Well, it\u2019s finally happening. Google is throwing its hat into the console gaming ring. It\u2019s been <\/span>suspected for some time<\/span><\/a> that Google would add its voice to the console cacophony, but now it\u2019s official. Google Stadia is a thing, and it\u2019s coming very soon to a video game retailer near you. Here\u2019s everything we currently know about Google\u2019s streaming video game service.<\/span><\/p>\n Luckily, we don\u2019t have to speculate too hard about this one. Google Stadia will launch in the USA, Canada, and the UK at some point in November this year. That\u2019s just around the corner, so if you\u2019re looking forward to checking out Google\u2019s gaming service, you won\u2019t have long to wait. Stadia will also launch in several European countries around the same time. Unfortunately, we don\u2019t actually know exactly when Stadia will land in November. Expect it sometime towards the end of the month in preparation for Christmas and the holiday season.<\/span><\/p>\n Stadia\u2019s specs aren\u2019t really important, because it\u2019s a streaming service. Here\u2019s what you need to know: Stadia will render the games it plays on a high-end system at Google\u2019s global data centres, then it will send that signal to your Chrome browser. You\u2019ll play the game via streaming, so Stadia doesn\u2019t actually come with hardware (apart from the controller, of course). Instead, you\u2019ll access Stadia via your web browser, your smartphone, or a Chromecast device. Stadia will offer 4K HDR gaming at 60FPS, though, so that\u2019s probably as far as it goes for specs.<\/span><\/p>\n The Stadia controller is a fairly standard affair; it mostly resembles the Xbox 360\u2019s controller in terms of layout and design, so if you\u2019re familiar with that controller you\u2019ll get on just fine with Stadia. Google is also promising extra features like being able to use Google Assistant to instantly search for a game you\u2019re playing, and Stadia being compatible with any HID-class USB controller. You\u2019ll need at least 10 Mbps for 720p gaming, 20 Mbps for 1080p gaming, and 35 Mbps for 4K HDR gaming. No telling yet how Stadia will perform in territories where internet connections tend to be slower.<\/span><\/p>\n Stadia has two major competitors: the PlayStation 5 and whatever Xbox Scarlett turns out to be called. Scarlett, as we know, is heavily pushing its <\/span>Project xCloud<\/span><\/a> feature. This is intended to complement the new Xbox and isn\u2019t quite the same thing as Stadia, although it\u2019s certainly easy to imagine where a crossover could arise. As for PlayStation 5, Sony\u2019s PlayStation Now service is likely to continue into the new console generation, so that\u2019ll be something Stadia needs to watch out for. There\u2019s also the Nintendo Switch, although most people who buy Stadia will probably also be interested in Switch as a complementary console.<\/span><\/p>\n This is probably the most important aspect of the console. So far, <\/span>a good number of games<\/span><\/a> have been announced for the Stadia. Leading the charge are <\/span>Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Destiny 2<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Doom Eternal<\/span><\/i>. You could, of course, question the wisdom of leaning hard on what are at this point fairly old games (apart from <\/span>Doom Eternal<\/span><\/i>, of course). There are two major exclusives which will only be available on Stadia. Tequila Works\u2019 narrative horror <\/span>Gylt <\/span><\/i>and Moonshine Games\u2019 manic multiplayer game <\/span>Get Packed <\/span><\/i>will both only be available on Google\u2019s machine. Whether they\u2019ll be enough to sell the service remains to be seen.<\/span><\/p>\n Obviously, the idea of being able to stream processor-heavy games without needing to invest in hardware is a very enticing one indeed. We\u2019re extremely excited about the future of gaming as a streaming medium, and it looks like Stadia could be leading the charge. Early impressions of the service are <\/span>pretty positive<\/span><\/a>; it\u2019s a good system that works, its games look good and run smoothly, and it\u2019s priced very fairly. If Stadia\u2019s library grows and the system gets more exclusive games to sell it, then it\u2019s hard to imagine Google\u2019s gaming service doing anything but dominating the streaming landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n The price of Stadia is probably its fairest aspect. You can buy a monthly subscription to Stadia in the form of Stadia Pro, which will allow you access to full 4K HDR streaming on your system (only Pixel smartphones are currently supported though, unfortunately). Alternately, you can simply buy the games you want via the Stadia Base model and play them as you go. For many, \u00a38.99 a month will more than make up for Stadia\u2019s shortcomings, and it\u2019ll stop them from buying a next-gen console for a good while if it works. The price of Stadia is definitely the ace up its sleeve, although it remains to be seen whether Google can keep up this level of affordability.<\/span><\/p>\n This is everything we currently know about Google Stadia. As we near the service\u2019s launch date, we\u2019ll likely hear more about its features and functions. Google will be keeping some things back in order to entice customers closer to release, so there\u2019s no way we\u2019ve heard everything Stadia has to offer yet. With a more populated and diverse library, Stadia could seriously conquer the gaming landscape. Stay tuned for more info about Google\u2019s gaming venture.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, it\u2019s finally happening. Google is throwing its hat into the console gaming ring. It\u2019s been suspected for some time that Google would add its voice to the console cacophony, but now it\u2019s official. Google Stadia is a thing, and it\u2019s coming very soon to a video game retailer near you. Here\u2019s everything we currently … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"close","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Release Date<\/b><\/h2>\n
Specs<\/b><\/h2>\n
Features<\/b><\/h2>\n
Competing Consoles<\/b><\/h2>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Games<\/b><\/h2>\n
What We\u2019re Excited About<\/b><\/h2>\n
Price<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n