Google reportedly working on 'Yeti', a game streaming service. May feature 'console'/controller

[Velezcora]

Depends on where in the Middle East you're talking about. I live in Dubai and it seems to be pretty split here in terms of digital vs physical based on the people I know (yes I know this is anecdotal...).

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As long as someone is smart enough to know anecdotes aren't representative of everybodies experiences anecdotes are fine.
Especially in your case where your perspective is quite interesting for someone who has never been to Dubai.
Is Dubai quite a rich area of the Middle East? I hear it come up a lot in business related discussions.

 

[Crayon]

If they have a console that's a PC like reference machine, and then have both streaming and download options, plus a streaming client for mobile devices and browsers, ....

... My imagination is going wild lol. I can't wait to see what they're doing.

 

[THEVOID]

LOL

No thanks Google.

 

[Raw64life]

subscription-based game streaming service

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Pass.

 

[Proteus]

Yeti?

I expect blurry visuals and shaky camera movements.

Not a quality stream.

 

[Deleted member 8408]

As long as someone is smart enough to know anecdotes aren't representative of everybodies experiences anecdotes are fine.
Especially in your case where your perspective is quite interesting for someone who has never been to Dubai.
Is Dubai quite a rich area of the Middle East? I hear it come up a lot in business related discussions.

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Spoiler tags because it's off topic:

Spoiler

In general the culture in Dubai is very "western" so in the time I've been here (almost 5 years) there has been an increase in focus on the uptake of new technology. On the whole, yes the UAE (not just Dubai) is better off than most of the Middle East due to having diversified their economy (to become less reliant on oil) sooner than most other neighbouring states have.

 

[Saint-14]

Depends on where in the Middle East you're talking about. I live in Dubai and it seems to be pretty split here in terms of digital vs physical based on the people I know (yes I know this is anecdotal...).

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Yeah, I can see Dubai being different than most places here.

 

[kc44135]

Ewww, streaming games. It might be the future, but it's a distant future. If Yeti is anything like PS4 Now, count me out.

 

[Igniz12]

They have the capital and the patience to make this a success if they can get the casuals to adopt this method of gaming.

 

[Mihos]

Google jumps around on these moonshot projects like ARA and a few others so much, it's hard to tell if anything will ever actually come of it. Could be they are looking just image base streaming with local rendering or other hybrid method, although I don't see that happening in this generation of chromecast.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

I guess my question is, what games are they going to stream?

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Jetpack Joyride...uh...Goat Simulator.

 

[kappa_krey]

This.

I mean, based on my PS Now experience - due to the input lag, poor IQ and instability (due to absence of cache) of game streaming, in the real world it's really only suitable for very basic games. But very basic games could already run natively on a streaming stick, which kind of negates the point of streaming them.

I've no doubt that if Google is going to do gaming, then they're going to do it in a big way. Which is probably what has Microsoft quaking in their boots, because it wouldn't just affect Xbox, but also potentially Windows as a gaming platform. And it's the rumours about bigger players getting in the gaming market (Amazon too) which is why there might be some credence to some of the crazy acquisition rumours. Sony has far less to worry about, with PS Now already up and running even if it is ropey as hell, well established internal studios and plenty of exclusive IP. And Nintendo always just does their own thing.

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This would eventually affect Sony and Nintendo too, not just Microsoft :/ If Google can offer something better than PS Now (and cheaper, which they could do), then it's lights out for that. Hell, GamePass could prove a big problem for PS Now as things are atm. As for Nintendo, if Google's solution is in any way mobile-friendly and manages to get a lot of Japanese support as a result (especially if they actually try something seriously), then that will create big problems for the Switch; it doesn't exist in its own vacuum after all.

Guess we'll see what happens. Whatever it is, hope the final name isn't Yeti.

 

[Kthulhu]

Really interested to see what comes of this. Alphabet owns the company that made Pokemon Go, so it's not like they have no experience with game development.

 

[Aaron Stack]

Nvidia's Now is incredible. If this gets anywhere close to that, no one should feel apprehensive.

 

[J.Devesh]

In a lot of countries of Europe we are still waiting for a lot of hardware and services from Google (Like Google Home).

So... We will see this service worldwide in like 15 years maybe >__>

 

[Status Effect]

If Google are taking this as seriously as they have their Pixel phones and Home assistants (which by the hiring of Phil it seems they are) then this could get very interesting

 

[low-G]

Onlive was terrible. You can't force something like that to work.

By its very nature, it will always be an inferior way to play (additional latency, compression), plus have major impact on ownership (zero offline play, if the service goes down forget about ever playing again).

 

[SunBroDave]

Considering how many compression artifacts there were the last time I rented a movie via Google Play, I'm not exactly hopeful that a game streaming service from them would be viable.

 

[iswasdoes]

I still have to wait for YouTube videos to buffer, but they're gonna deliver lag free gaming? Hmmm

 

[Gleethor]

Bring google fiber to more cities so that streaming becomes way more viable, then we'll talk.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

Could semi streaming work where some parts are preloaded?

I've tried onlive, PlayStation, Xbox and Steam streaming and never had a great experience.

 

[Iucidium]

How would their servers cope post-Meltdown/Spectre?

 

[Deleted member 36622]

Nah, Google has money. I don't think it will do good but I think it will last longer then Ouya.

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Even Amazon has money and their attempt to make a console was a failure.

It's not just having money, you have to established relationships with the big third parties and it takes time and a huge amount of money: you have to put the effort into this.

Like many other projects from Google, i can totally see this being a timid attempt to make something, then if it bombs whatever.

 

[Delusibeta]

On the one hand, having to buy a $200+ box to even start playing video games is probably the biggest constraining factor for the medium. On the other hand, I'm not convinced that streaming games is a long-term viable option. We shall see how this works out.

