Stadia - GuruGamer.com https://gurugamer.com Website for Indian gamers with latest gaming and technology news. Find release dates, trailers, and scores for all upcoming and recent video games in the world Fri, 18 Aug 2023 10:47:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://static.gurugamer.com/images/logo.jpg Stadia - GuruGamer.com https://gurugamer.com <![CDATA[Google Stadia Pro's Two Free Games Next Month Are Rise Of The Tomb Raider And Thumper!]]> https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-thumper-free-google-stadia-pro-8380 Sat, 28 Dec 2019 04:50:00 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-thumper-free-google-stadia-pro-8380
You have three more days to purchase your subscription and get 4 more free games this month!]]>

Google Stadia is still very young and not many players are aware of the cloud-gaming platform of Google. As a result, it needs a decent marketing strategy to spread its influence to the gaming industry, and nothing is more influential than free games!

Every month, Google Stadia will add two more free games into its gallery for Google Stadia Pro subscribers. Starting with its official launch in November 2019, the services are currently bringing 4 great games onto the free-shelf, and next month welcome two new great freebies: Rise of the Tomb Raider and Thumper.

You can find the brief information on these two games below:

1. Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration

The Tomb Raider series has gone through a lot of up and down along its history, and Rise of the Tomb Raider marks an important milestone of that journey: the 20th anniversary of the franchise. Released in 2015 followed by the 2016's anniversary edition, the game saw a huge jump in visual quality from the previous title in 2013. You can see its trailer below:

Still Lara Croft, still her daredevil's stunts on her journey to raid tombs, Rise of the Tomb Raider definitely shocked the industry for getting nominated in over 85 "Best Of" awards with its goods. The success of this installment might come from its intriguing story with Lara Croft become more of a raider with her journey in Siberia, but we cannot forget to mention how beautiful the snowy landscape her was portrayed in the game.

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Rise of the Tomb Raider saw a huge improvement in image quality and gameplay

The Woman vs. Nature in this game was demonstrated almost perfectly with life-like actions and stunts. The environments have a lot to challenge Lara: from the severe weather to the unstable landscapes that force the main heroine to put her skills into a true test.

Overall, Rise of the Tomb Raider is by far the best Tomb Raider game that you can play up to now, especially with Shadow of the Tomb Raider is too demanding in specs and lack of story twists, causing it mostly appears in benchmark tests.

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The best Tomb Raider game among all so far!

2. Thumper

Doesn't have the same level of reputation as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Thumper still knew how to impressed players in its own way. In general, Thumper is a rhythm game where you will control your spaceship, follow the beat to blow devastating strikes to the giant voids from hell in front of you.

You can plug your earphone in and enjoy the upbeat music as well the nauseously fast speed of the game in the trailer below:

Speaking about VR Rhythm games nowadays, the youngsters only know the name of Beat Saber, but little know that there used to be a game that has outdone Beat Saber in both visualizations and players' experience. It's Thumper, a "brutal rhythm" game that might make both you and your enemies suffering at the same time.

To be more specific, the game will put you in an insanely-fast speed ride to take down the giant wicked entities. Follow the endless soundtrack, you'll have to press the one-and-only button that the game asks you to in perfect time to charge up your energy, and blow a powerful shot onto the enemies ahead.

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Everything in this game looks fantastic!

It sounds very normal, but the special thing about Thumper is its visuals with eye-popping visualization for... everything. It includes the bosses' wriggling actions, the animation of your charging and shot, the reaction when the bosses get hit, and also the environment changes after you cross a brand new dimension, too.

Everything is made so detailed and smoothly that you will be able to recognize the slightest changes in every action. Together with the upbeat music, Thumper is truly a bliss for music-based game fans.

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The visual and audio quality of Thumper is too good for a rhythm game!

When will these games be free?

Rise of the Tomb Raider and Thumper will be free to claim for Google Stadia Pro users on January 1. That also means you still have three days left to grab the four free games of this month.

They are Farming Simulator 19 Platinum Edition, Destiny 2: The Collection, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and Samurai Showdown. Most of this game is lying on the shortlist of Steam Awards 2019, so you won't have to hesitate on downloading them regarding their quality.

