Google Stadia on the Pixel 4 XL By TWiT Tech Podcast Network

This is true all right, so I happen to have here. Something that's been. The Internet has been a buzz about the past couple of days, very exciting for sure you've heard girl Stadia is out, and I received the Google Stadia founders edition a little more than a week ago. So that's what I have here. This is the controller that comes with that. That is part of Stadia you, don't the Stadia controllers not required for Stadia with the founders' edition, like you could still plug in a third-party controller on certain platforms and do wireless, but the Stadia controller does do things a little different.

Obviously it has kind of a button layout, that's specific to the Google Stadia service from Enrico. My assistant loves to fire off when I say nothing of the sort through every episode, I swear. It happens these days. I have no idea. What's going on Google's just listening, it even has the assistant button next to the screenshot button.

Neither of these are active during the preview. There's, a bunch of functionality that wasn't active during the preview I did do a full kind of like hands-on latency test. All that sort of stuff that you can find on hands-on tech, but I thought I'd show it off here, because it's actually pretty interesting. It promises a lot. I can't say that it necessarily delivers on all of its promises Stadia really.

The whole crux of this is that it's a game console in the cloud. It's all served from Google's servers in the cloud, so you don't need to buy a console right like for 130 129 dollars. I could get the founders Edition, which includes the controller. It includes a Chromecast ultra, so you can plug this into your TV and you know have it on your big screen: first dibs on a Stadia username, three months of Stadia pro and that Pro servers normally cost $10 a month. That's what gets you 4k streaming? If you don't want to go 4k or don't need to go 4k, you can get 1080p streaming for free, and you know, so you just have the controller or whatever you just have to buy the game through Stadia, and these are you know, perfect quality games, triple-a titles, I'd, say nothing exclusive to Stadia right out of the gate, and you're still paying kind of the normal price you're paying fifty sixty bucks, depending on the title, so you're paying a lot.

You know a decent chunk of money for a title that you don't actually own the media, for it's all kept on Google servers and I. Think that's! One of the limitations that you really have here is that you don't own anything at the end of the day, so if Google ever gets really sick and tired of supporting Stadia what happens to all that media? You know there's some herbage in the Terms of Service. That says something about a refund, but it's very loosey-goosey. It's hard to know exactly what would happen if that time came and when you're dropping $5060 on a game like people won't be gamers will want to know what the heck's going on, but so I happen to have the Stadia app running on my pixel, for this was a little mount. That kind of came in the box with the founders Edition I.

Don't know that this necessarily is included in the founders' edition this phone mount, but it was included in the box that I got so if I go ahead and clip that on you can kind of see it's right above the controller at launch, it only works wired with the phone, so I'm going to go ahead and oops I'll straighten that out, first go ahead and plug that into the USB port in the back plug it into the pixel phone up here without breaking things there we go I get a little of a buzz on the controller yeah. Here 's's one thing: that's pretty funny like okay, so I'm, holding the controller I'm ready to search the store I have to do it sideways. So that's kind of lame. You know it's too bad that it doesn't recognize that it's good that is plugged in through the port and automatically switch it to landscape, because literally you just kind of have to do that. But so I've got two aired her, a shadow of the Tomb Raider definitive edition here and once this loads up I mean it's streaming to my phone from Google's servers, and it might take it a second because it has to kind of load up, but I mean this.

Are you know it's running this game on their servers that obviously the benefit there is that Google's, you know, computers are, are jacked up, so you're going to get in theory, you're going to get the best quality kind of like graphics and experience and everything go ahead and continue and everything, but those bars on the left and the right side and white bars all these. That's it that's a perfect question: yeah I! Don't know why that's showing I don't know. If is that my app? Oh, you know what that's totally wrong all right, so that's at ease ahead to the arena. Okay, it's okay, I have no need to do anything, but that's you know, stay tuned for the arena and Ron will show you what those bars are, but there you go. You can see when I'm playing a Tomb, Raider I'm going to go ahead and sit down by the fire and actually I'm not going to do that, because that takes a while to kind of power up but yeah.

