Google Stadia

Price is just one of many issues I have with it. Input lag, low resolution streams (it's just upscaled 720p and 1080p, not actual 720p/1080p), developers and/or Google not programming their games well, problems with Chromecast itself (and having to buy a Chromecast to use it on my TV), your typical internet lag/jitter, so on and so forth.

But lets throw all that out the window. I have a perfectly-serviceable gaming laptop *and* gaming desktop. They're "free" now that I've owned them for a little while. Pretty sure my USB keyboard and mouse won't lag anywhere near as much as Stadia's inputs, don't have to pay for a subscription service, etc. Nevermind *obvious* differences like being able to play offline. Something "big" would have to come around for me to use a cloud gaming service of any description, let alone Stadia.

 

Stadia was $130 to start and costs $120 per year for you to play fewer than 25 games right now with only nine new releases confirmed for 2020.

PlayStation Now is $60 for a DualShock 4 controller (assuming you paid full price for one, they're easily found for half that on sale or used) and $60 per year for access to 30 times as many games. If you get a PS4 console, you can even play some of those titles offline.

I'm eager to see what Microsoft does with XCloud.

 

Funny you should say that, the technology used for distributed gaming in real-time could also be applied to any assistive technology using real-time computer graphics with control input from the remote end.

There are medical applications, production applications, chemical process applications, not to mention AR/VR overlay on interactive real-time graphics.

So yes, this is a big deal, that's why I am trying to get you naysayers to see the broader picture.

You don't have to buy it, I don't really care if you like it, but why come in here and be negative all over it when others are here to enjoy it?

You almost had it there... go a step further... people buy things because *they* like it, not because *you* like it - they aren't necessarily interested in waiting for it to be perfect, they want to enjoy what there is now and experience growth with the technology as it improves and matures.

When I buy many cutting edge technologies I buy them in their infancy when bugs and problems are expected, that's part of the charm and fun. And, sometimes if I am not interested in spending time putting up with the cutting edge drawbacks, I'll wait for it to be at least stable and usable.

Right now I see Stadia as stable and usable, and I think a lot of other people do too.

How would you expect anyone to answer a request like except to point out that money isn't everything, that living and experiencing life is what is important, and that you aren't going to be able to do that while sitting it out on the sidelines waiting for that perfect situation before acting positively.

 

My main two issues overall, in terms of that last post, are that 1) who says that it has to be Google to do the innovating? and 2) innovation and sensibility aren't mutually-exclusive and if Sony (to steal saturnotaku's example yet again) can do it better and for cheaper, that seems like a no-brainer. Hell, if it can actually do 1080p, even better (but idk much about Sony's service). If I hypothetically wanted to do cloud gaming now (ignoring the whole "I have a gaming computer" bit, as well as a console), it seems like I'd be better served by Sony due to the points saturnotaku lists. Or I could wait later for Stadia to get good. Asking for quality services/product and "experiencing life" aren't mutually exclusive.

What you do with your money is, of course, your choice. I'm just not comfortable giving something like Stadia a positive review/comment when so far it hasn't deserved it, is all. Certainly hasn't earned a position in my monthly bill lineup, though to be fair no cloud gaming platform has.

 

Right now there are no winners in the distributed gaming market, and even when all of them are refined and optimized I think we can all agree it's better if there are several competitors competing on somewhat equal levels so that they all can share the load of servicing everyone's gaming demands, while delivering price competitive products.

Google won't be the only one innovating moving forward, I don't know why you would think I would have that position, other than there are no others in the same class of delivery as Google is publicly today.

If and when any other new cloud gaming service goes public as competition to Stadia I'll be just as interested in them as well, maybe even more so as by the time they arrive they have to be at least as competitive and as well performing as Google Stadia is at that time.

My point all along has been, please talk constructively about new technology instead of crapping on it without end, being unreasonable in expectations of new technology, and especially with Google Stadia where *every one of us* knows Google releases everything as a Beta, and Google Stadia was expected to be no different.

It's easy to shoot ducks in a barrel, it's easy to beat up on the unformed noob, it's easy to shoot down new technology in it's infancy during it's initial release, and all of those activities are poorly received in society because it's all nonsensical bullying.

I would encourage you or someone else to open up threads for discussing any and all cloud gaming services so that you can expound on their wonders. Every product deserves it's own thread as a place to enthusiastically and positively discuss the cool things it does.

Just like Google Stadia deserves to get a place to do the same.

If you need help setting up a new thread I'm sure the mod's would be happy to assist.

