Rainway App Promises 60fps Streaming Of PC Games To Consoles Like The Nintendo Switch

Yeh.... we'll see....

'Virtually no lag' - so it has lag then. Terrific. Just what I've been longing for.

Feh. It's free, huh? When a service has no cost, YOU are the product. Probably yet another group looking to gather user info to sell to marketers.

There have been services like this in the past that have bombed hardcore, I expect no different this time.

@Zebetite Sounds accurate to me.

With the amount of Sligeach_Eire tips this site receives, he really deserves to be on payroll. I think roughly half the articles are due to his tips.

I like the sound of it, and think the Switch would really benefit from it... but I am curious how they'd handle the controller mapping, as I often find that pretty frustrating when trying to use a controller to play PC games.... if they get that wrong, it could ruin the whole thing for me.

Free for life? As in... free to play mobile games? GG. 10/10 do not want. Actually even if this wasn't the case - I'd still want no part in it.

All I can say is you get what you pay for!

@Alikan Reading other websites and telling NL isn't hard

Eh ?!
Is that mean I can play The Sims 4 PC on Nintendo Switch ??

This will NEVER see the light of day on Switch. Absolutely no way Nintendo will pass this through QC

They actually claim it will be on the eShop.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/673xd1/streaming_the_witcher_3_to_my_s8_plus_it_works/dgnusfj/

Hmmmmmmm... would this include games like LoL... cuz that could get interesting...

If Nintendo actually allows this on the eShop and if it works as advertised, this could be a game changer. I've always wanted an easy way to stream Steam games to a handheld so I can play in bed!

@gcunit Every single streaming app/device has lag. It is an unavoidable thing due to the "extra step" the data has to take. You might as well criticize any online game/video service or any platform with wireless or bluetooth controllers.

edit: I don't condone any type of streaming

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Meme Run got on the eshop. Doesn't guarantee it'll STAY there, especially if this turns out to be as shifty as I expect it to be.

If this works as claimed and Nintendo doesn't allow it officially on its sytem, via the eShop or whatever, then the people at Nintendo are a bunch of complete morons. The one big thing we all know the Switch is going to lack is major AAA support, but with something like this (officially supported) that would almost be a mute concern, even though the experience probably won't be quite perfect (it's all dependent on any lag). So, get this thing on Switch--now.

Streaming - no thanks. Poor resolution, lag, reliant on internet speed/load etc.

@impurekind I am making a note of your comment with a bookmark. If this product crashes and burns or turns out to be yet another minor video game scandal of the sort we frequently see these days, I'll be sure to ask you if Nintendo's still "morons".

Why? Why not?

@Zebetite Now, you did pay attention to this part, "If this works as claimed . . .", right?

If this depends on DirectX, I guess it won't be compatible with Mac

The concept sounds cool until you read "web browser." I figure if WiiU, using Miracast on a dedicated NIC could sometimes stutter a bit, Sony has NEVER been able to get Remote Play working half decently on a closed platform dedicated to it (including their ownership of Gaikai), and nVidia's dedicated streaming on Shield is the best around so far, but still issue prone, and that's using proprietary hardware tricks and not using a web browser, this has got to be amazingly awful. Though Switch is the one platform it would seem to have a cool reason to try it on for PC gamers due to its mobility. "Stream your big $2000 console to your little $250 console" doesn't have as much appeal."

@gcunit even monitors have lag albeit very brief usually around 1-2ms plus all streaming services have lag

Why I'm sceptical of how well this'd work in practice, the Switch and mobile devices in general could afford to lose some quality over streaming. The Switch could probably get away with displaying a downscaled resolution (maybe as far a 480p), which would save a huge amount of data.

Anyone try the PS4 to Vita streaming? Never worked for me....makes me question how this would work.

Very nice, although it's a bit funny to be using an NS to stream PC games that can't quite be played natively on the console.

"Take a look at all the games you could be playing at full power, if only you didn't waste your money on a silly Nintendo console, and put it towards a proper gaming PC instead! Have fun trying to get Star Citizen running!"

So, will this make the game playable, if it wouldn't be on the original PC? I have Dragon Ball Xenoverse on PC and my computer is too slow to play it. Would I be able to play it with this?

