Google Stadia

[MT 917]

Here's the notes I took from Google's gaming keynote at GDC. The presentation was all about their new gaming hardware (?), called Stadia.

 

Quote

- Youtube videos about games that are on Stadia will now have a "Play Now" button and let you play immediately
- No console, games will live on Google's datacenters.
- Sessions will be able to instantly switch from PC to mobile, then back to PC, then to a tablet, and you can pick up exactly where you left off
- Existing USB controllers will work with Stadia 
- Controller shown, looks very much like an XBox controller 
  - Will connect to the datacenter via Wifi
  - Has a capture button
  - Google Assistant button
- At launch, support for 4k/60fps w/HDR and surround sound.
- Direct sharing to Youtube is possible whenever you like. Will stream simultaneously to your computer and to Youtube from the data center
- Processing power will scale up as required (could use multiple high end datacenter PCs to potentially unlock whatever power developers need)
- XBox One uses 6 GPU teraflops, Stadia will use 10.7
- Game client and server (for multiplayer) will all be on the data center, so there's no worry about someone's slow internet ruining online multiplayer sessions
- Split screen/multiscreen games can run on separate data centers, so developers don't have to worry about losing power to make split screen work
- Something called "Style Transfer". It's possible to instantly change art styles (it's worth looking at, I can't explain it for shit)
- State Share
  - Able to instantly share "moments" with anyone
  - Will be able to share place, inventory, health, armor, etc. instantly
- Crowd Play (click button on a stream and play instantly with said streamer.
  - Clicking link can place you in line for the next game (NBA2K specifically was shown in this instance)
- Using Google Assistant button you can get game help instantly without having to use a separate screen
  - A Youtube video was superimposed over the gameplay screen showing how to get past a certain section
- Stadia Games & Entertainment is Google's new first party developer, run by Jade Raymond
- Will launch in 2019 (no actual specifics, sounds like they'll be at E3)

[webhead 519]

The biggest killer feature I've seen so far is that you can basically have save states for the games.  That is fucking awesome.  Just essentially pause it then come back later like a ROM.  Definitely like that.

 

The rest I dunno.  Streaming has never been great for this.  We will have to see how well Google can actually do this.  I am not REALLY going to care because I have a gaming PC but who knows.

[MT 917]

The thing they did back in October with Assassin's Creed Origins (or whichever one it was) worked pretty well when I tried it back then. Although to be fair that game isn't the best to test actual latency and shit, but it seemed okay so far. 

[Deimos 100]

What is this exactly?

[MT 917]

How would you like to play the latest games, without having to own a new console or a powerful PC? This'll let you stream games to your phone/tablet/PC/Chromecast and play there instead.

[Mogwai 6]

As much as I'd like to presume that Google had their shit together better than most, unless this is profoundly unpopular at launch I can't imagine they have accurately gauged how much computing power they'll need, nevermind the bandwidth involved. I'll pass on the initial rollout of this and try it when the kinks have been worked out.

[webhead 519]

Google has a lot of servers but yeah, I don't see PAYING for this being a good idea until it proves itself.  It's rare for Google to hit bumps in the road due to server capacity, but if anything did it, this would be it.

[Ulyster 35]

The biggest problem with this kind of thing has always been that fraction of a second input latency. Not so much of a problem for turn-based games, but multiplayer shooters? You wouldn't stand a chance. I'm firmly in the 'wait and see' camp for this thing.

[Galeigh 308]

I agree, we need more info and some hard numbers. 

[Nairn Smoith 73]

As a Google shareholder, I'm hoping this is a massive success.

[Galeigh 308]

We have been burned too many times by this kinda stuff for me to really get invested right now. 

[webhead 519]

They basically need servers locally in every city they want the service to work in or it'll be shit imo.  Unless they know how to magically make latency go away, that might be their actual plan.  ISPs will let you slap servers into the best kind of places for enough money if I'm not mistaken.

[MT 917]

3 hours ago, Ulyster said:

The biggest problem with this kind of thing has always been that fraction of a second input latency.

They mentioned that the official controller will connect via Wifi straight to the data center somehow.

[Deszae 88]

I...still don't know what Stadia is supposed to be. I kinda missed the announcement, but loool 4k cloud streaming on US's internet infrastructure? Riiight.

[MT 917]

Some more info, streamed out today.

[webhead 519]

I cannot imagine paying for a game that can only be streamed.  At least with say, Steam or Origin or whatever, I download the game files to my PC and if something happens, I can hack those.  With this the files never reside there.  Subscription fees I get, but paying for individual games?  What happens when Google inevitably gives up on this like they do with everything else?  You are just fucked?  Lol.  Do they hand out Steam keys to go with?  What happens?  This level of ownership is worse than the current digital services by far because you never get to actually download the files.  Yuck yuck yuck.

[MT 917]

 

Here's what games they announced, if you don't feel like watching.

 

Doom Eternal
Octopath Traveler
Rock Of Ages 3
Crayta (first on Stadia, some sort of game building game, I think)
Wave Break (Wave Race, basically...maybe with some sort of Tony Hawk influence?)
embr (co-op firefighting game)
Get Packed (think Overcooked, but with movers instead of chefs)
PUBG

[MT 917]

It's deaaaaaaaaad 

 

 

 

 

 

[webhead 519]