 

Here's a review after more than one month on Google Stadia:

Google Stadia One Month In: It’s Nothing Like Playing on a Console — and That’s Okay
Fears that Google will abandon its game streaming service look as though they’ll go unrealized
Eric Ravenscraft, Jan 6 · 7 min read
https://onezero.medium.com/google-s...aying-on-a-console-and-that-s-ok-494144f34caf

"...after a month and a half with the streaming platform, I’ve found where it fits in my life: It’s ideal for casual gaming, where being able to play on multiple devices might matter more than getting the absolute best picture quality, and for games that don’t require the fastest reflexes. Under the best circumstances, Stadia is technically able to play fast-paced, highly detailed games, but it’s a lot better at the more easygoing, addictive games that you wish you could play anywhere.

Stadia works, and that’s unprecedented
Video games require incredibly low latency, so that when you press a button, your character acts immediately. Dropping frames isn’t just an annoyance, it can be the difference between winning and losing. Not too long ago, streaming a game seemed like a task that was just too demanding for mass-market internet connections.

Today, streaming games works. I was able to play Tomb Raider, Gylt (Stadia’s only exclusive), and the new Darksiders: Genesis all without performance hiccups on both my home internet — a high-speed gigabit service delivered over standard copper cable — as well as, briefly, on my local Starbucks’ Wi-Fi.

The latter feat was the most impressive. With an 8 Mbps download speed, my Starbucks’ Wi-Fi was below the minimum 10 Mbps that Google says is required for Stadia. Still, I was able to fire up Darksiders and play for a few minutes without interruption or lag. I didn’t play for long because it’s rude to use up that much bandwidth on shared Wi-Fi, but the fact that I could slay demons without so much as moderate input lag is a testament to how far game streaming has come.
...
Think of it this way: If you want to watch a special effects extravaganza like Avengers: Endgame at home in the highest quality possible, your best option is to buy a physical Blu-ray player, get the movie on a 4K HDR disc, and play it locally on your high-end TV. On the other hand, if you want to watch old Simpsons reruns, streaming works fine. In the same way, Stadia may not be perfectly suited for everyone’s gaming habits across every type of game on the market (even if it’s trying to be), but much like Nintendo’s Switch, it has a lot of potential as a platform for freeing lower-power games from the couch they’ve been stuck on.
...
Google often plays a long game with its biggest services, and the ultimate measure of its success will not be how well it does out of the gate, but how quickly it can improve. In the past, Google has let some services rot on the vine, updating only every few months or even years, and with very little new when those updates do roll out.

The good news is that Stadia is already breaking from that pattern. The upgrades and changes Stadia has made in a month and a half have been substantial. They don’t fix every problem (and there are still a lot of problems left), but they’re a promising start. If Google can keep this pace up, we might be looking at a much different Stadia by the time customers start buying consoles next holiday season."

...check out the article for much much more...and check out the links in the article, lots of background info and previous articles are shared...

 

When theres a tech that's worth raving over, sure. So far nothing exciting has come out to make a thread over sadly; the last "big things" have been phones with folding screens (meh) and I guess Epic Game Store (with all the faults that's experiencing). Laptops have been a pile of throttling garbage for a while now, IoT is a basket case of spyware and security holes, and *coins have been.... lackluster.

Electric cars getting better and better has been interesting, though I've been beaten to the punch there. While not tech per say, Flordi's Brightline train is one of the few successful train services here in the US so that's neat.

---

Personally, tech is just another tool for me, nothing to love or hate. It just is.i like to treat it like any other service or product and if it's good and meets a need, I'll buy/use it amd vice versa. Specifically towards cloud gaming (nevermind cloud anything), I cant see the advantages of it compared to local hardware and for Stadia specifically i cant see any advantages to it compared to competitors.

 

Do you mostly watch DVD's and Blu-ray's locally then? Better source material and no streaming negatives?

Or do you stream video's from Netflix and the other services and watch them happily even though they are lower quality and there are network interruptions, lag, glitches and other annoyances from time to time.

For me sometimes I feel like watching on the big screen on Blu-ray, and sometimes I'm just as happy watching on a tablet or even a large screen phone, streaming or watching a download from Netflix. The quality and the rest is a bit less than what I am used to, but it's still enjoyable.

That's what that article I just posted suggests is currently Google Stadia's role. It's not always the best quality or experience - small phone or tablet screens, and quality varies based on bandwidth available, but it's playable and enjoyable where nothing else is available.

That's the niche Google Stadia can fill now, and perhaps it will expand it's features and quality over time enough to be close enough to the locally hosted experience that we won't care one way or the other.

 

DVD/Bluray, Plex w/local media, Amazon Prime (just for Grand Tour and House), Youtube. T-Mobile service I have comes with Netflix as well, though I don't use it.

I don't see anything pointing out that Prime or Netflix upscale their content, so if you could source I would appreciate it. Certainly don't have any lag or other network issues using any of these services (Plex included) given that I have a half-decent 200/200 internet connection and can easily stream actual 1080p content on that sort of connection (4K as well, if I wanted with Netflix/Youtube/Prime, though my home server can't really handle 4K transcoding sadly).