@Zebetite
I'm not sure you read the article and if you did I'm not sure you understood what they're doing here. This isn't a service, it's not something that will run over the internet. It's a piece of software that would run on your PC and stream over your local network.

It's not unlike what Valve does with in-home streaming and the Steam Link and any PC with the Steam client installed. Microsoft offers the same thing for the XBOne and a compatible PC. Sony did the same thing with the PS4 and Vita and later with the PC. Nintendo did the same thing between the Wii U and the GamePad. Hell, NVidia did the same thing with the Shield and PCs with an NVidia GPU installed.

Really I don't see anything dodgy about this. The only real question is whether or not Nintendo (and others) would approve of an app that allows you to play PC games on their console. And I'm kinda doubtful.

My main concern with this is emulated software. Will they work on a way to prevent users from running any emulators? I'm sure Nintendo wouldn't be to happy to see users streaming Nintendo's old systems to the Switch, basically circumventing whatever systems/games they might put on the Virtual Console.

Another concern would be third party games. Would people be bothered to buy the game for the Switch if they can get it for their PC, then stream it not just to the Switch but any other systems as well?

Honestly, I would still love to see this happen, but I'm rather skeptical Nintendo would let this happen on the Switch.

@NEStalgia $2000!? My upcoming rig I'm building has almost $550 put into brand new midrange mobo, CPU, RAM, and M.2 NVMe drive (-$75 from package sale), plus other things from my work and previous comp will complete the build. Maybe upgrade it down the line for another $350 or so, but still, about $900 for me when all is said and done...

That'd be cool, I can't see Nintendo allowing it though. Too many opportunities for someone to find a backdoor and start hacks.

@Arehexes When directly connecting to the PS4, I can play without any noticeable lag most of the time when staying close to the console if I am going for low video quality and 30fps. High video quality or 60fps usually also works for me, both are often too much however.
Connecting through WLAN is more complicated since it largely depends on your download/upload speed as well as the router's general quality (or a repeater). With a good service it can be much better than a direct connection though, I can often play even action games at the highest settings but am a victim of an unstable connection once in a while. 15 mbit/s are the recommended minimum for the optimal experience after all.

This app could work in theory quite well but it will largely depend on your service for the aforementioned reasons. High download speeds are a necessity for 60fps, although I am fairly certain they will offer more options than just high settings, it would be foolish otherwise, so it won't be a reasonable option for most people anyway. Especially if you were to use it with the Switch's handheld mode considering it'd have to be done through WLAN (at least for it to receive the information, sending your button settings to PC would be the least of your problems here).

@subpopz @Setery10 @Menchi187 'Virtually no lag' is not something they should be saying in a marketing push, because it the only thing it does is confirm lag. If lag is inevitable then they shouldn't even mention it in this sort of release.

@gcunit It is browser-based so it is pretty much the best thing to say in this situation as it largely depends on WLAN, delay is inevitable but it may be as low as the lag between pushing a button and the console receiving that information. It seems like the Switch would then directly connect to the PC which would leave for a very fast connection only down to how strong your own Internet service is but I would like more information on that myself first.
In a way it is a more demanding multiplayer game, which I might add also suffer from input delay even if it's practically unnoticeable. and will probably require at least a decent connection as I mentioned in my earlier reply.

There aren't many other solutions to this aside from hardware modification which are another can of worms or allowing direct LAN connections but that's kind of destroying the point anyway.

Nintendo would do this themselves if they are ever going to do it.

So I can leave my PC at home and use this device, right?
That's the big question that sells my attention.

@impurekind Unless I'm misunderstanding how it works, the main reason I think why Nintendo won't allow it is emulators. Why buy VC when you can stream a possibly superior version from your PC for free. Breath of the Wild is close to being emulated and will run better than the original. With this free app you could play the Switch's biggest title at 60fps.

@PlywoodStick I've never bought a mobo + CPU that was less than $450 alone. RAM for a gaming machine can be cheap (I was always doing work/gaming at once so RAM was generally $250+, and a $300 GPU would be if you were going bare minimum. Add PSU, drives, a high quality tower because you're sick of working in cheap ones that the parts never fit as they should

But even back then people would come at me with prices like that "oh yeah I just built this gaming rig for this low price" and I'd go looking and it would be these awful generic "made to fail" parts they'd be buying, I'd buy the quality ones, and they'd still fail

$900 sounds a bit more fair though. Still using mostly budget parts.

