Stadia: goodbye to consoles, PCs and installs and patches? | Forums

[AI BLUEFOX]

This sounds interesting. Skip to 30 minutes and Yves Guillemot gets a wave, and from there they explain more about Google's game streaming service.

The ability to seamlessly switch the game from one device to another sounds interesting and whilst your internet connection now becomes the determining factor in your gaming life, the ability to run high end graphics without a high end PC looks appealing.

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[Mars388502]

I'm just out of words... Is that true or even possible?

[crowlecj]

once 5g becomes widespread it will become the norm. In the same way that no one has a VCR or CD player. Digital is the future.

[Frag_Maniac]

I have to be skeptical about this, and not just from a tech standpoint.

1. While I know game streaming services have existed for a while, and no one has better infrastructure than Google to support it, there were at least two points in the stream that showed severe image breakup. So you have to wonder if this catches on like wildfire if more and more people will suffer the same problem while playing games once the gaming audience grows.

2. This service will no doubt require uninterrupted FO lines from source to your home to work well, and a lot of places in the US still don't have FO. Even in the case where your service provider has FO, that doesn't necessarily mean the apt building one may live in does. So this could potentially become a have to be financially stable enough to be an owner not a renter thing.

3. There was literally NO info given on speculated game prices and required ISP speed, and in my searching I can't find ANY FAQ on Stadia. I've seen various services tack on a "free" Google Play trial as a selling point, only to find it's just a link that takes you to nothing but various movies and games Google is trying to sell you, so excuse me if I'm skeptical about what this will cost.

4. They claim you will be more secure playing strictly within the Stadia network vs the "real internet", yet they're quick to use the phrase "all over the internet" when referencing places to buy Stadia supported titles. I've 2 years back to back during holidays had the common Google Redirect bug, where the links it generates take you to sites that have zero to do with what you're searching for.

5. It's common knowledge the most used platform for alternative browsers is Chromium, but many don't know the most popular of them that is a secure browser, Epic Privacy Browser, also doesn't use Google, or Chrome's tracking your URL inputs, or even Google's servers. Why, because they are not exactly secure. So I have to be very skeptical about this claimed gaming security.

6. What about overly awkward security measures? One thing I can't stand about Google is it's the LEAST VPN friendly search engine out there, and the only way around those oft used bot checks is to either spend several minutes clicking this and that picture with a car or street light, or temporarily disable your VPN to access their search engine, which compromises your security.

7. If it works as well as advertised, this could in a short period of time put most gaming hardware manufacturers out of business, and become a monopoly in the process. That's a HELL a lot of power to give one company whom could then pretty much charge whatever they want for the service. Out of work HW manufacturers could form a coalition to hack this service.

8. Google has non existent customer service. Good luck getting a hold of anyone, or receiving anything but a vague email response of "we'll look into this", IF you get a response at all. And good luck getting help from the game devs, as they'll likely refer you to Google. I used to have respect for Jayde Raymond, but since working at Ubi she's sold out to corporate gaming.

9. Image quality is one of my biggest concerns. You can't just toss out "1080p" and "4K" and expect everyone to ooh and ahh. We all know services like this use compression for efficiency, so that 1080p and 4k you actually see onscreen won't likely look as good as those resolutions from direct play of the game on decent hardware. When they keep using the mantra "on any hardware", you can likely expect it to look like it would on mediocre HW and settings.

10. Perhaps the biggest concern is the games have to be ported to Linux. Since Valve, a pretty wealthy company with expert coders whom had lots of manufacturer and developer support for Steam Box, already tried that with worse performance on the converted to Linux version than on the original Windows versions, it seems a fool hearty venture even for Google.

That said, if successful, this could very well become the new streaming version of Steam. I know a lot of people rave about Steam sale prices, but in reality it's mostly only older games that go on big sales, meaning you have to be VERY patient to make use of them. Every time I look at Steam sales they are either games I already own, or obscure titles I have no interest in. Price wise I've not seen anything from Google that encourages me though. Whenever it comes to selling other people's content, they if anything have fairly high prices. And their YouTube Red and YouTube TV services are a joke. They make it sound like you get a lot of extra content with YT Red, but in reality it's only ad free. YouTube TV costs more than it should when you compare it to other TV streaming services.

If Steam was enough to make Valve so filthy rich they pretty much became lazy by it and nearly retired from game development, you can imagine what Stadia will do to the much greedier Google. They DO however have some big hurdles to overcome, not the least of which is porting to Linux. It's something that proved very time consuming and not as effective performance wise as Valve had hoped. Too many red flags here for me.

[Mars388502]

once 5g becomes widespread it will become the norm. In the same way that no one has a VCR or CD player. Digital is the future.

Am l a dinosaur? I still got a fairly decent CD collection 😁

[AI BLUEFOX]

I had a vinyl collection, then a lot of the same on CD, then a lot of the same again on iTunes and now I just pay for it all again for a fourth time with a regular Spotify account!!

Without a doubt the future of gaming resides in processing the hard stuff server side and streaming the input/output interface. It sees computing come full circle back to dumb terminals and main frames. There are significant infrastructure challenges in some countries, particularly in dispersed population areas, but I expect improvements in wireless to eventually overcome that too, Frag.

[Frag_Maniac]

Without a doubt the future of gaming resides in processing the hard stuff server side and streaming the input/output interface. It sees computing come full circle back to dumb terminals and main frames. There are significant infrastructure challenges in some countries, particularly in dispersed population areas, but I expect improvements in wireless to eventually overcome that too, Frag.

It's not that I don't see this as possible, more like the status quo. While it's logical to assume games would follow suit to Music, Movies, and TV shows being served up more for convenience than quality via compressing them for streaming, it's a pet peeve for audiophiles and videophiles. Once you open up that Pandora's Box, you can't go back.

I suspect in the eyes of true audio and video purists, this tech will always be one res gen behind. Meaning it will take 8K stream content to equal the visual quality of a high end PC playing 4K content straight off your PC with no streaming involved. Let's call it what it is, a quick but mediocre way to feed the masses their game content.

I also don't like that Google is at the epicenter of it, because they have a history of zero customer support and both weak and obtrusive security measures. And then there's the "We can port Windows games to Linux better than Valve can" elephant in the room, which is perhaps the biggest red flag.

Then there's pricing and selection. There would have to be more overhead with this kind of thing than anything Valve did with Steam, so expect prices for Stadia supported content to remain at launch price for some time, and my guess is you won't be able to get Stadia supported games at sites like GMG and GOG that have lower prices.

[GiveMeTactical]

WOW, Google and UBI together... masters and bestest Customer and Tech support ever ... I think is time I take on knitting

But I do agree with the fact that the masses will eat it up faster that you can say Ticonderoga

[Frag_Maniac]

But I do agree with the fact that the masses will eat it up faster that you can say Ticonderoga

Ain't it the truth, tech always rises at the rate of the lowest common denominator, the casuals. I find it ironic Google is playing this out like it's far more advanced technologically, when it's really only more convenient. When it comes to performance, games are just as much about image and sound quality as FPS, and that's never been streaming's forte.

[Snumsmumrik_07]

Strongly against it. Loading times, lag to server, absent ability to play anything if your internet connection for whatever reason is off. More to that - I'm assuring you that this service would be based on payed subscription, so you'll have to pay-to-play every month or so. Yes, sometimes, when you want to try something new and not sure if it's yours, it's fine. But it's not, if there's something you want to play for a long-time period.