So if that article claims no lag or input lag or any of the other issues that were posted in other links in this thread, how does that article's writer deal with that? Maybe his experience is a fluke, or perhaps he didn't actually know what he was on about (similar to how Youtube "laptop reviewers" generally don't), etc? Still not really seeing how that article deals with competition like Sony's either, aside from pointing out that Gylt exists(?).

 

Except consumers will be buying the PS5 and Xbox Series X next holiday. If I'm in the marketing department of Sony or Microsoft, I'm going to include at least a 6-month trial of PlayStation Now or XCloud with the purchase of any new console during that time to further kill any momentum Stadia might have received.

 

News from the StadiaTeam:

Stadia in the New Year
StadiaTeam ‎01-16-2020 08:00 AM

Hi everybody,

When Stadia launched in November, we delivered a great gaming experience for players, and we continue to work toward our long-term vision for the future of gaming. Stadia is an evolving platform, and we've been busy in the two months since launch adding great content, features and ways to play. Among others, we have:

• Added more great games to the Stadia library, including six titles to Stadia Pro
• Welcomed Typhoon Studios to our Stadia Games and Entertainment family
• Updated all Chromecast Ultras so you can play Stadia on more screens
• Rolled out more features to Stadia including Google Assistant functionality and Achievements
• Delivered a multiplayer first for gamers with Stream Connect's debut in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint
• Surprised Stadia founders with a second buddy pass to game with more of their friends.

We have a lot more planned and will continue to work hard toward delighting gamers with our vision for Stadia. Looking at our upcoming lineup, we are tracking more than 120 games coming to Stadia in 2020, and are targeting more than ten games in the first half of this year alone that will be only available on Stadia when they launch. We’re working with our partners to share more on those games soon.

Gamers can expect more features coming to Stadia in Q1 and beyond. A key benefit of our platform is that we can add these features without any updates or downloads, and we’re starting to roll out the following over the next three months:

• Support for 4k gaming on the Web
• Add further Assistant functionality when playing on the Web
• Support additional Android Phones
• Wireless gameplay on the Web through the Stadia controller

There is a lot more in store for this year. In the meantime, we hope gamers are gearing up for some great new games and experiences. Toward the end of this month, we will share more about the games coming to Stadia Pro in February.

We appreciate all of the support and feedback we've had with our earliest fans, and we hope they're as excited about 2020 as we are."
https://community.stadia.com/t5/Stadia-Community-Blog/Stadia-in-the-New-Year/ba-p/13027

120 Titles Are Coming To Stadia! As Well As New Exclusives?
Jan 16, 2020
Cloud Gaming X
It has been announced that 120 titles will be coming to Google Stadia by the end of 2020 as well as new exclusives in the first half of the year. We cover that and more in this video!


Google offers exclusives to attract customers - people were complaining that they can get all of the Stadia games elsewhere...

Stadia Goes Full Epic In 2020 With Promise Of 10+ Exclusives
Jan 20, 2020
Laymen Gaming
Stadia Exclusives are incoming peeps.. the streaming exclusive war has begun?


Power Support Claw - Google Stadia & Android Gaming
Jan 19, 2020
Pixels Cracked
Today we unbox and install the Power Support Claw on the Google Stadia controller with a Pixel 4XL!

 

These are the only two things in this entire update that warrant more than a "meh" reaction.

You know those early adopters who are critical to making a new product launch a success? They're growing increasingly impatient. And it's going to get even worse in a month once said early adopters start having to pay for the service. Even the Reddit echo chamber is beginning to grumble.

 

Some people are still having fun playing games and enjoying Stadia, no matter what all the BS going on trying to take Stadia down tries to do.

Stadia's Umatched Convenience Factor
Jan 21, 2020


Google Stadia Isn't Dead, And Wont Be Any Time Soon
Jan 21, 2020
Generation Stadia
Felt the need to make this video as I feel there has been a recent uptick in the amount of articles being written about stadia dying, and plenty of youtube videos out there already calling it dead, some even comparing it to the ouya. So here are my arguments on why all this doom and gloom surrounding googles new gaming platform is way over the top and over dramatic.


jay smith 7 hours ago
"This was needed after seeing all the b.s media and YouTubers who are obsessed with bashing Stadia right out of the gate...Honestly speaking I feel like Stadia has so more more to be seen and realize that the general public can't imagine at this point this of life.."

Paddy X91X 7 hours ago
"Yeah thumps up for this video!

