Stadia - Google's game streaming service

Tiny Timous wrote:
Preezy wrote:I'm waiting for them to announce/release Football Manager 2021 on Stadia so I can finally get back to playing the full-fat version of the game. I've had the last 3 FM games on Switch and whilst it's a great version of the game, it's got its limitations that don't exist on the PC version.

Come on, Sports Interactive, make this little boy happy again

You're in luck!

Wahey

So long productivity :datass:

Now that Stadia supports other controllers I've been coming around to it a bit more. I feel like this platform has potential, just needs the support at this point. Feels like Google is barely doing much to show that tho.

Managed to snipe a Premiere edition on eBay for just over £35.

I've been utilising my phone and a dualshock 4 for the time being. But being able to switch from telly, to phone screen, to laptop is so handy.
Just needs moar gaems.

I think the Chromecast / Stadia infrastructure is so needlessly confusing. And that's coming from a big fan of how Stadia plays now, as well.

I decided I'd get another Chromecast Ultra (on its own) to go on my bedroom TV.

That way, I could play either upstairs or downstairs on a proper TV without messing around unplugging stuff. And on a mobile /tablet anywhere else. I'd just carry the controller wherever I'd want to play and hey presto! Living the lockdown dream.

Plus, the Chromecast was on sale in a supermarket for about £50 so I thought, that's defo worth saving all that back of the TV wire hassle.

But anyway, I've made the mistake of buying the latest Chromecast Ultra with Google TV on it. And, whilst I actually really liked what it could do (it is good), that one doesn't support Stadia. At least not yet, even though it's a more recent version of the Chromecast than the one that does.

To use Stadia on your actual TV you still need the specific premiere edition model that comes with the controller. The later ones probably will get an update early this year so you should be able to use them too. Well, so I believe.

The newer one does support all the usual stuff, just not Stadia, it's own gaming app, which is why I bought it. But that was unclear and I only found that out after googling for a while, ironically.

The Chromecast is such a user friendly thing to use that it's weird I can't easily even use the only thing I'd actually pay money directly to Google to on it. Well, not until there's an update.

In terms of updates, I read some other rumour they'd also be updating so you can play couch co-op on the TV sometime in spring too, which would be nice.

I think Stadia mirrors the Cyberpunk 2077 I got it with, in that it seems like an odd half release, that you can see the potential of, but which needs work and updates.

Saying all that, you can genuinely enjoy it right now and be impressed with how it works - and I really am. It's just being rolled out in such a confusing way and many more casual gamers I talk to haven't even heard of it.

You can sideload the APK and it works pretty well from what I gather.

Thanks Carlos!

Yes, I did read that, but I start reading how to do it and my eyes glaze over :lol:

I know it's probably really simple, but I'll just wait till they add it properly. Besides, it's not a major thing, just confusing as to why it's not already there from the start.

I'm a casual (lazy) gamer and proud of it. There, I've said it.

Forgot to cancel my Pro subscription and ending up paying so might as well sample some of the Pro games this month - F12020 looks pretty good.

I've also followed up my free trial with a month of Pro.
Currently loving playing El Hijo, such a cool and quirky little stealth game with a wild west feel (once you escape the monastery that is).

Very impressed so far with the Chromecast and the service. No issues with steaming, but I'm on 300mb fibre-optic so, I'd hope not anyway.

I find the controller a little "click-clacky" it doesn't feel as premium as a PS4 or Xbox Pad. The triggers don't feel nice at all really. But it still a capable controller.

LewisD wrote:I've also followed up my free trial with a month of Pro.
Currently loving playing El Hijo, such a cool and quirky little stealth game with a wild west feel (once you escape the monastery that is).

Very impressed so far with the Chromecast and the service. No issues with steaming, but I'm on 300mb fibre-optic so, I'd hope not anyway.

I find the controller a little "click-clacky" it doesn't feel as premium as a PS4 or Xbox Pad. The triggers don't feel nice at all really. But it still a capable controller.

Yeah that's a fair criticism. I find it more comfortable to hold than the Dualshock 4 but you're right, it's a bit noisier.

