5 ms·

For me, Stadia was by far the best gaming experience I've had in recent history. I'm a very casual gamer so I don't really want to invest a lot in hardware or b

For me, Stadia was by far the best gaming experience I've had in recent history. I'm a very casual gamer so I don't really want to invest a lot in hardware or buying games. Stadia made it very cheap for me to easily jump into a game session whenever I wanted with minimal upfront investment. I'm most disappointed to see Ubisoft+ on Stadia gone since several franchises I like were Ubisoft and now I have no easy way to play. I'll probably check out GeForce NOW at some point, but I currently don't have a way to use my only controller (Stadia) with my TV.

pdimitar 4y ago
If you don't care about graphic performances or photo-realistic quality then I can't recommend the Switch enough. Some find find the initial 300-400 EUR investment a bit steep but after you go through that they have sales all the time and you can easily amass a collection of 50+ games for a maximum of 200 EUR. I did that over the course of 2 years -- less than 10 EUR a month. Now I can't decide which game to play because I have so many, lol.
- wielebny 4y ago
  There are several gems - my family easily spent 1000+ hours on Wittcher 3, Zelda, Hades or Animal Crossing - but most of the games are just too bland. I'm a fan of cloud gaming and have used both Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It appeals to me, as I don't have to invest in a gaming rig and can play on almost everything.
  - DrSiemer 4y ago
    As a game collector and conservationist, I can only hope cloud gaming never becomes the norm.
- michaelmior 4y ago
  I really don't care that much about graphics. Sure, I don't want something that looks awful, but I care more about just taking a break and having a good time. The Switch is definitely something I've considered, but the cost relative to how much I would expect to use it makes it a more difficult choice for me than it was to pick up a Stadia controller.
  - ElCapitanMarkla 4y ago
    I was in this boat but for a while before finally biting the bullet and getting one. Zelda is easily the best game I’ve ever played, I ended up spending over 80 hours on that when I’m lucky to ever spend over 10 hours on a game. I got the Switch a few months before my second was born and it’s such a great system if you can only squeeze in small bursts of gaming, power button instantly puts it to sleep, then it instantly wakes right where you left it. Worth picking them up second hand now too, Facebook marketplace seems to have some pretty good deals going at times.
    - michaelmior 4y ago
      That's certainly an argument in favor of the Switch. And as a big Harry Potter nerd, I'm also very interested in Hogwarts Legacy and the promise that will eventually make it to the Switch.
- brnt 4y ago
  The price of a Switch got you 3.5 years of Stadia. That's not bad, if they had sales too.
  - michaelmior 4y ago
    I mostly played free games on Stadia. The rest was paid for with Google Play credits I had built up, so I really only paid for the controller.
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  > If you don't care about graphic performances or photo-realistic quality then I can't recommend the Switch enough. Or just performance in general, or a game library not made entirely by Nintendo, or hardware that doesn't have problems after a few months of usage, or, or, or... The Switch is good for people that specifically want the Nintendo Switch games, for anyone else it's the absolute last choice any day of the week.
  - goosedragons 4y ago
    Uh pretty sure Nintendo didn't make several thousand of the 4418 Switch games... The Switch is good for anyone that wants a portable console that can also easily be played on a TV with friends and family. Sure if you're a PC Master Race Snob who absolutely can't stand if a game is remotely under 1080p 60FPS maybe it's not the console for you but IME at least everything is playable except for a handful of awful ports.
    - iLoveOncall 4y ago
