Maximum PC - UK (2020-01)

(Antfer) #1
the beginning of the magazine, where the articles are small

10 MAXIMUMPC JAN 2020 maximumpc.com


quickstart


Google Stadia is here; others are following fast


Stream On


with its “buy a game, play
a game forever” model. It
certainly has the catalog of
games you need, but there are
technical hurdles in getting
many of the older titles to run.
Amazon is said to be
working on a cloud gaming
service, too. It doesn’t have
the games, but it does have
massive cloud computing
muscle and deep pockets. It
has already begun recruiting
people for “innovative new
uses cases like machine vision
and game streaming.” The
company is expected to go
public with its plans next year.
Why such a rush to game
streaming? If you can tie
customers down to a monthly
payment, you can turn small
sums into big ones as the year s
roll by. A whole generation has
also grown up inured to paying
for things month by month.
$10 a month may not sound
like much, but if you spend the
next 30 years playing video
games, that’s $3,600.
Game streaming has the
potential to change the way we
play games. We aren’t there
yet technically, but the market
is heading that way. And it’s
going to be competitive, with
half a dozen of the biggest tech
names vying for your custom.
To win this fight, you need the
magic combination of the top
titles, cross-platform support,
and the ability to run them fast
enough. There is still a lot of
work to do—Stadia helps to
point the way, but in its current
form, it’s only a contender, not
the winner. –CL

Stadia shows
where the gaming
industry is going:
It wants your
subscriptions.

Google’s Stadia is here,
and it works, mostly. ©^
WA

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of fuzzy images, dropped
frames, glitches, and lags. It
is also having trouble reaching
the promised 4K—Red Dead
Redemption 2 only runs at
1440p, and Destiny 2 at 1080p.
It’s not all bad, though, and
when it works as advertised,
it’s impressive, but the
Founder’s Edition feels more
like a beta test than a proper
launch at times. It doesn’t rival
the full gaming PC or console
experience, but it is here, and
it (mostly) works.
Stadia isn’t alone. We
have PlayStation Now and
Nvidia’s GeForce Now already.
The PlayStation service is
propriety, and limited to 720p,
but does have a comprehensive

library of over 800 games. It
also halved its price recently
to $9.99 a month. GeForce Now
is a PC-based service with
a library of about 80 games,
which it can run at up to 1080p,
but it only plays games you
own. It costs $8 a month.
These will soon be joined
by Microsoft’s xCloud,
currently in a public beta.
This enables you to play Xbox
games on Android devices
(wider hardware support is
promised). It has about 50
games. It’s not touted as a
replacement for consoles, but
as an adjunct that enables you
to play your games while you
aren’t in front of your console.
None of these services have
the potential scope of Stadia.
Valve is also rumored
to be working on a game
streaming service. This
makes sense, because
if streaming takes off,
Steam will be hit hard

GAME STREAMING is going to be
big. Google’s Stadia has been
launched with its Founder’s
Edition for early adopters (read
guinea pigs). For your $129,
you get a Stadia controller,
a Chromecast Ultra, and a
three-month subscription to
Stadia Pro, after which it will
cost $9.99 a month. Initially
destined to have just 12
“carefully selected” games,
Google added another 10
just before launch. There are
some decent titles, including
Destiny 2, Mortal Kombat 11,
and Red Dead Redemption 2.
A reasonable start, but Google
needs to add more games
quickly. Stadia will come in
two levels, a subscription-
free base level, and Stadia
Pro, which unlocks 4K, free
games, discounts, and more.
There have been a few
teething troubles. Many didn’t
get access codes they needed,
cue much grumbling. More
importantly, it seems it can
put a strain on the Chromecast
Ultra, making it get alarmingly
hot, and potentially crashing.
Stadia only works with the
supplied dongles, so this is
something Google should have
picked up before shipping.
Bandwidth is everything: You
need a consistent 10MB/s for
720p, 20MB/s for 1080p, and
at least 35MB/s for 4K.
Does it work? Yes. But
not terribly well yet. The
big issue with game
streaming is latency. So
far, Stadia has received
mixed reviews. There
have been complaints
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