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E3: The Details of Google Stadia

The official start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is still days away, but the news and announcements are already coming in fast. Between Wednesday and Thursday, THQ Nordic surprised fans by announcing two new games—with a third to follow on Friday — Nintendo's announcement of its playable games on the E3 show floor, and Google provided much-anticipated details about Stadia.

Google Stadia

While Google will not be present on the show floor at E3, the company's presentation on Thursday was arguably the biggest E3 news thus far. In their first Google Stadia Connect, Google elaborated on the details missing from their original Stadia announcement at Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019, including pricing, games, requirements, and a launch month. Even with these specifics, there was a general feeling of unease about Google's latest gaming endeavor and the jury is still out on whether Stadia will be the success story that Google hopes it to be—especially with Microsoft likely presenting its xCloud streaming service on Sunday.

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What’s Going on at GDC 2019?: Day 2

Day 2 at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 was without a doubt dominated by the announcement of Google Stadia, a cloud-based game streaming platform. This service—scheduled for release in 2019—is set to change the landscape of gaming for many years, but it does have some serious unanswered questions and could be less than a dominant force in the gaming market. Not to be lost in the shadows, Tuesday also saw the partnership between Unity and Tencent, bringing the capability of the cloud to the rugged game development engine.

Google: Stadia

Google announced its new cloud-based streaming service, Stadia, during its 1:00 pm ET keynote; although some details are lacking, the technology looks promising. Stadia is a game streaming service built on top of the Google Data Center network, which includes over 7,500 edge nodes and is connected by high-speed fiber-optic links around the globe. While game streaming services have been lackluster in the past, Google appears to have the technology and network backbone to support its attempt at this type of service.