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.
donbastiano Jun 8, 2019
Quoting: NeverthelessEven on "shitty" Win10 you can simply go offline and play GOG games. People using Stadia might stop buying gaming PCs and hurt that option deeply and forever.I'm not so sure that if you are offline Win10 is not "watching you"...
Nevertheless Jun 8, 2019
Quoting: donbastianoQuoting: NeverthelessEven on "shitty" Win10 you can simply go offline and play GOG games. People using Stadia might stop buying gaming PCs and hurt that option deeply and forever.I'm not so sure that if you are offline Win10 is not "watching you"...
Maybe you're right. So you'd have to cut off the internet completely.. I'm not going to try! :)
Nevertheless Jun 8, 2019
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: NeverthelessSo how alone am I on GOL with that opinion? :)I think most of that discussion has happened in previous threads. But no, you're not alone.
Must have missed that, or it has been summarized under the term "privacy concerns" ..
I also have to say that I would feel better about streaming if it was done by Valve, and if it was done as an additional option, although Valve (and game devs using Steam) also watch us playing to a certain amount, otherwise there would be no Steam achievements. But Valve has no record of selling or abusing user data, nor is it part of their privacy policy.
Yeah, we all hate exclusives, but it's different when it's their own studio, no different then than Valve games.
Quoting: NeverthelessYou are beeing closely watched while you play. No privacy setting or alternate software can change this. Even on "shitty" Win10 you can simply go offline and play GOG games. People using Stadia might stop buying gaming PCs and hurt that option deeply and forever.
i dont see your point?
what does google see? when and which game i am playing? steam also has this data, even if you are offline
netflix sees when and which movie you are watching? sooo?
they dont care about me. they just show me: "you already watched this episode"
what data does google get, which they didnt have already?
i use google for searching
i use an android phone
i use google maps for navigation
i use firefox/chrome
google knows so damn much about us. stadia cant make that worse
Quoting: mylkai dont see your point?
what does google see? when and which game i am playing? steam also has this data, even if you are offline
Technically they can see how you play. Whether you go the pacifist route or go full genocide run. Then they can decide (probably incorrectly) what kind of person you are and share that with other people/organisations that should not know that. Just an option.
Quoting: EhvisQuoting: mylkai dont see your point?
what does google see? when and which game i am playing? steam also has this data, even if you are offline
Technically they can see how you play. Whether you go the pacifist route or go full genocide run. Then they can decide (probably incorrectly) what kind of person you are and share that with other people/organisations that should not know that. Just an option.
same with steam
how do you think a game knows, when you get a achievement?
which game do you have in mind?
i mean i kill everything in rage 2....
i threw torches at random ppl in assassins creed.
if you are playing hatred, or postal.............. everyone knows what you are doing
wvstolzing Jun 8, 2019
Quoting: mylkasame with steam
how do you think a game knows, when you get a achievement?
Take a look at this series of articles for a glimpse of what Google actually does with the data it gathers:
https://medium.com/s/story/the-complete-unauthorized-checklist-of-how-google-tracks-you-3c3abc10781d
https://medium.com/s/story/make-orwell-fiction-again-part-2-micro-moments-9ba6e042a0c4
https://medium.com/s/story/make-orwell-fiction-again-part-3-masters-of-our-fates-620a84792482
The concern with privacy is not about having 'something to hide'; it's about autonomy in the face of behavioral manipulation.
Nevertheless Jun 8, 2019
Quoting: mylkaQuoting: NeverthelessYou are beeing closely watched while you play. No privacy setting or alternate software can change this. Even on "shitty" Win10 you can simply go offline and play GOG games. People using Stadia might stop buying gaming PCs and hurt that option deeply and forever.
i dont see your point?
what does google see? when and which game i am playing? steam also has this data, even if you are offline
netflix sees when and which movie you are watching? sooo?
they dont care about me. they just show me: "you already watched this episode"
what data does google get, which they didnt have already?
i use google for searching
i use an android phone
i use google maps for navigation
i use firefox/chrome
google knows so damn much about us. stadia cant make that worse
My point is: Google is one of the big players in AI (with Facebook, IBM, Amazon and the chinese corporations). They are amongst the biggest dataminers on the planet. What is all the data good for? A more immediate use of it is to send personalized ads to people, to make lots of money, but that's not all! They need real life data to train their AI, which can be used to make health predictions, commercial predictions, Facebook for ecample used their data to make political voting predictions. They also learn how to manipulate people. Or they could use it for good reasons like traffic control. No one can know what Google does ecactly. They are not bound to any laws regulating the use of AI and user data.
So if you do nothing against Google taking all your data, because you don't care, then there is in fact no difference for you by using stadia. You just give them additional first hand data about your psychological reactions, behaviour, responses to situations, etc.. Everything they made you think they already got.
IF you do care, and you did the best you could to stop using their (free :-D) software, the Stadia does make a big difference!
Quoting: mylkasame with steam
how do you think a game knows, when you get a achievement?
Not quite the same.
Googles business model is to sell your data for profit.
Valves business model is to sell games to you.
The latter is inherently less disingenuous.
With Stadia, Google gets yet another privacy invasive way to monitor their users. Sure, some games might not give them much, while others might give them a ton of info about who you are. They even have their own game studio now so imagine if they designed a game specifically to gather as much data about you as possible. Why not? That is their main revenue stream after all.
Last edited by Brisse on 8 June 2019 at 1:36 pm UTC
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me