A flavour so smashing -
& yet it fouled out:
Strawberries & shortbread -
a love match devout
But sadly it missed
all the fame it deserved,
A bit too much English
put into the serve.
Goddamnit. I fucking loved that flavor.
Vanilla with pieces of strawberry and fudge-covered shortbread cookies.
Doesn’t every tech company drop services though? Seems a bit weird to keep using that as a primary reason to hate on Stadia when you can create similar lists for Microsoft, Sony, etc.
I’m still mourning the loss of Creative Writer.
Google being behind Stadia is not a primary reason for me being cautious with Stadia. I don’t hate the idea of Stadia. I am currently cautious due to exclusives, and fully against exclusives outside of first party type arrangements in general… and even then I don’t like it.
It was great, second only to the (unfortunately branded) Dilbert Totally Nuts, which was easily my favorite B&J flavor of all time and is conspicuously absent from the graveyard cartoon.
Yeah, that’s a very incomplete picture. My local B&J’s shop sells a Flavor Graveyard t-shirt with lots more flavors listed on the back. Creme Brulee is the one I would resurrect.
Cool Britannia was sooooo gooooood! I hate them forever for discontinuing it. I can’t believe it’s been over 20 years…
I just don’t see how, if consumers are ready for pure streaming en masse (which itself is still a massive, unproven variable), and the tech works really well in real world scenarios (another massive variable), that Microsoft’s Project xCloud still doesn’t utterly eat Stadia’s lunch:
Microsoft has a more robust cloud infrastructure than even Google - Amazon and Microsoft are basically the top of the cloud pyramid right now from what I’ve read, with Google in a fairly close second. But a tiny coverage or bandwidth advantage is still an advantage, and they certainly aren’t worse off.
Microsoft actually has relevant business experience and relationships in the gaming industry, giving them a leg up in securing business deals for things like exclusivity, or securing titles for stuff like Game Pass.
Xbox is a recognized brand in the industry, with an actual existing customer base.
Microsoft actually has a pretty robust (and still apparently growing) first-party studios organization now, that will be churning out content you can only get on Xbox, xCloud, or a PC. Google has whatever Jade Raymond is making at her nascent internal studio, probably a ways off, and that’s it. Not only that, but a Game Pass subscription includes EVERYTHING these studios are going to be releasing into the future.
Microsoft offers you more flexibility. Want a console for home, and xCloud when you’re on the road? You can do that, and your purchases will follow you - you can even do it free by turning your console into a “personal” xCloud server. Start off with xCloud, then later buy an Xbox console on a sale? All your purchases will follow you. And you’ll be playing online with the entire Xbox ecosystem by default, not just other Stadia users. With Stadia purchases, you’re either on the pure streaming train all the time, or you aren’t.
Is there anything Stadia is in a position to do BETTER than xCloud, ultimately? Because all I see is a list of stuff where they are less well positioned. The one potential benefit they have is “launching” first… except your only option will be that Founders Bundle with the subscription, until some indeterminate point in the future when the “free” tier comes along, and you can get a base PS4 or Xbox One S mighty cheap these days.
Yes, the cost of entry to Stadia will be essentially free. It’s an app.
Now there’s no reason why Microsoft couldn’t release an app too, but they haven’t said they would.
Until we hear one way or another, that’s only a theoretical advantage though.
Microsoft themselves have acknowledged that they haven’t decided what the business plan for xCloud is going to be yet, but I it’s worth noting they have the benefit of announcing this stuff AFTER Google has. They know what their primary competition’s plan is.
So yeah – maybe! But I think it’s highly unlikely Microsoft don’t offer xCloud in a format with no cost of entry.
Being actually multiplatform, instead of only being available in the couple which MS controls. Of course, it shouldn’t be much of a challenge if they ever want to.
I’m not sure if that’s the case or if everyone just hates Google’s terrible support.
Oh, I guess that’s a point for MS: developers, developers, developers - whatever it takes.
What do you mean “multiplatform”? Honest question. I assume Google will eventually make apps for things like consumer televisions, phones, and obviously for computers, but Stadia is it’s own discrete “platform” not a PC, as the Destiny 2 news from a few weeks ago made clear (Stadia users can only play online with other Stadia users). And I can’t imagine Stadia apps are coming to the three consoles any time soon.
Microsoft have already announced their intention to bring xCloud to phones, and computers will be an obvious landing place as well. I don’t really see a difference there, aside from Chromecast - though Microsoft might make a dongle of their own.
The places I’ve read about Microsoft and Amazon’s overall cloud dominance, haven’t really been critical of Google - just pointing out that they aren’t as big in this space as those two companies. I’ve never read anything about anyone’s customer service.
Mac and Linux, maybe even an app for the Pi, like Steam link, but certainly something in a cheap ARM package. How much any of it matters differs, but either way, nothing in this is for me.
On number 2,I’m just saying I’ve read it’s a big factor why people don’t even think of them as an option.
I’d be surprised if xCloud wasn’t supported on Mac, and maybe even Linux, considering the strangely cozier relationship Microsoft has with Linux these days (especially for someone like me who was around during the Ballmer days). Raspberry Pi was one I hadn’t thought of though.
On point 2 - gotcha. Just wanted to make clear that the stuff I read didn’t seem to have any particular axe to grind on that front (at least to my recollection).
Public cloud uptake is also meaningless in discussing capabilities/capacity. Especially since this (and MS’ stuff) are private/internal undertakings, not a third party building something on top of public cloud offerings.
PS - doubt a third party would be capable of building out any of this on any of the public cloud offerings anyway
It occurs to me that the type of guys with nicknames like xxXXSephirothXXxx are now old enough to have a 5 years baby, and getting their second one.
First boy “Cloud”. With luck, their first girl is not called Tifa.
Is “Cloud” a good or a bad name for a baby?
I won’t use Microsoft products because they are unfashionable and evil. Part of the reason I don’t do PC anymore is to have zero surface contact with Windows.
Speaking as someone who was active on Slashdot during the Ballmer-throwing-chairs and Gates-as-a-Borg days, I think this perception of Microsoft is a little out of date - at least in so far as being uniquely “evil” in ways that don’t apply to virtually every gigantic tech conglomerate in Silicon Valley in 2019. Google are far removed from their “Don’t Be Evil” days too.
Anyway, still would love to hear what advantages, real or theoretical, that Stadia would have over xCloud.
Not sure why anyone would need to prove Stadia against another service that is even less tested than Stadia itself. There was at least a public beta of the Stadia service last year - no actual xCloud game streaming service has been demoed to the public.
I don’t think the market share or features of Amazon’s/Google’s/Microsoft’s developer cloud products have much to do with how well these gaming services will work. Internal products can move at a totally different speed and don’t depend on sales and marketing to succeed, only working well with their internal customer, the gaming service.
Microsoft’s XBox brand is strong, but not in the new “play anywhere you have a web browser” market.
Perhaps. The next console generation will be very interesting. In the last generation, Microsoft tried to kill the last surviving rights of gamers and game ownership.
Maybe on 2020 it will be the opposite, Sony trying to kill gamer rights, and Microsoft giving a fair copyright scheme.