Spoiler

Yeah the ****storm is real today! Everyone needs to clickbait the hell out of stadia, with mostly false information and suspicions. Even me, who have my own problems regarding stadia found myself defending it! Half of them didn't even tried it out one godamn time but everyone is an expert now and keeps trashtalking it! Can't remember when the same thing happend to GFN, because their service was far worse at launch than stadia. I know it, because i use them both simultaneously since launch. I also used shadow which is in my eyes also an excellent service. But the image quality and the latency is far superior in stadia than any of them. Yeah stadia has problems and its far from being a leading cloud service, but it needs the credit which it deserves. All are siding up with microsoft now and xcloud how godamn pathetic is that? I mean some month ago everyone was trashtalking microsoft for their xbox one launch and their small game library.. now:" Microsoft's xcloud is a beast and will kill stadia right away!" haha! At least this hypocrit ppl are always good for a laugh."

Runny117 6 hours ago (edited)
"Ive been enjoying my time with Stadia. it works as intended and is improving. it was a ROUGH start and the trolls (who havent tried stadia nor ever will) wont let people forget it. thats going to be hard to recover from, but I'm hopeful they do, I'm going to be broke ass for the next few years and its nice not having to worry about having to buy a new console. and its awesome for travelling, I'm not worried about it and will support it where I can and hope others do as well"

It's not pretty that's for sure. Google didn't pay attention to the scene and stepped into it.

IDK if Google is playing the exclusive games game by default because they funded a bunch of games on their own, or if they bought exclusives like Sony, Microsoft, etc has done for many years.

I don't think there's any evidence Stadia is pulling Epic's BS of stealing games ready for release on other platforms and then taking them exclusive for themselves by buying off weak willed IP managers

Either way Google didn't deliver the message in a community sensitive way and it's being taken as a negative when Google thought they were delivering a positive message.

I was coming here to post Yong's coverage too

Replace the **** with the "bird word":

stadia is going to do timed exclusives like epic. they announced 10 games to be exclusive.
submitted 13 hours ago by Bright_Drive
https://www.reddit.com/r/****epic/comments/erub2s/stadia_is_going_to_do_timed_exclusives_like_epic/?sort=new

The Laymen play around with Stadia...

Stadia Goes Full Epic In 2020 With Promise Of 10+ Exclusives
Jan 20, 2020
Laymen Gaming
Stadia Exclusives are in coming peeps.. the streaming exclusive war has begun?

 

Nobody's trying to take down Stadia. Stadia itself is doing that just fine on it's own.

But seriously, some of the stuff in that strangely-cheery update letter should have been there Day 1. As for 4K, is is going to be real 4K or is it just going to be upscale like their current resolutions?

 

Well, well, well, would you look at this?



https://www.windowscentral.com/latest-project-xcloud-update-xbox-basically-just-buried-google-stadia

Hear something? It's Microsoft reading the hammer to drive that nail into Stadia's coffin.

 

Competition is a good thing, Microsofts got the games and connections to developers locked in, where Google is just starting out.

There's gonna be a lot of servers out there competing for work to do, and Microsoft bit off a big $10B bite of work to do, Microsoft will be quite busy with other things too for the next 10 years.

Google doesn't have the infrastructure to open up the gates wide to Stadia, nor would they want to even if they did, they've got a long way to go to bring on board game developers and continue to tweak performance.

Google setting the price high, the attractiveness low, and parceling out activation codes all points to Google slowly allowing load on their new service. Same as they did for their Cellular Service Google Fi - it was a long slow entry for new users there too.

That's the way of Google, releasing stuff as Beta and slowly growing it. It's surprising how many people either don't know this or insist on ignoring it - maybe they just like to complain?

550,000 units isn't a small start for a new (beta) game streaming service, so even with Stadia being nascent there is a lot of interest. And downloads are bound to drop initially until new content and reasons to play are added. 44% more downloads since release is 22% growth per month!! That's great!! What are these guys complaining about??

It's gonna take a good year or two to begin to get competitive with established game services, and I'm hoping there are some hardware and software surprises before then to keep things interesting enough to keep growing Stadia user base.

And this coming Xmas season either Google will lay low with Stadia, or try to compete with the new Xbox / PS5 with their own AMD "special" hardware upgrades... I'm looking forward to it being interesting and fun 2020.

Also, Yong presents Xcloud as the same as Google Stadia, but it's not. Xcloud is for Xbox Consoles only, not PC's - yet, and Android game play requires an Xbox Console ownership to use Xcloud - That's a much bigger cost $$$ barrier to entry than Google Stadia. So xcloud has it's own limitations too.

 

Ignoring that Google has nearly-infinite resources to pull off a bigger release if they wanted to (MS too; they're both cash-rich companies with the capability of huge server expansion if they desire), this sort of behavior is exactly why I said previously that this just seems to be 1) another Google Beta that will probably be about as successful as the average Google Beta and 2) this is what happens when you dont plan stuff out properly (Fiber being another fantastic example of this trend of Google to cheap out / not learn).

