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PayPalStadia has launched if you have the Founder Edition, our unit and code came a little late but it's here and surprisingly it all seems to be working well. Note: Our Founders Edition was a personal purchase.
This new game streaming service from Google is powered by Debian Linux and the Vulkan API, so I've been rather keen to see what it has to offer. Keep in mind you will need a good internet connection for it and you do always need to be online, although it's supposed to keep your place for 15 minutes to help with drop-outs and changing devices.
Quite a rough start, as they were clearly sending out codes slowly in batches. Something which wasn't explained properly. However, every Founder should now have access with them moving onto sending codes for those with the Premier Edition next week. I do hope Google learn to communicate better in future.
For now, Stadia is supported in these countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. As for games currently available, it's limited with only 22 available although more are supposed to be coming before the year is up. You can see a list in this previous Stadia article.
While Google state that you need Chrome to play Stadia, that's not quite true. Testing on Manjaro Linux, I've got it running with Destiny 2 working fine in Chrome, Chromium, Brave and Opera.
Pictured: Stadia with Chromium on Linux
Pictured: Stadia with Brave on Linux
However, for Opera, the Content Security Policy doesn't even let you click the Sign In link. I used a plugin to turn it off for testing (not recommended), which allowed me to get further but then Stadia tells you to install Chrome. However, in this case using a User Agent Switcher did then allow Opera to work!
Pictured: Stadia with Opera on Linux
I also tried it in Firefox with a User Agent Switcher, where I was able to at least get the store to load and interact with the very basic UI but games wouldn't load. No amount of tinkering and disabling things seemed to help for Firefox.
My main testing has been done on my desktop, attached directly to the router with a cable. With a Virgin Media internet connection that gives around 360Mbps down and about 36Mbps up (Speedtest - while in use it varies of course). You can see a video of it in action below:
Direct Link
Also slightly amusing that as I spawned into the game, there was someone I knew standing there (hi Marc).
So far, other people using the net to stream video and play online games all while I've been testing hasn't phased it. I had a single disconnection, which in the space of about 10 seconds sorted itself out. I've always been a huge streaming sceptic...but not so much right now.
What I'm perhaps just as impressed by is performance over wireless. Testing using a rubbish Kubuntu laptop, across the house and down a level right at the back. Wireless speed there gave me about 50Mbps down, so putting Stadia into the "Limited" mode for 720p, even there the experience was also very good. I was fully expecting there to have a ton of input lag, but it felt about the same as my PC hooked directly to the router. All while someone else was streaming video and playing an online game elsewhere in the house. You can see a poor quality quick video test of that here.
Onto the Stadia Controller, priced around £59 by itself it's not the cheapest. However, the build quality seems good and it does feel very nice. Far nicer than the Steam Controller or the Logitech F310. Perfect fit too, with a really nice finish. Smooth on the front, a little rough on the back for some grip. The Stadia Controller also has a dedicated button for the Google Assistant, although that's not actually online right now. You don't need it though! Mouse and Keyboard work great, the Steam Controller also works when paired with SC Controller, and the Logitech F310 was also plug and play. Simply no need to pay out for it.
I think it's important to understand what Google have achieved already with Stadia is quite significant. Load up a browser and play a AAA game on Linux, macOS and Windows with only a tiny amount of loading and no sitting and waiting for 50GB of updates. Compared to a lot of experiences with new games on Steam, it almost feels a little magic.
However, at least speaking for me personally, I don't think this will be replacing a locally installed game any time soon. While the input lag was somewhat minimal, playable and quite fun it was just enough to show me that it's not something I'm going to be spending lots of money on extra games. Barely though, I have been seriously impressed with it. If they manage to bring it down a little more, it would be ridiculously good.
The service offered currently is also incredibly basic. Most things outside of playing a game require the Stadia mobile application, as the in-browser UI is laughably bare-bones. Not only that, but they're going to need something big to really hook anyone in and keep them. There's no "killer app" for Stadia right now and their one exclusive game with Gylt isn't going to be turning any heads.
Stadia Pro also doesn't feel at all worth it. 4K that has already been shown elsewhere to not actually be fully 4K in some games, as it's down to the developer and only supported on the Chromecast Ultra, plus HDR and Surround Sound which aren't yet supported on PC as well. The amount of games you get with Stadia Pro is also going to be ridiculously limited when other services will be practically doing the "Netflix of games" style. Google will definitely need to give Stadia Pro a big boost.
From a standard user perspective, it does work fine on Linux. Shockingly well too for the most part. I fully expected there to be all sorts of issues and it's fun to see the normal Linux desktop sit alongside Windows and macOS as a supported gaming system for something so big. That's my main takeaway from the testing done.
Thinking specifically about Linux gamers for a moment there's multiple people who could enjoy this. There's likely going to be plenty of AAA games on Stadia, that will never be ported to the Linux desktop and also never work in Steam Play Proton. This includes those with extra layers of DRM, especially true right now for multiplayer titles with various different forms of anti-cheat. Stadia certainly could end up plugging a big gap for Linux gamers there.
