{"id":336,"date":"2019-06-10T12:35:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T07:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/?p=336"},"modified":"2019-06-10T12:35:56","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T07:05:56","slug":"stadia-googles-game-streaming-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/stadia-googles-game-streaming-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Stadia: Google&#8217;s game-streaming service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Imagine a world in which you don&#8217;t need expensive gaming\nequipment to play the next big release title. A world in which all you ever\nhave to do to start gaming is open up your browser, select a game and start\nplaying \u2013&nbsp;no lengthy download required. This could soon become a reality\nif Google&#8217;s cloud gaming service, Stadia, delivers on its promises \u2013 you&#8217;ll be\nable to go from opening a Chrome tab to playing a 4K, 60fps game, in five\nseconds, no installation required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service, which was announced at this year&#8217;s Game\nDevelopers Conference in San Francisco, got a proper unveiling ahead of E3 2019.\nIn a 15-minute presentation starring Google Stadia boss Phil Harrison, we\nlearned just how much the service will set us back \u2013 $9.99 \/ \u00a38.99 (about\nAU$14) per month for unlimited games and just how good a connection we&#8217;ll need\n(35Mbps for full 4K HDR\/60fps).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At launch, Google has promised that Stadia will support\ndesktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones &nbsp;but just the Pixel series to start &nbsp;without the need for a hardware box, with\ngames instead powered by Google&#8217;s own data centers.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Stadia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>What is stadia ?<\/strong> Google&#8217;s big move into gaming &nbsp;a &#8216;Netflix for gaming&#8217; streaming service\n     that&#8217;s a true console competitor, one to rival (and potentially lead) the\n     next generation of gameplay.<\/li><li><strong>When is it launching? <\/strong>At some point in 2019, with launch territories including the\n     USA, Canada and UK. Latest rumors suggest another update, teaser and more\n     details will be coming in June 2019.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>How much will it cost? <\/strong>$9.99 \/ \u00a38.99 (about AU$14) per month for full 4K HDR streaming\n     via Stadia Pro, or you can purchase games a la carte with Stadia Base.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How it work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The best bit about Stadia is that as long as you&#8217;ve got a\nstable and fast internet connection, and you&#8217;re using a recent version of the\nGoogle Chrome browser, you&#8217;ve got everything you need to get up and\nrunning.&nbsp;Playing a game on Stadia is as simple as opening a new tab in\nChrome and going to the service&#8217;s Stadia.com homepage, or even jumping from a\nYouTube video link about the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To get started, Google will prompt you to run a connection\ntest that checks your internet bandwidth, the latency between your computer and\nthe servers, and any data loss. Google requires a streaming rate of 15Mbps,\nlatency below 40ms, and data loss below 5%. With these requirements met, you\u2019ll\nbe ready to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The beta of Project Stream offered Assassin\u2019s Creed\nOdyssey, which is nothing short of a demanding title. When you launched the\ngame in your Chrome tab, it would go full screen, and run exactly as if it had\nbeen launched on a dedicated gaming computer (except without a deep graphics\nsettings menu). You can play with a keyboard and mouse or a supported game\ncontroller, and Google&#8217;s Stadia controller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of your inputs on the computer are sent over to\nGoogle\u2019s servers, processed in the game, and everything happening gets streamed\nright back to you. This is why that latency is so important, because you can\u2019t\nhave a good game experience if everything you do in the game shows up a second\nlater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The limits of Stadia are still being detailed, but Google\nhas stated that Stadia will eventually be able to scale up to 8K \/ 120fps-plus\nframe rates, with 4K\/ 60fps play as the norm. That&#8217;s way above the standard bar\nfor quality PC gaming.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of your inputs on the computer get sent over to\nGoogle\u2019s servers, processed in the game, and everything happening gets streamed\nright back to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the case of Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey on Stadia, you&#8217;re\nstill required to log into a Ubisoft account to play, but beta testers aren\u2019t\nrequired to own the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stadia will also work well with Google Chromecast, which\nmeans you&#8217;ll be able to stream its games straight to any TV using Google&#8217;s\nstreaming dongle, not to mention phones and computers.