PC Gaming Comes to iOS with ‘Moonlight’, Available Now
After an extended semi-open beta period, Moonlight is finally available on iOS.
For those who haven’t been keeping track of it, Moonlight lets you beam PC games directly from your computer to your iPhone or iPad. MFi controllers are fully supported, and performance is absolutely incredible. The experience is as good as – if not better than – using AirPlay to beam your iOS games to the Apple TV.
Several months ago, I posted an extensive hands-on preview of a beta version of Moonlight. Even then, it worked spectacularly. Example: I was able to play Skyrim – at 60 frames per second on Ultra settings – on a first-generation iPad Mini.
Moonlight works by re-writing an open source implementation of Nvidia’s GameStream technology, which Nvidia originally designed for their Shield tablet, console, and handheld. Moonlight’s implementation is superior to Nvidia’s own; in addition to supporting iOS, it runs in higher resolutions and at better frame rates.
There’s one catch to GameStream: because all the video compression is done on the GPU, streaming games requires a fairly recent Nvidia graphics card. According to Nvidia, desktop GPUs in the the GeForce GTX 600 series and above will work, as will mobile GPUs in the 700 series and above, with some 600 series also making the cut.
Compatible graphics cards can be had for around $100 – the $109 GeForce GTX 750 seems like a great value for money, though you can really go crazy with high-end GPUs if you want to throw enough money at them. Even without going overboard, you can get a $300 GTX 970 GPU that will perform better than the similarly-priced Xbox One and PS4.
Games also need to be specifically tuned to work with GameStream, though the list of compatible games is huge.
Personally, I think Moonlight is good enough to make me finally upgrade the aging graphics card in my gaming PC.
If you already have a compatible graphics card, give Moonlight a download immediately. It really is that good. If you have any questions about Moonlight or game streaming, don’t hesitate to drop by the forum thread to talk about it.