Google Stadia gets Borderlands 3 and two more games, plus smart split-screen mode

It's a marathon, not a sprint, for Google Stadia, the search giant's nascent game streaming service. Launching to mixed reviews in November, Google's making good on its promise of drip-feeding new titles and features to its potentially innovative platform.

Google Stadia's latest update brings with it three top titles from the year.

Log onto the service today and you'll be able to pick up the zany looter-shooter Borderlands 3, anime-inspired RPG battler Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and the (admittedly disappointing) tactical squad shooter Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

• Google Stadia review
• Google Stadia games: everything you can stream right now
• Borderlands 3: here's how it runs on all the top graphics cards 

Split-screen Stream Connect

While Ghost Recon Breakpoint doesn't hit the heights of other entries into the series, it does do at least one intriguing thing with Stadia that's exclusive to the streaming platform.

A 'Stream Connect' feature will allow you to see whatever your online team mates are doing in split screen, allowing you to better co-ordinate your attacks and strategies. On other platforms, rendering the game an additional three times would be a steep resource-hogging challenge. But Stadia's streaming nature makes such a task a piece of cake.

It's a good showcase of what could, in time, be the sort of features to separate Google Stadia from the pack. And with the launches of the PS5 and Xbox: Series X looming, it'll need as many unique selling points as possible.

• Why Google Stadia may be the first good test for 5G phones