Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#1

Post by valgaze » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service
theverge.com

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#2

Post by ocdtrekkie » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

So, uh, the controller has a microphone, and connects directly to the Internet over Wi-Fi. I guess it's nice this time they told us upfront?

Really curious what the network performance requirements would be for 4K or 8K game streaming. Haven't heard them admit to that.

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#3

Post by aasasd » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

Inb4 Google closes the Stadia cloud gaming service.

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#4

Post by rc_hadoken » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

So, uh, the controller has a microphone, and connects directly to the Internet over Wi-Fi. I guess it's nice this time they told us upfront? Really curious what the network performance requirements would be for 4K or 8K game streaming. Haven't heard them admit to that.

..and I'd bet competitive gaming is out (need for low latency).

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#5

Post by Ronsenshi » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

This is not a first service that tries to do that. And as before it all ends up with how close the gamer is to the server node, how stable user connection and whether connection is metered or not.

I just pinged my google.com server node - and it's over 16ms. Which means no 60fps.

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#6

Post by m_ke » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:30 PM UTC

Google is really flexing on people here. With 5G this will be the future of all computing and only google and amazon have the data centers to make it work.

Sundar opened up the event talking about deep learning, I wouldn't be surprised if they used this platform as a way to train their RL models against humans or on data generated by the users.

The youtube integration is also a shot at twitch.

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#7

Post by ron0c » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:31 PM UTC

Google 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?

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#8

Post by Klathmon » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:32 PM UTC

rc_hadoken wrote: post #4

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

So, uh, the controller has a microphone, and connects directly to the Internet over Wi-Fi. I guess it's nice this time they told us upfront? Really curious what the network performance requirements would be for 4K or 8K game streaming. Haven't heard them admit to that.

..and I'd bet competitive gaming is out (need for low latency).

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, some games where local timing is everything won't work as well (Super Smash Bros probably won't be able to be played on this system at the top tier), but the vast majority of players and games won't ever need that kind of millisecond precision.

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#9

Post by eitally » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:34 PM UTC

m_ke wrote: post #6

Google is really flexing on people here. With 5G this will be the future of all computing and only google and amazon have the data centers to make it work. Sundar opened up the event talking about deep learning, I wouldn't be surprised if they used this platform as a way to train their RL models against humans or on data generated by the users. The youtube integration is also a shot at twitch.

I'd argue MSFT does, too, and they've already cleared a HUGE hurdle with XBOX (the hardware + game ecosystem) & XBOX Live (social engagement).

The opportunity for Google is huge, but it will require sustained, strong, cross-functional execution that can be challenging for such an engineering driven, compartmentalized organization.

Re: Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service

#10

Post by CountHackulus » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 5:34 PM UTC

Ronsenshi wrote: post #5

This is not a first service that tries to do that. And as before it all ends up with how close the gamer is to the server node, how stable user connection and whether connection is metered or not. I just pinged my google.com server node - and it's over 16ms. Which means no 60fps.

No, it just means your input latency will be longer than 16ms.