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Google already sending invites to test Project Stream

kennyamr

kennyamr

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,587
New York, NY, USA
So apparently Google started sending invites to test Project Stream tonight. (Assassin's Creed Odyssey)
They will be sending more invites over the next two months.
This is an extract of what the email says:


logo_project_name.png
Live the epic odyssey of a Spartan hero
Starting today, you and other Project Stream testers get to play this game free until January 15, 2019. No catch, just embrace your inner legend and then tell us what you think of this new way to play. Remember that you need to be at least 17 years old and in the U.S. to play this game.
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Play instantly with just the internet
Stream the game right in your computer's Chrome browser. With no installs or downloads, you can hop between computers just by signing in to your Google Account.
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Your access ends January 15, 2019
After January 15, you won't be able to access the game anymore or your saved progress and achievements. But until then, play as much as you want. To get you started, you'll have $10 of in-game currency to spend in the game (you won't be able to make additional purchases on your own).
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What happens next:
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Hop on a computer that has a reliable internet connection (don't worry, we'll run a quick test for you later). You won't be able to play on a phone or tablet.
R2MQsbpWxbv8B4YO9AuoVOL--SihI8bO0YDz3VBZ6GgtssuFB637y3H-6UHD_cZEueE_WqJdTFdFjCqvYh02LfMd1bPRWw=s0-d-e1-ft

Use your code to get started. You'll also need a Google Account and a recent version of Chrome, but we'll help if you don't have those already.
thbVBWUfuRio84gHbEZ64FroQJkHWuvpP3waZlF-QN2sMhCqzVGsy8YhY906h9TCuZYACNv7KINHTry9sK2xrMPP-eUPuA=s0-d-e1-ft

Create a Ubisoft account for your game if you don't already have one. Once you click "Play," you'll need to sign in.
FGQCUOOkHAWJNZTGfk4mj0PAI8LH7OoOGLaVhn98gv943Q-QPoYcBpmXr7KtX6nCXpw5IACpeK4rqFCPp8R0q7dxO3Fpnw=s0-d-e1-ft

Plug in your controller or mouse & keyboard and start playing. Try wired USB controllers like DualShock 4 or Xbox One and 360 controllers.
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So yeah, check out your emails in case you were selected.

You can request an invite here: https://projectstream.google.com/aco/signup

Or if you already have one, go here: https://projectstream.google.com/aco/invite


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Ars Technica posted a review of their experience with the service so far:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...-really-a-full-assassins-creed-in-my-browser/
 
Last edited:
GlowingBovine

GlowingBovine

Prophet of Truth
Member
Nov 27, 2017
790
Really impressed with the quality of this. The latency isn't a problem when playing, and the video quality is nearly perfect most of the time.
 
OP
OP
kennyamr

kennyamr

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,587
New York, NY, USA
Yea, I tried it for a bit too. So far I'm very impressed. There were 2 instances where the stream broke for a tiny bit but they were not a major problem.
98% of the time it's working flawlessly. Graphics are seriously good. Latency is not an issue either.
I tried it on my 2013 Macbook Air laptop and I had the Twitter app running as well as quite a few other tabs on Chrome.
I was using the PS4 controller and it worked like it should. (no touchpad, of course)
 
Admiral Woofington

Admiral Woofington

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,892
Guess I wasn't one of the lucky few who got in today. I'll cross my fingers. Would love to test this out even though I have a strong computer.
 
LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
Adding my impressions from the other thread:

My internet is as follows. The game automatically detected my Dualshock 4. I'm connected via LAN:
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There were times that it was running decently smooth, and times that it really started to chug along and drop frames. The game was okay, I personally don't care for Assassin's Creed too much, but the opportunity to try new tech and leave feedback on it is always fun for me.

For a first attempt at this I'm impressed while being about what I expected, and I can see this being pretty good in the end with some more optimizations. Just imagine whipping out your cheap Chromebook and playing AAA games from a browser.

I'm curious to see how those who may have worse internet than me fare, and how the impressions from here turn out.
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Impressions regarding input lag:

I just went back in to test it for you. I tested it with both my Dualshock 4 sticks, and the keyboard spamming left and right as well as looking around. Input lag is nonexistent, it's as if I'm playing a downloaded copy directly from my computer. It's just when the frames drop due to latency or whatever testing issues, is when it becomes a choppy experience.

I also forgot to mention the overall IQ is pretty fuzzy and it doesn't seem to be running at the highest PC settings.
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I should also mention this is the full game. So if you were interested in playing it and happen to get into the test, you can play the whole game for free.
 
