Stadia....

It's been a while since I waffled on about Stadia (here, here and here). I've had a lot of questions about the system, the games and potential longevity. With the system getting into the hands of real gamers it's not a surprise for me to hear the results. All the foreseen problems are there unlike the benefits, which are nowhere to be found(imho).

Google Are MAD Launching Stadia With These Problems… from Bellular News

Google Stadia Game Prices Are Hilarious from Spawn Wave

Google Stadia's Launch Reviews . Xcloud Does It Better? from boogie2988

Google Stadia Struggles - Kinda Funny Games Daily 11.18.19 from Kinda Funny Games

Google Stadia Review In Progress from GameSpot

& 

Google Stadia Cloud Gaming Review! from Adam Savage’s Tested

So with all that said and done I'm still pondering who Stadia is for. There's too many caveats, the 'what if's' are still there, maybe more so now. You need to pay for a game and then pay to be able to stream it on their service; But only to certain devices in restricted ways(for now TM).

Short-term laggy rental service of gaming only you buy the games and may get some free next year?

It's too late in the A.M. to even thing straight about quantifying the business model. I'm a waffle some more....

XBox and Ultimate/Games with Gold is such a better option. Lot to be said for owning physical games(not least for retro purposes 10 years down the line). 

Where are the Stadia benefits that outweigh everything else? What makes this 'THE' device and service to get??

I did have to laugh at the end of the list of things that can impact Stadia gameplay - Don't do other streaming. Stream Stadia and nothing else is expected! My áss. If I was saying that here back in June to myself why were so many other people hyped about google network magic!? Stadia is in a hole. All smoke and mirrors? If it was a thing people would be singing it's praises....

Stadia is a system I was interested to find more info on but as it is, it seems a waste of space. Drastic changes to both service and hardware compatibility are needed to make this a reality for the majority.

To think I thought this had more potential than what Atari is doing....

I'm sure there will be more Stadia video's and reviews incoming; It'll be interesting to see the variations in setup's for different gamers and their experiences.

Stadia....

All Stadia does is rub me up the wrong way. Even after that announcement I'm asking more questions.

What's this thing aimed at?

Stadia, a device for PC gamers who don't have a pc but do have great internet and other devices they can use with Stadia and a chromecast to game on....

Is this for PC games on the go? Only they say that mobile connections won't be 'optimal'. So PC gaming on any device in your own home.....

Are they trying to pull an Epic in both software and hardware....? To outdo a Steambox?

xCloud on the other hand sounds like it will be a much better implementation and amalgamation of console and PC games.

Stadia....

I was interested to see what the details were going to be but the more I read the more I'm 'meh' and don't care about it. I don't like subbing for game access. Even saying that I've done so for two online games in the past and still do for my XBox Gold(even if that does give me free games). I could waffle on about initial costs, subscription costs and broadband but there are still too many questions open for Stadia. I like the status quo but even the traditional consoles are declining due to the mobile/cloud 'era'.

"Mobile" games are so very temporary in my book. Why spend so much on them for so little.
Cut the rope may still be good in 10 years time but there's no guarantee you'll be able to download it. At least with WoW it's got a dedicated company behind it in an almost too big to fail kind of way. 

In 2020 they say that Stadia will have a free version with only access to pre purchased games.
Sounds a lot like an offline google play library and I don't have any games I'd go back for on my list.

There is not depth to mobile gaming imho when compared to console let alone PC.

It's not the change in technology that's my real problem it's the change to the way games and gaming are presented. PC and console games complimented each other as well as with technology in the past. Today the Switch is a great example of technology used well as everyone is porting a version of their game to it. The games are not massively changed for it. You still have thumsticks and buttons. A shooter is still a shooter; But to have games on a mobile device that everyone can use across multiple different forms of hardware and many version of the same operating system HAS made the games change. Games are made to fit that mobile mould. C&C may be a mobile version now but it's not C&C even if it's still point and click.etc.

I'm getting to far into the long grass on this subject. Time will tell and either I'll be part of the changes or I'll be left behind moaning on a blog about installing games with a device the size of a desk as the new teens of the day laugh at having to consider install sizes!

*Shakes fist while yelling about kids getting of the lawn*

I've yet to fully bend my mind round the PC game without the need for a PC concept. It's not possibel. Even if it were I'd be hesitant at only owning access to a time limited experience with no future proofing.

Nes, Nes classic.... Stadia today Stadia classic tomorrow?

It's the AAA games that would be needed to win me over. Doing so would be better facilitated if we lived in a world where there was no lag, no ping at all and we were in a worldwide instant neural network. Borg anyone..... They don't have lag.... They all interface..... But even then the games I love to play on PC would be bastardised to fit the technology and I'd have to constantly buy access to it.

Stadia....

No matter what way you pronounce the 'a', the idea of Stadia is a game changer. I'm not 100% sold on it and I don't think I will be until the entire planet has gigabit fibre to the home. But the initial idea of it is so very interesting. Especially the use of the controller as the controller of your content access. Then reality kicks in. Practicality really. Lag is eternal no matter how low the milliseconds go. If it does catch on and can run over a 56k modem on a windows 98 pc then good but I'll mourn the loss of today's status quo. I have chromecasts but streaming on the TV furthest away from the Wi-fi router gets choppy without intervention. The new service will find it's the users limitations that are the real stumbling blocks. *Stadia home wi-fi booster kit sales!?!?* Who will pay for a service that is different for everybody. 

I don't do games as a service. I don't do any paid services like that at all.

I'm not sure where google is heading with this new service. It's way too early to tell. My gut tells me this jump is a jump too far for me.

Anyway the console market was heading to a streaming base wasn't it?! I wasn't concerned about that because I thought the current generation was my last. No exclusives on the platform any more meant I could get it all on PC anyway. This new service has the chance to nuke all hardware into irrelevance. That's too big a change to really quantify today. Nothing else has even seemed like it would compete let alone obliterate the competition.

This Stadia is an evolutionary step that will trip me up.

My main gripe is that I like to have the software/game software I buy. Maybe not a physical copy but a software executable for my own installs; regardless of if the company has gone bankrupt.
Steam was a big jump for me when I started it first. Paying for a game 'I own' on their service; What if the service is down or 'gone'? Then so are the games, money down the drain?
I truly do value having the content I buy. That's why I still have physical games from the 90's. GoG was a godsend and I'm more happy to pay for a game there and download it's installer than see it listed in my steam library. Am I sounding like an old fuddy duddy.

To put it another way I like to control the content I buy. If I have an original Xbox and DOA 3 I can setup that console in 20 years time, pop in the disc and play the game. But if I pay for a game and the service is dead 20 years ago what hope of playing what I paid for!

Steam for now is too big to fail; If it did it would be snapped up by the likes of google or Microsoft. Other services like Uplay/Origin etc would no doubt be in the same boat. I do question the likes of if the xbox were to be phased out, how long would they allow games to be downloaded and used!? The same goes for uplay/origin etc. Being bought out and still being accessible or content amalgamated etc.... Still too many unanswered questions. A gaming existential crisis seems imminent.

Online games like WoW, STO or Eve Online are very much a going concern. Of the three I listed two are a paid service that I've cut out. But it's an assumed given, an unwritten rule that with MMO's you get as much out of them as you can while you can. Because they can disappear or change radically in a year. Is that to be the fate of PC gamers!

Way to many questions and philosophical considerations being brought up by this.

Time will tell....