HomeVideo GamesSony Computer Entertainment Announce PlayStation Now Service

Sony Computer Entertainment Announce PlayStation Now Service

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PlayStation Now

During CES 2014, Sony Computer Entertainment announced their plans to soon launch the new PlayStation Now service, aiming to stream a portion of the PlayStation Library of games to a multitude of PlayStation and Sony devices through the Gaikai cloud service.

While they have yet to confirm the service for release anywhere other than North America at this time, it is currently set to allow you to purchase and play PlayStation 3 games on your PlayStation 4 / 3 / Vita consoles. Given that the PlayStation 4 does not support PS3 discs, this may be your only option to play these games without switching the HDMI channel on your television (Taking up precious seconds). It is possible that they will extend this to PS1 and PS2 titles, which may be more enticing

Currently it seems like they will be running via both rental and subscription scheme, although to be honest it isn’t something I am remotely interested in unless they were to offer download / purchase to own models for the service. At the moment the company has been unable to comment if there will be any special offers for those who already own the games.

On the PlayStation Blog, SCEA Social Media Manager Sid Shuman described his experience playing The Last of Us through the service:

Following a brief loading screen, I loaded an early scenario set in the ruins of Boston. So far, so good: the experience looked and felt faithful to playing the game locally on a PS3. I crept through abandoned skyscrapers, evaded marauding Clickers, and engaged in bareknuckle beatdown against a mob of Infected.

In the test demo I played on both the BRAVIA and PS Vita, gameplay latency was a non-issue. I had no trouble maneuvering the camera, aiming at enemies, or fending off incoming attacks. In fact, after a few minutes of play I forgot that I was “streaming a game” — I was just getting absorbed in playing The Last of Us. I also fired up Puppeteer and God of War: Ascension, and the experience was similarly convincing.

At this early stage of PS Now’s development, pixel counters and graphics aficionados might spot some minor concessions in the visual department, such as compression artifacts, consistent with high-quality internet video or gameplay streamed via PS Vita Remote Play.

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

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