      > The Switch is good for anyone that wants a portable console that can also easily be played on a TV with friends and family. For $100 more you'll get a Steam deck, which will be superior in literally every aspect. > Sure if you're a PC Master Race Snob who absolutely can't stand if a game is remotely under 1080p 60FPS The Nintendo Switch struggles to run Nintendo games at 25 FPS at 720p. And this is with graphics would be bested by a phone. There's nothing about being a snob here. Hell you can pick up an XBox 360 for $20 on eBay and it will run better than a Nintendo Switch. Also the controller won't break after 30 hours of usage, unlike the Switch.
      - goosedragons 4y ago
        Have you used a Nintendo Switch? I kinda doubt it. The Nintendo Switch is way more powerful than the 360 and it shows. Go play something that was on both consoles like Skyrim, Crysis, Doom 3 etc side by side. The Switch versions run better with more effects and run at a higher resolution. Most Nintendo games run well, Mario Kart 8 is 1080p 60FPS (how many 360 games are that like 6?), Mario Odyssey is 900p 60FPS, Bowser's Fury is 60FPS docked, Metroid Dread is 900p 60FPS docked. None of my Switch controllers have broken either and they've seen more than 30 hours use. I have both a Switch and Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is good and more powerful but it's also considerably bigger, louder, heavier with worse battery life and I've run into far more issues in the 2 months with it on verified games alone than all my time with the Switch. Using it docked is clunky, ditto doing local play. It's still a PC at heart which is fine but the Switch has an ease of use factor the Steam Deck simply does not have.
breakfastduck 4y ago
Do you have amazing internet? These services are basically unusable to everyone I know, and we have pretty decent connections. The input lag is just horrific.
- marginalia_nu 4y ago
  Probably depends on where you live as much as how fast your connection is. Hard to get adequate ping. 100ms ping means the equivalent of a 6 frame input delay at 60 fps. That's very noticeable.
  - arcticbull 4y ago
    And that's on top of USB input delay (up to 40ms [1]) or Bluetooth 5.0 (20-100ms), plus your monitor (4ms+). [1] https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/40182/1/On_the_Latency_of_USB-Connected_Input_Devices_author_version.pdf https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/40182/1/On_the_Latency_of_USB...
    - marginalia_nu 4y ago
      Yeah dude, if you're playing on a TV as well, one that doesn't have a way of disabling its postprocessing, you may be slapping another 250 ms on that.
    - candiodari 4y ago
      It doesn't: the controller uses Wifi, not USB or Bluetooth. It communicates directly with the Stadia servers. It only has it's own internal lag + Wifi. https://stadiafever.com/why-does-the-stadia-controller-use-wi-fi/ https://stadiafever.com/why-does-the-stadia-controller-use-w... Note: if you want to give your Stadia controller a second life after the service shuts down, you can do that using USB. Reportedly rumble works on Steam and Xbox. Bluetooth does not work, even though there seems to be a lot of demand for that.
      - nightski 4y ago
        I've spent quite a bit on WiFi in my house and I can get almost gigabit speeds over 6e. But latency is terrible. I have no idea how they'd manage that.
vertis 4y ago
GeForce NOW is really good. Good selection supported of games tied to your Steam/Epic/Origin purchases. They suport Ubisoft+ and EA Play (for at least some of the games). Played through a bunch of Ubisoft titles I'd missed this way. I use a Playstation 4 controller with my Macbook Pro and it all works nicely. Not sure how that would work with TV.
- krzyk 4y ago
  > Good selection supported of games tied to your Steam/Epic/Origin purchases Also some GOG purchases (like Witcher 3 or CP2077).
thiht 4y ago
> I currently don't have a way to use my only controller (Stadia) with my TV. Just buy an Xbox controller. I bought mine almost 10 years ago and still use it regularly when playing on a computer. I’ve never bought an Xbox but having an Xbox controller around is really convenient.

