, considering I have a gaming pc, and also a console, 10 USD felt like a lot of money just for the sake of trying something out, rather than it being my platform of choice for gaming. But I kept an eye on any promotional offers or similar because at half price it would suddenly look a lot more interesting.
Not only did I get the deal I was anxiously waiting for, but even better than that. Two months for free, just because I happen to be a Discord Nitro subscriber. 60 days is more than enough time to try out a bunch of random games and see whether Microsoft’s cloud offering was up to pair.
It would be my first time trying out proper cloud streaming, from a server within 600km instead of 6000. How negligible would the input lag be? Would it look good? Could it turn out to be very close to native Xbox? So many questions!
To be honest, the first time was a nightmare. Not only was it taking ages to load, but it was all blocky and ridden with audio glitches. Not their fault, though, it turned out. For some reason, my ISP was having route issues with both Microsoft services and Discord (even emojis were taking ages to load). Everything else was completely normal. Nothing that the classic “turn off and on again” couldn’t fix. That’s when sh*t got real.
Codemasters’ DiRT 5 was my game of choice for my first proper xCloud experience, ever. Partially because I wanted to know whether it was decent or not, and also because it’s a racing game, mighty fine for analyzing input lag and fluidity. It turned out just fine. Full HD, 60 fps, negligible input lag, almost the same thing as if I were playing on a real Xbox One, with the only downside being the visual aspect of things: slightly washed out and blurry, but not a deal-breaker. Overall, a solid experience.
Even though I still think it’s not ready (yet) to replace computers and consoles as the main gaming platform, the fact that you don’t have to download games anymore is a blessing in disguise. How many times have I not tried a specific game because the download size was bigger than my actual interest, making me pass on the good stuff. On xCloud, and also GFN, it’s like the NETFLIX of games, click and play, no downloads, no hassle, just fun (maybe not so much if the game sucks).
With hardware getting pricier and pricier over time, and cloud services evolving at a steady rate, there might come a point when it will be hard to tell streamed from native, and with matured codecs that will bring the latency down, making it so even the biggest downside is not as much of a downside anymore. Then, and only then, one could finally go full cloud-based. As it currently stands, it’s nothing but a promising novelty, with a lot of waiting during weekends and peak hours, questionable pricing practices, and limited catalogs.
Microsoft got a solid head start, though, with the impressive Game Pass library, including Xbox and Xbox 360 titles, that you don’t have to pay extra for. Plenty of content to keep you busy for days on end, along with decent server infrastructure, convenience (you can even run it from a web browser), with the only major downside being the fact that you have to use a controller, and only a controller. This is understandable to an extent, given it’s a cloud-based Xbox and not exactly a PC, but it would be nice to have that option, too.
I would go as far as saying that if you have a computer and happen to be flirting with the new Xbox, maybe get this instead. It’s cheaper, comes with “free” games and you would only need to buy a controller. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that you can also run xCloud on mobile, and even from a console, as long as it has a web browser. Mind-blowing.
My laptop’s GPU went bust, making gaming impossible. Thanks to xCloud, that isn’t true anymore. Not only can it game, but it can game better than before, with the bonus of much lower temperatures. Effectively cheaper than sourcing a new GTX880m from eBay.
To sum it up, I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen so far, and truly looking forward to what is to come as the streaming technology progresses further on. Mouse and keyboard support would be nice.
DayZ: from mainstream to ostracism