Stadia
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Google is bringing Stadia to 18 new phones, including the Galaxy S20
Google's cloud gaming service, Stadia, has been exclusive to Pixel phones since its launch three months ago, but that's changing this week. On February 20th, Stadia will hit 14 Samsung models, plus the Asus ROG Phone, ROG Phone II, Razer Phone and Razer Phone II. The supported Samsung devices are (deep breath) as follows: S8, S8+, S8 Active, Note 8, S9, S9+, Note 9, S10, S10+, Note 10, Note 10+, S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra.
Google announces five Stadia games, including 'Panzer Dragoon: Remake'
Google has announced its next batch of games for its Stadia streaming service. The quintet includes entries from franchises that might ring a bell: Panzer Dragoon and Serious Sam.
Activision Blizzard pulls its games from GeForce Now
GeForce Now, NVIDIA's game streaming service, went live for everyone last week. It allows you to play hundreds of games from dozens of publishers in the cloud, but Activision Blizzard's titles are no longer among the options after the publisher asked NVIDIA to remove its titles from the service. "While unfortunate, we hope to work together with Activision Blizzard to reenable these games and more in the future," an NVIDIA staff member wrote on the GeForce Now forums.
Bungie is rolling back 'Destiny 2' accounts again
Destiny 2 is yet again going through some significant issues. Bungie took it offline for emergency maintenance at around 1:30 PM ET after players lost crafting materials, items and currency following the most recent hotfix, in a situation mirroring issues experienced back in January.
'Destiny 2' is offline as Bungie tries to fix a data-erasing bug (updated)
You might not want to look at your Destiny 2 inventory right now if you're an avid player -- you could be in for a rude shock. Bungie has taken the game offline for "emergency maintenance" after discovering that the latest update appears to have erased players' Glimmer currency, infusion materials (like ascendant shards) and possibly cosmetics currency like Bright Dust. Given that some of these items are particularly hard to get, that's a huge problem -- many hours of gameplay may have been wiped out.
'Metro Exodus' and 'Gylt' are February's free Stadia Pro games
Google has revealed the next two games that'll be available for free to Stadia Pro members on February 1st: Metro Exodus and Gylt. Once you've claimed them, you'll continue to have access as long as you keep your subscription to the game streaming service's premium tier active.
Verizon promo gives gigabit Fios customers free Google Stadia bundles
How do you sweeten the pot for gamers wanting extra-fast internet access? Throw in free goodies, apparently. Verizon (Engadget's parent company) is launching a promo that gives new Fios gigabit internet customers a free Google Stadia Premiere Edition bundle if they sign up through June 30th and are installed by August 1st, 2020. You'll have 4K game streaming tech that can take advantage of that fiber optic bandwidth. With that said, you'll want to think carefully about taking up that offer -- there are a couple of gotchas.
Google Stadia is being bundled with BT broadband packages in the UK
Google has partnered with BT, one of the UK's largest internet service providers, to get its video game streaming service in more homes. Starting today, anyone that signs up for a Superfast Fibre 2, Ultrafast Fibre 100 or Ultrafast Fibre 250 package will receive a free Google Stadia Premiere Edition. If you need a refresher, that includes a 'Clearly White' Stadia controller, black Chromecast Ultra, and three months of Stadia Pro, a subscription service that lets you stream a bunch of different games including Destiny 2 in up to 4K resolution and 5.1 surround sound. For reference, the Premiere Edition normally costs £119 in the Google Store.
Google Stadia plans to add over 120 games in 2020
When Google Stadia launched in November, it didn't garner an overwhelming reception, but it didn't exactly flop, either. It's a competent product that lets gamers play new titles with a modest investment in hardware. Just open up Chrome, an app or turn on your Chromecast and you're ready to play once you've logged in. Early adopters complained about lag, low-resolution visuals, missing features and a paltry selection of games, though. To address Stadia's growing pains, Google has drawn out a vague but promising roadmap for the year, with the addition of more than 120 games as a highlight.
Stadia Pro's free January games are 'Rise of the Tomb Raider' and 'Thumper'
Google is bolstering Stadia Pro's 'free' game lineup once more, although you might not be quite so thrilled with the consequences. The game streaming service is adding both the adventure sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider and the rhythm title Thumper to its no-extra-charge selection as of January 1st. However, Google is also taking away Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition on December 31st at 12PM Eastern. It'll still be available to play after that date if you claim it in time, but you'll have to miss out on the start of Lara's journey if you sign up in 2020.
Google Stadia achievements are live on the web, but not in the app
Google is slowly but surely expanding Stadia's feature set. The Stream Connect split-screen mode emerged with the release of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint on the service this week, and now another aspect of the service is live: achievements. You'll receive notifications on your PC or TV (if you're playing on Chromecast) when you earn them. You can check out achievement lists on the web, but not the mobile apps just yet.