pdimitar 4y ago

If you don't care about graphic performances or photo-realistic quality then I can't recommend the Switch enough. Some find find the initial 300-400 EUR investment a bit steep but after you go through that they have sales all the time and you can easily amass a collection of 50+ games for a maximum of 200 EUR. I did that over the course of 2 years -- less than 10 EUR a month. Now I can't decide which game to play because I have so many, lol.

wielebny 4y ago
There are several gems - my family easily spent 1000+ hours on Wittcher 3, Zelda, Hades or Animal Crossing - but most of the games are just too bland. I'm a fan of cloud gaming and have used both Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It appeals to me, as I don't have to invest in a gaming rig and can play on almost everything.
- DrSiemer 4y ago
  As a game collector and conservationist, I can only hope cloud gaming never becomes the norm.
michaelmior 4y ago
I really don't care that much about graphics. Sure, I don't want something that looks awful, but I care more about just taking a break and having a good time. The Switch is definitely something I've considered, but the cost relative to how much I would expect to use it makes it a more difficult choice for me than it was to pick up a Stadia controller.
- ElCapitanMarkla 4y ago
  I was in this boat but for a while before finally biting the bullet and getting one. Zelda is easily the best game I’ve ever played, I ended up spending over 80 hours on that when I’m lucky to ever spend over 10 hours on a game. I got the Switch a few months before my second was born and it’s such a great system if you can only squeeze in small bursts of gaming, power button instantly puts it to sleep, then it instantly wakes right where you left it. Worth picking them up second hand now too, Facebook marketplace seems to have some pretty good deals going at times.
  - michaelmior 4y ago
    That's certainly an argument in favor of the Switch. And as a big Harry Potter nerd, I'm also very interested in Hogwarts Legacy and the promise that will eventually make it to the Switch.
brnt 4y ago
The price of a Switch got you 3.5 years of Stadia. That's not bad, if they had sales too.
- michaelmior 4y ago
  I mostly played free games on Stadia. The rest was paid for with Google Play credits I had built up, so I really only paid for the controller.
iLoveOncall 4y ago
> If you don't care about graphic performances or photo-realistic quality then I can't recommend the Switch enough. Or just performance in general, or a game library not made entirely by Nintendo, or hardware that doesn't have problems after a few months of usage, or, or, or... The Switch is good for people that specifically want the Nintendo Switch games, for anyone else it's the absolute last choice any day of the week.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  Uh pretty sure Nintendo didn't make several thousand of the 4418 Switch games... The Switch is good for anyone that wants a portable console that can also easily be played on a TV with friends and family. Sure if you're a PC Master Race Snob who absolutely can't stand if a game is remotely under 1080p 60FPS maybe it's not the console for you but IME at least everything is playable except for a handful of awful ports.
  - iLoveOncall 4y ago
    > The Switch is good for anyone that wants a portable console that can also easily be played on a TV with friends and family. For $100 more you'll get a Steam deck, which will be superior in literally every aspect. > Sure if you're a PC Master Race Snob who absolutely can't stand if a game is remotely under 1080p 60FPS The Nintendo Switch struggles to run Nintendo games at 25 FPS at 720p. And this is with graphics would be bested by a phone. There's nothing about being a snob here. Hell you can pick up an XBox 360 for $20 on eBay and it will run better than a Nintendo Switch. Also the controller won't break after 30 hours of usage, unlike the Switch.
    - goosedragons 4y ago
      Have you used a Nintendo Switch? I kinda doubt it. The Nintendo Switch is way more powerful than the 360 and it shows. Go play something that was on both consoles like Skyrim, Crysis, Doom 3 etc side by side. The Switch versions run better with more effects and run at a higher resolution. Most Nintendo games run well, Mario Kart 8 is 1080p 60FPS (how many 360 games are that like 6?), Mario Odyssey is 900p 60FPS, Bowser's Fury is 60FPS docked, Metroid Dread is 900p 60FPS docked. None of my Switch controllers have broken either and they've seen more than 30 hours use. I have both a Switch and Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is good and more powerful but it's also considerably bigger, louder, heavier with worse battery life and I've run into far more issues in the 2 months with it on verified games alone than all my time with the Switch. Using it docked is clunky, ditto doing local play. It's still a PC at heart which is fine but the Switch has an ease of use factor the Steam Deck simply does not have.

breakfastduck 4y ago

Do you have amazing internet? These services are basically unusable to everyone I know, and we have pretty decent connections. The input lag is just horrific.

marginalia_nu 4y ago
Probably depends on where you live as much as how fast your connection is. Hard to get adequate ping. 100ms ping means the equivalent of a 6 frame input delay at 60 fps. That's very noticeable.
- arcticbull 4y ago
  And that's on top of USB input delay (up to 40ms [1]) or Bluetooth 5.0 (20-100ms), plus your monitor (4ms+). [1] https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/40182/1/On_the_Latency_of_USB-Connected_Input_Devices_author_version.pdf https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/40182/1/On_the_Latency_of_USB...
  - marginalia_nu 4y ago
    Yeah dude, if you're playing on a TV as well, one that doesn't have a way of disabling its postprocessing, you may be slapping another 250 ms on that.
  - candiodari 4y ago
    It doesn't: the controller uses Wifi, not USB or Bluetooth. It communicates directly with the Stadia servers. It only has it's own internal lag + Wifi. https://stadiafever.com/why-does-the-stadia-controller-use-wi-fi/ https://stadiafever.com/why-does-the-stadia-controller-use-w... Note: if you want to give your Stadia controller a second life after the service shuts down, you can do that using USB. Reportedly rumble works on Steam and Xbox. Bluetooth does not work, even though there seems to be a lot of demand for that.
    - nightski 4y ago
      I've spent quite a bit on WiFi in my house and I can get almost gigabit speeds over 6e. But latency is terrible. I have no idea how they'd manage that.

vertis 4y ago

GeForce NOW is really good. Good selection supported of games tied to your Steam/Epic/Origin purchases. They suport Ubisoft+ and EA Play (for at least some of the games). Played through a bunch of Ubisoft titles I'd missed this way. I use a Playstation 4 controller with my Macbook Pro and it all works nicely. Not sure how that would work with TV.

krzyk 4y ago
> Good selection supported of games tied to your Steam/Epic/Origin purchases Also some GOG purchases (like Witcher 3 or CP2077).

thiht 4y ago

> I currently don't have a way to use my only controller (Stadia) with my TV. Just buy an Xbox controller. I bought mine almost 10 years ago and still use it regularly when playing on a computer. I’ve never bought an Xbox but having an Xbox controller around is really convenient.