Today, the Google Stadia streaming service officially launched for those who picked up the Founder or Premier Edition.
Well, sort of anyway. Some people have it, a lot of people don't, we certainly don't and it appears the team at Stadia give different answers to different people on when you will actually be able to access it. I've also seen plenty of people whose orders have been cancelled without warning or explanation. Even worse still, some people have been sent their hardware without an access code. Google have, so far, done a terrible job at communicating on Stadia and so the initial launch doesn't seem to have gone down well at all.
Oh, they also have the most ridiculous launch trailer I've ever seen:
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The more I think about it, the more amazed I am at just how badly this has been managed. Take a look at the actual proper Stadia website for example, there's not a contact or support link in sight.
So they originally had a tiny lineup, then did a Reddit AMA where they said a bunch of the hooks they used to get people in weren't actually ready at all and hastily announced a few more games just before release. Nothing about it has so far looked like they've been in any way prepared to launch a gaming service.
One thing that I've seen confirmed now, as many suspected, is that input lag does seem to be a real problem. Google talked big about their powerful hardware and everything they were doing to bring it down, but it seems they haven't solved anything at all so far. Looking at the Eurogamer article, the input lag table included was quite impressive. This video from The Post also makes it look pretty awful.
From what Jason Schreier of Kotaku said on Twitter from "one person involved" that "preorders were below expectations". I really can't get my head around that. Somehow, they didn't get as many preorders as they had hoped and simultaneously failed to get them into the hands of people who did buy into it early. Words are honestly failing me right now. Incredible.
Eventually, at some point we will get access to it to report on how it works when played on a Linux desktop. When that is, I can't tell you, Google can't either. We're playing delivery bingo right now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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kellerkindt 19 Nov 2019
Well, and here is me. Me hoped that the stadia experience would be kinda solid, giving Valve enough reasons to push full steam ahead (haha! sry) using the Linux container env as cloud env allowing us to play all the AAA games as they enter steam cloud gaming... Bye bye, me playing Red Dead Redemption 2 natively on Linux... :'(
One can have dreams, okay :P
One can have dreams, okay :P
0 Likes
That trailer must be the best thing about Stadia I've seen so far.
6 Likes, Who?
I somehow get the feeling there are many different stakeholders that just don't want to see this thing to be successful. Be it because some see their well known concept of a local gaming rig in danger or plain and simple competitors.
I'll take the many reports with a big grain of salt.
They are too diverging anyway.
Let's wait and see for yourself.
I'm pretty sure we'll get are totally objective review by you. ;)
I'll take the many reports with a big grain of salt.
They are too diverging anyway.
Let's wait and see for yourself.
I'm pretty sure we'll get are totally objective review by you. ;)
8 Likes, Who?
I'm pretty sure we'll get are totally objective review by you. ;)Of course, regardless of if we pay for it or we're given it, we say what we think. If it works fine in my own testing, I will say so. If it doesn't, I will also say so. If sometimes it does and others not...you get the idea.
7 Likes, Who?
Doc Angelo 19 Nov 2019
I find it to be interesting, that only the part from the video where it doesn't work well is posted everywhere on the web, but the part where it works well is omitted. The idea of streaming is interesting, and I'm eager what can be achieved with this.
However, Google indeed did fuck up in a lot of ways. The whole communication of what Stadia is was done really poor, that there's only 1 single title in the subscription is ridiculous, and the selection of titles is rather sparse. That they don't get the features in time for release is on top of that.
However, Google indeed did fuck up in a lot of ways. The whole communication of what Stadia is was done really poor, that there's only 1 single title in the subscription is ridiculous, and the selection of titles is rather sparse. That they don't get the features in time for release is on top of that.
1 Likes, Who?
To be fair, making big promises you can't possible keep, then rushing an unfinished product out the door and fixing it post launch is actually pretty on brand for the games industry today.....
