Technologies

I Love GeForce Now on My Steam Deck — Until It Starts ‘Waiting for the Next Available Rig’

It was the first time I’d encountered it in the past week, but 20 to 45 minutes seems like an eternity when you have a console in your hands and are ready to play.

I started chair dancing when Nvidia told me about its GeForce Now cloud-gaming app for the Steam Deck. My Deck OLED is my most frequently used nonessential device, so I was stoked that GFN provided a way to play Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games on it. And it was great, even on my pretty uneven Wi-Fi connection, until it started tossing me into queues with up to 40 people ahead of me. And that was on Ultimate, the priciest tier with the shortest wait times and longest sessions.

It was a blip in my otherwise great experience during the past week — relatively glitch-free, low-latency gameplay, including when attached to a monitor with a hub for keyboard and mouse — and it cleared up later in the day, but it was a frustrating blip nonetheless. (I contacted Nvidia, but the company didn’t have an explanation like “East Coast servers down for maintenance!” at the ready.) It’s something people on the Premium and free plans might experience, though, so it merits discussion.

And yet, it’s still less glitchy and frustrating than Xbox Cloud Gaming. Sigh.

To me, the Game Pass support is the most important feature because a lot of Xbox Cloud gameplay is really erratic for me on my mobile devices. To Nvidia, battery life is most important, I suspect partly because it’s critical and quantifiable.

And yes, the Deck can last much longer — I’d say I get a couple more hours out of it — because it takes a lot less power to run the game in the cloud and stream to you than it does to run locally, which requires a lot more processing to run and render the games. That said, I also tested the app on the Lenovo Go S SteamOS model (which I’m working on a review of and otherwise really like), and that, thus far, seems to have poorer battery life than the Deck, so it may become an important factor for me as well.

In general, even weighty games such as Doom: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur Expedition 33 (the first from Game Pass, the second Steam) played zippily (60-plus fps) on a monitor at Epic/Ultra/whatever quality presets, although I didn’t get a chance to test HDR. Platformers like Have a Nice Death (Steam) seemed equally responsive and relatively latency-free compared with running locally.

The app provides extensive, or more compact, statistics if you want, but even shrunk down, they take up a relatively large amount of (sometimes critical) real estate on the Deck’s small screen. On the flip side, the icon indicating a Wi-Fi bandwidth issue is tiny and easy to miss. While GFN occasionally gave me network warnings, which I’m used to, it never seemed to result in more than the occasional stutter.

I do find that after about an hour in most games — especially my current addiction, The Blue Prince (see above re: Game Pass) — my connection gets wonky enough that some games become bogged down until they become pretty unresponsive and unplayable. GFN seems to provide the most consistency, although I did get dizzy once from buffered camera rotations racing around the screen to catch up with my stick movement.

I have a few nitpicks about the implementation that aren’t really Nvidia’s fault. Installation requires switching to desktop mode, which I always forget to customize, so I can actually hit what I want in the touch interface. I have to look up how to switch every time. Installing only happens once, though, so it’s not really a big deal.

More long-term annoying is the app’s relegation to the Non-Steam Games section of your library, combined with the absence of any content on its screen. GFN also has its own overlay and doesn’t provide any statistics, such as how many hours you played a given game for, in its interface, even aggregated for GeForce Now use. All the info is in there, but not always where you expect or want it. As a whole, these make the GFN experience feel disconnected.

Note that for free or even Premium plans, your mileage may vary because they run on lower-end GPUs rather than the GeForce RTX 4080-class versions. And you’re still restricted to games GFN supports, which is a fraction of the games universe. But it’s still a great way to play games on the Deck, especially non-Steam games, if you have one.

Technologies

Trump Maintains US‑Iran Negotiations Continue Amid Tehran’s Denials of Duplicity

President Trump insists that US‑Iran talks are ongoing despite Tehran’s denial of any negotiation plans, while warning that only a deal or total surrender will allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Conflicting statements from both sides have heightened uncertainty as the conflict enters its sixth month.

On Monday, President Donald Trump asserted that negotiations between the United States and Iran are still taking place, even after Tehran stated it has no intention of engaging in direct talks with Washington.

In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump labeled Iran’s leaders “unbelievably duplicitous,” claiming they are lying about ongoing peace talks “whether Iran wants to admit it or not.” He repeated his assertion that the United States completely controls the Strait of Hormuz, despite maritime traffic through the crucial route lingering at only a small fraction of pre‑conflict levels.

He wrote, “Nothing reaches Iran unless we allow it, and nothing will pass unless a deal—or total surrender—is achieved.”

