The least they could do is offer a downloadable copy of the full game so you can play it on your own computer as well as Stadia.
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Testing Google's New 'Stadia' Cloud Gaming Platform on a Mac
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The least they could do is offer a downloadable copy of the full game so you can play it on your own computer as well as Stadia.
An external drive, in your opinion, can’t even be argued as better than streaming??
Hmmm... I guess we’re going to have to agree to disagree.
Further, you kinda discredit yourself claiming a $1500 pc & a $300 enclosure are the same price.
Who said better than streaming? I said an internal NVMe SSD is better than an external SSD hanging off a USB-C hub. We were talking windows gaming PC vs Mac running windows for gaming.
And an admittedly quick trip to the macworld site leads me to believe that while there actually is a $300 enclosure (which really surprised me) - the Razor Core, it's really not great. The decent ones are significantly more expensive... But, anyway, let's give you the benefit of the doubt and say $300. The gaming PC includes the GPU, you have to add the price of the GPU to the price of the enclosure. Second, the windows PC comes with windows. For bootcamp, you're looking at another $100 for your windows license, so $400+ GPU.
The 2019 MBA comes with a low end quad core i5 CPU, 8 gig of ram, and 128 gig of SSD. If you don't think I can find a windows PC with a nice PCIe x16 slot for my GPU for well under $400 that will blow those specs out of the water, you really need to open your eyes and have a look around outside the Apple ecosystem. Not to mention by the time spend I $150 boosting the SSD to 1TB and ram to 16 gig, you've added $1000 to your mac config.
What I also just learned is you have a very limited selection of compatible GPUs, all from AMD. As a very long time NVidia user, I'm not at all familiar with the compatible cards list to comment, but giving up my aging GTX 1070 for a different brand and whole new set of drivers and software is not a pleasant idea....especially to stick with windows.
I love Apple’s Arcade, got a membership myself, but your comparison isn’t really fair. Arcade is targeting mobile gamers, the games are basically pre-formatted to be used on iPhones, iPad’s and Apple TV devices, while games outside this platform can be build as sao called tripple A games; a whole other ballgame.
This is a really insightful comment, as I don’t often consider what my gaming PC costs me per month. It’s also a rather fair estimation of the value of Stadia - if it worked. I suppose the added downside is that we lose access to the games if Stadia flops. So, part of that $1,500 for the PC is the security of being able to continue playing my games indefinitely (in the case of GOG) or until Valve shuts Steam down. In principle, you’re right about the configuration of Macs not running games well, though an external graphics card can overcome this barrier. As an ageing Mac/PC user, this brave new world of streamed games is something I resist, but I concede that it’s the future. At least my backlog of physical/downloaded games will keep me going for at least three lifetimes if I decide to boycott the inevitable.
As someone who used to play on Sony remote Play, over Wi Fi and Internet (300mbps) while is possible to play some games (I did play god of war 3 and atelier series with no problems) when I tried to go with fast pacing games like Dj Max, Call Of Duty and even God OF War it was just a big no, trying the challenges for trophy? Impossible
Attempt at cloud gaming #23482.
Number of times cloud gaming lagged so much it was unplayable: 23482.
IT. DOESN'T. WORK. Right now we've got players talking about how they can feel input lag and it affects their gameplay down to 8ms of latency from button press to screen update over on LinusTechTips.
How in the absolute hell is a service like this going to work given this reality?
It isn't.
If we want gaming on Mac, Apple needs to deliver a gaming-grade consumer desktop. The end, case closed. That desktop is the iMac. All it needs is more powerful graphics, and we'll be good to go.
Actually maybe a Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt 4 80GBit/s and eGPU would do the trick as well, but until then it's the iMac.
The MacBook Pro actually seems quite serviceable for a gaming laptop. Sure it's not a proper gaming laptop like a Razer Blade or an Alienware Area 51, but it can hold its own against the 1660M Ti laptops and things like that. It's alright. So we're covered on the laptop front, sortta.
The desktop front is where we need help right now.
