That's Stadia

Everything seemed to indicate that Google was going to present a kind of video console at the Game Developers Conference 2019 (GDC), but in the end it was not. The search engine giant has set hardware aside to focus on what it knows best: services. So, Stadia is a new gaming platform that allows you to enjoy AAA titles on any device If our Internet connection allows it, we can play up to 4K resolution HDR at 60 fps.

Google wants us to forget about everything "complicated" that current systems offer.In other words, no downloads, installations or updates that only delay the start of the game. Those of Mountain View assure that in Stadia everything is instantaneous. Just a few seconds after pressing Play we will be playing the chosen title

We can play from any device

https://youtu.be/HikAuH40fHc

As a cloud gaming service, games run on computers in the Google data center. Only the image and sound will reach us. This means that we don't need a powerful device to be able to play, just a good Internet connection. So we can play on a laptop, a desktop computer, a Chromecast, TVs compatible with Google Cast and even on mobile phones and tablets

Google ensures that it will be able to broadcast the games in up to 4K HDR resolution at 60fps at the time of release. However, they have promised that the system will not stop there, coming to offer 8K resolution and rates of 120 fps in the future.

To achieve this, Google has relied on AMD for the development of the platform. Together they have built a system that offers graphics processing power of up to 10.7 TeraFLOPS. In other words, far superior to the current generation of consoles.

A special controller for Stadia

Although they have not developed a console as such, Google has introduced a new controller specially developed for Stadia. At the design level, it looks a lot like a PS4 controller, for example, but it has some special functions.

For example, is a controller that connects directly to the WiFi network and Google servers. That is, it does not connect to the device with which we are playing. This means that, according to Google, the response latency is minimal.

In addition, it has two special buttons, one for capturing images and the other for the Google Assistant The latter will allow us to activate some interesting functions from the command itself. For example, if we have gotten stuck on a screen in the game, we can ask him to show us how to overcome it. What the wizard will do is search for videos showing the solution.

As for the titles, at the moment Google has not published a list of those that will be available. But we do know that he has been working with Ubisoft during the creation of the service, so the French company's games are sure to be in the catalog. On the other hand, in the presentation of Stadia, ID Software announced that Doom Eternal will be available to play from this service

Stadia Games and Entertainment

https://youtu.be/AffodEEF4ho

In addition to the streaming service itself, Google has announced Stadia Games and Entertainment, its own division in charge of creating exclusive video games for Stadia This division has two clear objectives. On the one hand, supporting independent developers who want to create games for the new Google platform.

On the other hand, to become one of the big triple-A video game creation studios This would allow them not to have to depend on the big studios and have exclusive games, which after all is one of the great attractions of any gaming platform.

Also, Google wants us to be able to run Stadia from almost any service. For example, the presentation featured a video of a game trailer showing a new Play button. That is, directly from the YouTube video we can start playing any gameThe same will happen from services like Twitter or Facebook.

Price and availability

At the moment Google has not provided prices or the exact launch date of its new service. Although they have assured that Stadia will arrive in 2019 In this initial presentation they promised to give more information about the service next summer, probably in a new event.

Regarding availability, Google announced that Stadia will launch at the same time in North America (US and Canada), UK, and "much" of Europe. We hope that Spain is among the selected countries.