とりあえずTuesday | Google Stadia

Wassup y’all,

It’s time for a brief Toriaezu Tuesday. I was contemplating between several things to talk about until news broke about Google’s newest “game console” at GDC a few hours ago. That’s incredibly big news considering there hasn’t been a new console manufacturer since Microsoft entered the industry around 2001; effectively removing Sega’s viability to be competitive in the industry(to be fair, Sega had a lot of missteps leading into the new millennium though).

First of all, what’s GDC?
GDC stands for the “game developers conference”. It is a yearly conference held in San Francisco(and a few other places) intended to host a variety of round tables, lectures, tutorials and networking events for game developers.

The Google Stadia showroom at GDC

What is Google’s newest console?
It’s called “Stadia”, but I wouldn’t call it a console per say. It’s more of a streaming service in fact; similar to Netflix, but for games. That isn’t to say there is no hardware whatsoever. On the contrary, Google unveiled a wi-if enabled controller.

Should they choose, gamers aren’t limited to these controllers to utilize the service. Any USB enabled game pad will be usable at launch.

Why would a controller need wi-fi?
Well, that’s probably one of the neatest announcements from the conference. Since all the games are streamed from a cloud at Googles data centers, they can be accessed through the browser of most devices. Gamers won’t be limited to a tv or pc any longer, but tablets and cellphones are accessible as well. That means you would be able to pair the controller to any mentioned device and run the game remotely.

I think that announcement was extremely impressive because it means that the technology running the games would be infinitely scalable. Developers would no longer be tied to the limitations of a specific consoles technical specifications. This also allows for cross-platform playing. For example, current owners of a PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch aren’t usually able to play co-operatively because of the individual technical specifications and security lockouts of each console. However, on the unified network offered through Googles data center, that is no longer an interesting issue.

Except, there is one glaring problem.

Internet speed
Many parts of the United States, moreover the world, lack high speed fiber optic connection to the internet. Area lacking fiber may have access to data, but ISPs aren’t necessarily the most liberal in granting unlimited access to high volumes of people, especially if a game a transferring 7Gbs of data a minute. That sounds like a pipe dream tbh. But maybe Google has something up their sleeves. Since the service is slated to launch later this year, expect to hear more information around June at E3. In the meantime, check out the 5 minute highlight reel of the press conference below!

Are you excited for a new player in the game industry? What do you think Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo’s response will be? What are your concerns with the “Stadia” platform? Leave your thoughts below and don’t forget to like and share~