Even though Google Stadia is set to die in a matter of days, its controller will live on. There was some uncertainty about the matter, with users realizing that after the Stadia service would shut down, the controllers would be rendered inoperable, and there was no confirmation as to whether that would change, until now. Google has officially announced that next week, a self-serve tool will be released that allows anyone with a Stadia controller to enable Bluetooth features. The Stadia development team also made one final game release onto the storefront which will only exist for the last few remaining days of the service, simply titled Worm Game. According to Google, this was a test game that developers used to test Stadia's features, prior to its official launch.

Source

 

[spinal_cord]

It's a nice gesture on Googles part. There are loads of game systems with propriatory hardware that gets no real user support from the original company. Google did not in a ny way NEED to do this, none of us are entitled to use the hardware after the end of the 'consoles' life.

What would be nice though, would be if 8bitdo jumped in and made an update for their USB adaptors to support the updated controllers on the switch...

 

[Marc_LFD]

Google did not in a ny way NEED to do this, none of us are entitled to use the hardware after the end of the 'consoles' life.

What a greedy and selfish attitude. The customer bought it and even though it could be used via BT, Google decided not to allow it originally which was really stupid.

If you don't believe in customers having any rights to being entitled to it, then you must never customize or hack the consoles you may have.

 

[spinal_cord]

What a greedy and selfish attitude. The customer bought it and even though it could be used via BT, Google decided not to allow it originally which was really stupid.

Huh?

I have never met a single person online or in real life that bought a stadia controller specifically to use a bluetooth chip that Google never used in their current use case.

If anyone had the willingness to unlock the bluetooth and write the required software, there has been nothing at all stopping them.

Under that assumption, every single cell phone manufacturer should be forced to write software to enable the 4G chip to be used for listnening to FM broadcasts simply because the hardware is capable of it.

 

[Marc_LFD]

I have never met a single person online or in real life that bought a stadia controller specifically to use a bluetooth chip that Google never used in their current use case.

Stadia controllers have a built-in battery, BT, and that battery and BT would go to waste if Google kept on being stubborn to not allow it.

Some were calling it "e-waste" due to no BT support, but that's changing.

People should not be encouraging anti-consumer behavior.

 

[spinal_cord]

that battery and BT would go to waste if Google kept on being stubborn to not allow it.

"Not allowing it" is different from not doing someones work for them. Just because Google hadn't done this previously, does not and never did prevent anyone else from doing this. If I had the knowledge or motivation I might have done it myself, but I have neither. There are far smarter people than me who could have done this easily, but they didn't.

As for e-waste... there are many recycling centers and services to tackle that issue. If you don't want to use your game controller after it is no longer supported, then have it melted down and its metals resold to the manufacturers.

 

[TheOperator1]

I see it as something of a 'No hard feelings, eh?' move. Presumably whichever manager had a bone for not enabling BT on it has moved on now, and the poor engineer who had to lock down the BT stack no longer has any opposition.

 

[codezer0]

Considering that the stadia controller is infamously unable to be opened or repaired in a way that doesn't destroy it in the process, I almost don't see the point of this, either.

 

[lordelan]

The Stadia development team also made one final game release onto the storefront which will only exist for the last few remaining days of the service, simply titled Worm Game.

This might be the best Snake version ever but the input lag is horrible, even for such a simple game. Wow...
I hope they preserve it by making it available somewhere else though.

 

[naed06]

Update available now

Find it here https://stadia.google.com/controller/index_en_GB.html

 

[Kioku]

Considering that the stadia controller is infamously unable to be opened or repaired in a way that doesn't destroy it in the process, I almost don't see the point of this, either.

I mean… it doesn’t make sense to go out of your way to find this controller if you don’t already have one.. but if you do, what’s the harm in getting more use out of it?

 

[Marc_LFD]

https://stadia.google.com/controller/index_en_US.html

Available now.

 

[Kioku]

https://stadia.google.com/controller/index_en_US.html

Available now.

Works great

 

[urbanman2004]

Sucks that I didn't buy one of those controllers when they first released so now I'm stuck trying to find one that has been all the way abused in the secondhand market. Would prefer one brand new if I had the choice.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Sucks that I didn't buy one of those controllers when they first released so now I'm stuck trying to find one that has been all the way abused in the secondhand market. Would prefer one brand new if I had the choice.

The one I bought brand new is pretty much like new since I barely ever used it. I reckon there's a lot like mine on eBay.

Buying used controllers is fine, just look at the photos to know which to go for and to avoid.

 

[urbanman2004]

The one I bought brand new is pretty much like new since I barely ever used it. I reckon there's a lot like mine on eBay.

Buying used controllers is fine, just look at the photos to know which to go for and to avoid.

After seeing the prices currently for one of those controllers on the first page of search results, I'm either probably going to hold off or pass on it if things get worse. The XBox Series and DS5 controllers I purchased during last Black Friday were less expensive each than any of Stadia controllers on eBay right now.

 

[demon33]

It's here : https://stadia.google.com/controller/index_fr_CA.html
or here : https://stadia.google.com/controller/index.html

 

[Marc_LFD]

Unless I misinterpreted it, it says the BT Mode will be removed after December 2023. Wtf?

 

[naed06]

Unless I misinterpreted it, it says the BT Mode will be removed after December 2023. Wtf?

The ability to update to Bluetooth mode will be removed - not the actual Bluetooth mode

 

[Marc_LFD]

After recharging it it installed the BT Mode and I started using it right away. Pretty nice.

Just a shame Google was hiding the BT Mode because of the streaming shit.