For the unfamiliar, cloud gaming involves playing video games on your local machine while using remote servers or computers to run the program. It’s similar to video streaming services where you don’t have a copy of the video saved on your computer.
How Does Cloud Gaming Work?
In essence, the concept of cloud gaming is similar to how video streaming services and remote desktop services work. Like video-on-demand services, a user’s choice of games is stored and run on a remote machine separate from their local machine, and any game that the player chooses to play is streamed to them as video. And similar to remote desktops, any input made by the player is sent back to the remote machine and executed within the game.
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Importance of Cloud Gaming in the Industry
Running video games remotely has seen a surge in popularity mainly due to its accessibility. Players no longer need to spend a fortune keeping their machine hardware up to date or snagging this year’s latest gaming laptop. All you need is a decent internet connection and a subscription to a cloud computer or cloud gaming service.
Types of Cloud Gaming Technology
In general, two types of cloud gaming services are available to the public - Cloud Console services and Cloud Computer services.
Cloud console services allow gamers to stream any games they own without the need to download or install the game files anywhere. Cloud console services work on dedicated gaming consoles and gaming computers that have access to that kind of service.
Console-based services usually run games in the same environment that you purchase them in while computer-based ones usually connect to digital gaming stores such as Steam or Epic. These types of services are best for those that play on consoles or those that want a cloud computing experience dedicated solely to gaming.
Cloud computer services take this a step further and allow users to set up and access a virtual computer that can handle not only games but any other software that runs on any local machine.
Depending on which subscription service users opt for, virtual computers can make use of the latest and greatest hardware available for gaming. These kinds of services are great for users who would want to be able to access their gaming computer from any machine with an internet connection.
It’s also a better value for users that need up-to-date computer power for tasks apart from gaming.
Benefits of Cloud Gaming
There are multiple benefits of cloud gaming, regardless of which type of cloud gaming setup users are using.
1. Accessibility
Cloud gaming subscriptions are always available for anyone who has an internet connection. In terms of accessibility, cloud setups make it so that more gamers than ever can have the hardware to play the latest available games.
2. Affordability
It is almost always cheaper to subscribe to cloud gaming subscriptions as opposed to buying gaming setups that offer the same amount of processing power and gaming capabilities. Cloud gaming is the most price-friendly option for those that don’t have the budget to buy state-of-the-art gaming rigs.
3. Performance and Scalability
The computing power of most cloud gaming setups has a substantial lead in performance compared to on-hand setups at the same price point. And when it comes to a point where users want to play more hardware-heavy games or programs, all it takes is a few clicks to upgrade your subscription for more processing power.
4. Portability
Since cloud gaming is all online, users can take their gaming setup with them anywhere. In contrast, those with physical gaming computers would be hard-pressed to find a way to bring their desktops with them to a second location, let alone carry it around with them anywhere.
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How to Start Using Cloud Gaming
Vagon is a cloud computing service that provides cloud PC services for various types of users. This also includes gamers. So let’s talk a bit about how to set up a cloud gaming PC through Vagon.
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Sign up for an account on Vagon’s website and log in using your new account. You’ll see the dashboard of your account once you log in.
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Click on “Create Computer”. In the options that follow, choose “Other”.
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Once you proceed to the next page, you can scroll down to choose your location. Usually, it’s best practice to choose the location closest to you since that’s the most likely to have the smallest amount of ping.
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If you want to be sure, you can check out Vagon’s connection test page to see which server location is best suited for you. Remember, the lower the ping, the better the connection. You’ll ideally want to find something lower than 30 ms.
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The next step involves picking out which apps you want your PC to have as well as how much virtual disk storage you want.
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If you’re using the cloud PC for gaming, you don’t need to install any apps for now. You might want to add more disk storage space though, since the default option is 75 GB.
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You can then proceed to the payment page and avail of the payment packages that you would like. Vagon, in particular, uses the Stripe credit card payment system.
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After paying, your machine is set up. Vagon then shows you on-screen instructions on how to use your new virtual machine. You can do so both on the web browser you’re on or you can choose to download the desktop apps for either PC or Mac.
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On the dashboard, you can click on “Run Computer” to start your cloud computer. Choose the computer performance you want to use for your session and wait a bit for the machine to start up.
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From here, it’s only a matter of installing the games you want to run and playing them as you would on any normal gaming computer.
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The gear icon at the left of the virtual PC is how you access the dock menu which has general settings for your virtual machine. This is also where you can find the options of turning off your cloud PC or getting back to your account dashboard.
Conclusion
Hopefully, our rundown of tips and solutions to common issues help clear up any doubts you may have about trying out cloud gaming. For a reliably fast and consistent cloud gaming designing process, you can try out Vagon Cloud Computers. Also, if you have your game ready, and you are looking for a solution that will help you derive your game with others, you can check out Vagon Streams for a smooth experience!
