When I was younger and had fewer responsibilities, I played games all the time. Gaming was my top hobby starting with the original NES through the original Xbox. I even worked at EBGames during college as well. As I started a family, I had to trim up my hobbies, and sadly I stopped playing games. As my kids have gotten older, I have a little more time on my hand, but not enough to want to invest in a game system. I’ve dabbled with Stadia, but it’s limited on games. I’ve recently played a few games on Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the RiotPWR controller turns the iPhone into a great mobile gaming device. Let’s look at how to enjoy Xbox Cloud Gaming on iPhone.
Why cloud gaming?
Global supply chain shortages make finding the latest Playstation and Xbox consoles challenging even after they’ve been out for a few years. Buying a new $500 console every 5-8 years seems wasteful in some ways. Just like cloud-based solutions enable over-the-air upgrades to our email, music, and other SaaS, why can’t that happen to our game systems? I truly believe that one day, cloud gaming will be the default, and we’ll look at Xbox and Playstation like we do on Netflix and Spotify. Right now, it’s more focused on lower-end gaming, but there’s no reason that, as technology evolves – we can’t stream all of our games like we do movies and music.
Xbox Cloud Gaming on iPhone
The Xbox Cloud Game service is technically still in beta, but there are several games that I was excited to play. It includes over 100 games, including multiple Halo games, Assasin’s Creed, many titles in the Battlefield series, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Fable, Fallout, Far Cry 5, and multiple titles in the EA Play subscription.
Apple’s unwillingness to let Microsoft submit an Xbox Game Pass app on the App Store that includes the ability to launch all the games means that Microsoft runs the Xbox Cloud Gaming service as a web app. Here’s the thing: it works great! Would it be better if it was a native app? Absolutely, but once I got the games launched, they were full screen and fast-paced. I never once thought, “I am streaming these games.” They felt just like I was playing it on an Xbox on my iPhone.
RiotPWR Xbox Cloud Gaming Controller for iPhone
The Xbox controller from RiotPWR for iPhone will feel quite familiar in your hand if you’ve played the Xbox before. It looks and handles very similar to the current Xbox controller, and personally – it’s one of my favorite controllers of all time. It includes a mount so you can easily dock your iPhone as well. The Lightning cord powers the controller from your iPhone or iPad, so there’s charging needed, The Xbox Game Pass web app picked up the controller right away, and I was playing the original Halo in no time. It’s not limited to the iPhone, though. My kids even used it to play Roblox on their iPad as well. It also includes a Lightning pass-through port for charging and a headphone jack for gaming in areas where it’s hard to hear.
Although the controller looks and feels like an Xbox controller, it’s also compatible with Stadia, PS Remote Play, Steam Link, and Amazon Luna.
Summary
If you’re like me and enjoy playing games but are not ready to commit to an expensive console, the RiotPWR Xbox Controller for iPhone is the perfect stepping stone product. The Xbox Game Pass is only $15/month and will let you enjoy over 100 console-quality games on your iPhone or iPad.
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