 

You don't build out infinite hardware, you build to a plan, and if that plan includes upgrading hardware over time you don't saddle yourself with a huge build out early on with "old technology".

Google has the server experience to know this, so they won't make this rookie mistake. They may make other rookie mistakes as far as pricing and dealing with consumer's one on one, but Google will keep improving the hardware over time - but it might be a while before they need to.

Google has lots of betas that went on to real products. Do you use an Android phone? Do you use Google Assistant? Do you use gmail? Do you use Chrome? etc etc etc etc.

Why be so critical when it's unnecessary?

 

Interesting you give Stadia a pass for it being in beta, while being critical of EGS...

 

This is exactly what Microsoft is doing with XCloud. They're starting small - making it a closed beta on Android devices and limiting resolution to 720p. They're expanding by adding more games and it looks like they are on track to add iOS support later this year.

Google over-promised out of the gate and has under-delivered

Google has plenty of experience in this capacity given that they've sold phones and computers directly to consumers for years.

I've not had to shell out $130 out of the gate plus $120 per year for access and an additional $30-$60 for different "modules."

And NVIDIA for RTX.

 

Answered in the The Ongoing Disasters of the EPIC Games Store thread.

EGS has ruined so much of gaming for so many people in 2019, and EGS continues to do so. EGS Exclusivity and Google Exclusivity have nothing in common, please read my response in the above EGS thread. I'd rather not spread EGS across any other threads.

You can read up on what I think and what I have said about EGS over the last year there:

The Ongoing Disasters of the EPIC Games Store
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...epic-games-store.827320/page-51#post-10985960

If you are interested in discussing EGS, you've kinda missed the boat, but read up on the last years worth of postings, and I'd be happy to answer your questions about EGS there.

My complaints with EGS have little or nothing to do with the state of EGS's launcher development.

 

This doesn't mean we can't compare both products, even if they offer a bit different services. But the bottom line is still it's about gaming, and this is there people can decide which path they want to go - spend more on hardware and get games for cheaper with sales and giveaways, or spend less initially paying for "hardware", but more on games (as of now). I mean, at one point I had similar thoughts about either buying a PS4 or getting PS Now subscription but went the correct way and spent everything on PC, and hope rumours are true about PS4 exclusive ports to PC

I know you have privacy concerns, but let's be honest, we are talking about Tencent and Google here, so that point is moot.
So I'm just interested in how, from your perspective, one half baked product with exclusives is bad, while another half baked product with exclusives (to come) is okay.

With their resources, I think, Google could have approached game streaming better, but they blew the initial launch by rushing, over-promising and overpricing Stadia.
Therefore, people might lose interest in it and start looking elsewhere, and ultimately it could end up badly for Stadia.

 

Or not botch support for their own Chromecast hardware...

On and off, no, yes, yes. Not really married to Android since I regularly hop between that, iOS and in the past, Windows Phone. Gmail and Chrome are actually successful, working products so those are fine; my emails don't just work partly and I seem to be able to browse websites just fine.

Just to add a bit of fire to the mix, it's also possible to have a good product and completely ruin it. YouTube says hi, for example.

I don't think you really understand anything I've been saying these past few pages since it happens to be aimed at Google in this thread, but to repeat why I'm critical about Stadia: I am not a fan of bad, half-baked products, period. Call me when it stops being a bad offering amd I'll be less harsh towards it, especially since this isnt some dinky startup company that doesn't know how to tech well... I don't care if it's "new tech" (let's not fool ourselves, it's not) or "old tech", good is good and bad is bad. If you want to see how I treat other bad products, feel free to check out my comments on Bitcoin and Razer products, among other things.

----

The EGS thing brought up by KK1 is rather interesting....

 

All exclusives are bad, period. I think it implies that if something is exclusive to one thing, others don't get it, ergo taken (stolen if you will).
Now, the way EGS executed their deals is bad, there is no doubt about it (and I kinda suspect this is the way they actually want to do it, generates press, and even bad PR can sometimes generate good PR), but I don't welcome another player who plans to segregate market even more. You wanna play The Last Of Us 2 - buy PS4, wanna play Metro Exodus - buy it from EGS (as of now), wanna play Upload Your Data To NSA - subscribe to Stadia.
And I have no doubts about it, if Google could, they would try to take a big, anticipated AAA game title and released it as Stadia exclusive. Problem is, Stadia had a disappointing launch, so I don't expect anyone wanting to get in bed with Google right now. Therefore, Google will probably focus on "indie" exclusives for now. If it gains momentum they will try to grab a bigger fish. If not, well, another tombstone in Google Graveyard...

And I still not sure how Google is better than Tencent...

P.S. not sure why you replied to my message in another thread and not here, a thread where I originally left my reply in.
And please spare me the off-topic nonsense, comparing something to another is a part of discussion. Not to mention, the EGS thread you replied in has plenty of it, ranging from STALKER 2 discussion to tessellation and Hairworks.
Relax a little, you don't have to be so uptight when someone tries to oppose your POV and have a discussion

 

Fun to see that after not visiting these forums for long time, basically nothing changed (and yes, I fully agree with what you said here) ;-)

 

Just out of curiosity, what exactly do you agree with and how does it relate to gaming on Stadia?

 

A fun, objective thread at Google Stadia subreddit by people who are disappointed with Google:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/eusxgc/stadia_has_officially_gone_40_days_without_a_new

 

This is new to me, but...

Stadia doesn't support wireless controllers?

 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/16...ler-wireless-tv-chromecast-ultra-cloud-gaming

 

Some Google Stadia newsbits, check out the Stadia broadband partner bundle with included Stadia Premiere at the end...

Google Stadia rolled out support for 4K on Chrome
r/Stadia u/imanishshah 9 hours ago
"Noticed this conversation by Twitter support. But no official announcement."
https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1225882708087148544

Spoiler

Eric B Grønneberg Feb 7
"Why does the games look so much better when playing on the ccu than any browser, even with the vp9 activated?."

Stadia @GoogleStadia Replying to @EricGronneberg 12:43PM · Feb 7, 2020
"Hey Eric! 4K support on Chrome was a soft release, this can also depend on the monitor you're using. To confirm, do you get the same result on all games? Also, have you tried adjusting the data usage options in your Stadia app?"

Eric Sather @errhoss Replying to @GoogleStadia and @EricGronneberg
"Does this mean you're currently rolling out 4k on Chrome?"

Stadia @GoogleStadia Replying to @errhoss 2:01PM · Feb 7, 2020
"You got that right, Eric! We'll be starting to roll it out for the next few months. You can find out more here:"
https://community.stadia.com/t5/Stadia-Community-Blog/Stadia-in-the-New-Year/ba-p/13027

Google Stadia Cross Save Support
r/Stadia u/psychoticinsane 14 hours ago
"I hope more games come to Stadia with cross save available. Being able to link everything together and seamlessly switch between them and immediately play is amazing. i think all games should support it, though i know that's not likely to happen soon. What other current Stadia games have cross play?"
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/f1cd7t/i_hope_more_games_come_to_stadia_with_cross_save/


More new reddit "Google Stadia" posts, and Google updates there on reddit, as well as their blog...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/

A summary of Stadia's 2020 plans...

Google Stadia 2020 plans, newest games and everything else you need to know
Expanded Android phone support is on deck for early this year.
Lori Grunin, Oscar Gonzalez
February 4, 2020 11:17 AM PST
https://www.cnet.com/news/google-stadia-2020-plans-newest-games-and-everything-else-we-know/

Google already testing Stadia on non-Pixel Android phones
Abner Li - Jan. 11th 2020 1:07 am PT @technacity
https://9to5google.com/2020/01/11/stadia-non-pixel-test/

Spoiler

"Playing AAA titles on a phone is a rather futuristic experience that helps sell the promise of Stadia. So far, that’s been limited to Pixel devices, though the goal is to have the streaming service work on every screen. Fortunately, Google is already testing Stadia on non-Pixel Android phones.

In recent weeks, reports have come in from Stadia subscribers opening the Android app on their non-Pixel devices and seeing “This screen” appear as an option underneath the swirling orange play button. This is instead of “Choose where to play” that suggests a Chromecast Ultra or computer.

They are able to start a game on Wi-Fi after connecting a third-party or Stadia Controller for an experience identical to the Pixel 2, 3, 3a, and 4. Unfortunately, access only lasts for that session, with “This screen” disappearing after exiting the current game.

This looks to be an A/B test by Google to gather data about Stadia running on non-Pixel devices. There’s nothing users can do to join this random trial. The handful of early access reports date back to December and several phones, including a OnePlus 6T, Samsung Galaxy 10e, and Note 9. They span several generations and ranges, suggesting Google could expand Stadia support to a wide swath of phones.
...more details in the article...

9to5 google has a Google Stadia guide with lots of articles:
https://9to5google.com/guides/google-stadia/

Google May Start Doing Beta Tests For Future Stadia Games
By Justin Diaz February 05, 2020
https://www.androidheadlines.com/20...doing-beta-tests-for-future-stadia-games.html

Spoiler

"It seems that Google may start doing beta tests for games on Stadia. Not necessarily directly though. Instead the beta sessions would go through GBTN.