3 Likes, Who?
Kimyrielle 20 Nov 2019
I somehow get the feeling there are many different stakeholders that just don't want to see this thing to be successful.
I am one of them. I want it to fail and fail hard. Because I don't like monopolies. We all know how this is going to end, right? Right now, Stadia is (or rather, wants to be) the Netflix of gaming. Then the big studios (ahem EA, Ubisoft, MS etc), will do the same thing the big content creators did to Netflix: Declaring 100% of their own content "exclusive" to their own streaming platforms. Google will react to that by tossing big bucks at developing their own exclusive stuff, because they can and want to stay in business. And now players will have to pay $$$ a month to 5-6 different platforms to get access to a halfway comprehensive library of games. The publishers will laugh at how we're now spending three times more money on gaming than in the olden days, when people used to buy good games in Steam sales, and laugh even harder at how they can dictate both prices and terms consumes without them having the slightest chance to do anything about it.
Brave new world.
...and I haven't even started to point out how ridiculous it is to produce multi-Gigabyte loads on your home internet per hour just to download pre-rendered sceens that a $400 GPU could render locally.
Last edited by Kimyrielle on 20 Nov 2019 at 12:02 am UTC
7 Likes, Who?
That is quite the over-the-top trailer. I feel like I just went back in time 25 years, to when everyone claimed they were shifting the paradigms of reality with every new release of anything.
3 Likes, Who?
Well, that input lag from the Post is ridiculously bad, there must be something going on there. Bad connection, bad setup, bad luck, bad...something.
I mean, Stadia can't be worse than other streaming services that are working fairly well (can't it?)
Take GeForce Now for example, I have a beta tester key (or whatever is called) and I must say the experience is pretty good. Sucks that isn't available for Linux, but it does work. Definitely it won't satisfy everyone though, that's for sure.
For casuals like me, OTOH, is just fine.
Here's a small video recording showing what to expect from Geforce Now (and I expect at least that level of performance from Stadia).
Keep an eye on the bottom left corners where there's an input indicator, so you can approximate the lag involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-3GtNiAoI
Oh, the stream quality is also excellent, whatever artifacts you see are Youtube's doing.
Last edited by dubigrasu on 20 Nov 2019 at 9:23 am UTC
I mean, Stadia can't be worse than other streaming services that are working fairly well (can't it?)
Take GeForce Now for example, I have a beta tester key (or whatever is called) and I must say the experience is pretty good. Sucks that isn't available for Linux, but it does work. Definitely it won't satisfy everyone though, that's for sure.
For casuals like me, OTOH, is just fine.
Here's a small video recording showing what to expect from Geforce Now (and I expect at least that level of performance from Stadia).
Keep an eye on the bottom left corners where there's an input indicator, so you can approximate the lag involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-3GtNiAoI
Oh, the stream quality is also excellent, whatever artifacts you see are Youtube's doing.
Last edited by dubigrasu on 20 Nov 2019 at 9:23 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Got mine today and a little time to play with it. Tested it out on the Chromecast Ultra that came with it and in Chrome, both on WiFi (which they do not recommend).
Both worked flawlessly with no noticeable input lag (wired for Chrome, wireless for Chromecast). I do have pretty fast Internet, but my roommate was also watching a stream in the other room at the same time.
I'll definitely need to try out more games and put some more time in to really make a judgement, but my initial impression is pretty good. I'm interested to hear how it goes for you, Liam.
Both worked flawlessly with no noticeable input lag (wired for Chrome, wireless for Chromecast). I do have pretty fast Internet, but my roommate was also watching a stream in the other room at the same time.
I'll definitely need to try out more games and put some more time in to really make a judgement, but my initial impression is pretty good. I'm interested to hear how it goes for you, Liam.
3 Likes, Who?
Got mine today and a little time to play with it. Tested it out on the Chromecast Ultra that came with it and in Chrome, both on WiFi (which they do not recommend).Well that gives me a little hope. What connection speed? How far away was your Chromecast from your router?