Rise Of The Tomb Raider Thumper Free Google Stadia
A fighting game, a simulator, two action-adventure games, that is enough for every kind of player!

And if you haven't got your Stadia Pro subscription yet, you can purchase it with only $9.99 per month - which is much lower than the price of most recent games. Stadia Pro users will get access to the aforementioned games in 4k resolution, 60fps, and 5.1 surround audio.

Even though Stadia is still new, if it continued this pricing strategy and the monthly free games, it might become a tough contestant for any current names in the industry!

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<![CDATA[Gylt - The First Stadia-Exclusive Game - Released Its Launch Trailer!]]> https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/gylt-the-first-stadia-exclusive-game-released-its-launch-trailer-7743 Thu, 14 Nov 2019 06:49:00 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/gylt-the-first-stadia-exclusive-game-released-its-launch-trailer-7743
It's going to come out right after Google Stadia is launched, and will stay exclusive for this platform for a limited time.]]>

Back in June with the reveal of Google's cloud gaming platform - Stadia, we've announced you about the first game to become exclusive to this platform. Its name is Gylt - a beautiful horror game about fearing and defeating the shapes of your nightmare.

However, at that time, we only have some information about its story and gameplay, and no specific release date was given by the developer Tequila Work. But now, as Stadia will launch on November 19, Gylt will follow to star on the service as well!

In order to celebrate this announcement, the developer has dropped a new trailer of the game - showing the eerie atmosphere that the protagonist has to overcome to find her cousin. We invite you to watch this trailer with us below (I can't stand horror alone):

The story of Gylt

Tequila Works has always been famous for their storytelling specialty, especially through the non-verbal masterpiece RiME. And now, the developer is back, adapting with the new gaming mechanics from Google to deliver another ambitious title - Gylt.

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Gylt is the next game from Tequila Works

Gylt is a hauntingly beautiful story of Sally - a young woman on her journey to find her lost cousin - Emily. The story takes the settings of a sorrowful town, in which the worst nightmares are wandering in every shape and form of dangerous creatures. Sally is only a mundane human, and she can't stand a chance of getting caught by those nightmares.

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Sally is on her journey to find her lost cousin - Emily

Fortunately, she has the power of light by her side with her flashlights and fire extinguisher - which she can use to get rid of the monsters. However, there are plentiful of nightmares in this town, and those things are definitely not enough.

Hence, Sally will have to stay away from their sight while finding clues on where her cousin went. Besides the horror elements, Gylt also wants to convey the meaningful message: always ready to face the emotions that you're owning, and overcome your worst nightmares.

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Can she face her worst fears in this town

Gameplay features

Basically, Gylt is a third-person horror game, in which you'll step into the shoes of the main protagonist Sally to explore this melancholic town. At first looks through two trailers of the game, Gylt has some vibes of Silent Hill and Alan Wake, both in gameplay and in the overall atmosphere.

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Gylt has some vibes of Alan Wake and Silent Hill

To be more specific, you'll control Sally avoiding the nightmarish creatures scattering around the town. Your objective is to find your lost cousin Emily, and in order to do that, you'll have to gain certain clues on the disappearance of her, and figure out where she is now.

The game mainly features atmospheric RPG experiences with stealth mechanics and a slight touch of puzzle-solving. Hiding behind the environment, you'll then find a good chance when the dangerous creatures are not watching to sneak behind them and get to your place. But if they caught you, you can still use your flashlights and fire extinguisher to get rid of them temporarily.

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Sally can use her flashlight to blow her nightmare out

The visuals of this game are haunting yet very beautiful that looks like a Pixar movie. However, don't let its aesthetic looks fool you since this game was rated for Teen from ESRB. This means it contains several violent factors and engrossing images. But that's very necessary for a horror game, so I don't give any hoot!

Release date and supported platforms

Gylt will launch for Google Stadia on November 19 - right the same day the platform comes out to the public.

It will stay exclusive with this platform for a while and then reaches other platforms eventually. This information was confirmed by Raúl Rubio Munárriz - the co-founder of Tequilla Works, and he also affirmed that everyone will be able to play Gylt at a time.