If you're unfamiliar with GBTN and you have a Stadia account, you'll want to take note. GBTN is a service called the Global Beta Test Network, and its purpose is to get people to signup for beta tests of games on various platforms.

Once they have people signup for the beta tests, they send logins and any other related info to the users who are accepted to participate. The users then test games, and then report feedback. Much like any other beta test.

Stadia beta tests may not happen at all
GBTN has recently sent out emails to its users to let them know that sessions requiring a Stadia account may happen.

This suggests that beta testing of games may not happen at all. At least not for a little while. It is possible though to prepare for the potential availability. First what you'll need to do is setup a GBTN account if you don't already have one.

If you're already a member of GBTN and have participated in previous test sessions, then you're halfway there. Once you have an account setup, or once you login, you can now add your Stadia account, and Stadia controller to your GBTN profile.

This will allow you to opt into any beta test sessions for Stadia when and if they arise at some point in the future.

Adding your Stadia account to your GBTN profile
If you already have a profile set up, then adding your Stadia account is easy. On the main GBTN page after you login, click on the Testing Info tab up top, then click the dropdown option and select Stadia which will be at the very bottom of the list.

Select it, and then click on the space next to it and enter the email that's associated with your Stadia account. After entering that in, click the add button. That's all there is to it for this particular section of the process.

You will also need to add your Stadia controller to the profile, as this is considered the "platform" which you'll play games on. Click on the platforms tab all the way to the right. Once it loads, click on the big " Add a Platform" button then again select the dropdown, and select Stadia Controller.

Once you're done with that step, you're finished. All there is left to do is wait and see if you're contacted regarding beta test sessions that require Stadia. Keep your eyes on your email associated with the GBTN profile, as this is where you'll get notifications about possible tests."

...see the GBTN images on in the article for more details...

Global Beta Testing Network may soon pay players to beta test games on Stadia
Kyle Bradshaw - Feb. 7th 2020 10:17 am PT @SkylledDev
https://9to5google.com/2020/02/07/global-beta-testing-network-stadia/

Some broadband partner news from the Google Stadia Blog:

BT becomes first European network to partner with Google on new Stadia home broadband offers
17 JANUARY 2020
https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-becomes-...h-google-on-new-stadia-home-broadband-offers/

• BT and Google announce strategic collaboration to continue moving the cloud gaming industry forward
  
  
• New BT Superfast Fibre Stadia Gaming Plans unveiled will push the limits of cloud gaming and allow customers to take full advantage of Google's new-generation gaming platform
  
  
• Partnership will see BT and Google work to promote cloud gaming for all BT customers"

Verizon teams up with Google to offer next-gen cloud gaming experience
01.21.2020
https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-google-offer

"Instantly play the hottest games on Stadia with the unprecedented speed and capacity of Verizon Fios

• Verizon delivers an incredible cloud-gaming experience via Stadia, Google’s revolutionary cloud gaming platform
  
  
• Sign up for Verizon Fios Gigabit and get a free Stadia Premiere Edition1 with three months of Stadia Pro for instant access to gaming in up to 4k resolution
  
  
• Verizon customers get instant access to dozens of flagship game titles

 

Is that actual 4K or just upscaled to 4K?

 

It's still not a released feature is noted in the post, and Google stated on Jan 16th it's gonna happen in the new few months - per other posts - so it could happen anytime in that time period.

They are talking about Chrome OS (Chromebook) support for 4k - so I would take it as support on the user side where the user is on a Chromebook, and the game itself would be performing the same as other client access.

The game implementation as it sits on Stadia sets the resolution and how it gets there, it's not a limitation of Stadia it's a limitation of implementation done by the developer of the port. Which can improve over time, and as more developers get experience implementing their platforms on Stadia I would expect the 4k experience to become more and more "real".

So many Console games are already set to do interpolated checkboard 4k, so it's no surprise that they do the same on Stadia as they are ported over now.

Perhaps 4k PC game ports will fair better, perhaps not, again it's up to the developer to get their port running on Stadia - I assume with Google's help, but in the beginning that's going to be as much of a learning process for Google as it is for developers - as Google see's new platforms and developer set guidelines for their own games.

Google keeps up with news weekly or more often on the Google Stadia Community Blog, Stadia Community Forums, and Reddit, and Twitter. I try to watch those portals to see what's new on a (semi-)weekly basis. I'll try to post them here when they are of interest, but I don't always get time all the time - I'll often catch up in a large post when I'm off doing other things.

