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Post by Sarge on Nov 18, 2019 16:04:42 GMT -5
Since we don't have somewhere to put this Google Stadia review I wanted to post, I have created this thread. This can be for discussion of any modern-day system, running the gamut from the Wii U, 3DS, and Switch all the way through the PS4 and the upcoming PS5. And of course, the wondrous, amazing Google Stadia. That I hope crashes and burns. I do not welcome our streaming overlords... and it looks like this project won't be the one to make it happen. www.usgamer.net/articles/google-stadia-review
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Post by Ex on Nov 18, 2019 17:02:54 GMT -5
As much as I cringe when buying digital-only games (the kind you download and can play offline), the thought of paying for games I do not own in any capacity whatsoever is just revolting. Not a concept for me.
Unfortunately, eventually some company will succeed in making a streaming video game platform, that will rock the medium the way that Steam did. A paradigm shift, seachange, it's certainly coming someday. Far too many people only care about flavor of the week games and instant gratification for it not to happen. They give no thought whatsoever into the consequences of giving the publisher 100% control. Nor the longevity issues streaming-only games represent. And many other negative side effects that are a long topic.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 18, 2019 17:27:08 GMT -5
I have nothing against MS and Xbox Game Pass at this point, I think they've got the right and better idea for a service like structure. It's amusing to wonder if they'd offer such a competitive service if they were the champion of this generation though... they probably had to buckle and do something like this to make up for their losses this gen. To be fair, Google stepping into the field suddenly made me appreciate Xbox for once as one of the "normal" main companies in the business that I don't mind, or at least Phil Spencer's vision and how he's done his best course correcting all the errors they made. At launch Xbox One was shaping up to be an absolute nightmare and basically what Stadia and companies want to do now. Hopefully we'll see some unification between Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo to force putrid junk like Google out, but to be honest, I can't help but feel like Nintendo would absolutely love to have something succeed like this themselves. I definitely see them steering more towards that direction than Sony and MS, they just don't do it so abrasively... yet.
I was about to bump the other digital thread we had going, because I honestly finally had the hesitation about what I want to do next gen with consoles. There's that demon in my ear whispering how all the games I buy on my PS4 and Switch, are just paper keys anyways. Gone are instruction manuals, half broken games fill the shelves and need day one patches all the time, you can't even play stuff on the PS4 (and Switch?) without "installing" them first. This is going to be a royal pain whenever I potentially want to replay games from this generation, making sure I have the necessary games installed and the HDD space for it, better get this update files. And I don't know, I just suddenly had the thought maybe I should give up and go all digital with the PS5. *shrugs*
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Post by Sarge on Nov 18, 2019 17:54:01 GMT -5
I'm honestly a little surprised companies would want to go down this route with gaming. The streaming revolution with music is credited for gutting that particular industry, although I would argue that it might have saved it to some degree given how folks were snagging music left and right on Napster. Similarly, I see a lot of folks complain about the video streaming services. Game streaming is a whole other level, and I think it will come back to bite the industry in the butt.