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Gylt will come out for other platforms at a later date

Are you looking forward to Google Stadia?

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<![CDATA[Google Stadia: A Quick Look At The Practicality]]> https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/google-stadia-a-quick-look-at-its-possibility-3885 Mon, 10 Jun 2019 08:05:00 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/google-stadia-a-quick-look-at-its-possibility-3885
Who will find Google Stadia useful?]]>

More details about Stadia, an upcoming game streaming service developed by Google, are finally unveiled. Its short description is irresistible: experience the newest video games such as the upcoming Ghost Recon Breakpoint without getting a console or PC that costs an arm and a leg.

However, in order to actually play games using Stadia, you will have to satisfy its conditions and requirements. Despite the ambitious attempt in marketing by Google to make Stadia more popular, the question "what problem will this tackle?" is still rising. In fact, there is no guarantee that players are willing to purchase video games that they can only enjoy via a streaming service on the internet.

A good internet connection is required

Stadia is reported to be available on a range of internet speeds. However, you will need a 35Mbps connection if you want to play your games at 4K 60fps. Or at least, a 10Mbps connection is required to stream at 720p 60 fps (which is ideal for you if you only use Stadia on your tablet or smartphone).

Despite the widespread popularity of Stadia, many customers might find its requirements are too hard to satisfy. The United States has an average internet speed of 18.7Mbps (in 2017). With that connection speed, watching Netflix in HD quality is a piece of cake, but playing Stadia games at 1080p 60 fps is not an optimal option.

Internet Speed
The United States has an average internet speed of 18.7Mbps (in 2017).

Another issue is that some users can only use their internet for a limited amount each month. With a limit of 1TB of internet usage, you can have approximately 65 hours of playing Stadia at 4K 60fps before running out of data - and that's is in case you don't use your internet for anything but streaming video games. That amount of time sounds significant, but it is only the total playing time of a few hours each day, which is really very common.

Stadia isn't really portable

One interesting feature that Stadia offers is the ability to play your favorite game anytime, on any device, continue from wherever you left. That's great actually. But the fact is, you can only start Stadia on different devices at your place most likely(or at least somewhere that the Wi-Fi signal is strong enough).

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Will you be able to play some Doom in a coffee shop?

As we all know, public Wi-Fi is unstable. You should never rely on it to play some Doom with Stadia and expect to have an enjoyable time with high-quality graphic and no delay. That means, Stadia is much likely to be a typical PC and console gaming (Nintendo Switch excluded) and will be used at home for most of the time.

If you want to stream with Stadia, you have to buy your games first

It is required that you need to buy your own game if you want to play it using Stadia, even with the $10 per month Stadia's Pro plan. Despite the promises from Google that there will be discounts for Pro users, we still don't know how good these discounts will be.

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Stadia sounds useful but impractical

Good news for the games industry is that Google doesn't seem to apply a Spotify-style monetization system to its upcoming project. More specifically, developers will not be paid based on how many times users opened their titles, or on how many hours players spent with their games (in fact, several devs was really concerned about this when Google introduced Stadia). However, it unquestionably makes Stadia a less appealing alternative service for users.

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Steam - One of the most popular game stores on the internet.

Some people are questioning about our few rights over the products we purchase via platforms like Steam, but Stadia's even trips off more ownership rights from us. Through Stadia, every game will turn into an online-only title even though it's designed to be a singleplayer one. It's also scary to think about the worse scenario where Google shut down its service. What would happen to our Stadia library? Let's just take a look at one service that was terminated recently by Google - Google Plus itself!

Netflix and Spotify business is appealing due to the unlimited access they offer with a monthly fee. If you already had a game library for yourself, would you buy another  Stadia version of your owned titles on Steam or consoles?

Mobile is now the popular platform for some of the most well-known games

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Fortnite mobile

Mobile users have seen several popular titles got their own mobile versions such as Hearthstone, Fortnite, PUBG and even League of Legends. That also means players can enjoy the most popular games in the world using their affordable devices. They no longer need a super PC or laptop to take part in the gaming community.