That's only from a player perspective though, there's a ton of other issues that come with it I've mentioned in other articles. Games as a hosted service, with no ownership that can be taken away at any time is a genuine concern worth thinking on. As a pretty stark reminder of that, Destiny 2 went entirely offline today for multiple hours (all platforms). Not the fault of Stadia, sure, but it's making a point about relying on things in the cloud. Google sucking up even more data on you I'm sure plenty of people will be concerned about. Like the Stadia Controller with the built-in microphone to speak to Google—somewhat creepy or handy? You never do truly know if it's listening or not. That said, if you're like me and you have your Android/smart phone always by your side it's the same issue there so perhaps not quite as big a deal to certain people.
Bandwidth use is also a going to be a problem for plenty of people. Testing Stadia on the "Balanced" setting, which is supposed to give 1080p with an hour playtime using vnstat as the monitor it sucked away almost exactly 10GB. Let's say you play only 3 hours a day across a week, that's over 200GB. While I don't have a data cap, I've looked around and plenty really do and Stadia can easily blow through it.
Google also need to, rather badly, work on their communication and constant overselling of the service. It wasn't ready, clearly and still isn't in a lot of ways. They announced lots of shiny things, that just aren't there right now. We're talking Wireless controller on PC, 4K on PC, Google Assistant, State Share, Stream Connect, YouTube integration, Family Sharing, an almost nonexistent PC interface and even the Buddy Pass system isn't yet live. Stadia launched with the bare minimum to be called a service.
If Stadia does succeed, gaming will be massively different to what we see today. I can't even begin to imagine how indie games would adapt and you can bet more publishers would opt for their own subscription services to help counter it. They do have a lot of competition coming as well, even Amazon are said to be launching their own game streaming service next year. What of the Steam Cloud Gaming rumours too? Too early to get fully invested into Stadia when it's so limited.
Keep an eye on our Twitch Channel, as our streamer will be taking a look tomorrow.
If you’re interested in Stadia and want to see more about it here, or you would like something very specific tested do let me know in the comments.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: EikeI'm sick of women being used by companies as a way of scoring PR points. It's a distraction from Stadia's real problems.Quoting: TheSyldatQuoting: EikeRemoving some negation, I read it as adapting for women is (still) fine for men.That's not how I read it and that sentence definitely means quite litteraly the exact opposite to me .
Rereading it, I guess it really could mean both.
I took the "Supporting women [...] is not downgrading" part literally. You probably could also read it as "I see what has happened as downgrading, which is not what I think supporting women is about".
Ah, this human language...!
"Look at us! We're supporting women! We're the FIRST ones to ever do this! Aren't we cool! Pay no attention to the input lag behind the curtain!"
It comes across as pandering and not genuine. They could have said they were making a controller that fits in smaller hands and left it at that without gendering hand size.
Quoting: namikoI'm sick of women being used by companies as a way of scoring PR points. It's a distraction from Stadia's real problems.Except that the video was released during the promotional phase some few weeks after the initial live conference and was specifically a 40 minutes long video about the controller design and nothing else.
Quoting: namikoIt comes across as pandering and not genuine. They could have said they were making a controller that fits in smaller hands and left it at that without gendering hand size.Except that this is precisely what the video did by showing also men with short hands , and intersex dudes such as myself with a truck load of feminine hormones floating about their bloodstream and resulting with super duper tiny hands too. And the lady in the video used the word "gender neutral design" PRECISELY to avoid gendering and making people realize that not everyone has fucking PENICHE BOATS for hands...
Once again just like your first comment you open up your mouth without going back to the original video the article that was shared by the other clown was "making fun off" ...
And even the article was mostly spending its time telling Stadia marketing departement "Guys when it's comes to the different color finishes the industry has been on that train since the Playstation era... Also there are quite a lot of third party controller manufacturers that have moved away from NEON ON BLACK "GAMER" Aesthetics a looong time ago , did you just come out of your Pyramid or somethin' ? "
Quoting: namikoI see it as wrong when any person is set below another in a sense of making things more equal. Taking another down doesn't bring another up, it's just switching places and creating another inequality.I see your fingers typing , and I read what you're saying sadly all of the above before that quote shows that maybe you should start to apply the theory to yourself before making any judgement calls on others ...
In other words "Oh I'm sure you truly believe what you're saying sadly you ain't applyin' shit".
On a "lighter" note I did receive my pair of controllers from Stadia finally.
And tried to pry one open without damaging it, to see if the guys at gamer nexus were maybe overdoing it for "comedic effect" , and ... well ... nope .
Those clips are indeed way too thick to be pushed safely. They need to change that real quick, because for real that's the one and only thing in that whole controller design that needs changing. Oh and making the plastic tab that covers the screw be removable without resorting to pour half a bottle of nail polish remover to dissolve their glue.
No for real I keep pouring and pouring until my bottle was half empty before finaly been able to remove that plastic cover hiding the screw.