Phoenix Splash

Phoenix Splash

Member
Mar 23, 2018
2,654
Has anyone in here tried out Parsec Gaming(I should clarify I'm asking about the connecting with a friend experience to play a game on somebody else's computer, not the cloud gaming experience) and how this project compares to it?(latency and input lag) I'm really interested. I'm not from the US, so I cannot participate for now.

Also, thanks to the guys that post their internet speed to compare experiences!
 
catskratch

catskratch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
656
I just tried this on a 4+ year old Asus Chromebook.

No lag, wi-fi connection, just used KB+Touchpad. Completely playable and looked amazing. Will try plugging it into an HDMI connection and try it on the TV.

This is insane, I have a full gaming experience on a Chromebook of all things.
 
Darryl M R

Darryl M R

The Spectacular PlayStation-Man
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,720
I'm really interested in these streaming services. I believe Google would have a decent subscription price compared to Nvidia. Competition will make this great.
 
skeptem

skeptem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,745
Signed up a while ago. After being disappointed with ps now, hoping this is somehow better
 
FantasticMrFoxdie

FantasticMrFoxdie

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
16,409
Mushroom Kingdom
Signed up! Thanks OP.

Is there a limit on the game or is the full game playable and one is able to beat it!?!

LightKiosk said:
Adding my impressions from the other thread:

I should also mention this is the full game. So if you were interested in playing it and happen to get into the test, you can play the whole game for free.
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Thats like 4x the speed of my internet

so i hope this runs okay lol
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,319
How are the graphical settings in this? Can you set everything to ultra like GeForce now or are the options not even available?
 
shadowhaxor

shadowhaxor

EIC of Theouterhaven
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,728
Claymont, Delaware
So far, there is some input delay, which was to be expected. But it's not bad and the game is totally playable. Had a few times where I would get a warning that my connection was spotty (100Mb up/down). Outside of this, it's really - I dunno, amazing. Playing AC:O via Chrome does have its merits. I do like where Google is going with this.
 
DavidDesu

DavidDesu

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
5,718
Glasgow, Scotland
Oh wow pretty good impressions. Makes sense the new Chromecast has Bluetooth to connect a controller..

I'm in the UK with 35mbps co nection but latency maybe about 40ms.. PS Now just doesn't work for me and not sure it ever will. But I guess this tech is constantly improving and this sounds like the latency is more than playable. Interesting times we live in not technically needing an expensive PC or console for full fat gaming.

Edit: Also should say that while I'm pretty much locked into the PlayStation ecosystem and unlikely to buy an Xbox next gen, if I can stream their big games that I will be missing out on via this alleged Xbox streaming device.. and if it works well enough of course, I think that's the route I would go down.
 
ragingbegal

ragingbegal

Member
Oct 27, 2017
795
It ran smooth for me. I'm sure there was some input lag but nothing noticeable. Image quality would drop every now and then, but overall it was fine. No stuttering. Played far enough to get a ship and get off the starting island.

I was playing hardwired on PC with a 100+mbs connection.

I still might spring for the Xbox version eventually for 4K, but this is really promising.
 
Mesoian

Mesoian

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 28, 2017
26,427
Played last night until the late title card in ACO.

Felt REALLY good. I managed to crash the game once and there was some wierd controller issues, but...yeah, for that game, for those systems, it worked REALLY well.
 
samred

samred

Amico fun conversationalist
Member
Nov 4, 2017
2,584
Seattle, WA
We just posted our tests after a full day of testing over two accounts: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...-really-a-full-assassins-creed-in-my-browser/

Sam at Ars said:
The results in our first day of testing, both on wireless and wired online devices, have been solid. As expected, we have seen noticeably better visuals when relying on a wired ethernet connection; wireless connections sometimes reveal serious blurs and smudges, particularly in the game's omnipresent dialogue captions. But both prove "good enough" at resolving AC:O's typically busy scenery, including long draw distances, foliage-lined hills, and climbable, crag-loaded textures.

What's more, Project Stream's source servers appear to render the game at near-max PC settings, especially in crucial categories like ambient occlusion and shadow-map resolution. (These categories, in particular, render at least "one higher" than their pro-console equivalents.) AC:O's focus on lengthy dialogue trees—and, thus, tight zooms on human faces—is all the better when that shadow-and-light pipeline enjoys as many pixels and bounce opportunities as possible.
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More at the link above, including galleries of the game and the general interface. (Click through the galleries for info on smaller details, like how long you can leave your game completely idle before getting shut off. Hint: 20 minutes.)
 
