NVIDIA Cloud Graphics and Gaming to Take Off in 2013

It seemed as though the world forgot about GeForce GRID almost as soon as it came, but that is not exactly the case, or won't be if NVIDIA has anything to say about it.

GeForce GRID, and VGX for that matter, are NVIDIA's cloud gaming platform, which lets PC quality games and programs be run completely in the cloud.

Thus, any PC or even a smart TV is, theoretically, enough for users to play games, from small ones to high-quality titles like the Mass Effect trilogy, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls series, etc.

NVIDIA launched GRID, or at least introduced the concept, back in May, but a momentary wave of interest was all that came of it.

However, in the recent conference call with financial analysts, the company picked up the topic again, saying that there will be some shipments of GRID this year but that real adoption isn't expected until 2013.

"I think that we will see some shipments this year, but I would expect that most of these servers will go-to-market and ramp next year, in Q1 of next year. We have plenty to ship this year... I could use all the supplies for everything else, so we have plenty to do already," said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia.

"Gaikai has been a long-time partner of ours and a development partner on GRID and they were bought by Sony recently, so that’s really exciting."

GRID is a cloud graphics processor that could very well be one of the most important technologies that NVIDIA has ever developed. Cards will start out with two GPUs of 1,536 CUDA cores each.

As for VGX, it lets workers use any device (phone, tablet, laptop, etc.) to access a GPU-accelerated desktop regardless of operating system. Very useful in 3D design and simulation tools, something only high-end PCs have been suitable for, up to now.