In December Google ran a sale where you received a Controller + Chromecast Ultra (Premier Edition package) when you pre-ordered or purchased Cyberpunk 2077. After the news of the game not running that well on the consoles (although Series X seems to be without many issues), I bought the game for Stadia. (50 euros for the whole package was a steal).
I dipped my toes in Stadia a while back, when they offered a free month of Pro subscription. It worked OK, but not perfect. But now, when using Stadia with the controller and Chromecast from Google, its a real eye opener. It works really well and my Cyberpunk experience has been a great one.
I tried it out via some free trial a while back. Used the Chrome browser + Xbox One controller + 5ghz WiFi. I played through Gylt and Panzer Dragoon Remake. I’ve also checked out Destiny 2 more recently as part of the free tier, and Doom 64. Gylt / PDR performed ok, I think PDR was much more difficult due to some of the lag and artifacting. Gylt had some similar issues, but the slower nature of the game made it easier to look past.
Destiny 2 has been fairly good to be honest. Looks great on my iPhone XR, played well enough but I didn’t spend all that much time beyond the first intro mission so I can’t say if that holds up. Doom 64 runs nearly flawlessly.
I got it for free via the recent youtube premium promotion they ran and Im very impressed with the tech. Vastly superior to Xcloud (to be expected) just needs to keep expanding its library.
Hopefully by the time Gen 2 of Stadia rolls around it fixes a lot of the dev issues for making ports + adds RT and all that.
Honestly, haven’t tried it. Rarely use XCloud either. My big issue is that I’m hardly leaving the house in any meaningful capacity due to Covid and my S7 is showing its age. So far it’s only Gylt, Bomberman, Pac-Man and Outcasters that are exclusive, no? Unfortunately none of those entice me to sign up.
Its not only meant for on the go, also using it on your TV works great. At least, thats how I use it as well. Im fortunate enough so have a fast internet connection, so even when my GF is watching Netflix the Stadia stream holds pretty well.
Controller is not of the same quality as the Xbox one, but its not a bad controller. I rank it similar as the PS4 controller. The Chromecast itself is a nice piece of tech, always has been.
With regards to exclusives, there is not a lot (yet). Currently there are about 160+ games available, but not sure which games are exclusives: List of Stadia games - Wikipedia
If the offer with Cyberpunk wasn’t such a great deal, i would not have thought about purchasing it. But having seen it with my own eyes now (25+ hrs in Cyberpunk right now) Im convinced of the technology. Just not sure on the business model.
I tried it the other day with Immortals on my phone. It wasn’t flawless, had a few stutters here and there and it was via touch controls too. Maybe my internet speed just isn’t enough for it, I have 250mbits, but via WiFi I never reach that.
And what is the resolution and framerate you get when playing on TV?
Using the Chromecast Ultra the max. resolution is 4K. But in all honestly I have not tested this. I run Cyberpunk at the performance mode, which means I get 60FPS (which looks to be the case). But no clue on the actual resolution. It looks very crisp though.
The concerning thing I see about Stadia is how certain games are behind or stopped getting patches entirely.
Borderlands 3 missed out on a lot of free content and events because of the lack of patches. I also saw where another recently released title Cyberpunk 2077 will only receive one more patch and then be done while the other platforms received multiple patches.
I’ve had good experiences with Stadia, subbed for a couple months but almost never played it though and ended up dropping it.
Technically it’s well ahead of xCloud, games load/start much faster and play better. 60 FPS Destiny 2 a year ago or whatever was pretty cool.
Lag for me was unnoticeable, basically felt like native. Residential cable connection just outside pretty big US city. Nothing special. I generally find xCloud to be the same.
Games lineup/Pro games are… Ok. Nothing to write home about.
I found out it really uses up data and I’m stuck with a cap so can’t play it too much regardless.
