Millions of people play games on their Android phones every day. Although mobile games are far away from PC and console games when it comes to graphics, they are extremely accessible, and easy to get into once you start playing them.
Some Android games are quite uncomfortable to play on a touchscreen, and are much more enjoyable if played with a keyboard or a controller. Unfortunately, many of us don’t have enough money to afford ourselves an external game controller like the Razer Kishi, which enables you to improve your mobile gaming experience.
However, there is a solution which allows you to fix this problem. Thanks to the power of Android emulators, you can make software intended for Android platform to run on Windows PC. One of the best emulators for such purpose is the BlueStacks emulator which you can download right here.
There are multiple advantages of using the BlueStacks emulator to play Android games on your PC. Firstly, it enables you to play all of your favorite mobile games on a big screen, which allows you to improve your overall visibility. Secondly, you are no longer forced to buy an expensive high-end gaming phone, since now you can use the power of your PC.
BlueStacks emulator also comes with a wide range of advanced features, such as Eco Mode, macros, scripts, and multi-instance syncing. By using it, you also avoid any gameplay interruptions caused by battery life, or incoming calls and text messages. Lastly, BlueStacks enables you to play your games with keyboard or controller, which lets you significantly improve your overall gaming experience.
BlueStacks System Requirements
Great thing about BlueStacks emulator is that it’s compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10, and Mac operating systems. However, before you decide to download and install BlueStacks on your computer, you should make sure that your PC meets these minimum system requirements:
- Operating system: Windows 7 and above.
- Processor: Intel or AMD processor.
- RAM: At least 2GB or RAM
- Storage: At least 5GB of free disk space.
- Additional requirements: up to date graphics drivers from Microsoft or the chipset vendor.
Once you’ve made sure that your PC meets the minimum system requirements to run BlueStacks, you may proceed with the installation.
1. Downloading and installing BlueStacks
Before you install Bluestacks, you must first download the latest version of the desktop client from the BlueStacks official website. Visit https://www.bluestacks.com/, and hit the “Download” button to start the downloading process.
Once you download the installer, run it, and install the application. By default, the app player will install on your C: drive. You can change the destination of the install directory by pressing the “Customize installation” button in the lower right corner.
All of the games you download will be installed to this directory. If your selected drive doesn’t have enough free space, it is strongly recommend to install the BlueStacks emulator on the drive with plenty of free storage space.
2. Setting up your Google account
Once the installation process finishes, the BlueStacks emulator will launch automatically. After that you’ll be prompted to sign in with your Google account to gain access to the Play Store from which you can then download all of your favorite games.
3. Start playing games!
And that’s pretty much it. All you have to do now is start playing your favorite Android games. You can play both free and paid games, as long as they are registered to your Google Play account. BlueStacks also allows you to play all of your Android games online, which is great if you are fan of multiplayer games.
Optional: Configuring additional settings
If you have a powerful enough computer and want to increase graphical fidelity, or just want to customize some of BlueStacks settings, you can do so by clicking on the Settings button in the bottom-right corner of BlueStack client’s interface.
Since BlueStacks is nothing but a virtual machine, in its settings you can allocate more CPU cores and RAM in order to improve the app’s performance. BlueStacks also allows you to increase the display resolution, which means you can play all of your games at 1080p, or even 4K resolution. In its graphical settings, you can also toggle between DirectX and OpenGL APIs, depending on your personal preferences.
BlueStacks also allows you to create custom controls that bind on-screen buttons to keys on your keyboard. For example, you can bind on-screen D-Pad to WASD key layout, or to arrow keys on your keyboard.
Another superb feature of BlueStacks is its ability to automatically detect game controllers connected to your PC. This enables you to easily play games such as Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto, Real Racing 3, or Call of Duty Mobile with your gamepad. BlueStacks natively support all Xbox controllers, however, its support for PS4 controllers is limited.
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