You know it's, it's a pretty cool experience being able to actually play a game like this, and you know of this caliber on the phone and with the controller connected to it, you know things feel responsive enough. There's definitely some you know concerns about latency what your, what your internet connection is going to be how fast it is, determines the quality of the video, that's streamed to your device, and you know I tested it all the way down to like 10 megabits per second all the way up to like a couple of hundred megabits per second on, like our you know, some of our faster connections here at the Twit studio and I, no matter what speed I was going at I, still kind of ran into times, where what is that? What is that I keep seeing something? I cannot get it sorry for interrupting. No do please could you stop and could do we see you like jump, see your finger touch the button, so we can see the latency okay, that's three yeah I mean it feels pretty solid right now, I have to say of all the different ways that I tested Stadia. You know I had to go on through the pixel book on the Chromecast ultra. We did it into a Chrome browser on the MacBook Pro I feel like I get the smoothest connection when it is plugged into the phone that's been.

My experience is that this feels right to me compared to some other thing, the other instances. Oh I, see what just happened yeah. So this is from the review and there were just times on this larger screen where you know that picture breaks up things like slow down and stutter. It's just really kind of wild and all over the place on the phone. I didn't really notice that as many things felt really way, more responsive on the phone and I couldn't tell you why, but it just does.

Maybe it's because everything's a little smaller as well. So you know, maybe this is just locking in at 1080p. Instead of you know, instead of 4k. Obviously so here in a jump-off, so I know it's yeah. If you have questions Francisco on your phone, is that dedicated stake it up? Yes, this is what's running on.

My phone is Google's Stadia app, okay on your computer or whatever you were using on the review. Yep was that it was that a computer running Chrome, yes, so obviously Chrome OS running on Chrome when I go to Stadia google. com. It recognizes that my account is cleared for Stadia, so, instead of showing maybe the sale page of like you know the equipment it takes me to the console area that is very similar to the app on the MacBook Pro. You can only do it through a Chrome browser, so you know probably the same on it.

I imagine the same. There are some optimizations of the entire pipeline from Android itself. No, it's not available from a normal Chrome browser on your desktop yeah, be curious to know that I have absolutely no idea, but from the reviews. That's what it looks like some engine optimizations on the entire roads that takes everything from the Google service to your phone and from your phone to the Google services right service, because it's pretty quick, yeah I feel that way too. I really enjoy it on that on the mobile, and it's I, just almost miss oh I've, already looked at them.

I've definitely enjoyed playing this on mobile, and you know: I've had I've had experiences where I'm throwing it onto the display with a Chromecast Ultra that had been enjoyable too I just have to forgive certain things that happen when I do that, where you know everything breaks up or like I said stutters, sometimes it's like uncontrollable stuttering, there's just like all right. This isn't employable, and sometimes it's just like the resolution. You see the resolution. Suddenly, you know in a moment's notice scale down from super sharp to like kind of fuzzy and then back in and kind of jumps all around, and you know that could be network inconsistencies could be a number of things. It's really hard to pin it down, but I do know that, like a true like hardcore game or that that's going to be I, think a bridge too far just dealing with you know those kinds of inconsistencies.

Is that worth the trade-off of not having to buy a console? I, don't know like I mean if the, if the experience is always that iffy I don't know that it is because, because I know for me, I would get really annoyed with that. If every time I sat down to play, it was constantly doing that. There's something to be said for the stability of a game. That's in a console that you know is always gonna. Look great look and the experience is gonna.

Sounds great. You know, that's just a that's a difference. I'm, not sure stake is targeted to that kind of segment that you were you're talking about your right. It's an example. If you feel have friends that cannot see their TVs with huge input lag, even if you're connected to the PS4, the TVs are running those processing stuff that the OEMs like to support like motion blur and bush whatever.