Number of times cloud gaming lagged so much it was unplayable: 23482.
IT. DOESN'T. WORK. Right now we've got players talking about how they can feel input lag and it affects their gameplay down to 8ms of latency from button press to screen update over on LinusTechTips.
How in the absolute hell is a service like this going to work given this reality?
It isn't.
If we want gaming on Mac, Apple needs to deliver a gaming-grade consumer desktop. The end, case closed. That desktop is the iMac. All it needs is more powerful graphics, and we'll be good to go.
Actually maybe a Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt 4 80GBit/s and eGPU would do the trick as well, but until then it's the iMac.
The MacBook Pro actually seems quite serviceable for a gaming laptop. Sure it's not a proper gaming laptop like a Razer Blade or an Alienware Area 51, but it can hold its own against the 1660M Ti laptops and things like that. It's alright. So we're covered on the laptop front, sortta.
The desktop front is where we need help right now.
Here's the thing: for gaming, there's usually focus on minimising lag/delay on both the input and display.
TVs and monitors provide gaming modes, and reviews evaluate the millisecond display differences.
Controllers are (were) optimised for response (and sometimes wired is even preferred for this reason)
And now this?
Sending control signals over a long distance connection?
Having a rendered image compressed, streamed, decompressed, patched through another GUI/OS?
Or at best; doing the rendering locally with remote processing and storage?
The server/terminal thing is fine for low interactivity tasks, but it's simply introducing obstacles for real time, be it FPS, RTS, or simple scroller/platformers.
You would even be at a disadvantage playing Ye Olde text football manager.
TVs and monitors provide gaming modes, and reviews evaluate the millisecond display differences.
Controllers are (were) optimised for response (and sometimes wired is even preferred for this reason)
And now this?
Sending control signals over a long distance connection?
Having a rendered image compressed, streamed, decompressed, patched through another GUI/OS?
Or at best; doing the rendering locally with remote processing and storage?
The server/terminal thing is fine for low interactivity tasks, but it's simply introducing obstacles for real time, be it FPS, RTS, or simple scroller/platformers.
You would even be at a disadvantage playing Ye Olde text football manager.
$10 per month gets you access to the service and to a hopefully growing catalogue of ‘free’ games (only 20 for now). There are other games you can purchaseif you want them. In 2020 Google will have a free tier that’s limited to 1080p and having to buy all the games you want to play.
I'm a believer in streaming technology and the future promise it has for gaming.
But there's just nothing Stadia offers that you don't already get cheaper or better elsewhere, like PlayStation Now has vastly superior gaming catalogue or PlayStation Remote Play or Steam Link is free (for anyone owning a PS4).
Yes, you need to own a console/PC for the latter to work, but most who are into gaming own a current gen console, and there's nothing nextgen about Stadia, at least not now. It's all current gen games, apparently running at a lower resolution than what a PS4 Pro or XB1 X does.
So I'm happy that Google is getting involved, but for me it's more about what happens later with it than what they do today.
But there's just nothing Stadia offers that you don't already get cheaper or better elsewhere, like PlayStation Now has vastly superior gaming catalogue or PlayStation Remote Play or Steam Link is free (for anyone owning a PS4).
Yes, you need to own a console/PC for the latter to work, but most who are into gaming own a current gen console, and there's nothing nextgen about Stadia, at least not now. It's all current gen games, apparently running at a lower resolution than what a PS4 Pro or XB1 X does.
So I'm happy that Google is getting involved, but for me it's more about what happens later with it than what they do today.
I just got my Stadia yesterday afternoon and thus far, I'm very impressed. I also have a PS4 Pro, but the ability to play games with the Stadia using my Macbook Air, phone, or TV with the screen switching option is pretty dope.
I was part of the beta for this. It worked surprisingly well on a 100 mbps connection. There was occasional lag and pixelation but I had low expectations. It was much better than I expected.
