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PlayStation Now announced (PS1/2/3 streaming to TVs/Tablets/Phones/PSes, Summer 2014)

erawsd

Member
if this really works, why even bother with the PS4 hardware? why not just use these various platforms to stream games with ever-improving visuals? this is an experiment that could very well fail, that's why. i am not a believer in this tech for any video game that requires reflexes.

It wont be streaming PS4 games. This is a way to monetize past Playstation libraries. If you want PS4 games you'll still need to buy a PS4.
 

keit4

Banned
Oh, Sony is pushing hard the always online future. If this service is a hit i can see the end of the Sony dedicated hardware for playing games. I can't say i'm very excited about this...
 

Morzak

Member
let's see how it all pans out. I'm not expecting it in Europe before 2015 and in my country probably even later...... I'm also not expecting much in the way of bitrate from the stream and latency, they would have to put up servers in a lot of places to make it relatively low latency and make sure that most providers have decent routing tables for to the datacenters, even then for fast paced game this will not be fun.
 
Oh, Sony is pushing hard the always online future. If this service is a hit i can see the end of the Sony dedicated hardware for playing games. I can't say i'm very excited about this...

No way in hell will this work for twitch shooters or any game which requieres quick input.

Then again there's Killzone...
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
"sounds" being the key word here.

Well, yeah.

The US will find out soon enough how well it works in practice, but the idea is very impressive, especially considering the lack of BC in the PS4. There are quite a few PS2 and PS3 titles I'd LOVE to play on my PS4 and Vita. I'd rather have the games natively on my two devices, but I'll take streaming over nothing. Now that I don't have shit internet (I had DSL through AT&T for years, because they didn't have broadband ino our area, now we have broadband through Time Warner), this is a lot more appealing to me.
 
Great idea, but I'm almost certain that even if the services are brilliant the network infratrctyrw in Australia will hold it back.
 

chadskin

Member
Sony does what I always said they will and should do: open up the damn Gaik... PlayStation Now to every possible device you are able to buy legally. They'll make quadrillions of $$$ on their back catalog alone.
 

slider

Member
Wow, launching much earlier than I thought. Good stuff Sony. