Stadia Premiere Edition promises to give you premiere gaming without a computer or console - using a simple dongle (Chromecast) and a custom Stadia controller.
We are going to unbox this edition, look at the controller in great detail, set up the Chromecast Ultra (included), run around the Stadia interface on the Chromecast and on the mobile app.
There are many actions that have to be done on your phone as well - and we will go over this as well.
Then, we'll play several games to see just how well this service actually works.
Bonus: At the end of this video, my son and cameraman, Bryan, will try out a session of Dead by Daylight on Stadia.
Note: The mic folded back into my shirt, causing a few moments of mic issues. Some was removed but some did remain. Hopefully it won't ruin your enjoyment of the video. There are a couple of situations where there were issues adding the controller to the Chromecast - instead of removing these attempts for streamlining, we decided to leave this in as a fair assessment of issues with the Stadia. If these things bother you, use the chapter jumps to get around these parts.
Note 2: Games shown probably look better live than on the video due to repeat compression, framerate changes. I've attempted to comment on various scenes to ensure quality is imparted even if the video fidelity belies that.
CHAPTER JUMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:20 - Getting Started 01:20 - Opening the Box 02:05 - Instruction Sheet 03:19 - The Chromecast Ultra Dongle 04:20 - The Ethernet Enabled Power Brick 05:41 - The Stadia Controller 08:00 - Hooking it up! 09:06 - Setting up Chromecast Ultra 13:26 - Setting up the Stadia Controller 15:30 - Can you use the Stadia controller as a Bluetooth one? (Hint: No, but does work wired) 17:09 - Adding account to Stadia (plenty of issues here - probably a multi-account issue) 19:55 - Successful account linking to Stadia (finally) 20:45 - Figuring out the Stadia interface when you are not a paid member 21:00 - Launching (not playing) Super Bomberman - first load 21:50 - Playing with the Stadia controller buttons 22:10 - Stadia overlay demo 22:45 - How to exit Stadia game :) 23:06 - The Obligatory Morkie/Chorkie MW Video Dog Barkfest 23:19 - Changing Google Accounts to a Stadia PRO Accounts 24:15 - Switching accounts on Stadia UI 24:41 - More Chromecast detection issues (bonus garbage truck in the background) 25:20 - Successful connection (finally) 25:41 - Stadia Pro Account UI exploration 25:55 - Discussion about how Stadia works for buying games 26:46 - Scrolling through some of the "included with Pro" titles 27:37 - Comparing Stadia app on the phone 28:00 - Looking at Stadia store pricing (with price comparisons at time of video) 29:40 - Launching and playing DOOM on Stadia 31:05 - Talking about "instant game access" on streaming 32:47 - Showing in game button mappings with Stadia 33:45 - Discussing controller latency / basic testing 35:12 - Looking at the game Submerged 37:07 - Actual Submerged gameplay 38:50 - Discussing REAL network requirements of game streaming 40:40 - Let's do Sniper Elite 4 44:50 - Where are my screenshots? Captures? 45:35 - Finally found my captures (sheeze) 45:52 - Live stream? How do we do that? (This goes a long time, but there are some interesting finds along the way) 49:09 - Gave up on trying to live stream (hint: you have to do it from stadia.com only) 49:30 - Final Summary and Verdict 52:04 - Bonus: Bryan plays Dead by Daylight on Stadia with my interview
