Gadgetory

Google is getting into gaming and actually I'm kind of surprised they didn't just call this thing Google gaming or Google games Gigi I was telling Kirk before like missed opportunity they're calling it stadia I gotta say it's kind of interesting this this this idea this concept it kind of makes sense to me the execution of course it's up in the air we're all skeptical here whether or not it's going to deliver what Google is claiming this idea this crazy idea of 4k top shelf games at 60fps streamed over the internet with no need for gaming hardware in your presence it's kind of an amazing claim I mean it makes sense everything else you do online is streamed you can stream 4k video there's obviously more complexity when it comes to gaming and input and so on but streaming in general has become the standard in so many entertainment segments whether you're talking about YouTube Netflix music services like who's downloading stuff you you of course never want to download stuff if you don't have to during the live stream there was a moment where a person's watching a clip of Assassin's Creed being broadcast by another youtuber and then they quickly hit the play button and they're instantly playing the game they're playing Assassin's Creed no download the idea of that if it works as advertised and as showcase is obviously better than stopping what you're doing going into a transaction paying for something downloading it and then playing an hour later or who knows how far down the road and then in many cases having to deal with the various stores that different game developers utilize to distribute their games whether it's EA with their own stuff or purchasing games on Steam and so on there's there's some friction introduced through those various services so when we sat here as a group talking about whether Google can or can't deliver this thing how excited we should actually be I thought about Google through the lens of what they've been able to do with YouTube because I remember I mean upon a time the idea of streaming 4k video even via YouTube seemed insane it seemed impossible Google has a tremendous number of resources I mean they could be the first company to crack this thing as usual there's people that are skeptical and they should be there are plenty of Google products that come and go so people have a right to be skeptical but Gaming is this area that's G it's just massive and Google really has no play they have they're not involved in the space outside of YouTube where people watch gaming so they have the watching piece it makes sense to add the playing piece and some of the integration they showed with YouTube even though who knows if it will be as smooth as they were showcasing it it just makes a lot of sense people who play games watch games who could have predicted people would be watching as much gaming as they are people could integrate with the gamers that they're watching and the games that they're watching they could join in I mean there's so many cool potential scenarios that could take place by combining these different worlds now the other thing that struck me about this idea coming from Google is that Google through Android through Chrome and and their various other products has reached into places where game consoles and gaming PC's haven't really taken hold where they're not really popular or ubiquitous places like India China emerging markets with huge audiences who may not be able to enjoy triple-eight games at the moment or maybe they're only computing devices the smartphone in their pocket with this service here you could potentially take your game as a developer and broadcast it send it out and make it available to individuals who couldn't possibly be your customers in the past because they didn't own the hardware didn't have the big display to play your titles so during the presentation they showcased this streaming game service working on smartphones low powered laptops computers and even on TVs as well that was kind of interesting through chromecast they were able to store I believe it was a 4k feed once again of Assassin's Creed and apparently the new doom they're gonna deliver it at 4k 60fps by offloading the processing to the cloud to Google servers it's all happening out there then you just have a screen and no input lag and this controller that they launched which again I have to try it out it looks pretty cool but then they went a step further and said oh you can also use any controller you already have or of course if you're on a laptop you can use your typical keyboard input as well it has you questioning the viability of all kinds of gaming companies and gaming hardware gaming software what happens to steam what kind of a connection do you need there's a lot of questions that come out of a presentation like this they didn't say a price and the launch date is is kind of vague they just said 2019 it's got to be delivered first it can't be laggy people will not put up with it it's got to be smooth it's got to be fast especially if people are gonna use it in a competitive fashion we need to know how fast the connections have to be and what about the economics are we just buying games at full price like we're already doing in places like Steam or is it some type of subscription service similar to Netflix is it more questions than answers maybe but at least we know it's a real thing it's happening there appear to be developers on board and this really could change the landscape of gaming in a big way if Google does what they say they're gonna do that's the big question can they do that time will tell