Checking there now found a post mentioning a news article about 4k on Chrome:

4K in Chrome rolling out. Anyone have it yet?
https://community.stadia.com/t5/Sta...ome-rolling-out-Anyone-have-it-yet/td-p/14928

Google Stadia begins rolling out 4K gaming in Chrome browser
https://www.pcgamesn.com/stadia/google-4k-chrome-rollout

1440P support [use Chrome translate]
https://community.stadia.com/t5/Stadia-on-Chrome/1440P-support/td-p/14925

As with all new things they take time - it's best to take a position of patience - and be happy with what you have - as that is all there is right now.

It's clear to me that Google is pushing through everything they have promised - but in my experience with Google it always takes more time than they expect - the same as most technology companies. It's always a nice surprise when things come in on time or earlier than expected - but don't expect that and you will be much happier. Be aware of this and you won't be disappointed.

You guys can post new stuff here, and in the other Gaming Cloud threads I started to share their project news too, I don't always have time to keep things current.

 

So that's a yes and it's not actually doing 4K?

I'd be happy about a company when it doesn't lie about what it's providing.

 

Stadia provides the platform that supports 4k - if the developer can implement their game in 4k.

So yes, Stadia provides 4k in their platform, and the developer can implement 4k, but 4k is implemented on a game by game basis - not all games will be native 4k, some will be upscaled, and some won't offer 4k at all.

In early days there will be more upscaled 4k than real 4k, and over time as developers get a chance to become familiar with the optimizations needed to port their games efficiently, developers will deliver more upscaled 4k and real 4k games.

It's the same on all hardware platforms, some developers can optimize their games and provide real 4k, or upscaled 4k, but not all of them will develop adequate performance to attain the potential of the platform, and therefore will not be able to deliver 4k real, or upscaled.

 

So Google's claim of 56% greater GPU throughput than an Xbox One X ultimately means nothing.

 

Stadia has one thing going for it, and it's streaming image quality.

 

Stadia also has no limit to usage vs Geforce Now limiting founders to 6 hours and 1 hour for the Free access:

"The GeForce Now “Founders” tier lets you play for up to six straight hours, as often as you want, with priority queue access that should get you into your games immediately.Feb 4, 2020"
https://www.pcworld.com/article/351...lly-here-and-it-demolishes-google-stadia.html

 

yeah but myself and many others included rarely play for more than 1 hour as there is alot of things to get done in life and video gaming isn't a priority

 

Sure, it's a nice play time limiter built in, if you look at it that way

 

yeah you just have to be positive in this very negative world

saturnotaku It really is 10 tf but does it utilize this....short answer no not yet....stadia will no doubt be great in a few years time but they will have to make some major tweaks. buying a 90 dollar game that works with stadia only will have to change or they will simply put lose money

 

Here's the issue with that though: knowing that it's not good now (so ignoring the blissfully ignorant), how much money are you going to spend on the platform during those "flawed" years? Was there a better use of said money you could think of?

 

it's over for me as geforce now is superior. I will be investing 0 into stadia

 

Stadia could always change their model, as could GFN - as they already have - and GFN hasn't made any progress in many years - they only released due to Stadia coming out along with other interested Cloud providers.

Although I agree that using existing PC games providers - using games we already own and keeping those as our purchasing nexus is easiest for us, it's not a profitable model to support an expanding "costly" infrastructure service.

There will likely be a number of changes over the next few years as each interested party - game developers, distributors / platforms / cloud companies / GPU makers(?!?) get their piece of the pie.

Nvidia can't start making $100m investments in services that don't return a profit, at least not indefinitely.

As they each learn how to monetize, and each fight to gain content - and lose it - the tote board can change dramatically quickly, as it just has with with Nvidia losing Activision / Blizzard.

Losing many of their most played good games by losing Activision / Blizzard lost a lot of content that people were relying on - check the GFN forums, and that can kill an otherwise good service quickly.

It's not over for quite a while. I have no vested interest, but I am going to spend fresh new time on the newest technology offerings over the services that have been out for years.

Any one or all of them can persist if they find their niche and a way to fund it long term.

 

"I have no vested interest"

This whole thread..?

 

Even if it's not native 4k - upscaled and native 4k will look better than 1080p.

As Stadia brings on more developers - the developers will learn how to optimize for 4k native more and more, and as Stadia continues to build out it's infrastructure and improve the technology the quality of image and streaming should continue to get better and better.

 

I think I'd rather have real 4K if I'm being told that I'm getting 4K. Not only due to the false advertising, but also because native 4K looks a lot better than just duplicating pixels from 1080p to fill the space.

 

I LOL'ed at this comment from the above community update post:

 

Scaling of various kinds has been true for the Console "4k" for years already.

RTX DLSS is doing the same thing, "it just works", like it or lump it.

 

There's always an uninformed smartass in every group. Right guys? You know who you are.

How does that commenter know the unreleased games have upscaled 4k? They are just as likely to be native 4k as upscaled; wait for release before complaining.