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Stadia Founder's Edition

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Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me this seems like xCloud is in response to Stadia. Google has the infrastructure and Microsoft and Sony need to work together to compete. This would be similar to how Microsoft and Sony responded to the Nintendo Wii.

Because Microsoft does not have the infrastructure? Azure has more DC and compute power around the world than Google Cloud.

From what I understand, Sony and MS are literally throwing xbox's/ps4 hardware into racks and streaming from them. Doesn't seem very scalable or cost effective.

Google built their game platform from the ground up for the cloud, including specialized graphics hardware. Sounds like it will be able to scale up to meet demands of games, while the other services are just renting a console-in-a-datacenter to the user.

Maybe it will matter, maybe it won't.

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#92
post #82

Won't work. The reason multiplayer games work over the internet is game engines compensate for latency by prediction. But when I move my mouse I don't want to wait a third of a second for the view to change. The problem with Google is they test everything on local 10G networks with near zero latency and the servers are walking distance away. Then they produce these abortions of products that are killed off 2 years la…

Yup, as someone who wrote action networked games when I was in gamedev this is pretty on point. You're not going to get any chance at latency correction so jitter(which tends to be bursty) on the connection is going to really hurt you.

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Microsoft does not have the infrastructure? Azure has more DC and compute power around the world than Google Cloud.

The problem is that Microsoft can't really be taken seriously in the gaming market, or in any consumer space where they might have good or great products but little to zero traction, and Sony doesn't have the network infrastructure.

>Microsoft can't really be taken seriously in the gaming market

But they are in this market for a long time and are taken serious.

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#94
Really not seeing how they pull this off. Even a couple of congested wifi channels is enough to put latency jitter into the connection that's noticable.

Back in gamedev we did all sorts of tricks with dead reckoning and the like to hide/compensate for it. With the current architecture I don't buy that you'll be able to make those same saving adjustments.

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#95

I just don't see how they are going to compete with Microsoft on this, or Sony for that matter. I can't help but think this will be killed off in the next 2-3 years due to low adoption. Microsoft and Sony already have their foot in the door, and xCloud is supposedly going to be an E3 topic...and I'm sure they will bundle it with existing Xbox Live services for a bump in price. Google has proven me wrong in the past,…

They're putting a big emphasis on the "frictionless" aspect.

If they can get people impulse buying subscriptions/games, they'll get some traction.

Its not exactly breaking most people's bank to have a $9.99 subscription for all you can eat gaming.

For those who don't already have consoles, its a no brainer.

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#96
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I played the AC Odyssey Stadia/Stream beta -- at least for that kind of single-player experience it felt comparable to console input lag with no jarring effects. I'd be interested in how it would be in twitch shooters though.

I doubt twitch shooters would be playable. I've used steam's in home streaming, and platformers that require precise jumping accuracy are basically unplayable because even a fraction of a second hiccup in latency can get you killed. Even simple platformers like Crash Bandicoot can get frustratingly difficult to play over a stream. If the service gets popular enough, we might see developers making changes to help out…

even a fraction of a second

This is meaningless unless you can be more precise.

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#97
The problem with clown gaming is latency.

Maybe it can find a place, at the right price (perhaps free), location, game type, mechanic and implementation.

Here, google says the base will be free, but you have to buy the games. But will publishers drop their price enough? Would a low-quality version damage their franchise/brand? Second, will publishers modify their mechanics and implementation, to hide latency?

The other way is with low-latency internet - so would need to be geographically close, like a city-sized LAN party. Perhaps Seoul?

Both need to begin as disruptions, selling their strengths (cheap, convenient, simple, easy), in circumstances/usages where their weaknesses don't matter (latency, bandwidth), starting small and growing as work it out. e.g. a fun game that only really works as a cloud game. (is that possible?)

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#98
post #12

I think that an underestimated benefit of game streaming is anti-cheat. It would benefit a lot games like Fortnite and Pubg.

Except for the part where it appears you'll be able to play from a computer just using Chrome. This allows for all sorts of botting (artificialaiming.net for example has been making PC aim bots for at least a decade as I tried it out on Battlefield 2142 and it was eerie at what all they could do including the settings to make it even believable so you were unlikely to get reported. Sure that was using a lot of client-side data but that was a long time ago and now you can probably do sprite-recognition type stuff effortlessly on the user side of a streamed game.

Similarly fishing and mining bots and the like for games like WoW would translate to repetitive farming type activity.

Arguably I think being in a browser window would make it easier to do.

Re: Stadia Founder's Edition

#99

And the betting on when this product will be shut down by Google has already begun...right now 3 years is the choice with the most money behind it. Some fools are guessing Google may give this as much as 5 years. Given Google's abysmal history of supporting its software and hardware products, see e.g., the Nest fiasco from a few weeks ago, only a fool or someone with cash to waste would invest in a Google hardware de…

I couldn't agree more. After Inbox, I've been burned for the last time. Won't be buying into new Google services again.
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