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.
This would be the best, but I'm afraid it won't be the case...
However port a Stadia game for Feral should be an easy task, right?
All Stadia games will be also published to Linux/SteamOs?
This would be the best, but I'm afraid it won't be the case...
However port a Stadia game for Feral should be an easy task, right?
Not necessarily, there may be legal blocks, unwilling third parties, etc. For most of the big studios it probably wouldn't be a huge issue to port a game to linux, but the time it takes they probably view as a waste.
All Stadia games will be also published to Linux/SteamOs?No and likely most won't.
This would be the best, but I'm afraid it won't be the case...
However port a Stadia game for Feral should be an easy task, right?
I 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. Stadia is basically Steam Link, except Google provides their own host hardware and arbitrarily denies the option to run the games yourself. Stadia could be a regular ol' game store with streaming as an extra feature, and if anything Google would save money because anyone playing locally wouldn't be using their hardware or network infrastructure. The only way disallowing local execution makes sense is with a Netflix-style buffet subscription, but that's not what this is.
its easier for then to convince the developers to port the games for stadia to sell then for the end users, regardless of where those users are, than to convince then to port their games to ChromeOS.
on stadia they can sell the games for anyone who owns an Android, Chromebook, macbook, notebook (with any OS), desktop (with anyOS), chromeCast.
as an result, it wont matter what OS the user has, they will be able to play anything, wich means that end users will be more inclined to buy chromebooks since they will do everything they need. (except play offline)
as an result chromeOS may grown and in the future maybe even run games offline.
also, there is an cost for google, but google buy hardware at scale, and they can buy an hardware much more powerfull than you will need and sub locate it for tons of users.
for example, instead of an video card with 10Tera flops, they can use one with 100 teraflops to serve up to 10 users at the same time.
an videocard with 100tflops could be cheaper for then than 10 videocards with 10tflops.
they cant do that with consoles, microsoft cant use your un-used xbox that is turned off to run games for other people, or use the remaning processing power that it have because you are playing an lightweight indie game to sublocate for others.
with cloud game, you can.
I'm reading through the footnotes on the Google Stadia page:
Stadia Controller requires a Wi-Fi® network and a mobile device running Android 6.0, Marshmallow or later, or iOS 11 or later.
Does this mean it won't be possible to use the controller/stream games directly with/to a PC?
if your pc support an wifi controller... there is no precedent for that, you will have to use an wifi device as an input device... well actually there are some android apps that does just that
Baldur's Gate 3?! BG3 already exists, and it's called Throne of Bhaal. There's no good way to continue the story, the mind flayers where not set up in any way to be a major threat, they are too low a challenge rating for a Bhaalspawn who embraced their heritage and became a deity, it makes no sense to continue their story, and nobody was asking for a third entry because the trilogy was complete!
Make it Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 3 if you really want to use the Baldur's Gate title, but don't just make a sequel for a finished story that isn't served by it.
This is like making a sequel to Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Nobody is asking for it, the story is complete, adding any more on to it wouldn't make any sense.
If you want to use the setting, just make a spin-off, don't just tack on an unnecessary sequel.
Oh, and boo google i guess.
nobody asked for it story-wise, but gameplay-wise i'm pretty sure a lot of people asked for that...
nobody asked for it story-wise, but gameplay-wise i'm pretty sure a lot of people asked for that...
Which indeed is why I said to make a spin-off. A+ for reading comprehension.
And if they don't want to make a spin-off they can make a new IP. Faerûn is a little bigger than the Sword Coast and Western Heartlands alone.
How about exploring the Shining Plains for a change? Moving from the Sword Coast to the Dragon Coast? Putzing about the Dalelands or the Vast? Chult? The Shaar?
And that's before even looking at the rest of Abeir-Toril or a non-Forgotten Realms setting. But even if you want to stick to the Sword Coast, no reason to making a sequel to the Bhaalspawn Saga when any writer worth their salt can come up with something different to do there.
In any case, if people want a gameplay sequel to Baldur's Gate, there are two problems.
1) It seems like Larian is gonna switch from good old 2E AD&D to D&D 5. I kinda checked out after the MMO-ization of the system so I'm not sure, but I doubt 5 is backwards compatible with 2.
2) Pathfinder Kingmaker and PoE already exist.
1) It seems like Larian is gonna switch from good old 2E AD&D to D&D 5. I kinda checked out after the MMO-ization of the system so I'm not sure, but I doubt 5 is backwards compatible with 2.D&D 5 is a lot more similar to 3rd edition, and AD&D by extension, than 4th edition was with, well, anything D&D has ever been, really. Didn't Icewind Dale (maybe only the second one) already use third edition rules? It wouldn't be all that far from that, though they culled some stuff, added a couple mechanics and more or less refactored all the skills and feats to make them a little more bland.
It might even seem less boring in a video game than on tabletop since we're used to having more limited options there.
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