Theoretically, it's would be ideal for Stadia if its users, for some reasons, want to play games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey or Rage 2 with the highest settings enabled, doesn't mind about portability, got their TV and other devices connected to an acceptable internet connection with a decent Wi-Fi signal (or even better, got all their devices wired with ethernet), and will not spend money on any hardware for gaming purpose except a controller, but totally agree on purchasing a membership that costs $10 each month for game discounts and 4K streaming.

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Even LOL has a mobile version

Like what happened with Steam Machines developed by Valve, it's really hard to find a reasonable size market for Stadia.

A more possible, but less common Stadia user could be a player who already has a PC with old hardware, and usually use it to play games like CS:GO, but sometimes decides to spend his free time on graphically-intensive titles that their computer cannot handle, like Metro Exodus. Assuming that Stadia will work as expected, the service could find a niche there, but that's all about it.

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Valve's ill-fated Steam Machines.

However, Stadia hasn't been officially released, so what you just read is actually my speculation. Maybe there is a large number of people who willing to consume gigs of data to play NBA 2K or Final Fantasy 15 via Chrome, an unexploited market that we hardly know about because no developer can offer a streaming service that is good enough to do that.

We shall know the fate of Stadia soon enough. But what makes me doubt is the requirements on internet speed and data usage, the necessity to be online all the time, and the possibility of delay and quality loss when there is trouble with the internet connection (how Stadia will perform if another guy starts watching Netflix in the next room?).

Stadia seems to offer a cheaper experience, but the rising question is that is it going to provide a better one?

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<![CDATA[The Rival Of PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Might Die Before It Is Born]]> https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/the-rival-of-playstation-xbox-nintendo-might-die-before-it-is-born-3027 Tue, 07 May 2019 08:13:41 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/the-rival-of-playstation-xbox-nintendo-might-die-before-it-is-born-3027
The Mad Box console, aimed to be the rival of PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, might be killed even before it sees sunlight.]]>

Most of us would agree that we ‘kinda’ have enough types of consoles in the gaming industry nowadays. PlayStation series (with PS4 is the newest model), Xbox series (with Xbox One X is the newest model), Nintendo Switch are enough for us to entertain ourselves with all the great games in these three consoles. But not everyone thinks so.

Slightly Mad Studios has announced that it would release a totally new console for gamers. This gaming studio’s aim is to have a console that will be competing with PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. To make thing even cooler, this gaming studio calls its console The Mad Box, and it declared that The Mad Box would take the place as “the most powerful console ever built.”

CEO of Slightly Mad Studios Ian Bell has confidently said that

“What is the Mad Box? It’s the most powerful console ever built. It’s literally ‘Mad.’”

Playstation Xbox One Nintendo Switch Rival Mad Box
The Mad Box gaming console

But things are not going the way Slightly Mad Studios wants. Just recently, Google announced its online game streaming service – Google Stadia. This service will charge you a certain amount of monthly fee, but in return, you will have access to the gaming library of Google. And your device will only serve as a streaming tool because the computer of Google will do all the processing work.

This is great news for gamers with a tight budget since now we can play the AAA games that only supposed for PC on our tablets or smartphones, as long as we can have an internet connection faster than 27mbps. Nevertheless, the console and PC producers are not that happy. If Google Stadia works, it might be the end of the reign of consoles and high-end PCs. And The Mad Box shares the same fear, especially when it is not released yet.

Google Stadia
The way Stadia works is quite simple and straightforward

Google also said in their introduction of Google Stadia that “The future of gaming isn’t in a box.” And this hurts Slightly Mad Studios so hard that now it has to reconsider the “box” part in the name of its console. Will The Mad Box ever be born? We might have to wait and see. But Slightly Mad Studios is really determined with this project, and it has promised a lot of great features in its console. Hopefully, it can deliver its promises.

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<![CDATA[Google Must Respond To Apple Arcade If It Plans To Take Mobile Gaming Seriously]]> https://gurugamer.com/mobile-games/google-must-respond-to-apple-arcade-if-it-plans-to-take-mobile-gaming-seriously-2243 Sun, 31 Mar 2019 02:55:40 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/mobile-games/google-must-respond-to-apple-arcade-if-it-plans-to-take-mobile-gaming-seriously-2243
Apple Arcade promises a great solution to the freemium play-to-win scourge on mobile, so Google must make a move if it wants to stay competitive.]]>

Apple’s announcement of Apple Arcade is a serious warning shot aimed at. Frankly, this subscription service seems like a dream for mobile gamers.

