I think I'm sick of waiting for the PS5 to restock, the Xbox Series X to restock, and the RTX 3080 to restock; why not just have one piece of hardware in the house that can stream AAA games to the screen of your choice?

This is the idea behind Alienware's Concept Nyx, and I got a chance to see it in action before CES 2022.

Think of Concept Nyx as a cloud gaming service like Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia, or Nvidia GeForce Now. However, instead of streaming over the web using distant servers, all processing is done locally using a central server at home and a high-speed local network. Since gameplay is streamed to your screen, you won't need the best gaming laptop or the best gaming PC to play. A slim Dell XPS 13 will do just fine.

Alienware illustrates the potential of Concept Nyx in this scenario. While playing Cyberpunk 2077 on your desktop or laptop in the bedroom, you can switch gameplay to the 65-inch TV in the living room, go downstairs, and resume where you left off. Meanwhile, other gamers in your home are playing Rocket League on their laptops or tablets, and another is playing Minecraft on their phone.

The Concept Nyx device looks like a black monolith, placed somewhere in your home and connected to your Wi-Fi network. Then there is an intuitive game launcher interface that allows you to jump right into the action. This simple app is loaded onto each device, giving you instant access to all your games. [The coolest part of the Concept Nyx demo was seeing two different games streaming to the same TV at once. This is full-blown multitasking, but it's a realistic scenario given how big the best TVs are getting--sort of like DirecTV's game-mixing feature for the NFL. In fact, Concept Nyx aims to eventually offer four game streams simultaneously.

During the demo, there was a bit of glitching in one sequence, which is understandable since it is a concept. However, it would be great to be able to look around the room and see gameplay move from one screen to the next with minimal fuss.

Alienware did not reveal the specifications or possible timings that would drive Concept Nyx, but it is clear that it would appeal to both hardcore and casual gamers.

See our CES 2022 page for updates on CES 2022.