A Review That Nobody Asked For: Google Stadia · 7:57pm Nov 21st, 2019
It's June 2019. The internet is abuzz with stress over the Epic Games store, Fortnite taking over the video game space, Riot Employee Scandals, and Steam negligence of it's player base. Gamers are frustrated. Xbox One is gathering dust on Shelves. Ps4 is knocking award winning exclusive after exclusive out the door. The Switch is sitting snugly into the hands of young gamers everywhere. And Eyes are looking toward what the next big holiday blockbuster game will be. Will it be Pokemon? Will it be anything else? No! Of course it's Pokemon. Because of course it is.
Google, (who was busy licking its wounds from the failures of Google Glass, the ending of Google Hangouts, the unanimous Meh from their target audience of the Pixel Buds) decides to try something completely unique and totally never attempted before, we swear, just believe us.
Google Stadia is announced.
On paper, it seems like a too good to be true service. Google will run a game, on it's highest settings they've configured, on their server, and stream it directly to your TV, Phone, Computer, Tablet, etc. Fears are raised about lag. It's touting a true "Next-gen" experience for a new generation of gamers. Social features. Google Assistant help and walkthroughs. It feels genuinely too good to be true.
So Flutterpriest decides to spend $130 to become a founder.
Fast Forward to November 20th. The first day after Stadia's launch.
My controller arrives with it's special Next-Gen Chromecast Ultra. I hook it up to my Google Smarthome in a matter of minutes. 10 minutes at worst.
And I'm instantly in and playing Destiny 2. The graphics look great. The lag is nearly non-existent. Certainly not enough to ruin the experience. I'm genuinely impressed.
Buying, "installing" and going to a game takes 20 seconds at most. Load times are minimal. I can switch the game from my TV to my phone instantly. It feels futuristic. It feels too good to be true. But it's here. It's in my hands. It feels amazing.
And then I stop playing because there aren't interesting games to play.
Oof.
Stadia is really a platform I can see myself going all in on. It's fun. It's feels so cool. It makes playing games DEAD simple. Dare I say, simpler than the switch. Of course, it makes internet connections mandatory, which is not always possible.
I feel like Stadia is getting a bad rap. And I'm not alone. Many of the non-vocal majority of stadia is having a grand old time.
However, I can't suggest that you pick it up for yourself.
Not yet.
It needs a game that I personally feel I can dump hours upon hours upon hours into.
TBH... and this feels dirty coming out of my mouth, It needs Skyrim.
Stadia:
Infrastructure (In my experience): 8 or 9 / 10
Game Selection: 4/10. Maybe 3.
I feel like I said a lot of nothing, but TBH, if yall have questions about the service i'd happily answer them.
Interesting to hear from a founder. But how do you feel about the issue of game ownertship this service brings?
The issue I've heard are three main things. The experience of playing games is wildly inconsistent among various people, the game selection is completely lackluster and the price for a complete Stadia experience is just too much for what it's offering. I think if it was only one of these issues, people would be more forgiving, but when it's all of these combined there's just no good reason to buy one right now. Perhaps in a year or two Stadia could evolve into a product worth buying for average gamers but as a final product today there's just too many issues. Glad to hear your experience though has been a good one! If Stadia can fix the inconsistent performance other people are having and get big name games day one like the other consoles, it could very well see good success.
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I think, at the end of the day, we need to establish the difference between buying a product versus a license to use a product. I like the ability to purchase a game and be able to play it whenever I want. But I also never had a problem with buying a subscription to WoW and playing it for a given amount of time until I cancelled the subscription.
I think subscription models work, and if we have the chance of a game being taken away from us, we also deserve the right to choose HOW MUCH we want to pay for that experience. And it should not cost the same amount as an experience that could disappear into thin air.
The gamers get to choose for how long/how much they want to play a game and pay for it, and the developers get more and more money the longer players play. It also motivates developers to make large, detailed, quality experiences that promote replayability. I think everyone would win. (On paper)
Living in a retirement town where internet is all around bad because all the providers can get away with it, no matter what I attempt, I feel concerned not for the majority of people, but just the few people in my shoes. Otherwise, sounds cool.
Does Skyrim have MLP mods? having never played it, i've got no clue. Seems like the sort of horse experience to re-live if possible, though.
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Do mods work with Stadia though?
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Yes! There's tons of mlp mods for Skyrim
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Nope. Mods aren't stadia supported rn. Sad face.
The problem I see here is that the net speed is inconsistent, and the more streaming services there will be, the worst it will get.
Even with perfect speed, some lags will be there - that's unavoidable. A lot of people won't care, of course, we're living in a world where 32 ms lag is considered 'great' for gaming by a lot of people, and even 64 ms is 'OK.' But those of us that still want lag-free experience will.
Will see, but knowing Google it will probably hit their infamous graveyard in a few months
5158657Fallout 4 does.
You kiss your mother with that mouth?
I honestly do not care for game streaming services, I do not have access to the infrastructure to even attempt to make use of such things anyway
The most damning thing for Stadia to me? cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/638871776109264948/646373403854503948/EJu5BQnWoAAQv4a.jpeg
Ouch.
The only thing missing from your review is your internet speed, which is kind of a major factor for stadia
Never heard of this, but then I don't game much. <.<
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My internet speed is a gigabit fiber connection with no data cap. Which I'm sure helps
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<.<
>.>
vintage.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/141526749361.jpg
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Does Skyrim have MLP mods?
Does Skyrim have MLP mods?
BRUH!
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I should have known I’d draw you in with a comment like that.
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How have i not seen this before? This is beautiful.
cdn.lowgif.com/full/4c8f8ab4ddb65a74-86729-animated-artist-atomicgreymon-earth-pony-grin-pinkie-pie.gif
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Mine is 125 kps... Which never helps.
You're dropping over $100 to found games, yet I'm here eating 25cent ramen like a sucker.
Most people rip the shirt off of Stadia and twist its nipples, not in the good way mind you.
But not you... Not today.