Testing a single-player mission was largely fine, the momentary spikes of lag or jumps in the stream quality not too interruptive, but those issues would render playing with a team unviable. While Gylt was fine, Destiny 2 proved to be juddery. While the Chromecast rig worked well, switching to playing on PC (connected to router wirelessly, with a result of 191.62Mbps down and 19.3Mbps up) via the Stadia site proved less stable. The only minor issue encountered in this scenario, and so far only on Gylt, was some very occasional texture pop-in, but nothing game-breaking and no worse than games played locally on a console or PC might present.Īgain, though, Stadia is a platform, not a device. In all cases, playing via Chromecast Ultra in a home environment, the software launched and played smoothly, with no discernible lag, stutter or impediment. We were provided with a selection of software to test, including shooter Destiny 2, puzzle game Kine and narrative stealth adventure Gylt, developed by RiME studio Tequila Works and Stadia's sole exclusive title so far. The closest comparison is the UI for Switch and like Nintendo's console, Stadia squirrels away anything not directly related to the games themselves in a sub-menu, quickly accessed by tapping the Stadia Controller's central menu button. Stadia's tidiness almost seems in direct contrast to Steam's recent overhaul of its user libraries, which forces in activity feeds from friends and a news feed for game updates, whether you want them or not. The lack of clutter is refreshing, especially when the home screens for PS4 and Xbox One become increasingly busy as more apps and services move to console. It's bold and clean, with large cover tiles for each game in your library. The UI is one of Stadia's easiest selling points. Read more: Inside Google Stadia Clutter-free UI From then, wherever you can get online, you can see your account and library of games. Account established, you'll sync it to the Chromecast on your home Wi-Fi network, then the same again for the controller, and you're good to go. In 2020, Stadia Base will launch, without the monthly fee but with the experience capped to 1080p and stereo sound. First, you'll register your account – currently, you'll need to sign up for Stadia Pro, which allows 4K, 60fps streams and surround sound three months' access is included when you buy the Premiere bundle and converts to an £8.99 per month subscription afterwards. Setting up Stadia for the first time is surprisingly simple, largely all done on your phone via the Stadia app. Once you're logged on, a process that takes no longer than it does for PS4 or Xbox One to sign in, your library is immediately available, and you're playing in seconds. If you are at home, connected to a high-speed Wi-Fi network or with the Chromecast Ultra tethered directly by ethernet cable to your router, Stadia actually does live up to its potential, though. It is utterly, expectedly, beholden to the stability and speed of your internet connection, which means for the great majority of players staying at home – just as they would with a console. At launch, Stadia does not live up to its promise of being able to play anywhere, on any screen, just by connecting a controller and accessing your library. Internet access in 2019 is broadly better and faster than it was in 2015, and orders of magnitude better than in 2010, making the underlying promise of Stadia more possible. Another is the pace at which technology advances. One is simply Google itself, an undeniable powerhouse in the computing space, and capable of funnelling far more investment – monetary and infrastructural – into its streaming platform than OnLive, backed by a cluster of disparate investors, was ever able to. There are some fundamental differences between OnLive and Stadia, though.
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