When it comes out this fall, users will have access to hundreds of wonderful premium games, all at the cost of a small subscription fee. As long as you own an iOS device, be it an iPad, iPhone, a Mac, or an Apple TV, everything will be playable, and there won’t be any ads or IAPs.

Apple Arcade
With the launch of Apple Arcade, Apple is set to take over the mobile gaming market

Basically, it’s the perfect solution to the greedy free-to-play scourge that has plagued the mobile gaming scene for years. Apple Arcade is the gateway through which premium games can rise again.

While that prospect is certainly exciting for iOS users, it’s terrible news for those with an Android device. The reason is simple: Apple Arcade is only available on iOS and so far, several upcoming high-profile titles such as Oceanhorn 2, Beyond a Steel Sky, and Where Cards Fall have been announced as exclusive to this subscription service, meaning they will never come to Android now.

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Oceanhorn 2 will never come to Android now

Sad as it is, game developers are not to blame here. Piracy is so rampant on Android that they simply have to come up with an entirely new pay model if they want to launch a premium title on the platform. That’s why Android games are generally launched as free trials on Android with an IAP to purchase the full game instead of having an upfront cost like on iOS.

So yes, this is largely our fault. It was our own reluctance to pay for a mobile game – regardless of how well-made and worth-paying-for it is – that put us in this terrible spot where we have to deal with tons of greedy, lazily-designed cashgrab games on the Google Play.

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Android is full of cheap pay-to-win gacha RPGs

But still, with the situation being as it is, it’s now up to Google to deliver a decent alternative. Piracy is not exactly anything new. For as long as we remember it has damaged the music, movie, and TV industry, resulting in those folks now turning to streaming services.

Google itself is heading towards that as well with the upcoming Stadia, but Apple Arcade is not a Stadia competitor. It has nothing to do with streaming. You don’t need to stay online at all time to access it. Once you’ve downloaded a game, you can play them anytime even without internet connection.

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Where Cards Fall is another great game that'll be exclusive to iOS

So, if Google doesn’t want Apple to fully take over the mobile market, it has to make a move, and soon.

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<![CDATA[Google Talks About Its Plans For Stadia-Exclusive Games]]> https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/google-talks-about-its-plans-for-stadia-exclusive-games-2093 Thu, 21 Mar 2019 10:54:54 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/pc-console/google-talks-about-its-plans-for-stadia-exclusive-games-2093
In an interview at GDC, Google Vice President Phil Harrison reveals further details about the company's plans for exclusive games on Stadia.]]>

Just earlier this week at GDC 2019, Google revealed Stadia, a new service that allows gamers to play video games across multiple devices via the cloud. While more detailed information about this service is still unavailable as of now, Google Vice President Phil Harrison has offered some further insights into it in an interview.

When asked by GameSpot about Stadia-exclusive games, Harrison shared: "It was a conversation that I had with Google leadership before I joined the company. [My] point of view was in order to really deliver on the promise of this platform, we had to build our own games. We had to build our own experiences, and that was a very fundamental, strategic direction that we needed to move in."

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Google VP Phil Harrison talks about Stadia

He added, "I understand that [for a gamer] the word 'exclusive' can sometimes be a challenging terminology. [I would] rather we moved the narrative towards [games] that are built specifically for a data center. And if those games also show up on other streaming platforms, that's okay, because what that means is that the developers are starting to innovate and think about the future and [build] a 21st century game, rather than a 20th century game."

Naturally, any Google-made game that comes in the future will be available exclusively on Stadia, as clarified by the Vice President. Also at GDC 2019, Google announced that it has established a new studio that's currently headed by gaming industry veteran Jade Raymond, who previously held leading positions at both Ubisoft and EA. There is no information about what specific projects or games that this studio is working on right now.

