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Stadia Bluetooth Mode

stadia.google.com

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Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#51

Post by hs86 »

nickthegreek wrote: post #31

Just did this update on my controller. Pretty cool process, it recognized the controller didnt have enough battery to continue and denied the update. After it charged for a bit, it was all pretty straight forward. Now to find the other controllers I got around the house and get them done. Had to use Chrome to do all the updating though.

I find it weird that I had to use Chrome to update the firmware of my device. And it was even weirder that the process went through smoothly.

Maybe this is better than downloading a one-off utility from a manufacturer's slow FTP and selecting a firmware file in its file picker and hoping that the combination of flashing utility version + firmware image + my hardware + my OS + the current stellar constellation aligns, and I will still have a working device after this ceremony.

Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#52

Post by drusepth »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #45
falcolas wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gamers said no because it was a product where you didn't own the games, didn't own the hardware it ran on, and couldn't play the games without being within a few dozen miles of a Google datacenter (an exaggeration, but I'm certainly not close enough to play anything with a reflex check, and I'm on fiber in the lower 50 states). I can't blame them; the value proposition for most gamers was approximately zero.

> and couldn't play the games without being within a few dozen miles of a Google datacenter (an exaggeration, but I'm certainly not close enough to play anything with a reflex check, and I'm on fiber in the lower 50 states). Counterexample: I was happily playing Destiny (a "twitchy" FPS) on an iPad in AirBnBs by Lake Tahoe or in Washington. I was really impressed. In contrast, one of my friends who migrated to Geforc…

>Counterexample: I was happily playing Destiny (a "twitchy" FPS) on an iPad in AirBnBs by Lake Tahoe or in Washington. I was really impressed.

Another anecdote: I played through the entirety of Celeste (an extremely difficult frame-perfect platformer) on Stadia with almost no issues.

I switched to GeforceNow when Stadia announced they were shutting down. It's comparable in quality most of the time, but has quite a few quirks and the UX leaves a lot to be desired.

Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#55

Post by jefftk »

ChildOfChaos wrote: post #43
sofixa wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only they had said beforehand that's going to be their shutdown process they probably wouldn't have had to shut it down..

They did, they always said that they would refund the games if the service shut down, but i guess they didn't make it clear enough, marketing was horrible and onboarding / interface was awful. It's crazy how amazing the service was, but how terrible they handled everything else.

> always said that they would refund the games if the service shut down

Link? I remember lots of people asking about this at launch and I don't remember there being a public statement from Google.

Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#56

Post by drusepth »

falcolas wrote: post #21
wjnc wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happy user of Stadia here. Fit the dad gamer in off hours usecase perfectly. Spent enough on it that even the total refund felt like something. And now on top of that I own a controller to use with the GeForce Now embedded in my LG TV. Consumer galore.

I hate to put it this way, but you got lucky in getting a total refund. Question though: Did you get to keep your progress in the games, or did you lose that with the shutdown?

IIRC, Google said from the beginning they'd refund purchases if they shut down.

>Question though: Did you get to keep your progress in the games, or did you lose that with the shutdown?

You can get all your game savedata from Google Takeout, but in order to actually use it you'd need to own the game on another platform that lets you import that save data (like PC). The refund for each game is nice for re-buying the games elsewhere, but some consoles aren't that easy to import existing save data into. Some games implemented some cloud saves to help move data around, but there's probably some games where you're SOL getting your progress into your next platform.

Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#57

Post by ascagnel_ »

dividedbyzero wrote: post #48
ascagnel_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Additionally, there are competitors (Microsoft's xCloud, NVidia's GeForce NOW) that side-step the problem of Stadia's ecosystem. xCloud is only available with Microsoft's all-you-can-eat, Netflix-style game subscription service (and generally only plays games available on that service), while GFN works with a user's existing digital library. Stadia seemingly offered the worst of all options: games had to be purchased…

You can use Steam with Geforce Now?

Per a marketing page, GFN supports some Steam games (publishers can opt their games out).

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce-now/games/

Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#58

Post by AceJohnny2 »

ChildOfChaos wrote: post #43
sofixa wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only they had said beforehand that's going to be their shutdown process they probably wouldn't have had to shut it down..

They did, they always said that they would refund the games if the service shut down, but i guess they didn't make it clear enough, marketing was horrible and onboarding / interface was awful. It's crazy how amazing the service was, but how terrible they handled everything else.

It's amazing to see that, for how good Google is at software engineering, it's horrible at products & follow-through.

Like, look at the ongoing train-wreck that is the messaging (Gtalk/Hangouts/Chat/RCS/...) strategy.

Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#59

Post by drusepth »

closetodaway wrote: post #53

Why isn't this this a normal controller? I've never used stadia.

The controller connected to wifi instead of the device you were playing on. That meant it could send inputs directly to the game servers in the cloud (without knowing anything about the device you were playing on) and not worry about extra hops or performance bottlenecks in trying to route through e.g. smart TVs, Chromecasts, laptops, etc.

This update allows it to pair with devices like a normal controller, so input from the controller will be sent to that device instead of some cloud server.

Re: Stadia Bluetooth Mode

#60

Post by closetodaway »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #54
closetodaway wrote: post #53

Why isn't this this a normal controller? I've never used stadia.

The Stadia controller integrated wifi functionality to send input directly to the cloud. It wasn't meant to be used with a local device.

My router has a latency of 1ms. Why doesn't the controller send input to the PC like a regular controller, which can then send it to the cloud? That would add 2ms of latency.
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