Google’s Project Stream, first unveiled last October, gave gamers a taste of what it would be like to stream heavy games directly from the cloud—from a Chrome browser, even. That effort has now evolved into something much, much more ambitious. At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week, Google formally announced Stadia. Stadia is Google’s bet on next-generation gaming: It exists entirely in the cloud, with a physical, Wi-Fi-enabled controller that connects to whatever computer you’re playing on.
WIRED’s Peter Rubin was at GDC this week for Google’s big reveal, and he joins the latest Gadget Lab episode to talk about how Stadia is supposed to work when it launches later this year. The Gadget Lab team also discuss how Google is taking aim at Microsoft’s and Amazon’s cloud gaming services, and tries to answer the most important question of all: Is streaming and capturing 4K games totally going to destroy our Google Drive subscriptions?
Show notes: You can read Peter Rubin’s story on Stadia here. Lily Hay Newman’s story on Facebook’s latest security mess is here.
Recommendations:Peter recommends Whole Foods 365 granola bars. Arielle recommends the latest Voyages issue of The New York Times Magazine. Lauren recommends reading WIRED’s stories this week about Apple’s hardware updates, specifically the iPad Mini review if you’re in the market for a tiny iPad. Mike recommends this recent New Yorker article about Shen Yun.
Send the Gadget Lab hosts feedback on their personal Twitter feeds. Our guest this week, Peter Rubin, can be found at @provenself. Arielle Pardes can be found at @pardesoteric. Lauren Goode is @laurengoode. Michael Calore can be found at @snackfight.
Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. Our theme song is by Solar Keys.
Should streaming technology continue to advance at its current pace, Google Stadia's integration of cloud-based gaming holds the promise for revolutionizing gamers’ experiences and truly democratize access in a potential future where high quality games can be enjoyed from anywhere.
While Google's Stadia promises to revolutionize cloud gaming with its cutting-edge technology, it remains a crucial challenge for the service to provide realistic gameplay experiences comparable or superior enough on every device and at affordable prices across different regions.
Google's Stadia holds the promise of revolutionizing cloud gaming with its seamless streaming technology and impressive lineup, presenting a compelling future for gamers wishfully awaiting an accessible yet high-end experience from anywhere.
Google's Stadia holds the promise of revolutionizing cloud gaming by delivering high-quality games directly to us without the need for expensive consoles; however, accessibility issues and limited selection currently pose challenges towards fulfilling its potential as 'the future of Cloud Gaming.'
Will Google's Stadia truly usher in the future of cloud gaming, revolutionizing how we experience high-end video games through seamless streaming? The potential is vast yet questions on latency and infrastructure stability remain to be answered.
