Playstation Now

[StrainedEyes]

Announced at CES, Playstation Now is the new streaming game service (Gaikai) from Sony. We'll be able to rent individual games, or pay a subscription fee. Get access to Sony's library of games (PS1, PS2, PS3) on numerous devices.

Currently at CES they are showing Last of Us and Beyond streaming on the PS Vita and Bravia TVs with "low latency."

There will be a closed Beta at the end of January, full release in the summer (in the US).

Sony Announces Streaming Games on Demand Service PlayStation Now

Sony's cloud-based service has an official name - and is coming to a variety of devices, including PlayStation 4, Bravia TVs, and tablets.

Sony's Andrew House made the announcement at the company's CES press conference.

The service, titled PlayStation Now, will feature games from the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3. It will work with a number of devices, including Bravia televisions, tablets, and PlayStation Vita. House revealed that at CES, showgoers will be able to play the company's titles The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls on Bravia TVs and Vita streaming at the show.

House also said that there will be multiple retail models. You'll be able to rent by title or pay a one-price subscription.

PlayStation Now will go into a closed beta at the end of January and roll out officially sometime this summer.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Trophies and online multiplayer were confirmed by their press release!

This really all comes down to the library they are able to include and gameplay latency. Hopefully we'll get impressions soon from the Last of Us demos.

 

[TX85]

A great alternative to no BC!

 

[StrainedEyes]

PlayStation Now really works!

I just had my first hands on with the newly announced PlayStation Now streaming service here at CES 2014, and I'm here to tell you that it seems to work beautifully.

It took me several minutes to wrap my head around that I was playing a perfect copy of The Last of Us on the Vita on the CES show floor. It was exactly like a Remote Play experience, complete with triggers being mapped to the rear pad. Gameplay was very responsive and completely lag free. Sony told us that a Gaikai server from down the hall was running the game.

What's neat is that multiplayer works between proper console games and cloud games. I learned that Sony was testing Journey with console players with them having no idea they were paired with cloud players.

Sony is also showing PS3 game Puppeteer being played via the cloud on a Bravia television. Again, this works flawlessly. It looked maybe a bit less impressive than the Vita experience, but still great. God of War: Ascension and, Beyond: Two Souls are also available to play on the show floor via PlayStation Now.

Sony says that PS3 is a focus right out of the gate, but PS2 and PS1 games are also slated.

We are hoping to try out tablet and smartphone play soon. Stay tuned.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Here's another hands on from CES.

Performance in games like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension was impressive. Lag input was noticeable, seemingly more so on Vita when moving The Last of Us' Joel and waiting a beat for him to respond, but more than playable. Even the higher frame rate, faster paced action of Ascension was playable, though compression artifacts and more muted colors were present.

 

[Soapy]

I hope the rental fees aren't too high. Seeing as how it's $5.99 to purchase PS1 games on PS3, one would hope that a rental fee would be no more than $1. Or maybe they might use the early OnLive model of being able to choose how long you rent it and price it accordingly.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

When I used Gaikai back before Sony bought it, it was a pretty good experience. Granted, there was probably not hundreds of thousands of active sessions taxing their servers. But I remember the seeing the compression artifacts in dark imagery (basically the same problem Netflix watching often has) and it had no perceivable lag until there was something like a mouse cursor on screen. When you'd move the cursor on your end it was obvious the screen display being sent back was lagging a little bit. But I tested some of The Witcher 2, some racing game (Need For Speed? I don't remember), and some Diablo type of game.

I'm glad they're up front about it being a rental service. I wouldn't want to deal with paying $60 a pop per game when there's other drawbacks like depending upon perfect internet service on both ends (their server farm and whatever ISP you're connected to), in addition to other concerns.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

Would this only be PS3 games?

 

[Solidus]

No. Read the article.

It will be for PS1/PS2/PS3, it will start with some PS3's, but expand.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

Hopefully they release the Vita TV in the states so I can use this service on my non-Bravia TV. Definitely something I'd be interested in once all the Uncharted games are in the library.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

PlayStation Now actually works! (update: hands-on video)

..................

We got our hands on PlayStation Now today at a CES 2014 PlayStation event, where we tried God of War: Ascension on a Bravia TV (without a PS3) and The Last of Us on a Vita. Both games played like there was a local PlayStation 3 (including the incredibly long initial load for The Last of Us) and ran without a hitch. There was zero perceptible lag in our (admittedly brief) playtime, and we suspect that the internet Sony's using is of the very strong variety.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/07/playstation-now-hands-on/

 

[Superhero 101]

There is actually a vid on IGN showing a few glimpses of God of War Last of Us and Beyond working on the Vita and a Bravia television. Looks awesome!

I found one with TLOU

 

[TX85]

Very cool!

 

[Havok83]

Thanks for making a thread bc I was going to as this needs its own as opposed to being buried in the Gaming Lounge one. I wonder what the pricing will be on it. Sounds very ambitious. Hope it works

 

[Galactus123]

I really hope this comes also to Europe in near future. Finally I get to play Metal Gear Solid 4.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I really hope this comes also to Europe in new future. Finally I get to play Metal Gear Solid 4.

Back when this was the vague Gaikai stuff, they said EU wouldn't launch until sometime in 2015.

 

[Ash J. Williams]

Sounds interesting so far. I'm curious how everything will play out.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

Is there even a need for a next generation of hardware in 6 years with a service like this emerging?

 

[Soapy]

I think streaming is absolutely the future of gaming. The tech, as well as the internet infrastructure (in the US at least) has to get there first though. Latency is a pretty big hurdle to overcome.

 

[Havok83]

Is there even a need for a next generation of hardware in 6 years with a service like this emerging?

depends bc no one can really predict what the landscape will be 5 years from now. Its been predicted that this could be the last console generation but then again noise of that was heard last gen. I think one big limiting factor with the streaming is bandwidth caps. There are countries and internet providers that cap the amount of data you have access to a month and something like this is bound to eat up a ton.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

I don't see this working on mobile networks, that's for sure. Wi-fi only for the foreseeable future.

 

[Havok83]

I don't see this working on mobile networks, that's for sure. Wi-fi only for the foreseeable future.

I dont see why one would even think it would. Most people have a limited data plan (like 2-5gb) which is more than enough for normal web applications but that right there would be used up quite a bit depending on the game and size you access. Even with unlimited data plans, speeds tend to slow down when there's alot of traffic on the network, so that would be a limiting factor

 

[Poetic Chaos]

As it's been announced for Vita and tablets I'm sure there is an expectation to be able to game on the go.

 

[Havok83]

As it's been announced for Vita and tablets I'm sure there is an expectation to be able to game on the go.

The Vita no longer carries 3G, so all future models will be WiFi only. Even for the models that do have 3G, that was only for limited applications like internet browsing, downloads of small PSN titles, email, etc... It was not suitable for gaming. Multiplayer gaming on the go was always promoted in terms of a WiFi connection. I dont see why one would expect differently with this

Tablets are the same deal as most come in WiFi only configurations. Those with mobile capabilities still fall under their carriers strict data plan. Again gaming on the go is if there is a suitable WiFi connection

 

[StrainedEyes]

Beta invites have started to be sent out for this. Keep an eye on your inbox!