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Stadia Review Thread
- Thread starter KoolAid
- Start date
I just don't think gaming is ready for this kind of technology yet; not as a major platform anyway. With server location, likely bottle-necked data along the way, real-time streaming will always be an issue. They may have the fastest servers in the world, but if the internetworks in the U.S. needs some love, the results are gonna be the same...no matter how fast the servers.
Have you tried on on crap internet? Or at least near the lowest acceptable soeed according to google?
if I ever had to do this as an employee for a company, I think I'd cry myself to sleep that night.
Well the thing is, in Game Theory there's no difference between Game Theory and Game Practice....
Watching the Giantbomb quicklook and the process Jeff has to go through to get Just Dance going is INSANE.
He needs TWO PHONES to set it up.
It's the exact same process as any other version of the game. You have to download an app on your phone and register it with your play session to use it as a controller.
You don't need two phones, and he didn't use two phones. You would need two phones if your viewing device was a phone, since you obviously can't use your phone as a display and a controller at the same time..
Game looks awful btw
The one thing google has working in its favor is that most of the people interested in this day 1 are going to be enthusiasts with a good system. If word of mouth is good and it reaches a broader market that's when things are gonna get bad.
Now that you've had ample time with Stadia, how do you feel about xCloud moving forward? Microsoft's philosophical approach to streaming is quite different from Google's.
Patrick, I had a chance to try Stadia at an event and found the experience to be a lot like looking at a washed out 1080p youtube video, does this seem improved in full release?
I tried it on Starbucks wi-fi and it worked as advertised. I tried tethering my phone, which produced 14mbps on a shaky connection, and the whole thing fell apart.
I think mileage on this stuff is going to vary. I had no problem with how it looked, relative to expectations. But I'm also someone who doesn't give a shit about 4K, can deal with choppy frame rates, etc. Other people are going to be more annoyed.
Stadia proves game streaming has a very viable future. Stadia itself? I dunno. I think Google keeps Stadia longterm as a streaming service, but am I confident they're actually going to fund a studio and ship a big, exclusive game? No, not really. I think if Valve added some kind of in-platform cloud streaming, that'd be huge. I think Microsoft has a big opportunity with Game Pass, too. Those are compelling because they have either A) a big existing owned library or B) a big existing subscription library.
How does the feel of latency and setup compare to PS Now?
Patrick Klepek did you try the service with and without the stadia controller? How big was the difference?
Have you measured out the data amount when streaming? Any idea how long it would take to hit a data cap?
So nothing better than existing (and free) solutions like geforce now. I was expecting much more from the company that owns YouTube. Paying for 4k to play an upscaled 1080p game at medium settings is not acceptable for this service.
It's probably not even google, just one of the few diehard fans. I haven't gotten the impression from Google that they care enough to astroturf this.
Very disappointing launch, IMO. Almost all of the cool features they revealed, like "Crowd Play," "Couch Coop" over online, weren't ready for launch. Other basics people expect like ... sharing your game clips, not there, and then a bunch of UI inconsistencies like menus available in Stadia via a browser/computer, but not th emobile app, but some available in the mobile app but not browser or TV, etc.
It's just weird and half-baked. THey should have launched this period as a beta, maybe even a free or special edition beta period for people who bought the hardware, but thn had their full "launch" in 2020.
It's just weird and half-baked. THey should have launched this period as a beta, maybe even a free or special edition beta period for people who bought the hardware, but thn had their full "launch" in 2020.
Haven't used PS Now, but I played hours of Mortal Kombat 11 and never felt the input lag hurt my ability to play the story. I'd guess multiplayer is a different story, but I'm also no fighting expert. I'm deeply curious to play a hardcore platformer, something like Super Meat Boy, on Stadia.
I haven't. I didn't feel equipped to accurately measure that, so I punted on trying to quantify it.
And that's with a very competent outfit with (almost assuredly) properly set up networking infrastructure.
Your average consumer has the 'free/mandatory' ISP supplied modem/router box, built by the lowest bidder, with atrocious quality. And if they live in an apartment complex with dozens of other people polluting the 2.4/5Ghz radio waves, it's going to be even worse. And don't say wired, avg consumer is not going to wire up his/her Stadia lol.
