Concept Nyx is Alienware’s take on a household gaming server

It’s commonplace to have a number of avid gamers residing below a single roof. But what occurs when all these avid gamers wish to play on the similar time? Wi-Fi mayhem, arguing over who will get to make use of one of the best {hardware}, and, usually, separation as members of the family retreat to their respective gaming caves. Alienware is wanting into fixing that downside with one highly effective, mysterious laptop.

An R&D venture introduced right this moment, Concept Nyx is basically a household server with sufficient computing energy to permit a number of individuals to stream PC video games off it concurrently. I checked out a prototype in particular person and noticed it powering two gaming classes at one time—one person fragging on a non-gaming laptop computer and one other on a bigger display match for a lounge.

Alienware confirmed me two avid gamers taking part in without delay, however its lab is at the moment testing Concept Nyx with 4 avid gamers taking part in concurrently. A spokesperson instructed me there’s “mainly no efficiency drop” when including a particular person, however the demo wasn’t lengthy sufficient (below 10 minutes) to substantiate that for me.

Concept Nyx is like cloud gaming companies, corresponding to Nvidia GeForce Now and Google Stadia, however as an alternative of streaming video games off a server in some far-off datacenter, you are streaming off one proper in your home. Since every little thing is occurring extra regionally, Alienware expects “decrease latency, higher bandwidth, and extra responsiveness,” Glen Robson, Dell Technologies’ Client Solutions Group CTO, mentioned in a weblog publish right this moment.

And like cloud gaming companies, Concept Nyx would allow gaming on sometimes non-gaming gadgets. For instance, you might theoretically sport on a Dell XPS with out a discrete graphics card.

Obviously, this all requires a lot of computing energy. I might inform Concept Nyx was stacked based mostly on its dimension, however Alienware would not verify what or what number of CPUs, graphics playing cards, or different elements had been inside. It’s additionally unclear what kind of cooling methods can be used to maintain issues working cool for extended durations.

One factor I appreciated about Concept Nyx is that whereas it encourages members of the family to sport regularly, it additionally encourages bodily closeness, which you do not normally affiliate with PC gaming. A split-screen characteristic Alienware is experimenting with would permit two avid gamers to play on the identical display without delay. That means you might play Halo Infinite whereas your child performs Cyberpunk 2077 and each get pleasure from one of the best display in the home whereas sitting subsequent to and, dare I say, speaking to at least one one other.

Alienware additionally demoed Concept Nyx holding observe of the place you’re within the sport, so you might transfer from the pc in your bed room to the one in the lounge and preserve taking part in with ease.

In that very same vein, Concept Nyx seeks to simplify sport entry by unifying all PC video games below one app, no matter the place you initially received it. “Gaming on Concept Nyx goals to be as easy as entry to your favourite music, TV exhibits, and flicks,” Robson mentioned.

As a idea, Alienware might by no means flip it into one thing you’ll be able to truly purchase. However, Alienware will proceed to develop the venture, so it is doable we’ll see one thing prefer it and even simply a few of its options in a delivery product at some point.