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Google has a new studio led by veteran Jade Raymond

As for the pricing model for Stadia, Harrison confirms that one is already in existence, but Google is not willing to discuss it just yet. Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, thinks that Google’s upcoming streaming service Stadia will have several pricing models at launch. "Either you buy full price and you play; or you will be able to also register, possibly, to play either one hour or two hours a day. There will be plenty of ways," he said.

One thing we know for sure is that Stadia will not support offline downloads. In Harrison’s words, it’s "not technically possible," and “would be a compromise of [Google’s] vision."

Stadia is planned to launch within this year in certain western regions, including the US, Canada, UK, and "most of" Europe. Currently, only Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and the upcoming Doom Eternal are confirmed for this service.

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Stadia is coming this year in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe

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<![CDATA[Can The Internet Connection Speed In India Be Enough For Stadia?]]> https://gurugamer.com/viral/can-the-internet-connection-speed-in-india-be-enough-for-stadia-2092 Thu, 21 Mar 2019 10:41:42 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/viral/can-the-internet-connection-speed-in-india-be-enough-for-stadia-2092
Stadia has just been introduced by Google, but does this platform have any chances in India?]]>

News about the Stadia – the newly introduce cloud gaming service – by Google has flooded every single tech and gaming websites, newspapers, and magazines lately. This global tech corporation is aiming to change the way this world plays games via this service.

The idea of this game streaming platform is that Google wants to bring as many games as possible for as many people as possible. It is the fact that being a gamer is really expensive with all the investments on hardware. But after you have bought your hardware, you cannot play it everywhere because powerful PCs or laptops are heavy and not portable. But with Stadia data centers, Google will handle the hardware part for you, since the job of processing the games will be on Google's cloud-processing network. The output video games will be streamed either to your Chrome browser or Chromecast.

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The way Stadia works are quite simple and straightforward

According to Google's demo, you can seemingly switch between playing on your tablets, your phones, your TV, your Pixel devices or your PCs. This can be achieved because your devices will only serve as the input devices (like a controller) and output devices (like a monitor). All the processing job will not be done by your devices anymore, it will be done by Stadia.

This idea may sound incredible and innovative, but to put it into reality, the internet connection speed will be the biggest issue. Although Google promised to build the data centers for Stadia all over the world, the corporation also notified that you'll need an Internet connection with at least 25Mbps bandwidth to play games at 60FPS via Stadia. Sadly, Indian citizens don’t have that privilege yet.

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To truly enjoy Stadia, you must have an internet connection speed faster than 25mbps

In 2016, India ranked 105th of 200 countries in the world when it comes to average broadband speed. In 2017 the country made it to 97th position and to 88th position last year. That's a decent growth for the average internet speed, but it's still not enough. Right now, Indian estimated average broadband speed is about 20.7 Mbps, which is definitely not enough for this streaming system to properly function.

However, if this project got your attention, don’t lose your hope just yet. The internet speed in India is rising every year. Plus, Google will only publish Stadia in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe in this year 2019. Perhaps Google is waiting for a higher and more stable internet connection all over the world to launch Stadia.

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Google's plan for Stadia in 2019
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<![CDATA[Stadia: Fast-Pace Games Experience The Lag And Latency, But Can They Kill Stadia?]]> https://gurugamer.com/viral/stadia-fast-pace-games-experience-the-lag-and-latency-but-can-they-kill-stadia-2086 Thu, 21 Mar 2019 09:08:28 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/viral/stadia-fast-pace-games-experience-the-lag-and-latency-but-can-they-kill-stadia-2086
Google newly introduced video games streaming platform - Stadia - still remains a lot of lag and latency. Does this system have any chances in the future?]]>

As we all know, Google has been hinting a project about a streaming game system that will change the way the world play games. This promise from Google seems a little bit too much at first, to be honest. But then, on March 19th, Google’s keynote about this streaming system – Stadia – was delivered. And it seems like Google has also delivered the hope for Stadia to us through the keynote speech.

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Stadia was introduced by Google in the GDC 2019 on March 19th

Stadia is a completely cloud-based video game system that can be accessed from any device. With this platform, you can play any games (provided that the game is in the database of Google) on any devices – PCs, laptops, tablets or even smartphones. The only requirement for this game streaming system to work is that your internet connection for the playing device must be really strong and fast. Otherwise, the lag will kill your gaming experience.

