For those interested in trying out Google Stadia, the new streaming service, today Google held their first Stadia Connect to give out some details. Quick reminder: Stadia is the game streaming service powered by Debian Linux and Vulkan. It’s supposed to offer a “single click” experience with “no downloading required”.
On the subject of pricing: They will have a Stadia Pro subscription at $9.99/£8.99 a month which gives you up to 4K resolution with regular free games and discounts. They will also do Stadia Base with no monthly sub that will come "next year" limiting you to 1080p, both allowing you to buy games whenever you want.
However, it seems only those who purchase the special Founders Edition will get access sometime in November. This includes first access to Stadia, a Chromecast Ultra, limited edition Stadia Controller, 3 months of Stadia Pro, a guest pass to give access to a friend and the Complete Edition of Destiny 2.
First set of games includes: Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios) was newly announced - Trailer, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Gylt, Get Packed, The Division 2, Destiny 2, DOOM Eternal, Football Manager 2020, GRID, Metro Exodus, The Elder Scrolls Online, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Tomb Raider Trilogy, Borderlands 3 and more.
A pretty interesting line-up and there’s more they’re going to announce later, that’s just all they’re teasing for now. They also reiterated wide support for different game pads, not just their own.
You can see the video here:
Direct Link
If you want to play at 1080p, Google are saying you will need a 20Mbps connection. That actually seems quite low, but even so the bandwidth use that will come along with it will likely be massive. If your connection is a bit wobbly, Stadia will keep your progress for "several minutes".
As for availability, they're launching in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA and the United Kingdom. They say more countries will come in 2020 too.
See more at the official Stadia website and their FAQ here.
I found it quite amusing that the video kept dying on me (seems for others too), after Google's recent outage it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence about buying AAA titles to stream them through Google's network.
I remain unconvinced by it, especially now we know we will be buying games as well and you're locked to 1080p unless you also pay a monthly subscription. Buying a game, to have no real access to it with Google controlling every part of it? I mentioned before I didn't particularly like the idea of even less ownership but with a Netflix-like subscription model it might have made more sense but not if you're still paying full price.
I will add more details as I look over it all.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Mohandevir Jun 7, 2019
"Google says it’ll be one user per Stadia account, tied to your Google ID—you can have a guest account for splitscreen, but other than that, no sharing. (Update (2:43pm): A Google spokesperson reached out to say that family sharing is coming in the future.)"
Source:
https://kotaku.com/everything-we-learned-today-about-google-stadia-update-1835294433
Bold on me. I like Steam family sharing pretty much.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 7 June 2019 at 2:29 pm UTC
Quoting: Smoke39Not necessary I guess, but if they're going to let you buy it they have to have a version for whatever platform you're on because most of their customers probably aren't running Stadia Linux stuff on their devices. Having a store-as-such makes the project a lot more complicated in an area where they don't have expertise.Quoting: hardpenguinI think it is also unfair to keep repeating how not having access to the game files is a drawback. What about the upsides of this solution? There is no download and installation time, you can seamlessly switch between devices without stopping the gaming session and you do not have to own a gaming PC or a gaming console that is capable of running the game. And one more for us, Linux fans - you do not have to deal with the Windows 10 bullshit :)But... it is a drawback, and not even a necessary one to have those benefits.
Arehandoro Jun 7, 2019
Quoting: MohandevirQuoting: EhvisIf Stadia stops supporting it
Or you meant if Google stops supporting Stadia? Well... Just like in the old days, when a PS, PS2 broke down and you couldn't buy an new one. Game Library gone. The PC gamers are lucky, in that aspect.
In that regard it would not be much different than if Valve stops supporting Steam. Aside of the games that can be played outside of the client, all the rest would be just digital garbage.
wvstolzing Jun 7, 2019
Quoting: ArehandoroQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: EhvisIf Stadia stops supporting it
Or you meant if Google stops supporting Stadia? Well... Just like in the old days, when a PS, PS2 broke down and you couldn't buy an new one. Game Library gone. The PC gamers are lucky, in that aspect.
In that regard it would not be much different than if Valve stops supporting Steam. Aside of the games that can be played outside of the client, all the rest would be just digital garbage.
The latter comparison (Steam-Stadia) is a bit more on point; but the PS2 comparison hardly works at all. Google 'stopping support' for Stadia would correspond to the *possibility* of running anything on a PS2 going away, which entails i) every PS2 in the world evaporating; ii) every copy of every game disappearing so it can't be emulated (or its becoming impossible that an emulator should be developed by reverse engineering).