(Still a 100% mute point for me. Not going digital-only this lifetime, so PC will never be a reality again for me no matter what.) But I love when people throw around numbers like "oh you can build it for only this much!" (If you buy outgoing parts that will need replacing in 8 months, and move parts you already bought from one machine to another and pretend they're free)

@gcunit That isn't how marketing works. How it works is "there is an unavoidable negative aspect, lets reassure people that our product has a minimal amount of the unavoidable negative!"

That's really cool, it could become a killer feature for multiple devices! But of course, you'll need a stable internet connection for that.

@gcunit This is only an assumption from my side, but I think 'virtually no lag' means that the amount of lag is so low that human's can't notice it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the case for all wireless controllers and even all monitors and TV's? After all, even a PC monitor with 2ms response time still has a lag of 2ms. So it's virtually no lag, but there is still a non-noticeable lag.

What puzzles me more than this is the fact that they want to support the Switch, even though it's browser isn't easily accessible (I just saw Alex's video for the first time - which is awesome!). Maybe they know something we don't (e.g. that the Switch's browser will be freely available soon)?

I daydreamed about being able to do this a few times. I'll wait until official confirmation that it's actually going to be on the eShop before getting too excited.

Always liked the idea of Vita's remote play, but it never ran smoothly for me. If someone can improve on that and give me access to my massive Steam backlog, more power to them.

Nnnnnnnope. Don't want it. The tech isn't there yet and it wouldn't be portable.

Would love this but no money to be made via 3rd parties for Nintendo so they will try and block it in a 'stability' update I'm sure. I'll sign up anyway, sounds great!

No thanks! Unless you have really good internet, video games are a pain to stream. This is why I don't like PS Now and Remote Play.

Many have tried, many have failed. Streaming games just doesn't work, get over it

@audiobrainiac It's not much different than services like Netflix and that's been around for years, there are just a few more steps to consider and a stable connections is more important but very possible nowadays.

Don't own a gaming pc, so this won't help me alot. Although, I could probably play games that should have been on the VC by now this way...

This is one of those "NASA finds life" stories. I expect it will eventually happen, but it will likely be years away. As such, my policy on such stories is skepticism.

@PrincessNoire yeah I tried PS Now and hated it. Movies and shows I don't mind so much. But even if it worked perfectly I'd still rather own my games and have the choice of playing them wherever, whenever.

@EternalDragonX Remote Play does work on my Vita. With some $25 of mobile data per month (my experience), tedious connection escapades (disconnecting is actually uncommon, but it can take several tries to connect, and there are many whimsical "errors" that barely anyone in the internet including PSN support forums seems to have even an Error-code-to-English dictionary for, let alone a coherent solution) and some awkward touchpad mappings at times (mostly a problem because somehow fewer games seem to allow full button remapping in 2017 than back around 1997) - but overall, even the local 4G can do the job well.

PS Now is much less compelling due to its price but a moot point in my case since the service left Vita long before it ever came to my region anyway.

@audiobrainiac Fair enough You do need a really strong connection to play things like this after all. Personally I've had good experiences using Remote Play both through the internet and a direct connection (which I suspect many people don't even know is possible), albeit not as good with the latter. My internet connection is above the average though.

Never could try PS Now though since it's not available in Germany :/

@OorWullie If that was its reason for not letting people stream their PC games and stuff to their Switch--let's imagine it made that decision for a second--I give up. It's not as if Nintendo is somehow struggling to continue to keep making basically free money off its decades old games, even with all the various emulators already out there (many of which work on their consoles already via various homebrew and hacking methods). And, let's face it, only a small percentage of Switch owners are actually going to care about using this App anyway, even less so for that particular purpose.

Interesting in the sense of portable access to some PC exclusives like HoMM4 (assuming the touch screen would emulate the cursor well), but otherwise I already have a PS4 and Vita for this kind of stuff. And I'll believe in Rainway on eShop shelves when I see it.

