Google Stadia - Streaming Games the future?

[wardyfox86]

On 19/11/2019 at 21:42, Zear0 said:

I saw there was a new thread on this, but seemed to recall we had one going already, hopefully we can get a merge!

 

So being a bit sick in the head, and obsessed with all things tech I got this immediately just out of curiosity.  Got my code through email a few hours ago and have been mucking about and have some early impressions.

 

The first thing I did was jump into Destiny 2 which is "free" with Stadia Pro.  I play this game loads on PC so it seemed like a perfect comparison.  It was pretty impressive to just pick a game and play immediately with no installations, but the load times between missions is about the same as on PC.  Picture quality is fine if not spectacular,  I play on a 1440p 165Hz monitor, but the picture i'm seeing is worse with regards to resolution than on my gaming PC.  Noting this is meant to be 4k, i'd expect the resolution to be equivalent to my gaming PC so this is slightly disappointing.  Graphics quality on Stadia is lower than what i'm used to, but I don't feel I can offer a fair comparison as I run a 2080ti/9900k which is significantly better than what they promised.  As for the input lag, I have to say I am impressed.  Whilst there is some input lag I can't say it's noticeable or detracting from the gaming experience.  I had Destiny 2 on Xbox when it was released and the 60Hz gaming on PC is better than the 30Hz gaming experience on consoles.  I've been playing PVP as I thought this the best test for it and as I've already mentioned, this is definitely playable.  The Stadia controller gets delivered tomorrow and this is, allegedly, going to reduce input lag further still so i'm curious to test further.  They've also throttled the non-Chromecast version so hopefully the 4K HDR picture addresses my earlier gripe regarding picture quality as i'm playing through Chrome atm.  Also, out of boredom, I signed into this at work and it worked absolutely fine.  Not that I condone such things, but it was a functional test :).  Also, Football Manager 2020 on this was a bit of a draw noting I work away from home a lot, playing it through the browser on a tablet is pretty decent.

 

Is this equivalent to my experience on a gaming PC, f**k no, but it's acceptable.  Whilst to the hardcore and committed gamer this is a lesser experience, given the amount of people who play Fortnite and PUBG on mobiles there is a market (and a big one) for this.  This won't replace my PC gaming as it's a poorer product, but I am impressed at the tech.  There is however, clearly significant room for improvement.  The in-store prices are equivalent to the xbox marketplace/PS store which are about 20 quid more than on Amazon which is an utter joke.  That really needs to be sorted as for people like myself, that price is a significant detraction and is a significant issue.

 

I'm under no illusion, this is a paid beta test.  Later next year they're putting the free service up which is the only model that makes sense to me with a product hat on.  Curious to see if any other bored people got this as an experiment?  I'll feedback more once I've dabbled further.

I pre-ordered this on a card that has since expired so my order is "on hold" 

 

After watching and reading various consumer reviews, I think I'll just let the order get cancelled. I own an Xbox and have had a PS4, I also ordered this out of curiosity. I'm really not sure who this is aimed at, it's too expensive for the hyper casual and too unreliable for the elite gamer (The only market where it seems to have gained any attention) 

 

Im glad you have had a good experience thus far, but that seems to be a minority. I'm sure they'll work and tweak the software throughout this "test" period, but I'd also note that Google have a history of shelving projects that don't get off the ground. I'd hate to have an extensive library of games that I've never actually owned, despite paying £45 each.

 

There's potential for the platform, but not under the current business model.

 

I'm interested to hear how your experience is with the controller though. 

Edited 22 November 2019 by wardyfox86

[m4DD0gg]

ISP's will always be a bottle neck despite what the deluded clowns at Google think.

 

Will be moth balled within 2 years and end up on https://killedbygoogle.com/

[Zear0]

3 hours ago, wardyfox86 said:

I pre-ordered this on a card that has since expired so my order is "on hold" 

 

After watching and reading various consumer reviews, I think I'll just let the order get cancelled. I own an Xbox and have had a PS4, I also ordered this out of curiosity. I'm really not sure who this is aimed at, it's too expensive for the hyper casual and too unreliable for the elite gamer (The only market where it seems to have gained any attention) 

 

Im glad you have had a good experience thus far, but that seems to be a minority. I'm sure they'll work and tweak the software throughout this "test" period, but I'd also note that Google have a history of shelving projects that don't get off the ground. I'd hate to have an extensive library of games that I've never actually owned, despite paying £45 each.

 

There's potential for the platform, but not under the current business model.

 

I'm interested to hear how your experience is with the controller though. 

Wise decision.

 

From a technology perspective I've enjoyed mucking around with it.  To be clear, I don't recommend this as a consumer product to anybody.  Only buy it if you're curious regarding the technology as the gaming experience is significantly inferior to console/PC gaming in every way.  Worth noting I've got an Ethernet cable with a 500mb broadband behind it so i'm not suffering from the quality issues a lot of people have.

 

As you noted, the people who are generally buying this are gaming/technology enthusiasts who already own superior gaming platforms already.  This tech is perfect for those who only want to play GTA or the odd game and laying out for a console for a couple of games doesn't make sense.

 

The controller is fine.  I use an Elite currently and this is obviously inferior to that.  However I think it's comparable to the standard xbox/ps4 controllers.

 

They need to change something as the current business model/performance means this will die within months.  I'm curious to see how it fares when the free offering is out as that is what they need to be targeting to at least get a bigger market to try it.  I'd say i'll provide more feedback, but I've had my fun and am back on PC letting my shiny Stadia controller collect dust already.

[Innovindil]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63082320

 

Google has announced plans to shut down its Stadia cloud gaming service and refund players.

 

Stadia was touted as a "Netflix for games" when it launched in November 2019, allowing players to stream games online without owning a console.

 

But the service will now come to an end on 18 January 2023 because of a lack of "traction" with gamers.

 

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No surprise really. Was always going to be difficult going against, or even with, the big video game players. If Google really wants to dip their feet into this market, better to do it with proper hardware and come up with something innovative. At this point, would cost a fortune. 

 

Good try, on to the next idea. 

 

[Zear0]

When the subscription fees were higher than gamepass (including xCloud, that did the same thing as Stadia) and you also had to buy the games, this was inevitable sadly. 

 

I have a FE kit collecting dust next to my WiiU but will be grateful of the refund!