WHAT CAN I PLAY ONGOOGLESTADIA?
10 - 23 July 2019 39
Google Stadia
DiscussGoogleStadiaatwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine
connectsdirectlyto thegameserver over
Wi-Fi.This is likelyto bethebest wayto
control gamesontheplatform.
Doesthecontrollerdoanything
else?
Yes. Ontheface of it, thecontrolleris a
nicelydesignedbutotherwiseordinary-
lookinggamepad,witha D-padto the
left,two thumbsticks,shoulderpadson
top, four functionbuttonsanda 3.5mm
headsetjack.However, it alsohasfive
otherbuttonsthat provideaccess to
Stadia’s more innovative features.
Theseincludea Google
Assistantbuttonthat
triggersthebuilt-in
microphone, so
you canaskfor
guidance to help
you througha
tricky section
of a game, for
example. There’s
alsoa Share button
that letsyou snap
imagesor streamyour
play to YouTube.
Are thegamesanygood?
Ohyes! AsGooglerevealedat thisyear’s
GamesDevelopersConference in San
Francisco, Stadiais offeringtitlesthat
wouldbeperfectlyat homeonthemajor
consolesandtop-rangePCgamingrigs
(see box below).This is nosurprisegiven
how capablethesystemis. If Stadiawere
a console, it wouldbemore powerful
thana PlayStation4 andXbox One
combined.That’s because, at its heart,it
hasa custom,server-class 2.7GHzhyper-
threadedx86processor, with16GBof
RAMand 56 compute unitscapableof
10.7 ‘teraflops’(a unitof computing
speedequalto onemillionmillion
floating-pointoperationspersecond).
Compare that withthePS4’s 4.2
teraflopsandtheXbox OneX’s six,and
you geta goodideaof thepower. Stadia
alsousesSSD cloudstorage, so if you
loseyour connection,you’llhave a few
minutes to getgoingagain.
Will it reallyshake upgaming?
It alreadyhas.Last October, Google
conducteda technicaltest calledProject
Streamthat ran Assassin’s Creed
Odyssey Fierce andsentjawsdropping.
More recently, consolerivalsMicrosoft
andSony announcedthey were exploring
thepossibilityof usingMicrosoft’s cloud
computingservice Azure for theirown
game-andcontent-streamingservices.
Nintendois alsoseekingMicrosoft’s help.Whenis it due?
Stadiais pencilledin for a
Novemberreleasebut
you canpreordera
Founder’s Editionkit
(bit.ly/stadia4 79 ).
This costs £119and
getsyou a limited-
editionNightBlue
Stadiacontroller, a
Chromecast Ultra
streamingdevice, three
monthsof StadiaPro (plus
three monthsfor a friend)
anda Founder’s Stadia
name. BuyingStadiaPro
onits own willsetyou back
£8.99permonthfor 4Kstreaming,
surroundsoundandaccess to a libraryof
free gamesthat’s updated regularly.
You’llalsoreceive discountsonany
gamesyou buy. If you can’tcommitto a
monthlyfee, you cansignupfor theBase
tier, whichoffers1080pstreamingand
stereosoundandasksyou to pay for
gamesindividually. Controllerscost £59.Are Sony,Microsoftand
Nintendosettinguprivals?
Sony alreadyhasa streamingservice
calledPlayStationNow (bit.ly/psnow4 79 )andMicrosoftis workingonits Project
xCloudservice (bit.ly/xcloud4 79 ),
butthey are far frombeingtheonly
players in thisfield.Ubisoftrecently
announcedits own gamestreaming
service Uplay+(uplay.ubisoft.com/en-
GB),whilea new service called
Antstream(www.antstream.com) has
finallystartedofferingstreamsof retro
gamesto its Kickstarter backers.
Gamestreamingis clearlythefuture.Butwhathappensif oneof these
services closesdown?
Wedon’tknow what wouldhappenif,
say, GoogleStadiadidn’twork outand
you’d investedlotsof money in it. Would
you still beableto play thegamesyou’d
bought?That seemsunlikely.
Somepeoplehave raisedconcerns
over thedata companieswillbeableto
gatheraboutplayers, too. What insight
willthey gaininto players’ behaviour
fromtheirin-gamedecisionsandthe
typesof genres they enjoy, for instance?
For now, though,thefocusis onthe
technology– andonthat front,Google
appearsto bestealinga march.The list ofgamesavailableon
Stadiais likelytohavegrown by
thetimeyou readthis,butGoogle
hadconfirmed 31 titlesatthetime
ofwriting.Theseincludebignames
suchasAssassin’s CreedOdyssey,
Borderlands3,Baldur’s Gate3,Destiny
2,Doom,DoomEternal,DragonBall
Xenoverse, The ElderScrollsOnline,
GamesDevelopersConference attendees FinalFantasy 15,FootballManager,
were excited aboutStadia’s teraflops
Antstreamlets you play 400retro games
on demandfor a monthlysubscription feeA Chromecast Ultra streaming
device is includedwiththe
StadiaFounder’s EditionJust Dance,Metro Exodus,Mortal
Kombat 11,Power Rangers:Battle
for theGrid,Rage2,Riseofthe
TombRaider, SamuraiShowdown,
ShadowoftheTombRaider, Tom
Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
andWolfenstein:Youngblood.