@PrincessNoire that's lame. Hope u get the chance to check it out. My opinion is that of a grumpy old school gamer, so don't mind me.

@audiobrainiac I wish but I doubt it (we can't even Share Play with anybody outside Germany...) But I am German so I am used to disappointment when it comes to gaming :3

There is no way Nintendo will aprrove this, as it would be suicide for the eShop. Why buy anything on the eShop when you could just buy it on a Steam sale and stream it.

@Ralizah Internet is irrelevant here. Remote Play doesn't even work well on the same network. And Switch's Wifi is worse than Vita's.

My high-end ultrabook can't reliably stream 1080p video over WiDi, meanwhile my phone can do it just fine. The difference? Like the WiiU the phone has two NICs, the ultrabook has only one. This works if you can dedicate a NIC to streaming. Switch and PS4 can not.

I'll stick with ports of games to the switch thanks.

@NEStalgia Not entirely, no. How stable the footage of the streamed material is does depend on how good your internet and the source of the signal are, just how good the Vita is at handling the information or how stable the wireless connection is by itself is another matter.
I've been able to play something like Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix on the Vita on high settings without big issues for one (including beating the strongest superboss on Critical)... assuming there's no interference which does happen quite a few times. There's a noticeable difference in quality between direct and internet connection still.

I'm on the wait and see camp on how this'll work.

@shani

I've not seen a monitor with less than 9 ms lag. When manufacturers show 1 or 2 ms they are talking about grey to grey pixel response time. Everything in the line typically adds some lag.

@OfNullAndVoid Good point. Finally we may be able to play past Nintendo classics without Nintendo'semulation destroying everything.

@yuwarite Games stream sucks, suffers from lag and random freezes, nothing compared to Wii U.

@HDXylophone no, the PC would still need to run the game, you'd just be controlling / viewing the game remotely. (Esentially the same the the PS4 / Vita do for remote play. The game is still run on the PS4, not the Vita)

ill be shocked if we see this every on any game system, this to me is gonna end up being vaporware....i cant imagine MS or Sony and definitaly ninty allowing you to play games you bought on your pc on your console... if that was the case why the hell would you ever buy a console version of the game? and there lies the problem with this product not buying the software on the platform of choice means that the console maker makes 0$ off you for you purchase of said game for pc, and for it to be free makes me laugh even harder....

@NEStalgia Yeah, to be fair, I'm using my $220 GPU I got last year, I'm using a case that's a few years old (not mine originally) without paying for it (was $120 new), and I'm able to get Windows 10 Pro in an unusual way without paying $100+, plus I needed a couple $15+ fan replacements, so it's really more like a $1350+ build all told once it's completed. I cheated you.

That said, it's cheaper today than it was 10+ years ago to build a good midrange PC. I remember back in December 2003, my folks spent $3000 on a full system- Pentium 4, Geforce FX5200, Canon printer, router and ethernet for broadband, Gateway monitor that still works today, stereo speakers... And it was still a midrange system. Building a gaming PC used to be unconscionably expensive.

It's not that bad today, but it's a fib to say PC can match consoles with a $600 setup. At least $800 is needed, and there's no real benefit of PC over console until $1000+.

BUT IT'S SO GOOOOOOOOOOD

@PlywoodStick Yeah, see the PC crowd always does that! "Oh look, my Switch cost me only $100 once I deduct my 2-year old N3DS price from it!" just doesn't work

LOL, P4, most of the cost of the box was the Rambus RD-RAM. And yeah, see finally someone being honest about PC costs! You could certainly cut corners back then too but then you'd end up having to replace the whole mobo/cpu too early (throwing money away), or you'd have to upgrade the GPU early. (throwing money away.) Not so different now, and to have to spend $1k+ to really do much that a $250 PS4 can't do, and having to go, still, well over that to do a LOT more than a PS4 can do....it's definitely still an expensive way to go about it.

If PC were still physical games I'd possibly have continued it, but it was a perfect storm of my hardware curse, digital replacing physical, and PC genres being reduced to shooters, MMOs, and such at the time while all the genres I liked had moved back to console, it was a good time to cash out

@cleveland124 Oh yeah, you might be right, hadn't thought of that. But it only adds to my point: every kind of technology in the line adds a tiny bit of (= 'virtually no') lag.