Google buys Typhoon Studios to beef up Stadia's game library
Google is quickly bolstering its in-house work on Stadia games. The internet giant has acquired Typhoon Studios, an indie created by industry veterans (including from Batman: Arkham City and Far Cry 4) that's close to releasing its first game, Journey to the Savage Planet. The team will join the existing Stadia Games and Entertainment Studio in Montreal, but don't worry -- Journey is still on track to reach multiple platforms on January 28th.
'Borderlands 3' and 'Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2' hit Google Stadia
Google is slowly but surely expanding the number of games available on Stadia, giving you and your friends (thanks to those buddy passes) more titles to play together. It emerged back in August that Borderlands 3 was coming to the game streaming platform, and today's the day you can hop into the looter-shooter on Stadia. Joining Gearbox's game on Stadia is fighting RPG Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2.
Google gives another Buddy Pass to Stadia Founder's Edition owners
Stadia Founder's Edition purchasers will be getting a holiday surprise, with an extra Buddy Pass that can be gifted to a friend or family member so they can test out Stadia for themselves. The cloud streaming service allows users to stream any game to a TV, phone or laptop in up to 4K resolution.
Google Stadia's Assistant button starts working in 'early access'
When Google unveiled Stadia, its cloud-based streaming games platform, it showed off a button on the controller that linked directly to its Google Assistant AI helper. The idea is that players will be able to easily pull up tips and relevant information without even losing their game, however it wasn't quite ready for the service's playable-but-fragile launch last month. In a community update the company confirmed that it has rolled out "some Google Assistant functionality for your Stadia Controller." On Twitter, @StadiaDaily and @theStadiaCrowd confirmed that the feature works for players who are using it via a Chromecast Ultra. However, at the moment it only works on the Stadia home screen and isn't usable in-game. On Reddit Google said that right now players can use it to launch games, and the videos posted show players using Assistant pretty much as normal to answer questions. Eventually Google Assistant may bring some exclusive experiences to gaming in the cloud, but right now it's less functional than the Xbox One integration that can turn the system on and off, launch games and take screenshots.
Stadia vs. xCloud: How these game-streaming services stack up
Cloud gaming has finally arrived in a playable, frustration-free form (mostly, anyway), courtesy of two tech giants with the network infrastructures to actually make streaming happen: Google and Microsoft. However, both companies are diving into this all-digital, subscription-based market from different angles. Stadia officially landed on November 19th, and it's fair to say that Google overpromised and underdelivered on an ambitious launch that costs gamers $130 just to get in the door. Meanwhile, Microsoft is rolling out xCloud for free as a preview, asking for feedback and adding features as it goes. Now that both of these streaming services are playable in the wild, it's time for a good old-fashioned showdown. Considering one service has launched and already disappointed its supporters, and the other is in beta and delivering on its claims, you can probably guess which one comes out looking better here.
Google Stadia members can now hand out their three-month Buddy Passes
It's coming roughly a week after launch, but you now have a way to try Google Stadia without paying... provided you have the right connections. Google is rolling out its promised (but delayed) Buddy Passes to Stadia Founder's Edition buyers, giving them free access to Stadia Pro for three months. If you're a Stadia subscriber, you'll see an envelope icon in the mobile app that contains an invitation code you can send. If you're the recipient, you just have to redeem the code in the Stadia app to start playing.
Stadia Pro members will get two more free games in December
Google Stadia players will get access to another pair of games as part of their Pro subscription next week. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Farming Simulator 19 will join Destiny 2: The Collection and Samurai Shodown in the lineup at noon ET on December 1st. From then, you'll be able to play them at no extra cost as long as your Pro subscription is active.
Bungie finally has a fix for today's 'Destiny' server problems
Over the last twelve hours or so, people trying to play Destiny 1 and Destiny 2 have had trouble connecting to the game, but at last Bungie support says it has found a resolution. However, fixing the issue in Destiny's "core services" required restarting the servers and kicking everyone out again. So if you'd finally managed to log in and are now looking at a loading screen again, just give it a minute and keep an eye on the Bungie Help Twitter account for updates -- you'll get to those daily bounties soon. Update: In a subsequent tweet, Bungie said the downtime is expected to last until about 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET. Update 2: Now the repair period has been extended through 11 PM ET, we'll see how much longer it takes. Update 3: It took past midnight, but both Destiny and Destiny 2 services are restored.
'Gylt' hands-on: Stadia's first exclusive game is simply spooky
The developers at Tequila Works get bored easily. At least, that's how it seems after scrolling through a list of games the independent Spanish studio has released since 2012. It starts with Deadlight, a dark, side-scrolling action title set in a lonely zombie apocalypse. After that, Tequila Works released a murder mystery set inside a trippy mansion casino, a heartwarming platformer about a long-lost civilization, a narrative-driven VR title, a world-building app for iOS, and the official VR project for Sony Pictures' Groundhog Day.