Both worked flawlessly with no noticeable input lag (wired for Chrome, wireless for Chromecast). I do have pretty fast Internet, but my roommate was also watching a stream in the other room at the same time.
I'll definitely need to try out more games and put some more time in to really make a judgement, but my initial impression is pretty good. I'm interested to hear how it goes for you, Liam.
0 Likes
Well, and here is me. Me hoped that the stadia experience would be kinda solid, giving Valve enough reasons to push full steam ahead (haha! sry) using the Linux container env as cloud env allowing us to play all the AAA games as they enter steam cloud gaming... Bye bye, me playing Red Dead Redemption 2 natively on Linux... :'(
If it would fail, shouldn't they sell Red Dead Redemption 2 on Linux to get at least a little money back?
One can have dreams, okay :P
I know what you mean... :D
1 Likes, Who?
Well, sort of anyway. Some people have it, a lot of people don't, we certainly don't and it appears the team at Stadia give different answers to different people on when you will actually be able to access it.
I don't understand the disconcertment in the tweets linked. You wrote back then "they ship it out based on order date. Checking back on it, ours is saying to be delivered by November 27th.", so I guess people should have gotten information when to expect their start...
0 Likes
Our unit shipped today, to possibly arrive tomorrow. No code yet though, so it's still a bit useless until we get that...
0 Likes
Micromegas 20 Nov 2019
That trailer must be the best thing about Stadia I've seen so far.
The hair is strong in this one.
2 Likes, Who?
The entire point is, they've given no clear answers to anyone. Originally, their advertisements very clearly said Founders get access right away, which was false. They then later said they will go out in the order placed (which didn't happen) and then also said you will get you access code "Right after we ship your order" which also hasn't happened.Well, sort of anyway. Some people have it, a lot of people don't, we certainly don't and it appears the team at Stadia give different answers to different people on when you will actually be able to access it.
I don't understand the disconcertment in the tweets linked. You wrote back then "they ship it out based on order date. Checking back on it, ours is saying to be delivered by November 27th.", so I guess people should have gotten information when to expect their start...
People got both the hardware and code yesterday, who ordered months after the first lot did after they went up. Google messed up badly.
1 Likes, Who?
I am looking forward to some input lag benchmarks. How many milliseconds does it take from you push a button until you get a frame that is affected by it? How much does the input lag vary? Under which conditions does the input lag get too high? I would also like to see some statistics of where the latency is occurring, but this probably requires cooperates from the stadia team.
A cloud gaming platform will require a lot of innovation to be successful, and this innovation will be beneficial for a lot of different areas. Anything that increase the interest in low latency-high-bandwidth communication is good.
A cloud gaming platform will require a lot of innovation to be successful, and this innovation will be beneficial for a lot of different areas. Anything that increase the interest in low latency-high-bandwidth communication is good.
1 Likes, Who?
I am looking forward to some input lag benchmarks. How many milliseconds does it take from you push a button until you get a frame that is affected by it? How much does the input lag vary? Under which conditions does the input lag get too high? I would also like to see some statistics of where the latency is occurring, but this probably requires cooperates from the stadia team.Honestly, I've no idea on how to actually accurately measure input lag. Been looking around, doesn't sound like it's even remotely easy to do. The best guides I've seen mention using a really good camera to show both the screen and key presses, which sadly the best I have is a webcam and it's not all that great either. We just don't have the funding to splash on stuff like that.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 20 Nov 2019 at 12:13 pm UTC
0 Likes
Honestly, I've no idea on how to actually accurately measure input lag. Been looking around, doesn't sound like it's even remotely easy to do. The best guides I've seen mention using a really good camera to show both the screen and key presses, which sadly the best I have is a webcam and it's not all that great either. We just don't have the funding to splash on stuff like that.
German magazine c't used a 1000 fps cam. I would guess you have some of those lying around? ;)
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