&nbsp;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, it&#8217;ll support cross-platform multiplayer &nbsp;so long as the other major game players want\nto take part, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s unclear at this point whether Google will require\nplayers to buy games and pay for the streaming service in separate\ntransactions, or whether access to select games will be bundled into the\nservice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Games available<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final number hasn&#8217;t been released just yet, but so far,\nthe numbers look promising. During Google&#8217;s pre-E3 event, we got our first look\nat Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 from Larian Studios, plus heard from Bungie that Destiny 2\nwould be available at launch on Google Stadia. Add to that Ghost Recon\nBreakpoint from Ubisoft and a number of new Bethesda titles, and Stadia could\nhave one of the best launch libraries of any platform in recent memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are all the games Google has confirmed so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey<\/li><li>Borderlands 3<\/li><li>Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3<\/li><li>The Crew 2<\/li><li>Darksiders Genesis<\/li><li>Destiny 2<\/li><li>Doom<\/li><li>Doom Eternal<\/li><li>Dragon Ball Xenoverse&nbsp;<\/li><li>The Elder Scrolls Online<\/li><li>Farming Simulator 19<\/li><li>Final Fantasy 15<\/li><li>Football Manager<\/li><li>Get Packed<\/li><li>GRID<\/li><li>Gylt<\/li><li>Just Dance<\/li><li>Metro Exodus<\/li><li>Mortal Kombat 11<\/li><li>NBA 2K<\/li><li>Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid<\/li><li>Rage 2<\/li><li>Rise of the Tomb Raider<\/li><li>Samurai Showdown<\/li><li>Shadow of the Tomb Raider<\/li><li>Tom Clancy\u2019s Ghost Recon Breakpoint<\/li><li>Tom Clancy\u2019s The Division 2<\/li><li>Tomb Raider Definitive Edition<\/li><li>Thumper<\/li><li>Trials Rising<\/li><li>Wolfenstein: Youngblood<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PC, Laptop Configuration <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because everything runs on the cloud, it seems like nearly\nany internet-connected laptop or PC with Chrome should be able to play Stadia.\nThat said, Google did release a set of required specs when it tested the\nservice last year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions\n     only)<\/li><li>Processor: AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz, Ryzen 5 &#8211; 1400, Intel Core\n     i7-3770 @ 3.5 GHz<\/li><li>Video: AMD Radeon R9 290 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (4GB VRAM or\n     more with Shader Model 5.0) or better<\/li><li>Memory: 8GB RAM<\/li><li>Video Preset: High<\/li><li>Storage: 46GB available hard drive space<\/li><li>DirectX: DirectX June 2010 Redistributable<\/li><li>Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, id Software confirmed that Doom Eternal is\ncoming to the Stadia &nbsp;with the team only\ntaking a few weeks to transfer the title onto Google&#8217;s cloud streaming service.\nid Software&#8217;s Marty Stratton revealed Doom Eternal is capable of running at 4K\n60fps at native HDR on Stadia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the service can handle Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey at 1080p\n60fps and Doom Eternal at 4K\/60fps, Stadia is going to be capable of playing a\nwhole lot of games at these settings. Other major titles could easily see\nsupport on the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A recent Chromium update also added support for Nintendo\nSwitch controllers to Google&#8217;s browser, so it looks like we could be getting\nmore than just streams of PC releases.Google also announced the launch of\nStadia Games and Entertainment. This will be a new arm at Google, with the sole\naim of designing games exclusively for Google&#8217;s game streaming platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As well as Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft has indicated\na few upcoming games will also make it on to Stadia when it&#8217;s released,\nincluding multiplayer motor-cross game Trials Rising, naval warfare game Skull\nand Bones, as well as strategy game Anno 1800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google Stadia will also allow for developers to implement\nsplit-stream local couch co-op easier, through Stream Connect. This should\nallow players to not only view but interact in each other&#8217;s worlds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, perhaps the biggest development for content creators\nand their viewers is Crowd Play which will allow viewers to play games with\ntheir favorite streamers by simply clicking a button.