One of the biggest reasons to install windows is gaming. If this takes off (or enough games are released on linux as a byproduct) linux could gain a larger install share.
Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
21–30 of 577 posts
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#22The computer scientist in me is giddy with excitement. If it is as good as it sounds, we are in a new age of gaming. Kudos Google.
So, I work in the games industry and I don't think this will be successful. This has been tried before (multiple times), gamers haven't wanted streaming services. PC gamers already have Steam and this doesn't offer anything compelling over using Steam, and more casual gamers are playing on Ps4 or Switch or mobile. Also, the hardcore PC gamers are never going to accept the latency associated with playing on remote servers.
Google isn't a name that people associate with gaming or gamers, buit they do have a name associated with dropping products after a year or two. I wouldn't trust Google to still be supporting "Stadia" in 5 years time, whereas I do know Steam will still be there.
Also, Google's reputation for "do no evil" has been rapidly eroded in recent times and people are more and more wary about giving this company any more personal data than they already do. Contrast this with Steam, a private company that gamers trust with their data.
I think Google is once again reaching here into a space too late and without anything really compelling to make people switch away from existing Xbox/Windows/Steam ecosystems.
Edit: One other additional aspect to this: it doesn't really matter how fast Google's servers can stream the data, most people's ISPs do not have great consistent connections. Hell, I have Google Fibre at home and occasionally I get issues streaming 1080p Netflix (stuttering etc). Most people have services with bandwidth caps and do not get consistent enough speeds to support streaming games. At my parent's house in the UK, the situation is even worse with lower caps and very often there are disruptions in the connection and so the Netflix stream will turn into a blocky mess for 10 seconds or so.
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#23Google really promoting how it's better to develop for than anything else since they can constantly upgrade the hardware. How long before Stadia exclusive content?
They aren't the first or the only one doing this. Crackdown 3 already semi-famously uses Microsoft's cloud systems to do some physics processing in the cloud and not on the client. Stadia might be a lot easier for devs to code against since everything is in the "cloud", rather than having to split where the processing happens specifically, and so we might see more exclusives there because of that, but MS and friends…
> Crackdown 3 already semi-famously uses Microsoft's cloud systems to do some physics processing in the cloud and not on the client.
Is that true though? I remember in the early Don Mattrick days of Microsoft they were heavily pushing the whole cloud physics thing but ever since then that has been swept under the carpet or heavily downplayed.
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be so sure. Competitive games already need to compensate for latency in the network. This system technically won't have any "additional" latency, it will just move where it happens. The amount of time between you hitting a button and a server somewhere registering the command and sending it to other players should be roughly the same (or close enough not to matter all that much for the vast majority). Sure…
It really doesn't take much input lag for things to feel sluggish and unresponsive. I've tried to play Rocket League on a Steam Link, and while it was technically _possible_ to do so, there was just enough sluggishness in the controls that it just felt _off_ - like I was at a disadvantage to every other player. Even something as simple as a 2D platforming game can require precise timing of button presses, and it seem…
Yeah i've experienced it as well.
I'd imagine a big part is that games which are written for a system like this can do some compensation if they know the latency is between controller and the system (vs games which expect the latency between the client and the server).
I'm also curious if there is anything else going on here than just "streaming video to the user", like allowing some "smearing" to compensate like how VR headsets will do some fancy stuff to compensate for head movement faster than the round trip communication time between the sensors on the headset and the PC.
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#25The computer scientist in me is giddy with excitement. If it is as good as it sounds, we are in a new age of gaming. Kudos Google.
Problem is Google will never have high quality content from big publisher, it directly compete with their revenue so I'm not sure how they're going to get game on this platform.
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#26How many years until its canceled and our game libraries erased from all existence?
"Hey, I started this new workout routine".
"LOL, how many weeks until you fail"?
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
They aren't the first or the only one doing this. Crackdown 3 already semi-famously uses Microsoft's cloud systems to do some physics processing in the cloud and not on the client. Stadia might be a lot easier for devs to code against since everything is in the "cloud", rather than having to split where the processing happens specifically, and so we might see more exclusives there because of that, but MS and friends…
> Crackdown 3 already semi-famously uses Microsoft's cloud systems to do some physics processing in the cloud and not on the client. Is that true though? I remember in the early Don Mattrick days of Microsoft they were heavily pushing the whole cloud physics thing but ever since then that has been swept under the carpet or heavily downplayed.
I haven't played it myself nor have I done a ton of research, but Crackdown 3 just came out recently, and I heard them talking about how important the cloud aspect of it is to enable the dynamic destruction they have in their multiplayer stuff.
The link below from late 2018 talks about it a bit
https://www.windowscentral.com/inside-crackdown-3s-azure-clo...
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#28The computer scientist in me is giddy with excitement. If it is as good as it sounds, we are in a new age of gaming. Kudos Google.
So, I work in the games industry and I don't think this will be successful. This has been tried before (multiple times), gamers haven't wanted streaming services. PC gamers already have Steam and this doesn't offer anything compelling over using Steam, and more casual gamers are playing on Ps4 or Switch or mobile. Also, the hardcore PC gamers are never going to accept the latency associated with playing on remote ser…
Yeah, this is my opinion, too, almost right on the nose. Especially the part about only supporting a product for a few years.
I also don't like the idea of games-as-a-service in the sense that I only own a license to the game for as long as I pay a monthly fee. I'm okay with licensing content within the game (i.e. DLC), but I shy away from subscription games services like Xbox Games Pass or EA's Origin subscription.
A streaming game product like this doesn't solve that issue. Additionally, the latency issue, like you pointed out, is too much for me to consider _not_ owning my own gaming hardware.
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#29The computer scientist in me is giddy with excitement. If it is as good as it sounds, we are in a new age of gaming. Kudos Google.
So, I work in the games industry and I don't think this will be successful. This has been tried before (multiple times), gamers haven't wanted streaming services. PC gamers already have Steam and this doesn't offer anything compelling over using Steam, and more casual gamers are playing on Ps4 or Switch or mobile. Also, the hardcore PC gamers are never going to accept the latency associated with playing on remote ser…
Huh, how can you compare this to Steam? Google aims to obviate the need for gamers to own top-of-the-line hardware. Steam does not offer that feature.
Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
#30The computer scientist in me is giddy with excitement. If it is as good as it sounds, we are in a new age of gaming. Kudos Google.
So, I work in the games industry and I don't think this will be successful. This has been tried before (multiple times), gamers haven't wanted streaming services. PC gamers already have Steam and this doesn't offer anything compelling over using Steam, and more casual gamers are playing on Ps4 or Switch or mobile. Also, the hardcore PC gamers are never going to accept the latency associated with playing on remote ser…
I think we'll have to see what Microsoft is going to do at E3, because they've signalled in the past that they want to take this streaming approach, and they have their own cloud too...