PC World - USA (2020-01)

JANUARY 2020 PCWorld 97

unplayable at phone size. People complain
about Nintendo Switch games and
unreadable text, but just try and play Red
Dead Redemption II on a five-inch screen. I
dare you. It’s not just text either. Interactive
items, button displays, it’s all microscopic.
And the controller barely works as
advertised. That’s probably the weirdest part
of this whole mess. When Google announced
Stadia, a highlight was that you could switch
between devices on-the-fly. Say you’re
playing on your Chromecast, you could
seamlessly transition to your phone at the
push of a button.
In theory, this can still occur. The Stadia
app lets you change which screen the game
is displayed on, and I’ve pushed Mortal
Kombat 11 from my TV to my phone mid-fight
before. Neat.
The controller doesn’t go with it though.

It’s supposed to

connect not to

any single device

but to your Wi-Fi,

then relay

commands

directly to

Google’s servers

to cut latency.

That happens

when you’re

connected to the

Chromecast, but

phones and PCs

need to be connected to the controller

directly with a USB-C cable. The PC,

whatever. I’m just sitting at my desk anyway.

The phone situation is absurd though,

requiring you first attach a mount to the Stadia

controller, then put your phone in the mount,

then wire the two together. It’s an unwieldy

Grab your reading glasses, and good luck.