Earlier that day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters there is no imminent plan for U.S.–Iran negotiations, contradicting Trump’s earlier comment that talks would resume Monday afternoon. Baghaei added that Iran’s only current discussions are with Oman concerning the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflicting statements have heightened uncertainty over the peace‑talk process and the broader conflict, now in its sixth month.

Trump’s assertion about new negotiations came a day after he said on Truth Social that he had agreed to cancel a massive strike against Iran “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He said in the same post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off on that attack because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

Trump has claimed dozens of times throughout the more‑than‑five‑month‑long war that a deal is at hand. No permanent deal has been signed, and a temporary ceasefire reached in June has fallen apart.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to launch devastating strikes against Iran before backing off. After the latest example, oil prices on Monday fell and stocks surged.

BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions, said in a note Monday that a broader diplomatic understanding on reopening the Strait of Hormuz is still achievable this quarter, while raising the probability of its escalation scenario to 35% from 25%, citing mounting military, diplomatic and economic signs of rising U.S.-Iran tensions.

“Diplomatic progress is likely to be punctuated by periodic military flare-ups, while miscalculation by either side could trigger a renewed escalation,” BMI analysts wrote in a note. The firm said the key issue to watch is the future governance of the strait, as the Iran-Oman talks — potentially backed by Gulf states, China and the U.S. — point to efforts to build a post-conflict shipping framework.

Shipping risks persist even as diplomacy appears to be advancing. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received a report of an incident 20 nautical miles (23 miles) northeast of Khasab, Oman — at the mouth of the strait — with a tanker’s master reporting an explosion in close proximity to the vessel at about 20:37 UTC Sunday (4:37 pm ET). The vessel and crew were safe and authorities are investigating, UKMTO said, advising ships to transit with caution.

The proposal Trump announced over the weekend calls for the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations and continue ironing out some of the thorny issues that had derailed diplomatic efforts, according to The Associated Press, citing a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

The official said the proposal also includes a reopening of the Hormuz Strait and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.

The U.S., for its part, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil, the official said, adding that no deal has been reached, although the mediation efforts remained underway.

Trump’s weekend reversal has lowered the temperature after days of escalating attacks across the Gulf. Kuwait said Saturday that Iranian forces launched a wave of drones within its airspace, with its military destroying multiple aircraft after Iran targeted critical infrastructure in the country’s north.

A parallel track with Muscat is also advancing. Iranian diplomats said Tehran was close to reaching a new arrangement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a deal critical to preventing the war from escalating further, according to the Financial Times.

Iranian officials said negotiations over future management of the Hormuz Strait with Oman, which sits on the opposite shore of the waterway, are in their final stages. The agreed shipping route would be different from those used before, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Baghaei, adding that the new route was separate from the issue of the strait’s reopening or continued closure.

Technologies

Oil Prices Slide as Trump Halts Planned Iran Strike

Oil prices dropped after Trump cancelled a planned strike on Iran, with WTI down about 5% and Brent near 5% lower. He said the move followed requests from Tehran and regional allies for a pause while a deal shaping the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program is negotiated.

Oil prices fell on Monday after President Donald Trump announced he had cancelled a planned strike on Iran. WTI futures dropped roughly 5% to $80.34 a barrel, while Brent slipped about 4.7% to $83.77 a barrel.

Trump said early Sunday he called off the strike after Iran and several Middle Eastern nations asked him to hold off, noting that the outlines of a deal had been agreed upon. He added that the prospective accord would entail the immediate, full opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to his Truth Social post.

The president had been considering another round of strikes as diplomatic hopes waned since the conflict began on February 28. He said the U.S. and Iran would meet for talks on Monday, but Iran denied any scheduled negotiations with Washington, citing PressTV. Iran’s foreign‑ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei clarified that Tehran was only discussing shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman. In a follow‑up Truth Social message, Trump insisted that, regardless of Iran’s acknowledgment, the United States is indeed discussing a solution to a long‑standing problem created by Iran.

Technologies

Oil Prices Drop as Trump Cancels Planned Attack on Iran

Oil prices fell sharply after President Trump announced the cancellation of a planned strike on Iran, citing a new deal that would open the Hormuz Strait and end Iran’s nuclear threat.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump announced that he had called off a planned strike on Iran.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, slipped roughly 5% to close at $80.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, declined 4.7% to settle at $83.77 a barrel.

Trump made the announcement early Sunday, saying he had canceled the strike following requests from Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries.

In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

The president indicated that the proposed agreement would include the immediate, complete, and total opening of the Hormuz Strait, as well as an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

Trump had been weighing additional strikes amid diminishing prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that began on Feb. 28. He stated that the U.S. and Iran would hold negotiations on Monday.

Tehran denied that talks were planned with Washington, according to state news outlet PressTV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was only holding talks with Oman regarding the routes ships can use through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump added that whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused for decades.”