As soon as you get it on yeah. Yes, but we know that, but we showed that TV read another one that we came out to again normal people. They probably don't see the difference and I wonder which Stadia this is going to be the same thing, that the small latency wouldn't be a problem for the casual gamer, because they cannot understand that that's a latency and we do, so I, wonder yes, yeah, that's going to be okay, yeah somebody who's a who is aware of all that stuff, though Francisco, but you know, is it a big gamer? You know I've owned consoles in the past, and I've gotten frustrated by a having to upgrade those consoles and get new ones and lay out the money for that, and then also just the in this non-physical media world that we're in the streaming world that we're evolving to the idea of. Even if I got a new council buying games and keeping you know the disks or whatever they need. You know whatever they are.

The idea that this is completely all distributed and cloud-based is attractive is fascinating. Are you know, and especially you know, in a scenario where these phones can do so much and look so good? You know I've got you know, I've got a really fat pipe coming into my apartment, and you know it's a one-bedroom apartment with four people in it. Italy two of them are very small, so they don't take up that much space, but you know, like you, know: I, don't have room for a big gaming rig, but if I wanted to, you know play some games. I could just you know, grab this controller and go sit in a corner on the phone on the phone and use that perfect internet connection and be satisfied. So I get that kind of use case for it.

You know just could be interesting to see. If that's you know like much like Chromecast I feel like it's a concept that regular people might have a hard time wrapping their heads around it really I mean Chromecast is like the perfect example right like it really is. Just a game console like tailored per almost perfectly for like cast it's streaming from the internet. Low kind of entry. Point right, like you, get this for free as long as you buy the game, the streaming of it from the cloud is free.

If you happen to have a controller from a current console, you know it's so there's a good amount of support for Bluetooth controller, so I mean the yeah. The entry point is lower, and you're right it. This sort of thing is not probably the know: they're, not appealing Google's, not appealing to the hardcore gamer. Necessarily with this. Maybe it's good enough for people.

You know, but the one thing about Stadia that we're not touching upon in this is the integration with YouTube and the potential that has for gaming, streamers, which you know. As we all know, what twitch is a huge business and a lot of people do that and Stadia does have the ability to do like to stream the game you're playing to your YouTube channel and like have people join in and play with your audience, and things like that, which you know I think is just it's very early on. You know, as the Stadia is just coming out now, to see what the impact of that will be. Considering is also YouTube, based only it's not twitch based so whether that will be enough of an impact for people to get Stadia for the know, interactivity aspect of it mm-hmm I'm, looking more to the towards the use case of you're playing something your apartment can be taking an airplane to some other continent. You take your Chromecast with you, you rise you plug it, the Chromecast to the hotel TV, you tether, your 4G LTE, advanced 5g to the Chromecast and just play, as you were playing ten hours ago when your bedroom, and it just works.

That's my skin mm-hmm yeah that come in really handy and whether you need a Chromecast or not II. Do you have one of these little dilly Bob's, and you just throw it on your phone right above you, you know what you can't do is be on the airplane and do this? Of course yeah I mean so there are limitations. It feels like incredibly mobile, but use dues need a very solid. Why, at this point Wi-Fi connection the internet? It doesn't even work on mobile networks as it stands right now. Who knows when they'll be able to do that, but I have to imagine if, like a solid wired connection to the internet, still introduces enough fluctuation in that data, that's coming in too, you know totally throw the video and the audio out of whack at times then I can't even imagine what a mobile network would do to that like that would kind of imagine be kind of a nightmare.

They'd really have to button that up or maybe have a requirement for 5g. Maybe 5g doesn't even you know, address the issues that would be. That would exist. There I'm not really quite sure, but yeah, a lot of a lot of question marks. As far as this is concerned, it feels early.

That's because it is early. You know, Google loves to bring everybody in early on things like this and so to a certain degree. I feel like I. You know I'm cutting Google's, some slack for that alone, but you know there's a lot to fix before this becomes a big success, and before it releases early next year, so we'll see what happens you.

Source : TWiT Tech Podcast Network