Google Stadia instead of next gen console??
Discussion
Jim on the hill said:
That sounds a bit better then, I remember looking into it last year with all the hype but no 4K support.
Having seem early reviews of Stadia Google clearly has the tech working, and working well.I have a Xbox One hooked up to my OLED TV with a £1k amp attached and floor standing speakers.....But anyone with kids will tell you time is by far the most precious commodity you have.
Everytime I find free time to my self and want to do some gaming it seems like half of that is wasted on downloading updates/installation.
Stadia on the otherhand lets me enjoying playing games even if I have 30 minutes free between Teams meetings.
For me it works really well, and fact I'm not having to pay for Destiny 2 (with expansions) or Grid both games I wanted to try is a bonus.
Stadia does need to increase their catalogue of games though, bur regardless spending ££££ on gaming hardware seems totally pointless to me now. Why bother when anything that can run Chrome works perfectly?
£9/month versus ££££ on hardware + game costs + Xbox live subscription - I cannot see how Google is making money though??
gangzoom said:
£9/month versus ££££ on hardware + game costs + Xbox live subscription - I cannot see how Google is making money though??
I think you do need to revise this part of your argument. For £9 a month you could easily have Xbox game pass or PlayStation Plus, both of which give you access to free games each month. You seem quite content with the free Stadia offerings right now and that's fine, but you have to remember that the Stadia games are still full RRP if you wanted to play anything else, whereas you can get big discounts on both the subscription and games elements of the other platforms if you shop around.You're right on the part of the hardware costs but you can't gloss over the other bits.
^I had the Xbox game pass on trial, but the 40 mintues+ of sitting around watching a load screen wasn't fun. We live in a world of instant content access, not wait, download, install, and am glad to see the video games world have finally caught up.
I was thinking about budgeting for a replacement for my laptop or even next gen console, but now I just don't see the need.
But am not a 'proper' gamer these days, in the years I owned my Xbox one I've bought 5 games for it and thats it, I think one/two a year roughly.
I'm intrigued to see how the Xbox streaming services work. Stadia has virtually no lag, and with also virtuality no load times streaming is surely the future what ever services becomes available. I'll be happy to pay £10/month for what ever service, but am done with the idea of paying for new hardware when streaming works so well and is so efforteless.
I was thinking about budgeting for a replacement for my laptop or even next gen console, but now I just don't see the need.
But am not a 'proper' gamer these days, in the years I owned my Xbox one I've bought 5 games for it and thats it, I think one/two a year roughly.
I'm intrigued to see how the Xbox streaming services work. Stadia has virtually no lag, and with also virtuality no load times streaming is surely the future what ever services becomes available. I'll be happy to pay £10/month for what ever service, but am done with the idea of paying for new hardware when streaming works so well and is so efforteless.
Edited by gangzoom on Tuesday 7th July 06:57
Gangzoom,
I love your enthusiasm, I am happy you are enjoying yourself, but this is a really great example of why people who don't really understand the subject should maybe steer clear of reviewing it.
With the greatest of respect, you are clearly an older guy and there is nothing wrong with that, but your standards appear to be extremely low.
You own a Macbook, this says a lot.
Using a trackpad/Xbox controller
Playing on a tiny, dim, 13 inch screen.
You last played a shooter 20 years ago and are using it as a reference standard. I also played that shooter, the lag was horrible and we have fixed it since then.
Relying on tiny, crap device speakers.
It is like getting out of your Nissan Bluebird and leasing a Chinese made MG and then talking non stop down the pub what a game changer it is and how MG are coming back and are clearly onto a winner.
I love your enthusiasm, I am happy you are enjoying yourself, but this is a really great example of why people who don't really understand the subject should maybe steer clear of reviewing it.
With the greatest of respect, you are clearly an older guy and there is nothing wrong with that, but your standards appear to be extremely low.
You own a Macbook, this says a lot.
Using a trackpad/Xbox controller
Playing on a tiny, dim, 13 inch screen.
You last played a shooter 20 years ago and are using it as a reference standard. I also played that shooter, the lag was horrible and we have fixed it since then.
Relying on tiny, crap device speakers.
It is like getting out of your Nissan Bluebird and leasing a Chinese made MG and then talking non stop down the pub what a game changer it is and how MG are coming back and are clearly onto a winner.
gangzoom said:
^I had the Xbox game pass on trial, but the 40 mintues+ of sitting around watching a load screen wasn't fun. We live in a world of instant content access, not wait, download, install, and am glad to see the video games world have finally caught up.
I've been gaming since 1986 or so and i can't remember a time I sat around for 40 minutes watching a loading screen.Even now with digital download via steam I can still play something else while it downloads, browse the net or do literally anything else.
vonuber said:
I've been gaming since 1986 or so and i can't remember a time I sat around for 40 minutes watching a loading screen.
Even now with digital download via steam I can still play something else while it downloads, browse the net or do literally anything else.
