Google Stadia

Oh heck they've even got PewDiePie in the trailer. Here's the full reveal.

Anyway. I'm not sure if this is a console or a streaming service or what yet, but if anybody has the money to go toe-to-toe with the Big Three in the Console Wars (are they still a thing?), it's probably Google.

Disgust! Sorry: discuss!

I don't have high speed internet. Even playing that video there, the picture quality was rubbish and it buffered halfway through.

This won't work in the many rural parts of Scotland either. And then even for many other folks across the world, what about their capped internet data usage?

Sounds like a good idea on paper though.

"A good idea on paper" sums this up nicely in my books too. My Internet is pretty gash where I live and as such I've not bothered with PS Now or any such games streaming service. There's too many question marks next to the whole thing for me to be excited yet. Honestly, I don't think it'll be for me. I remember being pissed off when Ubisoft's servers went down when I had my gaming laptop and was playing through the Assassin's Creed series only to discover that a single player game wouldn't work without connecting to Ubi's servers first.

Buzzwords. Cringey inspirational music. Some internet people shouting. People pretending to be good friends with each other. Oh and a controller at the end.

I get it's a teaser trailer so details are bound to be light but if it's gonna be as revolutionary as they're trying to pitch it as then they've failed to hype me on the slightest, need to see a lot more before I'd consider it.

That really is the most crap, generic, movie-wants-to-show-a-games-console-but-doesn't-want-to-pay-licensing controller ever, huh?

I actually live where the internet is crazy high speed, its just a ballache to sign up for a Japanese credit card and then sign up for internet. I've been really glad for how simple and offline it has been to use a Switch- I am not particularly interested in a device where I'm tethered not just to my TV, but also my internet connection. Not for me.

I think it might do great, but it's google so I'll be avoiding it

Yes, probably worth considering that it's not for us, us who want to own games and that, and as such Google probably doesn't care that we inevitably treat it with contempt. It's for the millions of kids (and 'kids') who watch gaming YouTubers, some more than they actually play games.

That said, Google does feel a bit... icky, doesn't it? They're all big companies, but more so than the current Big Three, I mean.

This is what I've been saying MS will do before the Xbox One was even shown and XCLoud might do that, but for now, Google has beaten MS to the punch as Stadia is launching this year.

I was against all digital for ages then Game Pass changed mind, now that is slightly different as you download the game still to your Xbox One or PC where this you will stream your game to your screen of choice (2 billion screens google estimate).

And I look at Devil May Cry 5, I bought for £35, played it, beat the story and sold on eBay for £30 meaning I effectively rented the game for a week for £5. Could I just rent the game on Stadia for that price?

That's the questions they've not answered? Do you buy the games? Do you rent the games? Do you sub for a month or year like Netflix?

They've said we will find out more in the summer and I'm guessing E3 where they will actually talk games where GDC is more about tech and devs.

So I am interested but it will come down to the games and I don't just mean the first party or any partnerships as take DMC5, I would play that on Stadia knowing it's not game I would keep but would want to play.

Likes of you Balla this could be a way for you to play 3rd party games that don't come to Switch without buying another console or gaming PC.

They have said to get 1080p 60fps you'll need 25mbps.

masofdas wrote:

They have said to get 1080p 60fps you'll need 25mbps.

Doubt this will be for me then - I get just under that to the house and obviously much lower than that connected on WiFi. Even with an ethernet connection, I'd be struggling to reach those speeds where I stay.

It's probably not for most of us. Upload speeds are going to be the main spanner in the works, surely?

Ohh, little old me in the sticks can get up to 80mbps on a good day, bring on the 8k.

Still, till I try it, I don't know myself if it's for me or not but I think a few games out recently or coming this would be great just to use via this or if I was Nintendo only.

I've had enough trouble with just Steam over the last couple of weekends - this isn't going to work any time soon in the UK. Unless we all go round to Mas' magical house.

My speed as of typing is 45mbps, like I said on a good day can get 80mbps and it's always interesting to watch something download on the Xbox One and speed go from 20-80 at times.

That's the issue, I very well on a good day get 8k 120fps then whilst playing could dip down to 720p 30fps due to the internet.

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I've said it in the past and I'll say it again I do think services like this is what gaming will become, Apple only last week announced their thing, Tencent is doing something in China and Walmart also want in.

Balladeer wrote:

It's probably not for most of us. Upload speeds are going to be the main spanner in the works, surely?

To upload what? Button presses are not much data, it's only latency that really matter

Suppose it might not be, so long as there's no motion control support or camera stuff involved. I guess I was just thinking that the discrepancy's so massive these days that there's bound to be some problems, but I suppose that's what the latency thing is.

Video is a good shout, although I'm not sure what games would use it!

I'm just waiting for it to conk out for a fraction of a second and bugger everything up.


I'm not having a good relationship with the internet at the moment probably

I live in a real city and pay for fibre optic broadband but it doesn't do anything near 25mb/ps.

I think digital only consoles are fine, but a cloud only consoles doesn't have a prayer.

that it's google owned should be enough to give any developer the willies too! I don't normally want things to fail, but I really hope this does.

Is 5g going to be super affordable when it comes out? or is it more likely to be wayy too premium for your average consumer? And echoing Jimbob, what happens when the gameside server has a hiccup, or your router needs a poo?

It's certainly a wait and see thing but lot's are looking at streaming futures for gaming even one of the Scarlett's is rumoured to be like that. As someone who's within the UK average, I'm willing to give a go depending on software and cost.

I take those stats with a pinch of salt because what does your screenshot actually show?

Is it the average at peak times or off peak times, average actual or advertised speed? Does it include businesses' broadband subs (which would be faster than joe public's)?

Crucially, it also doesn't give us the average cost per mb. Who is to say those stats are not inflated by the 1%ers on a mad internet package.

And just as significantly, it doesn't tell us if its a mean or median average speed.

I pay for broadband that's above the average, but I definitely don't get it, how is that disparity accounted for by the map?

Basically, the map on its own doesn't mean much to me sir

Sure, like everything should be taken with a pinch of salt and all I did was google UK avg internet speeds after Jim said I live in a magical house which this second is getting 41.95mbps which I just wanted to show is what seems to be UK avg nothing special.

That for me if Stadia needs 25mbps to run at 1080p 60fps then I should be able to do that based on my internet and I can see me using it if it works as this year alone I would have played Res Evil 2, Devil May Cry V and Sekiro through it for instance.

That's if it's a sub or a rental, I wouldn't be buying games through this.

Latency is the biggest hurdle for this by a long long long way, for some games it may not matter as much but two of the games mas just mentioned (DMC V & Sekiro) require precise timings in their combat so even if they only end up being off for a few milliseconds you will still be playing a worse version of those games.

On paper it's a cool idea but in practice it probably won't work the way they want it to.

Take DMCV I bought it for £40 finished the story and then sold for £35 on eBay, if I could have just rented it or played as part of a sub that's how I would have done it even if it has some issues.

A prime example of this is now Xbox exclusives as I'm not going to buy Gears 5, Halo 6, Ori 2 when I can just play as part of Game Pass for £8 a month or whatever deal I can get.

I know it's not like for like, just saying why it might be something that interests me if I can cut out eBay and just spend a fiver to rent DMCV or an £8 sub a month to do so.

Yep and I'm just pointing out why it isn't for me.

Muss wrote:

And echoing Jimbob, what happens when the gameside server has a hiccup, or your router needs a poo?  

I have an image now of Muss' router with a hamster wheel inside. N'awww.