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Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

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Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#51

Post by org3432 »

azurezyq wrote: post #45

Really feel sad about recent prevailing sentiment across HN. Some comments seem to suggest Google needs to provide the following for this kind of "tech test": * Available for all browsers and comply all web standards. * Available for all languages across all regions, with accessibility features. * Promise not to "launch and shutdown in a few years". * Imply a real future product. But I'm guessing what Google wants to…

I'd like to see a contingency in the agreement that allows one to download the games you own if they shut down the service. Would have been nice if OnLive had done that.

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#52

Post by tweenagedream »

azurezyq wrote: post #45

Really feel sad about recent prevailing sentiment across HN. Some comments seem to suggest Google needs to provide the following for this kind of "tech test": * Available for all browsers and comply all web standards. * Available for all languages across all regions, with accessibility features. * Promise not to "launch and shutdown in a few years". * Imply a real future product. But I'm guessing what Google wants to…

This seems to be a test that may turn into a future cloud product? Google has a lot of Pops which provide great latency for users, If they start filling these pops with gpus so that companies like ubisoft or epic or $gamecompany can pay for the infrastructure and let users pay them a subscription and then I don't have to drop 500+ dollars every year to stay relevant with AAA titles, maybe it all works out?

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#53

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

azurezyq wrote: post #45

Really feel sad about recent prevailing sentiment across HN. Some comments seem to suggest Google needs to provide the following for this kind of "tech test": * Available for all browsers and comply all web standards. * Available for all languages across all regions, with accessibility features. * Promise not to "launch and shutdown in a few years". * Imply a real future product. But I'm guessing what Google wants to…

I know where you are coming from, and I am sympathetic to Googlers who just want to do a quick test.

But "Google" means something specific in regards to quality for Billions of people, and you start to have a responsibility to the brand regarding dependability at some point if you want to do things under the Google Banner.

But it's so easy to give these projects their own name, branding, and websites while they are in this tech test phase. If they hit on something great, then they should absolutely fold it in with the rest of the G Suite, but until they know why not sell to people with out the Google connection to see how it does?

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#54

Post by andrewmcwatters »

bitpush wrote: post #38
desmondw wrote: post #16

Oh good, the company that constantly bails on it's ventures is starting a new one in a space that is far from being realized still. Seriously, if what's the goal? Being a supporting network for gaming infrastructure?

I'm sorry but this joke is getting really old. HN loves to point fingers when company stands still. Heck, we made a teaching moment out of Kodak and others who failed to innovate and relied too much on their cashcows. On the other hand, we proclaim nice-sounding ideas such as being aware of sunk cost fallacy and how everybody should say no more. We talk about being data-driven and dont go by what gut says. Beware of…

All of this would be resolved if Google called these projects experimental.

This is a significant distinction. It's also a massive deterrent. Who builds on experimental? Google isn't incentivized to do this. So, everything new Google puts out is hence, experimental.

It's not an old joke. You're just getting tired of it.

You're basically invalidating all of these engineers who believe in a thing called "trust," and undervaluing it with a statement like this.

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#55

Post by epicide »

azurezyq wrote: post #45

Really feel sad about recent prevailing sentiment across HN. Some comments seem to suggest Google needs to provide the following for this kind of "tech test": * Available for all browsers and comply all web standards. * Available for all languages across all regions, with accessibility features. * Promise not to "launch and shutdown in a few years". * Imply a real future product. But I'm guessing what Google wants to…

These are the sorts of projects that make sense to me for Google to be playing around with. Namely, they are highly experimental and pushing what might even be possible, but have the potential to (especially if Google shows success) suddenly boom into a large market since games have a high demand.

It also makes sense for Google to push for this sort of usage since it's more data going through pipes. Data they can analyze in some way, make money, etc.

The Google projects that make less sense to me are projects that are largely about data retention, long term stability, and are generally considered solved problems. I.e. email and office suites.

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#56

Post by throwaway080383 »

azurezyq wrote: post #45

Really feel sad about recent prevailing sentiment across HN. Some comments seem to suggest Google needs to provide the following for this kind of "tech test": * Available for all browsers and comply all web standards. * Available for all languages across all regions, with accessibility features. * Promise not to "launch and shutdown in a few years". * Imply a real future product. But I'm guessing what Google wants to…

They can do whatever they want; I signed up for the trial, but bullet points 3 and 4 are why I would be extremely hesitant to pay a dime for it today.

In contrast, I made a Steam account back in 2003, right when they launched. In college and grad school, I fell out of gaming, but when I came back in around 2012 with a brand new computer, all my old games were still available in my account, ready to be downloaded.

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#57

Post by munificent »

tspike wrote: post #23
desmondw wrote: post #16

Oh good, the company that constantly bails on it's ventures is starting a new one in a space that is far from being realized still. Seriously, if what's the goal? Being a supporting network for gaming infrastructure?

Google's promotion and incentive structure is built around launching products. This will launch, putter along for a couple of years and then get shuttered unless it's a surprise success.

> This will launch, putter along for a couple of years and then get shuttered unless it's a surprise success.

You say that like it's a bad thing, but isn't that effectively how Silicon Valley as a whole operates? Most startups putter along for a few years before running out of money and getting shuttered. A couple become surprise successes and take off.

Google is effectively just a single corporation acting like a hive of startups.

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#58

Post by jsgo »

desmondw wrote: post #16

Oh good, the company that constantly bails on it's ventures is starting a new one in a space that is far from being realized still. Seriously, if what's the goal? Being a supporting network for gaming infrastructure?

Because if your connectivity and their servers are able to handle the load, this reduces the need for a gaming PC for a lot of people which in turn makes Android and ChromeOS very attractive. Or, promising the ability to play it within Chrome the browser regardless of platform, this would be the dream of games being truly cross platform. Pay for it on PC, play it on an Android device? Awesome. Release Chrome for PS4 and/or Xbox One and that same game works there? Very, very nice.

Admittedly, there are other people in this space, but I figure they'd find a way to make the incentives pretty hard to pass up.

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#59

Post by phjesusthatguy3 »

AFAIK Ubisoft was already planning to stream AC: Origins to the Nintendo Switch in Japan (it's not coming to the Switch outside of Japan, I think). I wonder if they'll sell it on cartridge; that'll have to be one of the first games where the publisher can turn off the server and you now have a cartridge that doesn't do anything.

Re: Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream

#60

Post by deburo »

mooman219 wrote: post #22

Looks like there is an older article but it didn't float as quickly as this one [0]. This is a direct link to the signup page [1], and this is a link to the about page [2]. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18115445 [1]: https://projectstream.google.com/aco/signup [2]: https://blog.google/technology/developers/pushing-limits-str...

Link 2 is really the link I'm looking for. It's the source to all of these other 3rd-party articles.

Sidenote: can't stand how much space the header and footer (related articles) takes up on that page on desktop. The scroll-up-to-view-the-header pattern is disgusting with an header that big.

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