If your PS2 broke, and you couldn't afford to get a new console, you could still hold on to your games to play them at your friend's house; or save up to get a used PS2 in 2 years; or wait 10 years so an accurate emulator shows up. When something like Stadia 'breaks', you have none of those possibilities.
Even with Steam: As long as you have the downloaded files, you could try cracking them to get around the DRM. Again, no such *possibility* on Stadia.
wvstolzing Jun 7, 2019
Quoting: Purple Library Guy... but if they're going to let you buy it they have to have a version for whatever platform you're on because most of their customers probably aren't running Stadia Linux stuff on their devices. Having a store-as-such makes the project a lot more complicated in an area where they don't have expertise.
This is confusing; no one except Google will be running 'Stadio Linux stuff on their devices', there's no such OS -- or even application -- for the end user to run. All the user has is a browser window into the 'service'.
Quoting: MohandevirQuoting: EhvisIf Stadia stops supporting itOr you meant if Google stops supporting Stadia? Well... Just like in the old days, when a PS, PS2 broke down and you couldn't buy an new one. Game Library gone. The PC gamers are lucky, in that aspect.
I don't think this is a proper equivalence. There are always extenuating circumstances, but when you have the game yourself, there is this sense of having more control over the situation. I can still play my Playstation games on my PS3, for example. Many people can still play their older console games in an emulator as well.
With Stadia exclusive titles, there may not be any physical or digital copy available outside of Google's servers, and so no way for anyone to provide an alternative means to continue playing if Google decides to stop providing the game.
Quoting: ShmerlTo develop this idea, I think more computing power would be needed for some sophisticated AI, not for better visuals.Fair point. That was in the back of my mind too, but the comment was already getting pretty long. :)
Mohandevir Jun 7, 2019
Quoting: wvstolzingThe latter comparison (Steam-Stadia) is a bit more on point; but the PS2 comparison hardly works at all. Google 'stopping support' for Stadia would correspond to the *possibility* of running anything on a PS2 going away, which entails i) every PS2 in the world evaporating; ii) every copy of every game disappearing so it can't be emulated (or its becoming impossible that an emulator should be developed by reverse engineering).
If your PS2 broke, and you couldn't afford to get a new console, you could still hold on to your games to play them at your friend's house; or save up to get a used PS2 in 2 years; or wait 10 years so an accurate emulator shows up. When something like Stadia 'breaks', you have none of those possibilities.
Totally true! It's just that I never really resolved to these solutions (used or friend's PS2. In my case). As for emulators, it's quite a bet, considering all the legal stuff involved. I was referring to PS2 when Sony stopped producing them, but in a more general view (all PS2 disapearing of a sudden), it effectively doesn't make sense.
But my point is that there was (with the PS2) and there is (with Stadia) the possibility of loosing your game library.
Quoting: MohandevirNone of these failures have happened to me in over 15 years, so it's such a tiny risk that I don't see a reason to even factor it into my game-purchasing decisions. Power or cable failures, on the other hand, happen several times a year, not to mention that sometimes I might want to play a game somewhere without Internet access.Quoting: liamdaweAlso, "unfair" about paying and not having any real access to the files, what's fair about it?This can be replaced by: "Motherboard failure ($$$), no games, HDD failure ($$), no games, GPU failure($$$$), no games, RAM failure($), no games... Want me to go on? It's all about managing the risks. Both point of view are valid.
Google has issues? No game.
Your net has issues? No game.
Mohandevir Jun 7, 2019
Quoting: SalvatosQuoting: MohandevirNone of these failures have happened to me in over 15 years, so it's such a tiny risk that I don't see a reason to even factor it into my game-purchasing decisions. Power or cable failures, on the other hand, happen several times a year, not to mention that sometimes I might want to play a game somewhere without Internet access.Quoting: liamdaweAlso, "unfair" about paying and not having any real access to the files, what's fair about it?This can be replaced by: "Motherboard failure ($$$), no games, HDD failure ($$), no games, GPU failure($$$$), no games, RAM failure($), no games... Want me to go on? It's all about managing the risks. Both point of view are valid.
Google has issues? No game.
Your net has issues? No game.
Yeah... Want me to show you my brand new RX580 that I had to send back, 2 months ago?
No hard drive failure in 15 years? Wow! Hardly believable.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 7 June 2019 at 3:53 pm UTC
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