Google Stadia is the new game streaming platform the giant Internet company presented yesterday, and it promises to make available graphically-intensive games to everyone with a Chrome browser.
What novelties does Google Stadia bring?
Unlike streaming services such as Nvidia, Google Stadia “is built on an infrastructure no one else has,” as Majd Bakar, Stadia head of engineering said. If until now games were provided on a remote server that created latency, Stadia promises that rendering will be powerful. Google relies on “fiber optic links and subsea cables between hundreds of points of presence and more than 7,500 edge node locations around the globe, all connected with our network backbone.”
Gadget switching and split-screen multiplayer in Google Stadia
Players will be able to shift gadgets during the games and will allow players to share game states or save files. Another great thing is that it will enable split-screen local multiplayer on a single display, which was until now limited because games had to render two scenes at the same time.
Google Stadia was built on Linux servers and using Vulkan API. To make it, Google teamed up with AMD to create a custom sophisticated GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) with “more than ten teraflops of power.” Google also came with a custom CPU as “to make up a single Stadia instance.”
As Google CEO Sundar Pichai says, “games should be instantly enjoyable, with access for everyone.” Stadia will be available on “desktops, laptops, TV, tablets, and phones” with existing USB devices such as controllers, keyboards, mice.
Google Stadia and YouTube
Google said they would also release a controller with a button for sharing gameplay to YouTube. People who watch YouTube will be able to press “Play now” at the end of the video and go back to the game in less than 5 seconds.