I'd try it if my PC could run games better, but it being "free" has me a little bit skeptical.

@NEStalgia Come on it is like tricking out a car. You don't count existing parts in the price. Yeah you bought that honda civic for 12K but what did you do to it afterwards? Vroom Vroom. Same for PC. I don't even remember what I paid for my original build. I know it was over a grand...that's about it.

So... My 3ds has a browser... No?

Steam has a stream option, but it has to be on your local network. It's definitely got a bit of quality loss and/or lag going from my pc to my laptop. I don't see this working great with the Switch​, but eventually (in several years) streaming​ games might be feasible.

Nintendo wouldn't do this, it would lose them ton of money from PC ports...

@impurekind How does Nintendo benifit from us streaming games from our PCs. They will look at it from a business perspective not a what we think perspective.

If you don't want it, so don't download it, that's simple.

Final Fantasy 14 on Switch! Woohoo! I'm trying it.

Well, if it's allowed on the Switch, and if it's good enough to run stuff well, I might be inclined to try it. Given the number of "if's" though, I'll keep expectations low.

That said, I know one PC game I play that would be quite curious to play on the Switch...though given my dorm internet, I doubt it would run any better than it does on my computer.

If I run Dolphin on it, I can play Melee

in HD

HOLY-

But, so... Where do these PC games that are being streamed come from, then? Don't you have to pay for them? Or own them? Are they pirated, or what? I get the streaming part, just not where they're being streamed from and how it can be free unless they're pirated games...?

Do I have to be on the same wifi network as my console + computer? I can't imagine 60fps experience otherwise

@zionich Because, it really doesn't lose money from us streaming PC games from our PCs to the Switch--the fear about everyone just using it to play old Nintendo games for free and therefore not buying anymore Virtual Console titles or whatever is 99.99% pure paranoia--but it does lose the hearts and minds of many gamers when it stops them doing very cool stuff like this for ultimately no very good reason, stuff that could actually make the console a lot more appealing and/or satisfying to many gamers. And, in case you don't get it, losing the hearts and minds of gamers can often lead to losing their money in the end--so I think the inclusion of something like this ultimately works out as a good thing for everyone rather than a bad thing.

@impurekind That is a chance I cant see Nintendo taking without some kind of buffer. That is why I can see some kind of pay wall attached to this service. They have to calculate how many people will buy the console for the stream but never buy a Switch game.

I would absolutely use it if it comes out and works. I just disagree with your reasoning because I feel it is based on the mindset of wanting it bad but not looking at the bussiness side of things.

@impurekind you are delusional and didn't made a single point why this is good for Nintendo when is easy to see a ton of negatives.

Maybe I will finally plow through some of my Steam backlog.

No thanks. I hate lag so much that I only stream PC games at faster-than-light speeds using a tachyonic antitelephone. The gameplay footage is shown on the television before I've ever played it, which makes each game an exciting adventure to press all the right buttons to produce the footage I've already seen in order to avoid an unstable paradox. Every time the television turns on, I have an existential crisis, but I always play when fate demands - the risk is too great. Who is deciding to turn the computer on when my future self is only imitating what I saw him do? Do I even have free will? What is reality? What am I? Why am I? Oh well. At least there's no lag.

@rennandovale If you think I didn't make a point then you have your head stuck in the sand. And, pot calling kettle black much?

@zionich I see very few real negatives, only perceived negatives that will ultimately have so little impact that they're only negatives to plonkers in suits. And, those same people almost always fail to see the benefits of things like this. It's kinda like how those plonkers only see some kind of negative in YouTubers showing footage of Nintendo's games and not seeing any positives in it--unlike almost every single other sane person.

@Xilef Because the eShop and Steam have vastly different libraries, and though you may want to stream some games sometimes, you won't always want to or be able to stream a game.

@yuwarite yuarewrong. Lol.

@liveswired (screen prints your trolling) Lol.

So, I can play HuniePop on my Switch!? I I just wanna play all my weeb games on the Switch, mmkay?