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The way Stadia works is quite simple and straightforward

The problem of lag and latency is always among the most significant issues for gamers. And it is not surprising to see all experts’ first concerns for Stadia are lag and latency. Yes, there are games where the delay between pressing a button and seeing an action performed is a common thing. But for most of the games, especially games with fast-paced vibes, the lag and latency are pretty unacceptable for gamers.

Having predicted the concerns beforehand, Google has proved its confidence by boasting the power of Stadia with 2 heavy games: Assassin's Creed Odyssey (ACO) and Doom. This is the declaration from the global tech corporation that Stadia will not feature any type of lag or latency. Sadly, Google’s declaration was not 100% fulfilled on the keynote speech. Although the introduction yesterday of this streaming system did not satisfy everyone, Stadia still showed that this bad boy would have a pretty bright future.

Things went pretty smoothly with the test for ACO. Some even claimed that they sensed no differences in playing ACO on Stadia and playing ACO on a console. But the test for Stadia with Doom was not that nice. Technically, the pace of ACO is quite slower than the pace of Doom, so the lag and latency were much more noticeable than that of ACO.

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Assassin's Creed Odyssey had a pretty good test on Stadia

If anyone who has played Doom normally, they will realize the differences when playing on Stadia immediately. All actions are not instantaneous anymore, leading to the fact that you cannot calculate the shots like before, calculate the melee hits like before. These delays are not enjoyable at all, but the good news is that they are not that disastrous for the game. You cant enjoy Doom on Stadia the same as the way you enjoy that game on a console, but the game is not unable to play. You are just more terrible with the game (a lot more)

But the good news for gamers with budget limitation is that our bodies learn things really fast. It means that if you play any games with latency and you keep playing that game, the latency will cause less discomfort for you. Yes, it is still there, but our body adapts to that latency up to a point that you will enjoy the game more than the latency. This is not an ideal way to play games, but with gamers who can't afford big, strong PC but still want to play heavy games, Stadia is already a good enough option for them.

And please don’t forget that the internet system all over the world will definitely be improved alongside the development of the society. The 5G technology has been hinted to be released in summer 2020 with a speed of 5 – 10 times faster than 4G. In 3 – 4 year, we may see Stadia dominating the gaming industry like Netflix now.

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<![CDATA[Google’s New Gaming Platform Worked Great At The Demo Session But Do Not Get Your Hopes Up Just Yet]]> https://gurugamer.com/viral/googles-new-gaming-platform-worked-great-at-the-demo-session-but-do-not-get-your-hopes-up-just-yet-2078 Thu, 21 Mar 2019 06:17:50 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/viral/googles-new-gaming-platform-worked-great-at-the-demo-session-but-do-not-get-your-hopes-up-just-yet-2078
Stadia might be the future of the gaming industry but there are so much we do not know about it.]]>

Tuesday saw Google made an ambitious, almost too good to believe announcement about a Stadia, a platform that enables streaming of games with heavy graphics demands on any devices of your choice. All you need is access to the Internet.

The Good Signs

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Stadia worked great at the demo session

Stadia has had its chance to prove itself by running an "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" demo for a while. What it was able to do looked promising and could even herald a new era of gaming. However, apart from that performance, more details of the new platform have not yet to be revealed, raising a bit of concern among the general mass.

The underlying principle of Stadia is to shift all the responsibility of rendering the game to a data center. When the center is done, the outcome is streamed to the device you choose. It is almost like watching others playing on YouTube, but you get to gain control of what happened. This way of working makes Stadia compatible with anything that has the Chrome browser or even runs on the technology of Chrome.

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It is like watching YouTube, but you get to control what happens

Stadia will run a loop, which might raise the question of whether there will be some latency in the gameplay. However, in the Assassin's Creed Odyssey demo, lags were non-existing so that it can be partly assuring.

For the current ability of Stadia, it seems like it can handle games like Assassin's Creed with ease, but for more demanding titles like a Twitch-based shooter, it might run into trouble. Michael Higham had the opportunity to play Doom Eternal on Stadia, and he confirmed that latency did happen, which proves that this idea of streaming games might work on some tiles but not all, at least for the time being.