It's absolute bullsEven now with digital download via steam I can still play something else while it downloads, browse the net or do literally anything else.
t. PS4 can be put in standby and will download and install updates whilst you're not using it. Furthermore, good luck playing anything other than multi-plats on Stadia.
Having had a deep play with these things and built something fairly similar - all the tech is more or less the same - they can work well, up to the point of no detectable control lag or obvious compression artifacts while running with 4K/60Hz outputs, but are very sensitive to the network & internet connection, especially with Wifi. Plus you need a decent video decoder on the client too.
The two gotchas on Stadia specifically are that they went with Linux as a platform - I think everyone else are basically running PC games on a dressed up Windows Server VDI session - so there are issues from that, and the cost model really doesn't work unless they just don't expect it to be used much; £8.99/month really doesn't cover many hours of game capable GPU accelerated cloud time, especially if Google then have to pay for the games and all the rest on top.
I think the cost is what would kill it - if it's successful they'd have to bump prices or lose money (either of which would kill it) and if it isn't successful why bother wasting capacity on it?
It's not that there isn't a place for this stuff and it has been floating around for years, but I'm still not convinced there's a big enough market for it.
The two gotchas on Stadia specifically are that they went with Linux as a platform - I think everyone else are basically running PC games on a dressed up Windows Server VDI session - so there are issues from that, and the cost model really doesn't work unless they just don't expect it to be used much; £8.99/month really doesn't cover many hours of game capable GPU accelerated cloud time, especially if Google then have to pay for the games and all the rest on top.
I think the cost is what would kill it - if it's successful they'd have to bump prices or lose money (either of which would kill it) and if it isn't successful why bother wasting capacity on it?
It's not that there isn't a place for this stuff and it has been floating around for years, but I'm still not convinced there's a big enough market for it.
bigandclever said:
TheDrBrian said:
Is there anyway to try stadia without giving my details to google?
Begs the question what details are you wanting to not give them. But you could create a Stadia-specific google account, with any old details in it.pquinn said:
£8.99/month really doesn't cover many hours of game capable GPU accelerated cloud time, especially if Google then have to pay for the games and all the rest on top.
I've really been enjoying Stadia, the tech is amazing, who would have thought I could play Destiny 2 on my S9?? Its not some phone specific version either, its the full blown game with expansion pack!!However I cannot see how Google is making money at £8.99/month. I can only imagine the hardware and software cost involved in delivering this tech.
I've paid £0 so far, and have not even scratched the surface of Destiny 2 (only reached power level of 790 so far), Grid 2 is keeping me busy too as well as all the other 'free' bundled titles.
When Cyberpunk comes out on Stadia I may get that, but if I purchase it I can stop paying the £8.99/month and still get access to it. So for a similar cost as a console title, Google is essentially providing me with the hardware to run it for free!!!
Really be interesting to see how it goes, but streaming tech for games is the future. Especially when currently its £0 to try for a month, if nothing else its a way to play GRID for free - Forza is a better game
.Minimal cost and zero effort to access games, whats not to like? How Google can make a profit from this tech is a different matter. But than again I've never paid a £0 to Spotify either and its still going.
Edited by gangzoom on Thursday 9th July 05:17
gangzoom said:
Minimal cost and zero effort to access games, whats not to like? How Google can make a profit from this tech is a different matter. But than again I've never paid a £0 to Spotify either and its still going.
Much like YouTube they'll probably introduce advertising so every 10 minutes you'll have to sit through an advert or something, or there will be immersion-sapping banners for real-life products stuck in the game.Jim on the hill said:
bigandclever said:
TheDrBrian said:
Is there anyway to try stadia without giving my details to google?
Begs the question what details are you wanting to not give them. But you could create a Stadia-specific google account, with any old details in it.Stevil said:
gangzoom said:
Minimal cost and zero effort to access games, whats not to like? How Google can make a profit from this tech is a different matter. But than again I've never paid a £0 to Spotify either and its still going.
Much like YouTube they'll probably introduce advertising so every 10 minutes you'll have to sit through an advert or something, or there will be immersion-sapping banners for real-life products stuck in the game.Doofus said:
It's about critical mass. They won't be there yet, but as they get more subscribers they'll move into profit. Their hardware costs won't scale in the same way as their user base.
But apparently if you buy the game there is no subscription cost. The numbers simply don't add up without it, do they.vonuber said:
Doofus said:
It's about critical mass. They won't be there yet, but as they get more subscribers they'll move into profit. Their hardware costs won't scale in the same way as their user base.
But apparently if you buy the game there is no subscription cost. The numbers simply don't add up without it, do they.vonuber said:
Doofus said:
It's about critical mass. They won't be there yet, but as they get more subscribers they'll move into profit. Their hardware costs won't scale in the same way as their user base.
But apparently if you buy the game there is no subscription cost. The numbers simply don't add up without it, do they.Gassing Station | Video Games | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff