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Dcubed

Google Stadia

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It's a shame because the majority of what I've seen and read claim that the tech itself works pretty well, it's just the the service/store etc going along with it that's not great. It does feel like something that needs to go hand in hand with an actual console like MS' streaming or PS Now. Taking the plunge and just trusting that it will all work, that your internet won't crap out on you etc etc is probably too much for a lot of people.

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There's not really much need to buy a new console when they make it available for everyone and you can just use hardware you probably already own.

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On 09/04/2020 at 8:48 AM, Happenstance said:

https://blog.google/products/stadia/try-stadia-free-today

Stadia is now out and free for everyone. If you sign up now you can get a free 2 months of premium to test it out. I've just signed up so if anyone else tries it let me know and I'll add you to my friends list. Maybe we could all give Destiny 2 a try.

Just read that this offer is now ending on the 2nd June...

Can't imagine everyone is bursting the doors down to sign up but I've had to upgrade my phone to a Pixel 4 this week, and have an controller/phone clip on the way that was for xCloud, so reckon I'll download it and see what it's like, just using my Xbox controller though which is a shame, would be good to try out the official Stadia pad!

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Thought I'd give some impressions that no one was asking for having spent a bit of time playing on this over the weekend and today: 

- The UI is nice, very Google, and can clearly access the store, and your own games.

- it seems to recognise that I'm playing with an Xbox controller which is nice, menu options and button prompts use the logos that match my Xbox controller.

- decent selection of free games to start with, Destiny 2, PUBG, Gylt (the only exclusive I think) and a few more 

Now the biggie, actual game play. While I admire the attempt, it just doesn't work very well. I did the official website check of my speed which clocked in at 13mbs, not amazing but it said I'd be able to play in HD if not 4K. From my phone, I'm not too bothered about that. But sat near my router I played through some of Gylt and the controls weren't quite synced up properly all the time, and there were some stutters here and there too which took away from the overall experience. 

In the last hour I've tried to play the Panzer Dragoon remake as that's been launched free on Pro today; I've been out in the garden and where I was sat it kept dropping in and out of the WiFi signal, so I moved closer (still outside) and tried the signal test again to make sure (13mbs again) and it's played like dross, a stuttering mess of a game experience with audio crackling, controls about a second if not two behind the action and constant stopping and starting , before the WiFi signal went again, despite being in a good enough place for it. 

I thought about trying my 4G but a warning came up saying it could potentially use up about 20GB of data...well that's my monthly limit so until I do more research I didn't want to try that. 

I'm not going to buy any games on it, and will probably cancel the subscription once the free trial is over, but it doesn't seem to be as good a product as a beta xCloud is through my experience so far.

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For anyone who is a YouTube Premium member and has been since prior to November 6th, you can claim a free Stadia Premiere Edition. Instructions on how to claim here (but you should get a pop-up when you open YouTube, that's how I found out). 

youtube-premium-stadia-premiere-edition-

Mainly in it for the Chromecast Ultra, but a neat deal nonetheless (I got a Nest Mini last year around this time from them too). Depending on when it arrives, might try a few minutes of some games out, though I did just try Superhot on my phone and the act of spinning slowly seems to cause a bit of stutter. 

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3 hours ago, Julius said:

For anyone who is a YouTube Premium member and has been since prior to November 6th, you can claim a free Stadia Premiere Edition. Instructions on how to claim here (but you should get a pop-up when you open YouTube, that's how I found out). 

youtube-premium-stadia-premiere-edition-

Mainly in it for the Chromecast Ultra, but a neat deal nonetheless (I got a Nest Mini last year around this time from them too). Depending on when it arrives, might try a few minutes of some games out, though I did just try Superhot on my phone and the act of spinning slowly seems to cause a bit of stutter. 

Ah man, I had a months free trial of YouTube premium on September 11th, which, typically, I forgot to cancel so had another month of it from October 11th, made sure I cancelled it this time though 💪 ran out...today 🤦‍♂️ I probably don't need this but still would have been nice for free, appaling timing!

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Yeah I got this email. I've just claimed for it - says it will be here Monday. Pretty sweet deal, even if I have zero intentions of using it! 

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9 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

Yeah I got this email. I've just claimed for it - says it will be here Monday. Pretty sweet deal, even if I have zero intentions of using it! 

Mine arrived earlier today, I like the packaging :laughing: and that's about all I can say about it, because same here, I really doubt I'm ever going to use it!