Still no announcement on Football Manager 2021, I'm really hoping this gets a Stadia release as I have no chance of running the full-fat version of the game on my old nearly-dead laptop, and the Switch version has its limitations

I'm finding the controller fine, surprisingly good for a first effort. It does clack, though :lol:

I'd prefer the xbox stick layout rather than the PS one that it has, but glad they went for the exact same button placement and labels as on the xbox. It's probably it's what you're used to, but I'm still always furious when the 'go forward' button turns out to be the 'go backwards' button.

Have also been playing a few more games and have been surprised how I can dart about between them without loading etc.

I do admit that at the moment Pro isn't that compelling a proposition in terms of the free games, and nor is it the cheapest way to play the ones you'd have to buy. But then again, hardly any hardware cost, so really hard to compare to anything else.

A few killer deals, or the promise of playing the best new pc games optimally with no extra spend, and yeah. It's definitely the future.

Imagine if Nintendo decided it couldn't afford the hardware arms race any more and jumped on board, with a system you can play on the TV or anywhere, on anything.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint is free to play on Stadia this weekend, will definitely be checking that out to see if it comes close to Wildlands.

Still no sign of Football Manager though

Yep, I'm planning to do the same re Breakpoint. It's on a Ubisoft sale for £7.50 at the minute as well, so might be worth picking up if it's any good. Even though reviews are a bit mediocre, it's a 'free' way to see if I click with it.

If I do want do keep it, it's also on a Pro 'exclusive' discount of... £7.79 :lol:

I've also been trying that wrestling game, which is also free for a bit. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure mashing buttons as the Undertaker, before realising it's not really very good and being glad I didn't buy it.

Abacus wrote:Yep, I'm planning to do the same re Breakpoint. It's on a Ubisoft sale for £7.50 at the minute as well, so might be worth picking up if it's any good. Even though reviews are a bit mediocre, it's a 'free' way to see if I click with it.

If I do want do keep it, it's also on a Pro 'exclusive' discount of... £7.79

Ooh I didn't realise that the base game was also going cheap. I poured hundreds of hours into Wildlands even though it only got average reviews, I loved it for what it was - open world special forces antics with jeeps, helicopters, long-range sniping and general bad-assery. If Breakpoint can come close to it I'll be happy. If not, no harm done.

I started the free trial of Breakpoint last night and it was ok. Not going to win game of the year, but the gunplay is quite satisfying and the world is enjoyable to explore or trek the long way off the path to get to an objective from a different angle.

Holy strawberry float at the thousand different menus and skill/talent/perk/upgrade options. Completely baffled.

The gun editor though :datass:

TBH if all games were included to play as part of the pass I would be all over this as I would love to play RDR2 but only have a switch

I could play through my Chromebook on my Switch Pro controller

I mean £16 a month would be acceptable to me

I'm actually quite enjoying Breakpoint, but I know what you mean about the menus. Also, it was really annoying signing up to Ubisoft on the controller, as there were times I had no idea what button to press to do simple things like enter my email address, and then there would be a different button to do something else like add my date of birth. For less than £8 it might well be worth a punt, though.

Nearly went on a splurge on Trials Rising, the Crew 2 and the Division 2 as well. But got too much to play already, so going to hold off until later, when I'm drunk and will just buy them anyway. Really enjoying how I can just drop in and play these without updates / patches etc, so actually it's a real option buying this kind of stuff on Stadia.

But, I will say that when I played that wrestling game, there was a bit of pixellation and screen freezing. Not too drastic, and may be down to my internet which was playing up earlier that day.

I think I'm still amazed it works at all, let alone how smooth it is normally.

And now I've gone and bought Breakpoint :fp:

But, I was really enjoying it. I don't like the crafting or the menus, as that just always feels like admin to me. But I did enjoy the gunplay, seems like the kind of thing I could easily lose hours in.

Also did also end up getting the Crew 2 and Trials Rising.

I figure, if I don't carry on subscribing, it would be good to own a few. So add that to Cyberpunk, Assassins Creed Origins, Figment and that covers most bases.

Still really happy with how this all works. Also excited to see what Project Hailstorm means, which is apparently the codename for some sort of rumoured Stadia update. It will probably just be adding Minecraft or some rubbish in the end, but still.

I'd like it if you could download the app on various other smart sticks or devices. Including the Chromecast I bought by mistake.

Stadia - Google's game streaming service

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