Google Stadia: Everything you need to know about the streaming game revolution

Google wants to revolutionize the way we play video games. But is [UNKNOWN] ready for prime time? Stay tuned for your Daily Charge. [MUSIC] Welcome to the Daily Charge. It's Wednesday, November 20th. I'm Roger Chang. And I'm Scott Stein. Let's get to [UNKNOWN] story. [MUSIC] Google is finally I would say that it's huge bet that will all eventually streamer video games onto any device we want. The search shine hope that this model will one day replace the traditional console, but it's launching to some really negative reviews Scott You've had some excessive time with the service. What did you find? I'm actually playing it right now as I talk to you- That is serious multitasking. It's running on a Mac Book ERA And I find that it works in the sense that it's streaming games. But what does that means in terms of working because we've seen streaming games for the past decade on live GeForce Now, NVIDIA's service, yeah. Other ones that have come and gone. x cloud is in beta right now. PlayStation now. So sure games can stream. But we've learned over the years that that depends on the quality of your connection and there can be some lag. In my usage with it. I was surprised at how good it looked on a TV with a Chromecast ultra. A little less impressive when right now it still needs to be tethered with this controller. Yes, that's clunky I had to go and scramble to find a USB CD SBC. Why are just to make this thing work and make it work on a laptop or a phone when it get even stranger? You don't need the tether. If you're using an Xbox controller or another controller with this you can do that on the laptop and phone using other controller. You need the stadium controller to work with your TV. Right. Totally confusing. No the one thing about console is obviously you got a pretty consistent experience you blow it in the game, you play the game. This is different right that your consistency or the experience will vary based on the connection speed.>> So I'm using our office connection now I'm playing Destiny to are we showing it And the thing is you can see some hiccups and and you know the way it's running it's, and that little bit of general especially for online shooter, can be really frustrating. Yeah. And for any game. And I think the question is sure that functions, but with. Stadia, right now you've to buy in to this founders edition package. If you want to get into that which has the Chromecast of the controller, you could just get the code for the, you can kind of skip that and eventually just connect online. That free tier that they've been promising is 2020. Okay. So you don't need to buy all these pieces but you kind of do need to buy the pieces. And ou there's a pro subscription games are purchased separately so I think that's also a disconnect as a lot of people think this might be like Netflix Yeah.>>Where you're subscribing and getting the game.>>That was kind of when it was initially pitched that was kind of like the gut reaction was like great like an all you can eat type plan.>>Sure. You have to pay full price for these games on top of the service, right? Yes, like Red Dead Redemption 2 Destiny 2, and those are the top games. Right now there's a 22 games, I played about six of them. It's not the latest and greatest list of all the top games. Right. The other thing is that Google is promising this whole wild world of YouTube connections with hosts where you can dive into their instances. Where you can have massive massive like thousand player battle rail type experiences. That stuff's not here yet. But we're looking at or just pretty standard games that they are streaming over the cloud on their servers and looking sometimes really good. And sometimes, maybe not. So I was more impressed with the streaming quality than I expected. And the controller sure it feels nice, but it's another controller But if that's just replicating what's out there I think what you're really doing is getting into a beta right now. Yeah it feels like this but he admits is definitely girls are playing the flag on the ground know for the broader future but let's look at 2020 because it's been a huge year for gaming. Right? You've got beyond stadia. We've got the next Xbox, next PlayStation. Mike you said Microsoft and Sony already investing in their streaming services and then. We've got a post by Ian shirt today on Amazon potentially wrapping up its own game Service Now they've already got Twitch and Exactly. And so the combination of Twitch and a gaming service seems pretty potent. What do you think everything looks like?>> Yeah, their servers and I mean, Amazon's perfect primed to have the backend system. Yeah. And they could fold in into something like prime. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that Amazon can do. And it seems like a perfect match for them. So I think right now you have a lot of players. The question is where do you land for that? I also think you don't need to be going into the cloud, you lose. Who has the ability to play offline. And so while it's cool, you can kind of play anywhere, you do have to carry the controller and find a place with a good internet connection. It was [UNKNOWN], the promise of being able to play this on your smartphone is fantastic, like I play my games on the train ride in, the connection is terrible. That's why I actually prefer playing on Switch, it's offline, I'm just playing like a dedicated, the gaming system. I love to have it on my phone but the connection speech is not gonna cut it. Yeah, the Switch represents the proposition that was around from like the NVIDIA shield days of like this modular Type of thing. And then you have Apple Arcade and Google's equivalent service, which is the idea of a subscription, but on the device, to download stuff, and it's kinda like the way that Netflix and other services work now, too, we can download and work offline. Is that keen to something like Stadia Then I think you may get the best of both worlds, but we're not at that point yet maybe we will be and where will Google really because everyone's been giving Google Flak any justifiably in that a lot of the projects start and stop and so you don't know if there's a sign that Google's committing into long term even with Phil Harrison Jay Raymond and the others who were in the gaming industry. I think the server part is very important for Google. Yep. How much it will resemble this in the coming years we don't really know. Well again, and Brian's gonna kill me cuz I'm gonna bring up 5G again. This is a service that seems tailor made for 5G. The service [CROSSTALK] Networks are kinda out right now, but not really. Like we're not gonna get to a point where it's gonna mainstream for another two or three years. But I think that's right on the timeframe where I [UNKNOWN] actually kind of fulfilling some of his true promise, that two or three year timeframe. If you look at it like the decade, of the next 10 years But things move at that speed. The idea of streaming, high speed stuff like this and have it work is really exciting. And that could apply even beyond games. But I think we are looking at the very beginnings of that once again. And so I like what Google is exploring with stadia. But that's like if you're not buying into it. Right. If you're looking to buy something this does not seem like anything other than what a someone who's a tech geek and one wants to play around with this idea would get out of it. You can get these games on other platforms. And game consoles go on sale over the holidays. So the price differential. Yeah, Is not that great. You got $150 console So, that's my thought. For The Daily Charge, I'm Roger Chang And I'm Scott Stein, thanks for joining us. Can't get enough, check out The Daily Supercharge, our extended post-show, with special features, audience Q&A, and in-depth reviews. Available now, wherever you get your podcasts.