hph6203 said:

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For me, I play primarily third person action adventure games (Uncharted, Last of Us, Tomb Raider) or 2D Platformers (Celeste, Ori and the Blind Forest).

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That's why I say Sony is in the most trouble of all of them. I don't believe their games are unique enough to justify the purchase of their console if the alternative is close enough and significantly cheaper.

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Just wanted to point out you said Sony games aren't unique, but two of the games you mention playing most are Sony exclusives (Uncharted and the Last of Us). I think what something like the Switch has proven is that the hardware doesn't matter as much anymore. It's all about the games. The Switch is underpowered compared to both PS4 and XBox, but has been outselling them. If Google can get game developers to buy in they will succeed. If not, they will fail.

HossAg said:

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Input lag isn't the same as response time, which is the number you're referring to when you say 1-2 ms of input lag. The fastest input lag monitor available for 60 hz gaming has 8 ms of input lag, and most TVs and monitors get way above that. So adding the latency we're talking about with cloud services still might not be noticeable to the casual gamer if they upgrade their TV setup. That said, there's no way I could play fps games on a cloud service. There would just be too much latency for "competitive" gaming unless their willing to put data centers in every street corner.

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It is not just competitive games. There a number of platformer type games that need precise control. Think about the sections of super mario where you either move forward or die. Imagine when success or failure of a level depends on the variable lag of the network.

Hah!

Yikes!

I follow Steve's content pretty regularly and the thing you have to understand with him is that his reviews are heavily influenced by how a product is presented or marketed by the company and doesn't pull any punches. He also tries to review products in a way that as closely resembles the actual out of the box consumer experience as possible rather than as a carefully controlled press demo that won't be what ends up in your hands. Steve didn't say anything that wasn't being echoed by numerous others, myself included. Steve's issue with the Stadia app was that it was required to use the app to register their account before you could even play on a PC in Chrome and he is likely right on the reason why Google put that requirement in place. Google wants the app installed on your phone because they want to harvest data from that.

I was one of those pissed off Founder's Edition preorder customers who screwed with a delayed code and didn't receive my Founder's Edition package on launch day despite ordering the day preorders went live. Google made a number of mistakes leading up to, during, and after launch and doubled down on those mistakes with poor communication.

Regarding his criticisms of the controller, he also focuses on right to repair. He hates designs that turn expensive electronics into commodity products that can't be repaired by the end user. Google made a controller that is nearly impossible for the end user to repair or even replace the battery on. He criticized Google for that and very clearly demonstrated why. You can agree with him or not about the right to repair is important to consumers, but his criticism is regarding whether the controller IS repairable is valid.

Basically Steve is a consumer advocate that wants products to meet the claims that companies make about said products and wants those products to be something consumers can continue to use for years rather than them becoming yet more e-waste.

Well here's Steve's review of the actual service after they bought a code from a viewer because they still hadn't received their Founder's Edition code. Short version is that his data aligns with what I was seeing in comparison between my gaming PC (custom watercooled 2080 Ti with a 165Hz display) and Stadia using both the browser (on same 165Hz display) and Chromecast Ultra. I only played Destiny 2 on Stadia because I didn't want to buy any other games for now and I did not play any PVP game modes, though the PVP played pool is limited to other Stadia users.

Initially, I tried the Chromecast Ultra using its WiFi connection and the amount of near constant micro-stuttering actually made me motion sick. Moving the Chromecast Ultra to a wired Ethernet connection eliminated the micro-stuttering.

I will say that experience on Stadia using the Chromecast Ultra with the wired Ethernet connection felt and looked as good or better than playing on either a PS4 Pro or a Xbox One X. I switched between both consoles and Stadia multiple times to be sure. The fact that Stadia runs Destiny 2 at 60fps versus 30fps on either console makes a world of difference. In addition, the general loading is insanely faster than even my PS4 Pro running an SSD and even the menus are more responsive. I did have some times where the resolution would randomly drop or the feed would freeze, but those issues weren't common in a few hours of playing yesterday.

Bottom line, PC gaming isn't going anywhere, but Stadia can achieve an experience on par or better with the highest end current gen consoles when everything is actually working. However, I still have concerns in regards to the long term viability of Stadia as Steve laid out in his video and will not be purchasing additional games from the service for now (barring a crazy good sale). I will however be continuing the Pro version of the service and will have access to a new free game every month to expand my Stadia library. For now though, Stadia will likely be my couch gaming platform of choice for Destiny 2 when my friends aren't online and that alone shows that Google has achieved more than I thought they would at this point with Stadia.