 

[Deleted member 39329]

Yaaaaaaay, another android console

*pops open a bottle of whiskey*

 

[Charsace]

This could be why people think MS wants to buy EA.

 

[Ismailman]

1. Google Fiber is dead for the foreseeable future. I have multiple friends that were on the Fiber team. It is dead. They may bring it back with wirrless tech (G bought webpass) but for now it's dead.

2 Android is already the biggest gaming platform in the world (I think) .

3. Google is one of the two best streaming companies in the world as they own YouTube .

Putting all these things together I'm sure that G is exploring moving more into hardcore gaming as they see the revenue that PSN, Live and Steam are raking in. Those numbers are big enough to get G interested. They are also beefing up gaming on YouTube as well. My guess is they do something like Daydream which is put out a spec and reference hardware that is a "gaming Android" .I think the machines would be more Switch like than Xbox One or PS4 like.

 

[Chief Malik]

I thought the laws of physics prevented this from being good enough for most people?

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

"Whether Google will go ahead with the service remains unclear. The company intended to launch the Yeti service in time for the 2017 holiday season, but it was delayed for reasons that remain unclear."

Yah, cause physics.

 

[Chief Malik]

1. Google Fiber is dead for the foreseeable future. I have multiple friends that were on the Fiber team. It is dead. They may bring it back with wirrless tech (G bought webpass) but for now it's dead.

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FUCK

 

[Icespark]

This could be why people think MS wants to buy EA.

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Exactly in this day in age owning content is key. It's why Netflix/Amazon are doing their own original content. It is why Comcast bought NBC.

 

[Trago]

This could be why people think MS wants to buy EA.

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I don't know about all that. Even if Google did launch this service soon, I'm not too sure about Google's spending habits. Unless Phil Harrison's got some big plans for content.

 

[xch1n]

Anyone with Google Fiber ever try PS Now? Maybe at that internet speed these services can actually work, lol.

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I didn't try PSNow, but I played PUBG, Overwatch, and Destiny 2 on an iMac via GeForce Now and I have fiber from a Google Fiber subsidiary. I couldn't tell network jank over general Mac mouse jank, so it got thumbs up from me. As good as my local gaming rig? No. Without that as a reference, I definitely think it's passable as a good gaming experience.

That said, I don't think most people have 1000/1000 Mbps internet connections at their homes.

 

[caff!!!]

I don't see how this will succeed where many other stick consoles have failed. Mass video game streaming is going to be on the backs of current console giants, and PS Now is just the base framework for it.

 

[Aiustis]

Streaming video games will only work once a significant number of gamers can stream with ease.

 

[Kaji AF16]

Among the hypothetical new players in the gaming business, Google is the one which interests me the most, by a long shot: I would love to see what do they have to offer. That said, I presume they would somewhat overlap with Xbox if they follow a "conventional" console strategy.

Can Android power state-of-the-art, AAA titles? Or is it relatively limited to mobile?

 

[Wil Grieve]

Terrible idea. I had PSNow for a while and I abhorred it. The lag made some games impossible (Shadow of the Colossus)

 

[Smiles]

they should come out with a standard console and have the streaming thing as just a part of the whole
I would welcome anyone major player

 

[Galactor]

a google phone with buttons could be a great side effect of this

 

[Crayon]

If they made a little thing like an nvidia shield with a controller... How cheap could they do that 2 years from now? Would it have to be an nvidia soc or will amd apus be competitive in price?

 

[ianpm31]

Playing Yakuza 4 on ps now today and I must say I'm satisfied. Didn't really feel like I was streaming a game because the input lag was minimal. I do have fast internet though

 

[OldMuffin]

I do think that this is the future of gaming, but we just aren't there yet. It's going to take awhile, especially since many countries don't even have the infrastructure in place to support it. Maybe in another 15 years atleast, but not now. That being said, I wouldn't mind a google console as long as it's a traditional console and not like a games component attached to a set top box or something.

 

[jts]

This will be another embarrassing venture by Google.

 

[StereoVSN]

I am extremely skeptical of Google actually seeing a project through to completion over multiple years. They are famous of dropping things the minute the execs are tired of the latest toys or if something doesn't quite work and needs refitting.

 

[StereoVSN]

You cannot change the laws of physics

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No, but you can push servers to ISP data centers. So they could co-loc at Comcast/Verizon/Cox/ATT/etc. As long as you can get some boxes in under 500-600 miles service should be alright if your bandwidth is decent.

 

[lusca_bueno]

Let's see how serious the project is as soon as we get a first look at the launch library. But tbh, the more serious it looks, the more likely it will seem to not work as intended, I mean, how much lag would be involved in streaming a huge AAA game these days? I'm not really confident it's an easy technology to put out there, but who knows? I'm curious to see how this will turn out.

 

[Crayon]

You know, google. If you really want to do this, you better make some games.

 

[Deleted member 6730]

I thought the laws of physics prevented this from being good enough for most people?

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It's plenty doable in the US if ISPs got their shit together, made speeds faster and eliminated data caps.

 

[Overflow]

Going to be DOA on the Australian continent, if they even bother offering it here.

 

[Deleted member 6582]

I have no confidence. Google recently is notorious for chasing other companies successes and everything about this screams non-starter. Streaming games is not a thing, nobody likes it, it's too unpredictable. Switch cratered the last that market had to offer anyway, you can already play full games everywhere without an internet connection. Google will almost certainly not bring to the table the type of things that are necessary in terms of exclusive content, hardware innovation and mature services with large, active userbases. It doesn't help that they aren't the type to buckle down for several years to get that sort of experience and respect, they'll bail out or restructure after 2 years. Fail fast doesn't work in this market.