The Google Stadia is Now a Thing That Exists

[EvilRoy]

So sayeth the news, although I have yet to see the individual chunks in person. According to review sites it might be okay, or maybe not, and also nobody really seems that sure if the business model is actually sustainable.

I wanted to see if anyone here decided to pick it up and give it a shot. I like the idea of a console that's also a phone, but I don't own a pixel so that's out. There's also the idea of a large stable of games that the service gives you access to, but the stable ain't so large quite yet.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Yes, it definitely exists. Bout all that can be said of it given what I've been hearing.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Yes, indeed, it is a thing that exists... and that's all it will be... a 'thing'.

Codes for Stadia have been distributed in such a slipshod way, new purchases were fulfilled before pre-orders and the release catalogue is shit. 2019 has been a helluva year for the gaming industry, gotta say.

 

[TopazFusion]

Early reports say it can use 20GB of data per hour. At that point you might as well just download the fucking game.

Seems utterly pointless.

 

[Dalisclock]

As mentioned above, its had a bit of a messy launch. People who preordered didn't get their codes until days after launch(and while I'm really tempted to say "Well, maybe you shouldn't have given them the money first", Google needs to deliver on their promises, especially for something so simple) and there have been numerous other problems. Needless to say, it's heavily dependent on the net backbone and, god forbid, wireless connection you're using. Playing on mobile apparently isn't worth it, and that's supposed to be one of the unique perks of this thing. Granted, I don't know why you'd be trying to play a AAA on mobile anyway but whatever.

This was always gonna be a niche product for people with super fast net connections who apparently don't want to pay for a console or a PC but are willing to pay for the "NOT a BOX", plus a subscription, plus full price for games that have been out for a year. Honestly not shocked that it's having problems on top of that.

 

[EvilRoy]

Thats pretty disappointing. I could make the connectivity work, but if there's no mobile then its just a crappier version of a switch.

 

[SupahEwok]

 

[BrawlMan]

Not getting this crap. Go die with the Ouya.

 

[Chewster]

Software as service is cancer. I already gotta deal with this stupid shady garbage with Adobe and I am just a casual photographer.

No. Fuck you forever, games as service. Go die in a bonfire made of old AOL disks and copies of ET for the Atari.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Haha, that's a good rendition.

 

[bluegate]

Software as service is cancer. I already gotta deal with this stupid shady garbage with Adobe and I am just a casual photographer.

Couldn't you get one of their older software packages that weren't subscriptions?

 

[EvilRoy]

Early reports say it can use 20GB of data per hour. At that point you might as well just download the fucking game.

Seems utterly pointless.

Yeah and have they said anything about using this in an area that caps and throttles bandwidth? I mean I don?t have to deal with that but I?m sure there still no shortage of potential would?ve-been customers that do.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Whether this is succesful or not, they're gonna keep trying to force game streaming down our throats because the industry has repeatedly shown that they absolutely hate the idea of people actually being able to own a copy of a game. If capitalism keepts developing the way it's developing, personal property is on its way out in favour of everything you use being on lease from a company.

 

[EvilRoy]

Haha, that's a good rendition.

Ha, it took me a few seconds...much like Stadia. How about that!

 

[CritialGaming]

Remember OnLive, the website subscription service that let you stream games to your PC?

It failed because streaming games is fucking stupid and Stadia has the same fucking problem. Games require instant reactions, especially fighting games.

Think about games we have online now that still can't keep online lag solid. World of Warcraft still has lag problems and that game used to run on 56k modems.

Stadia is probably fine enough for single player only games, but only those that are pretty forgiving with player inputs.

Ultimately this will not live very long.

 

[CaitSeith]

Games require instant reactions, especially fighting games.

Correction: action games require instant reactions. But yeah, if it doesn't focus in non-action games, lag issues will probably be its downfall.


"Bending time and space"? So, you need your ISP to support Chiral Network then. (Death Stranding joke)

 

[Fappy]

Considering my experience with MMOs I am definitely not optimistic about games as a streaming service in general. With MMOs, all the scripting and interaction from other players is handled server-side, but everything else is processed by your local machine. Even with the bulk of the load being processed locally, most MMOs can still have massive latency issues from time to time. If Stadia is streaming literally every aspect of a game across the internet... well, what do people expect? Modern internet infrastructure just isn't ready for this.

 

[EvilRoy]

Games require instant reactions, especially fighting games.

Correction: action games require instant reactions. But yeah, if it doesn't focus in non-action games, lag issues will probably be its downfall.


"Bending time and space"? So, you need your ISP to support Chiral Network then. (Death Stranding joke)

I was kind of thinking this was best set up for turn based games. Civilization does a pile of computational work, but you don't really need to see like 90% of it and you may not ever as the computer ticks though player turns in the fog of war. If you could offload that work and only download the results you see or directly affect you, this could be quite functional. Of course that falls apart during the space age when the map is revealed and everything is on board and in vision, but given the right game (maybe something like Red Alert where map uncovering is rare and limited in time) I think it could work.

I do doubt rapid games could function especially well, but maybe something like first person large-map games like Fallout or Skyrim could be made to work since you only really need a small amount of information presented to you at any given time, and the rest of the virtual theater can be handled off-site until you actually need to see it.

 

[CritialGaming]

I think the Death Nail for Stadia is that you have to actually pay full price for each game.

At least when Onlive tried it, you got access to all their games when you paid for their service. But seriously who is gonna pay 60 bucks to play Mortal Kombat in the worst possible way? Let alone any number of other games? Hell if you by 3 games on Stadia you could have bought a Switch Lite.

Plus Stadia is 130 bucks or something on top of that.

How did anyone green light this idea?

 

[Catfood220]

Does anyone know anyone who has actually gone and got the Stadia? I struggle to think of anyone who would get this.