Regarding game installs, yeah, that bothers me somewhat. I get why you'd want to do it (HDD is faster than disc, and you want to improve bandwidth for all those memory transfers), but as you say, often games have day-one patches. I mean, I think about Bloodstained on Switch, and how it needed improvement at launch... and even it had a day-one patch. On Switch, at least much of the game runs from cart (although ironically slower than from internal memory/SD), as opposed to the PS4 where pretty much every game simply installs to the HDD and the disc is just a glorified key. Actually, that isn't much off of where PC gaming was years ago (and maybe even before Steam completely took over, too), where you basically did a full install and it just used the disc as a key check. There's a reason there are so many cracked executables floating around, and it's not just pirates using them; I've used them on my legit releases many times.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 18, 2019 18:48:35 GMT -5
I'm honestly a little surprised companies would want to go down this route with gaming. The streaming revolution with music is credited for gutting that particular industry, although I would argue that it might have saved it to some degree given how folks were snagging music left and right on Napster. Similarly, I see a lot of folks complain about the video streaming services. Game streaming is a whole other level, and I think it will come back to bite the industry in the butt. Regarding game installs, yeah, that bothers me somewhat. I get why you'd want to do it (HDD is faster than disc, and you want to improve bandwidth for all those memory transfers), but as you say, often games have day-one patches. I mean, I think about Bloodstained on Switch, and how it needed improvement at launch... and even it had a day-one patch. On Switch, at least much of the game runs from cart (although ironically slower than from internal memory/SD), as opposed to the PS4 where pretty much every game simply installs to the HDD and the disc is just a glorified key. Actually, that isn't much off of where PC gaming was years ago (and maybe even before Steam completely took over, too), where you basically did a full install and it just used the disc as a key check. There's a reason there are so many cracked executables floating around, and it's not just pirates using them; I've used them on my legit releases many times. I'm guessing Nintendo and some publishers wouldn't mind cutting out stores/physical releases. Isn't that a win for them in ways? I agree though, people think video streaming can have its issues... latency is even more important for gaming. The thought of streaming games makes me laugh with our current tech.
The music industry has definitely been a mess and sounds scary. It's so spread out. I hear buying physical still might be the best way to support the artists but not a lot of people really even consider that thought. Sounds like labels and companies dip their greedy hands on merchanidse and the like too.
Yeah, I remember getting no-disc exe's for games I legit owned back in the day. For PC, it helps that I can buy a 6TB internal HDD and never ever worry about space. It's a bit more complicated with consoles. I sincerely hope the PS5 / Xbox 1080 come with at least 2TB in there from the start...
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Post by Sarge on Nov 18, 2019 19:03:34 GMT -5
Digital-only makes sense. A Netflix-style model doesn't, in my opinion.
I'm going to wager the PS5 gets a boost, but not a huge one. Especially if they're pushing SSDs, I have to figure 1TB is going to be the number they go with. Especially since the current generation lets you use external storage; I don't see that changing next generation, but depending on how fast it actually needs to be, they may make that purely for backup storage, instead of playing directly from there.
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Post by Ex on Nov 26, 2019 10:37:28 GMT -5
In-depth review of Stadia: www.hardcoregamer.com/2019/11/21/review-google-stadia/362393/"As for playing the games, you’ll need a rock-solid internet connection. Running with an average 130MBps off AT&T Fiber, there was no problem getting the games to stream at top settings on any device. Mileage will vary, though, depending on your internet speeds and bandwidth caps. At the highest possible graphical setting, Google says that streaming could cost 20GB an hour. So far, that average isn’t a lie. Stadia loves to eat up bandwidth and it’s something you’ll need to keep tabs on as you play. While our experience playing games on Stadia was excellent, there’s no guarantee it’ll work well with everyone’s setup."
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 26, 2019 20:32:15 GMT -5
It's amazing how dumb this launch has been and things I'm hearing on podcasts.
The free game you get is Destiny 2. By the way, Destiny 2 IS FREE TO PLAY NOW on everything. There was no "killer launch game", think something like Halo that MS had to put itself on the map. Xbox One botched their release this gen and it's not hard to argue, SIX years later they're still paying for it. Next year, Sony and MS will be dropping their new consoles.
Nobody is going to give a crap about this in another month or two.
I would wager that Google only getting two dozen games to launch from just a few publishers (Ubisoft and Bethesda come to mind), over half of the library being old games this gen... to me this says that most developers/publishers in the business have no faith or interest in supporting this product. Good on them.
Ouya 2.0 right here folks.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 26, 2019 20:42:40 GMT -5
At least the Ouya looked like it had a potentially viable path. I'm not sure what the Stadia is supposed to be, but they sure aren't targeting the market demographic that would make it a success.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 26, 2019 20:46:41 GMT -5
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