Basically a box to stream games. Info just coming out now during the presser.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/19/goog...zojteRhhTn0da4

This thing will sell like hotcakes Ouya's.

isn't Microsoft already going to do this but with proven games, proven online platform and proven controllers?

It works well (Assassin's Creed looked fantastic in the Chrome version) but it's certainly an uphill battle. Don't like the controller.

This all said, "The company said that if someone is watching a video of a game on YouTube, they could hit a button that says "play now" and jump right into playing the game themselves in as fast as five seconds." is a great angle to sell it.

Yeah, the fact that you don't have to buy into an expensive device to play these games is most likely the draw (though you will need sufficient internet speeds, obviously, and that will probably be the huge caveat). It's definitely not an Ouya. I'm sure they're taking advantage of their CDNs and Google Cloud Platform, which makes me wonder why Amazon didn't beat them to the punch.

I guess my question is how are devices that weren't really designed to run games, especially ones that are graphically intensive able to run them without being crippled? I guess I don't competely understand the tech behind it. I don't think I'd buy into a gaming streaming service personally.

All the processing is being done elsewhere, the device you're using is basically just streaming the video from there. That's why input lag and stuttering are going to be important to minimize.

Yep. Yeah this is nothing new, at all. None have caught on in the past ten years, not sure this will either. But integration into YouTube is smart.

Playstation Now is kind of laggy from time to time, I haven't used GeForce Now.

Sample from the earlier beta:

Google and / or Apple could take over the industry anytime they wanted too. They have enough capital to do it. That being said, while streaming & cloud processing is the future.....we aren't there yet.

I have unlimited data, but that's fucking nuts

That'd make it what, 45mbps?

I have unlimited bandwidth and a 150mbps connection, and I still wouldn't do this.

Streaming shows/movies is fine, but there's no way I'd rely on a constant internet connection for every second of gameplay.
I'm using cable, so if just a few homes in my neighborhood are doing this at the same time as me - there'd be huge latency issues and dropped frames, etc.

I have fiber and dug the beta so I'll definitely give it a shot. I imagine it'll be used primarily for demos and a subscription service.

I have a hard data cap on my Internet. This will be a PASS for me

So is this going to be something like a console we will have to buy and hook up to our TV or PC to play? Does anyone think the big game developers will bring their games to this?

I'd be fine with streaming games - but we need better internet infrastructure, and ISPs need to be better regulated as well. Or heck, regulated at all.

Presumably since it will be streaming off of servers, it will be available on most PCs that have an internet connection, ie: even low powered chromebooks. So you can play it as a platform on your existing PC, or presumably buy a pretty cheap streaming box akin to a chromecast and a controller. If the platform is viable and especially if google invests in game companies, games will come.

In theory that should be the big draw, you don't need to invest in expensive hardware up front to play top of the line games. But you need great internet.

AT&T has a data cap too. So I think this will be a pass for their customers. No way you can stream games and play HD and 4K video and not hit it.

I have Spectrum and there's no cap, but my Internet doesn't have consistent or fast enough downloads to support something like this.

Pass...

This looks and sounds terrible.

Cloud based streaming appears to be the holy grail that all companies want, but it doesn't seem like it's what consumers want.

AT&T Fiber Gig has no cap (here at least), all other tiers are +$30/mo for unlimited which makes it the same price as Gig. It's weird. It's also Unlimited if you get a tv service from them.