This is a disastrous launch that will probably only get worse from here.
Vega56 remains a completely baffling choice as well. GCN struggles under Linux at best, and is not exactly a world beater under Windows. "10.7 TF" yet it's incredibly inefficient, so it's not surprising to me that an X1X with massively more optimized OS/API performs better on a purely graphical standing.
Either massive rework of AMD GCN drivers for Linux as well as heavily tuning the Stadia ports is needed, or they need to go to Navi NOW. And that's not counting the awful latency/glitching pitfalls.
This is true. While things are going to improve on Google's end no doubt, there are many more problems as yet to be uncovered. There are going to be myriad problems as streaming services become more popular. Experiences are going to vary wildly among users and the reasons for that are going to be just as varied.
Do you have any sense on why Stadia was launched like this? My best guess is they wanted to launch before next gen consoles and xCloud to not have to directly compete with them for headlines, but this thing just seems so half baked.
A subscription service like gamepass or PSNOW would help a lot for example, but it's missing a lot of services that would get someone like me intrigued.
Yes, yes this is true. Lots of hoots and hollers about 'better than native latency' lol
Hard thing to swallow at this point
This. Shadow is an incredible service though a little on the expensive side. It's not as advertised and backed as stadia but if a cloud gaming option is something you're very interested in, I'd start there.I've said this in multiple other threads, but streaming isn't the problem here - Stadia is. You can stream games at 1440p or 4K right now using Shadow, and the video quality is noticeably better than any of the Stadia screenshots I've seen.
This is an image taken straight from a stream of Gears 5.
PSNow is 720p and noticeably so. GeForce Now is a better comparison for quality.
I actually did it for my review.Watching the Giantbomb quicklook and the process Jeff has to go through to get Just Dance going is INSANE.
He needs TWO PHONES to set it up.
Just Dance 2020 on Stadia (Google Pixel 3a XL connected to the controller) and the Just Dance app on my phone.
Easily fixed - Stadia users to get free enhanced targeting mods.From the WaPo review...
Good technology, the best streaming quality from a major provider so far, but the service is not ready for launch. Some stuff works well, like launching games quickly and switching devices (e.g., going from TV to Phone to Computer), and overall the stream quality is good. But, other things are half baked, not ready, not fleshed out, "coming in 2020," or other vague promises.
thanks Patrick! Appreciate all your work and have been a fan since GB days.
No reporting behind this assertion, but my sense is they knew the launch was going to be a bust, and just wanted it out the damn door. A lot of the UI and service issues are obvious and fixable. You can start adding more games to the subscription. They're always going to have a chance to convince people to give it another shot when some high-end game comes along. (Granted, some of the reports about Destiny 2 and RDR2 running Xbox One X levels kind of hurts that, but it's also possible that gets better as things go along.)
It's okay. No strong feelings, and right now the Google Assistant stuff doesn't even work.
I haven't seen this one mentioned yet.
As an input lag obsessive that's used to the likes of NULL + G Sync and/or 120hz these days, I can't tell you how depressed that GIF makes me.From the WaPo review...
Yeah it's a very weird launch. I feel like they kind of needed a good launch to have any momentum going into next year. I'm assuming within the next few months we are going to start seeing the new consoles, and at that point I don't know who will really be paying attention to Stadia.
I'm one of the few who rarely notices input lag and the gif even hurts me
Oh this is bad, wonder can I still cancel my preorder!? 😅
EDIT: Order cancelled, fuck that.
Ouch. And not even 60 fps.
You can on PC and on a Pixel phone. They have to be connected via USB and PC supports KB/M.
Technology is cool, but the largest markets internet infastructure isn't close to ready for it. Couple that with bait and switch feelings on performance, a lackluster library and lack of market saturation/capability to play with friends and you have a rough start to a product.
Negative latency sure looks different!
Looks fine for most single player games but I can't imagine playing anything competitive or with tight input windows with that kind of (variable!) latency. Pretty much what sensible people were expecting beforehand.
