Dell subsidiary Alienware presented technology for streaming video games in the home network at CES 2022. In its basic function, Concept Nyx corresponds to other programs such as Steam Link: A game is run on the computer and transmitted to other screens via the home network – for example on the television, notebook or smartphone.
With Concept Nyx, too, the gaming PC – or a correspondingly powerful laptop – would become a server that can serve other screens with game content. Alienware promises up to four simultaneous streams from one device. In addition, it should be possible with Concept Nyx to switch seamlessly between different screens or to stream several games in split screen on one monitor.
In essence, Concept Nyx and Steam Link are cloud gaming technology, but they differ significantly from services such as Stadia and Geforce Now: While Google and Nvidia provide external servers for gaming, Nyx and Steam Link require you to provide a gaming device yourself . One of the advantages is that with a sufficiently fast home network you can hope for lower latencies than with streaming via external servers.
Concept nothing?
The Nyx concept is not really new: Valve has been offering the Steam Link function for years. While the program comes from the Steam ecosystem, it can also be used to stream titles outside of Valve’s own platform. Another alternative is Parsec.
Alienware’s press material on Concept Nyx shows a proprietary and rather bulky Alienware controller. It is still unclear what role it should play – actually, a special gamepad is not required to enable local game streaming. It is also unclear whether and when Nyx will even be available. Alienware speaks of a “journey” and a gaming future that is now “taking shape”. The Dell subsidiary has not yet been more specific.
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