Google is planning to enter the gaming world in a big way tomorrow, at a keynote address during the Game Developers Conference. All signs point to the company officially unveiling and showing off its game streaming platform, dubbed Project Stream.
A new report by Kotaku's Jason Schreier, who has an excellent record of breaking inside stories in the gaming world, reiterated that the focus of tomorrow's event will not be a new console, but rather the Mountain View giant's game streaming platform. The report also suggests that the company is working on a new controller that was designed for the service, with speculation being that you could access the service on your TV with the controller alone. That would suggest that the controller will probably house special hardware beyond just what you'd expect from, say, an Xbox One controller.
Alongside this, Google is planning on making access to Project Stream - it's unclear if the company will have a more consumer-facing name for the platform at its launch tomorrow - as ubiquitous as possible, with PCs, Macs, phones and TVs all being able to stream games through it.
All that is pretty much par for the course with game streaming platforms. What is more interesting is that Schreier's sources reveal the company is planning on including some pretty exotic features with the streaming service. Unsurprisingly, Project Stream will include heavy integration with the YouTube, whereby you could for example pause the game and the service will be able to identify where you are in a game and pull up a relevant video tutorial for the game instantly.
There are also some pretty sweet streaming features planned. For example, you could access your favourite streamers' save games in real time and continue playing where they left off, or even join them in a game immediately at the click of a button - if the streamer allows it.
With all these features in mind, it seems Google is looking to add value to its game streaming platform that goes beyond just the ability to play games without needing to buy a PC or a console. It's looking to push the technical boundaries of gaming as we know it, and to add value to gamers' experiences by moving to a more flexible means of accessing games.
Last but not least, the report also suggests Google will probably have a number of game developers on board at the event tomorrow, pledging their support for Google's endeavour. The company might even be working on creating first-party exclusives for the streaming platform, if its string of gaming hires are anything to go by, the latest of these being former Assassin's Creed creator Jade Raymond.
These and possibly many other features will be revealed by the company at 10 AM PT at its GDC 2019 keynote on March 19.
Source: Kotaku
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