MattB

MattB

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,902
I tried it and boy did I have input lag. I have gigabit and the only other thing running was a 1080p video so ... I'll give it a try another time and hope it was just a bad first time.
 

HoodedSoldier

Member
Sep 29, 2018
2,266
I played for a little over an hour tonight. I have Verizon Fios Gigabit and it played pretty smoothly. Only thing lacking is the resolution. It could get look pretty muddy at times. The input lag felt great though. I think this could be good with time or at least good for people on the fence with certain games to let them try a game out if the price is right.
 
EssBeeVee

EssBeeVee

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,750
i have nothing against the service but when i started playing Ass Creed i wanted to die. it's so boring. i almost couldn't get through the first gameplay section. then i tried to play it after. but i couldn't. wish they had another game.

other than some small input lag, a bit of texture loading slowly. it looked and played fine
 
McFly

McFly

Member
Nov 26, 2017
2,742
I got into the beta and i must say it is pretty good in terms of lag and image quality. It pretty much looks like a 1080p YouTube stream in terms of quality. I think PS Now quality is a little better from my past experience but i will signup for PS Now free trial just to refresh my memory.
My internet speed is ATT 70Mb down and 10Mb up but i usually get less than 40Mb. I'm running on my laptop over 802.11 ac 5Ghz router.

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blitzblake

blitzblake

Banned
Jan 4, 2018
3,171
Does this being tied to chrome browser make it an identical experience on Mac's too? As far as what's available etc (ignoring specs)
 
bsigg

bsigg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,542
Played for about an hour tonight. Game looks pretty good, got some hiccups here and there but I chalk that up to the wifi on my laptop.

Latency seemed pretty solid. It might be AC Odyssey lending itself to being able to hide the lag because of the character movement but it felt pretty solid.
 
Razgriz417

Razgriz417

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,106
Played a few hours tonight and got to lvl 4. Didn't notice any input lag on my wired FiOS gigabit connection. There were a few parts in the beginning where things looked blurry. Wished they would put in an fps counter. Def playable, will try on my $90 Chromebook tomorrow lol
 
Manwell

Manwell

Member
Oct 25, 2017
392
USA
Played about an hour. Connection was all over the place and it definitely wasn't me. I have a solid 50mbps line and i was constantly getting the warning and the visuals and audio wavered back and forth between ok and terrible. I would really like to get a session in to where the connection is stable so i can test how good the input latency is.
 
Gevurztraminer

Gevurztraminer

Member
Dec 14, 2017
1,351
I also played for an hour or two and have very mixed opinions. I will preface and say I was expecting it to be terrible, but it was better than I expected but far from flawless.

Technically it was fine, a little blurry, and there was some dynamic resolution going on for sure. The framerate was avergae, but felt consistent, so it was fine. The real issue was the controller lag. Using a wired DS4 through a usb micro to usb c adapter, macbook pro 2017. Maybe it was the wire, I will try bluetooth and possibly a different machine another time. But it was very jank. The opening part was ok, there was only some lag, and quickly turning around didn't always register. There was a special move involving a trigger and a face button press and it would only register maybe 20% of the time. Eventually I just mashed the input to get it out.

When I got to the real start, it got worse. Alex/Kass would get stuck on the smallest geometry and I'd have to slow walk around things on the floor that I couldn't tell if they were part of the ground texture or physical objects in the way. The character would also just randomly start and go into full idle/stand position, and I'd lose all momentum. Also, moving the camera while moving just didn't seem to work. One stick would slow or not register, while the other would continue.

Also, was on wifi, couldn't connect on a 5ghz band for some reason although my router has one. I was in a position where I can stream hd videos no problem and all other programs/internet services were turned off.

This was only from a small playtest of course, and I plan to try it with different variables. Even with all the issues, I still enjoyed it and I'm thinking about picking up AC Origins and Odyssey now.
 
PlayBee

PlayBee

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 8, 2017
5,531
Tried it for a few minutes. Kinda hard to tell if the controls feel somewhat sluggish due to added latency or if that's just how the game controls. Other than that, it's fine. Playable, but not amazing. Not super impressed with Project Stream so far after trying GeForce Now, which in my experience offered better video quality and 60 fps. So hard for me to play a PC game at 30.
 
D.Dragoon

D.Dragoon

Member
Mar 2, 2018
1,310
It was much better than what I expected but I still prefer downloadable content. I am excited to be able to mainly game on my gaming pc/consoles and if I am somewhere away from home with decent internet I can pick up where I left off.
 
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