Might just open it to feel what the controller is like, oh and to extract the Chromecast though. Maybe. :p going to cancel the subscription now it's here, because I nearly forgot, and doubt I'll remember if I leave it for later!

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VGC reporting that Google backed out of proposals from both Kojima and Yu Suzuki. 

Quote

Google‘s Stadia team cancelled dozens of projects and third-party licensing deals as part of its shift away from video game production in recent months, people with knowledge of its plans told VGC.

The Google cloud gaming division cancelled a multiplayer game led by a former Assassin’s Creed creative, a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet and backed out of proposals for Hideo Kojima (Death Stranding) and Yu Suzuki (Outrun) to create exclusive games for Stadia, the sources said.

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely hilarious to think about. Can you imagine the absolute meltdown from these projects having been exclusive to Stadia, forcing the hands of fans to try the system out? 

Edited by Julius
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OMG! Could you imagine the fallout that would've ensued!? :o 

That's bonkers! I can't believe that Kojima was stupid enough to think about shacking up with Stadia! Might as well have burnt your game and development team entierly.

Thank God, for everyone's sake, that this never happened!

Edited by Dcubed

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On 27/02/2021 at 12:22 PM, Julius said:

VGC reporting that Google backed out of proposals from both Kojima and Yu Suzuki. 

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely hilarious to think about. Can you imagine the absolute meltdown from these projects having been exclusive to Stadia, forcing the hands of fans to try the system out? 

So....Google dropped the ol' 'Do No Evil' motto at some point iirc and who could possibly wonder why....

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There was a promotion on the Stadia Premiere Edition for around €20, so I figured let's grab one, mostly for the Chromecast Ultra that comes bundled. But I had to at least give Stadia a try before burning it to the ground, and... it actually works quite well!

Aside from the discussion about owning games, if it's very sustainable to run stuff in the cloud and if you want to be tied to Google; it's a pretty solid experience. It came with a month of Stadia Pro so I tried to play Control first. It runs smooth both on TV at Full HD (haven't tried 4K as I don't have a 4K TV) and on my phone and my girlfriend's iPad. Only a slight stutter when coming from a pause menu.

Also tried Avicii Invector, it being a rhythm game is a good way to test any input lag as Control is a relatively slow game. That also ran without an issue. Will try some multiplayer next to see how that holds up.

It's a strange experience being able to run AAA titles on any device, and hopping from and to different devices. I can see Stadia fit in the line of Spotify, Netflix and other services: for people who see games as consumable media, and don't want to dish out big money for a console. Basically, with this Stadia deal and a sale on Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, it would effectively cost me €35 to play a 2021 AAA title on any screen I have available. Or I could go for the Stadia Pro subscription and I would get a monthly collection of bigger or smaller games for a tenner without having to own a Playstation, XBox, PC or Switch. Again, we are not the crowd for this as gaming is our passion and we want to have it, but for people who don't care about that and just want some cheap entertainment? This could work for them, the tech is in place. I wonder how long Google will keep supporting it though.

Anyway, I'll just continue blasting through Control this month until the prescription runs out on my own DIY handheld. :grin:

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The sad thing is that out of all the cloud game streaming services I've tried, Stadia was easily the smoothest.

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1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's great that they are refunding customers for purchases. Not many would do that.

What do you mean? Sony would definitely charge customers more.

Wait...

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25 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

The sad thing is that out of all the cloud game streaming services I've tried, Stadia was easily the smoothest.

I never tried Stadia, but having recently spent a few months with Xcloud on Game Pass Ultimate I can say that it was definitely a smooth experience. Not perfect, but it only really messed up badly on a handful of occasions. 99.9% of the time it was absolutely spot-on. :cool: Was surprised to discover that the main issue with cloud gaming (for me at least) isn't latency but actually picture quality, and that's something which is only going to improve over time with better compression methods and increased internet speeds.

Anyway, even though Google dropped the ball with Stadia, I'm still convinced that cloud gaming will become the primary distribution method for the industry in the not too distant future in exactly the same way streaming became so dominant in the music and film industries.

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It's pretty cool they're refunding customers without needing to send the hardware back. Like many I picked up the Chromecast 4K + Stadia controller bundle for 20 quid last year, which was already a steal. To get the money back and keep the hardware is pretty great.

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Fair play to them for refunding customers.  Most would’ve just taken the money and ran.

But yeah… Add another one to The Google Graveyard.

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