Google Stadia: Just What Are Teraflops, And Why Should You Care?
Google’s game-streaming platform Stadia will be here soon, allowing you to play AAA games with high quality graphics on just about any device, thanks to the custom-built CPUs and GPUs doing the heavy lifting on a cloud server.
Google is boasting 10.7 teraflops of performance–or as they put it, “more than the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X combined.” But what does that actually mean?
Floating Points
FLOPS is an acronym that stands for Floating Point Operations Per Second. Without getting too technical, floating point operations are the types of complex calculations your computer needs to perform when, say, drawing polygons on your screen.
Google Outlines How Stadia YouTube Integration Works
One of Google's announced features for its game-streaming Stadia platform is a type of YouTube integration that will allow you to begin playing a game while you're watching a video about it.
To demonstrate the new YouTube integration, Google showed the trailer for Assassin's Creed Odyssey and the new "Play" button creators can add to YouTube videos. Once the trailer is over, Stadia users can click the button and begin playing on their device of choice.
During streams, a Google Stadia feature called Crowd Play comes into effect. You can watch a game being played, click the Crowd Play button, and "jump in and play with YouTube creators that you're watching," Google promises.
Google Announces Stadia Controller
During its GDC 2019 keynote address, Google unveiled the official controller for its streaming platform Stadia.
Google VP Phil Harrison revealed the controller connects to whatever platform players are streaming Stadia with via Wi-Fi, directly to the game that is running in the Google data center. The controller allegedly identifies which screen or device players want to use, and syncs it with their game session running in the cloud.
On top of standard controller functions and buttons, the Stadia controller features a capture button (analogous to the PS4’s share button) which shares and saves gameplay experiences to YouTube with the click of a button. The controller also features a Google Assistant button, which allows players to immediately access the controller’s built-in microphone, to “get help from the assistant for special in-game features integrated by developers."
Google Announces a First-Party Game Studio
Google has announced its first-party studio, Stadia Games and Entertainment, and it will be headed by Jade Raymond.
Announced during the reveal of Google Stadia and its controller, Stadia Games and Entertainment will be developing titles for Google's gaming platform that will be launching later this year.
Jade Raymond recently joined Google as a VP and will bring her experience in helping create and lead such titles as Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed 2 and founding and leading both EA's Motive Studio and Ubisoft Toronto to Google and the Stadia platform.
Google Announces Gaming Partnerships With Ubisoft, More 3rd Parties
Google has announced some its partners for its new Stadia gaming platform, and on board are such companies as id Software with Doom Eternal and Ubisoft with Assassin's Creed.
Announced alongside the reveal of Stadia and its controller, Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot and executive producer of id Software Marty Stratton took the stage to help announce their partnerships with Google.
id Software's Marty Stratton even announced that Doom Eternal will run on Stadia at full 4K and with 60fps.
Ubisoft, who has already been working with Google on bringing Asassin's Creed Odyssey to Project Stream, announced that they will continue collaborating with google.
Google Claims Stadia Is More Powerful Than PS4 and Xbox One Combined
During its GDC 2019 conference, Google made the claim that its streaming platform Stadia is more powerful than PS4 and Xbox One... combined.
During the address, Google claimed Stadia runs at 10.7 GPU teraflops using a single GPU while the PS4 Pro runs at 4.2 GPU teraflops and the Xbox One X runs at 6.0 GPU Teraflops.
The claim that Stadia runs with 10.7 GPU teraflops is when working with a single GPU. However, using multiple GPUs, Google claims Stadia can run even faster, making computing-intensive tasks like water simulation much easier, and more realistic. This power, of course, is dependent on players having a super-fast internet connection.
Konami Code Shows Up on Google’s New Streaming Controller
UPDATE: Entering the Konami code on the Stadia store page for the controller unlocks a 360-degree view, as spotted by redditor u/WriggleN.
If you're watching the live reveal of the new Google streaming service known as Google Stadia, you might have missed a reference to one of the most beloved and well-known "secret" codes of all time.
During the presentation, when the buttons on the new controller were being shown and their functions explained, the on-screen graphic turned the controller to reveal the Konami code printed below the built-in microphone and audio jack.
Google Teasing Big 3rd Party Games Coming to Its Streaming Platform
Google's Game Developer's Conference keynote graphic leading up to the live reveal appears to be low-key teasing games coming to its streaming box.
The graphics, seen below, seem pretty obvious. There's one showing icons for sports, specifically five sports with games made by EA. There's also a graphic with a cowboy hat and horse, among other western-themed graphics, pointing to a potential Red Dead Redemption inclusion in Google's new platform.
Check them out in the gallery below:
Google announced its new streaming platform for gaming, Stadia, during its keynote from GDC 2019.
New to Netflix for April: New Sabrina, “Bandersnatch”-Style Survival Series
Netflix in April is...a little spooky? Are we doing Halloween in Spring now?
The creepy vibes aren't simply because Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is back, but also Sabrina's Kiernan Shipka is starring in a new horror flick called The Silence - which looks to be a new entry in Sensory Deprivation Horror, ala Bird Box and A Quiet Place.
Plus, there's a new zombie series starring Jaime King that's a prequel to Syfy's Z Nation, called Black Summer. So things are going to get a bit frosty during the flowery days ahead.
On the movie front, there are classics like All the President's Men, Bonnie and Clyde, and Deliverance, along with empowering flicks like Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and P.S. I Love You.
AR Angry Birds Game Announced
Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs, an augmented reality game from the prolific mobile game series, has been announced for iPhones and iPads with ARKit support.
Announced by Rovio and Resolution Games at GDC 2019, Angry Birds AR is set to hit iOS devices in late spring, though it’s available for preorder now on the App Store for iPhone 6s and later, all iPad Pro models, as well as iPad 5th and 6th generations.
The game lets players use the Angry Birds slingshots, shooting birds at the piggy-constructed towers that exist in the player’s own environment. It’s launching with at least 40 levels, integrating classic Angry Birds gameplay into an AR landscape. Players can view the levels in real time, and are able to walk 360-degrees around levels to find weaknesses, hidden items and line up perfect shots.