The latencies and lag will be worked out. This type of gaming service, for better or worse, is the future of gaming. It’ll take many years and local games won’t go away but AAA games will go primarily to cloud services. The bugs will get worked out. The biggest issue is data caps.
The latencies and lag will be worked out. This type of gaming service, for better or worse, is the future of gaming. It’ll take many years and local games won’t go away but AAA games will go primarily to cloud services. The bugs will get worked out. The biggest issue is data caps.
Some of the comparisons made in terms of price don't take into account that when I sell my game consoles, I'll get a chunk of cash back on them. I also get trade-ins on physical games and I can pick up second hand games for next to nothing. I just bought Mass Effect: Andromeda for £7 ($10). Played it for 85 hours and loved it. Stadia's idea of buying games at full price to stream is simply idiotic – it beggars belief given the current state of the games market.
Thank you SO much for linking this. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen, pretty much. lol
I wish I could wear my hair that way. But I’m a lawyer and not a rich one. And I’d be too damned hot in the summer here in NYC. But wow — I wish I could...! It’s beautiful and so in keeping with a willingness to speak honestly in other ways.
This is stupid, just buy a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X console if you want 4k gaming that bad.
Imo having a monthly fee and no extra cost for the games would make a lot more sense and make this thing competitive, even if it's $15-20/month (instead of $10/month + $30-60 per game).
Imo having a monthly fee and no extra cost for the games would make a lot more sense and make this thing competitive, even if it's $15-20/month (instead of $10/month + $30-60 per game).
Has that been confirmed by Google or is that just speculation? Google's Stadia website doesn't say that (https://store.google.com/us/product/stadia_learn). I was part of the beta and have been following this since my very positive experience with the beta. Other than random speculations online, I've not seen anything about ads during gameplay (it's likely there will be at some point). I'd love a link because after an additional search I'm not finding any articles stating that's the case.
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I’m still truly skeptical, The OnLive gang (who were no slouches either) a decade ago said that lag was almost impossible to account for, that there’s a hard limit: sadly they can’t go faster than the speed of light...
What has changed since then? Will google go faster than the speed of light for info transfer?
Also, there’s almost no mention of OnLive as comparison points with all the Stadia news related pieces, it almost feels like as if they haven’t existed and got erased from the internet.
What has changed since then? Will google go faster than the speed of light for info transfer?
Also, there’s almost no mention of OnLive as comparison points with all the Stadia news related pieces, it almost feels like as if they haven’t existed and got erased from the internet.
my 13" pro with it's ****** intel graphics struggles to scroll through graphic intensive web pages. I have zero hope it could handle this.
Also. 4K streams are using up about 20GB per hour of streaming. That’s nuts. I would blow through my data cap so fast just with the gaming I do. That would leave no data left for movies, reading the news, complaining on macrumors, etc.
I’ll stick to console/PC gaming. No thanks, Google.
I’ll stick to console/PC gaming. No thanks, Google.
Did anyone mention yet that you'll burn through 6 GB of data per hour at 1080p?
That's fine if you have unlimited data, but not so fine if you have "unlimited" data or a data cap.
That's fine if you have unlimited data, but not so fine if you have "unlimited" data or a data cap.
Well, in all fairness, Apple also does not have a clue about gaming. Or about movies/TV shows. Both companies are way out of their league here.
The problem with Stadia is simple: It's here several years too early, and it can only work when you have a nice, ultra-fast fiber optics cable that goes straight to the Google servers. Since that's not the reality for the vast majority of people, this streaming service is bound to fail because of physical realities, not because of the general idea.
Microsoft and Sony are definitely thinking about similar things, but they know that right now their subscription services still have to offer downloads and must support the local installation of the games. This will probably change when the majority of their customers have Internet lines that are fast and stable enough -- but we are still years away from that.
Yes, which cost the equivalent of 40-50 months of Stadia, and you STILL have to purchase the games. The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X also can't match the framerates and quality of Stadia if they can get the streaming where it needs to be.
I am not buying either at this point (I prefer to build my own gaming PC's every few years), but it's really not a bad value proposition.