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The big focus here is on designing a system that&#8217;s both\neasy to play and easy to show off to your friends. To that end, Stadia will\nsend both a 4K signal to both your device and to YouTube simultaneously,\nallowing you to record what you&#8217;re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re stuck, either in your game or your friend&#8217;s,\nGoogle Assistant integration will allow you to access guides and walkthroughs\non-demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What was Project Stream like to use?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At its best, Project Stream was good. At its worst, well,\nGoogle won\u2019t let you play below a certain threshold of quality, and you\nwouldn\u2019t want to anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We tested Project Stream on varying setups. We played on an\nunstable 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connection, a fast and nearby 5GHz Wi-Fi connection, and\non an ethernet connection held steady and offered high bandwidth.&nbsp;Keep in\nmind this was without the dedicated hardware Google has now introduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The highly dated Chromebook hardware didn\u2019t hold it back\nfrom playing.That said, in our experience, the visual degradation came before\nthe latency, so we were able to continue battling enemies smoothly even if they\nstarted to look like ghostly swarms of pixels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, the graphics were fairly good throughout,\nespecially when playing on a high-bandwidth connection using ethernet cables.\nColors, shadows, and anti-aliasing look fine, and the frame-rate seems to vary\nbetween 30 and 60fps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The low frame-rate was one of the two issues we noticed.\nThe other was compression. Most of the time, it\u2019s not super jarring, but when\nthere\u2019s a lot of detail in a scene and a lot of movement, the compression turns\nit all into a bit of slop. Character faces become a blur and hard edges\n(noticeably the character\u2019s hair) go soft.&nbsp; While the price and service\nmodel Google adopts will go a long way in determining whether Stadia is\nworthwhile, we can say right now that its prototype works, and it looks good\ndoing it. But, will Microsoft\u2019s xCloud do it better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Will it work on Phones?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes! Well, yes&#8230; as long as you&#8217;re a Google Pixel owner.\nFor whatever strange reason, Google is limiting Stadia to Google Pixel phones\nto start.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s not so bad considering there are so many other ways\nto access the service (see: desktop, laptop, tablet and TV through Chromecast\nUltra), but the fact that all Android phones won&#8217;t get Stadia at the same time\ndoes feel &nbsp;a bit strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rivals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to a recently accepted United States Patent and\nTrademark Office patent (spotted Digital Trends) filed by Sony back in 2014,\nthe company is working on a &#8220;system for combining recorded application\nstate with application streaming interactive video output&#8221;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other words, a cloud gaming service which could rival\nthe Google Stadia (or a cloud streaming new Xbox) and could potentially launch\nwith the PS5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Players would be able to stream a game through a hosting\nserver. So if you have a device that connects to the internet, be that a mobile\ndevice, console, or PC, you can connect to that server and the game you&#8217;re\nwanting to play will be streamed to your monitor or screen, allowing can play\nusing your preferred input device. Imagine Netflix for gaming.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than downloading a game, it is instead streamed\ndirectly to your device and you would play real-time, cutting the need to\ndelete games to make storage room on your device and reducing the hardware\nrequirements &#8211; although you wouldn&#8217;t technically <em>own<\/em> the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We expect Sony would implement this cloud gaming service\nalongside the PlayStation 5, although the company hasn&#8217;t specified if this is\nthe case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine a world in which you don&#8217;t need expensive gaming equipment to play the next big release title. A world in which all you ever have to do to start gaming is open up your browser, select a game and start playing \u2013&nbsp;no lengthy download required. This could soon become a reality if Google&#8217;s cloud [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,20,17,24],"tags":[29,21,65,66],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apps-n-software","category-entertainment","category-technology","category-technology-impact","tag-games","tag-google","tag-stadia","tag-stream"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/softcrony.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}