Last edited by TheSyldat on 26 November 2019 at 9:54 am UTC
Quoting: GuestI had to look up what a peniche boat is. Thinking about those for hands, I suddenly had this image of the SDF-1 (Robotech / Macross reference for those who don't know) trying to play games with a controller.If only companies were willing to at the very least do different sizes it would be ideal yeah.
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As regarding the ongoing discussion of the controller, I think we can all agree that different is good. There is no one size controller that fits all. We should want multiple styles, want a range of choices, and want companies to experiment a little. It's like with any peripheral: keyboard, mouse, headphone, joystick, wheel, etc etc etc. Multiple choices, each aimed towards a slightly different demographic of some kind, means that basically _everyone_ gets something for them, which is really the ultimate in equality.
Like sure the DualShock 4 (and upcoming 5) are super cool for my tinsy itty bitty hands.
But my bestie is a professional in the moving industry, he's got hands that can cover my entire face should he need to grab me. Having him play a game on a Playstation controller is never happy fun time for him. And well would it really kill SONY to put at least three sizes for everyone .
I mean the shape of the controller is already good just resize the damn thing for bigger hands...
XBOX on the other hand is a trickier one to "resize" because what's actually painful isn't so much the sizing of the shell itself but of the buttons and their spacing and the shape of the buttons etc etc .
Like for real there's a lot of wrong on the XBOX One controller design that's actually not down to hand size but to finger thickness -or lack thereof- and when you have downright "elvish" fingers like mine ABXY buttons are fucking painfull for example.
Also , sorry MirV as a dirty frenchie I tend to forget that river freight is not much a thing anymore in a lot of countries...
(Hell my third Steam Controller got delivered that way arrived in Gent Belgium then using the river canals between Gent and Lille made the rest of the trip on a Solar Powered Peniche before being picked up by the mail office. How do I know ? The solar peniche company that handles Belgium and Northern France region has their own cute stamp that they put on every parcel . A tiny cute Posseidon stamp . )
Last edited by TheSyldat on 26 November 2019 at 10:16 am UTC
Quoting: GuestMultiple choices, each aimed towards a slightly different demographic of some kind, means that basically _everyone_ gets something for them, which is really the ultimate in equality.The "ultimate equality" would be to do what Hitbox controller manufacturers are doing...
Which is to say "You make the control board you specify the number of buttons and joysticks -or lack thereof- and you release BOTH premade models and a bare bones control board option for people to craft their own specialty controller for their specific needs.
Last edited by TheSyldat on 26 November 2019 at 10:55 am UTC
Quoting: EikeQuoting: TheSyldatQuoting: namikoSupporting women also isn't downgrading (subjectively) male things to second-best.As for this one here I'm not even gonna comment on it and just quote you so that you read yourself back if don't see what's wrong in that sentence I don't know what to tell you other than "welcome to the mute list"
One of us two has absolutely missunderstood namiko.
Now it's obvious it was me.
Quoting: kibblesBut on a simpler note, don't buy this crap, don't support google, ever.To each their own, as I always say. Some may like Stadia, some may not. There is no one size fits all, or no "right way" to play games.
Quoting: kibblesThis isn't mentioned much but the controller has a microphone build in supposedly to talk to help chat. Yeah. I'm sure it won't be remotely toggled like all the other products they make. (if you disagree then congratulations for waking from your 10 year coma!)It's mentioned in the article, has been since the moment it was published.
Quoting: kibblesAlso I expect this to join all the other products here in the near future.How many of them were actually useful? How many were sold products? It's a nice list, but it's just a list. You could make the same about MSFT, Apple, Canonical and plenty of others even just in the Linux space. I've changed and removed plenty of features on GOL over the years. Some of that list don't even make sense, listing old hardware like Nexus phones - every hardware company ends lines and starts new ones.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 26 November 2019 at 1:03 pm UTC
Quoting: Liam DaweHow many of them were actually useful? How many were sold products? It's a nice list, but it's just a list. You could make the same about MSFT, Apple, Canonical and plenty of others even just in the Linux space. I've changed and removed plenty of features on GOL over the years. Some of that list don't even make sense, listing old hardware like Nexus phones - every hardware company ends lines and starts new ones.How many times have I made this argument and every single fucking time the person in front of me just dismissed it wholesale because ONE or TWO on that list were things THEY cared about ...
People just love to hate on Google. Don't get me wrong here Google and Alphabet are no angels far from it, but sometimes I get the feeling that people want to see Stadia burn not because they hate Stadia itself but because they want google's butt to be kicked somewhere.
Thanks.
Quoting: scainePlease keep the discussion civil. There's been a lot of pretty ambiguous comments on this thread that could be read several different ways. I'm pretty sure that there was nothing personal intended in any of them, so I've tidied up where I think the line was crossed and please just everyone remember the human behind the comment.Fair enough. I want to debate ideas, not take anybody down personally because there's no value in doing it.
Thanks.
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