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With Stadia, you can play on any device you want

Some expect Google to show off its controller, which makes use of Wifi to prevent lagging but there is no such thing on display, meaning that it was not ready at the time of the demo. In the place of that controller is one made by Logitech and it worked ok.

While a specially-designed controller is about to be revealed, Google still makes sure that its Stadia can work with a wide variety of existing controllers. For example, that of a PlayStation or Xbox can be connected to a computer and be compatible with Stadia too.

So in general, lagging does happen but Google is working to fix it, and it is not some deal breaker. People who have had the chance to try it said that it exceeded their expectation and also looked nice. Last year, Google assembled a group to take part in its Google’s Project Stream beta test and these players got to play Odyssey on Stadia. It is obvious that between that test and this year’s demo, Stadia has had a big leap.

The Unknowns

If things go according to plan for Google, this might be the game changer that has the power to alter the whole future of the gaming industry. With Stadia, there is no need to upgrade hardware as it enables any device to play almost any game.

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The demo looks promising, but it does not mean mishaps will not happen

The future seems so bright for Stadia, but mishaps can happen any minute. Access to the internet is vital to its performance might depend heavily on how good the connection is where users base. So if in the parts of the world that the Internet’s speed is slow, will Stadia able to work? This question might need time to answer as all we know now is a short demo in a room with favorable conditions, which speak little of Stadia’s performance in real life.

Google is remaining quiet about the list of games on Stadia’s library, which is another concern. The technology might be a breakthrough but if it cannot offer what players need, the outcome might not what Google wants to see.

The last question is how much Stadia will cost. It is still unknown whether it will come with a monthly subscription fee like Spotify or players will be charged by the game they play like they do with Steam.

Google has not answered all of these above questions but it said that more details were coming in the future, and that is all we know.

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<![CDATA[Google Announces A New Game Streaming Platform Named Stadia]]> https://gurugamer.com/viral/google-announces-a-new-game-streaming-platform-named-stadia-2053 Wed, 20 Mar 2019 03:54:23 +0000 https://gurugamer.com/viral/google-announces-a-new-game-streaming-platform-named-stadia-2053
At GDC, Google finally revealed its big news: A game streaming platform named Stadia. It allows players to instantly access the latest games across multiple devices.]]>

On Monday we speculated that Google was going to announce a new game streaming platform at GDC that’d be available on a wide variety of devices, and it seems we were right.

Google Stadia is a brand new platform whose aim is to bring a high-quality gaming experience to everyone regardless of what devices they own. It is powered by Google’s worldwide data centers will be accessible on desktops, laptops, phones, tablets, TVs, and more. Stadia will even be compatible with YouTube, which allows users to instantly access whatever games they see straight from the Data Center. The idea sounds wonderful on paper, but we’ll have to see whether it delivers in practice. For now, an announcement trailer for Stadia is available, you can check it out below:

Google claims that Stadia is capable of streaming games in 4K resolution and 60 fps. Majd Bakar, Vice President of Google’s Project Stream, also said that the platform could achieve up to 120 fps and 8k resolution in the future. In a live demonstration of how Stadia works, Bakar had a person play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on a Chromebook, then switch to a phone, a PC, and then a TV. After each switch, the player could immediately continue from when the game was left off in the previous device. The upcoming Doom Eternal – a sequel to the 2016 FPS game DOOM – will reportedly be playable on Stadia as well, and no doubt it is just one title out of many that’ll support this platform.

 
The live demonstration where Assassin's Creed was played across multiple devices

Google will also release a new hardware to support its streaming platform: the Stadia Controller. It looks something like a hybrid between a PS4 and an Xbox One controller, with 2 analog sticks, a D-pad, 4 action buttons on the front, and triggers on the shoulders. This controller connects directly to Google’s servers through wi-fi so as to minimize input lag. Additionally, there is a “share” button that allows users to record their gameplay footage and share it with others on Youtube.

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The new controller from Google

Stadia is expected to launch later this year, although no price tag has been specified yet.

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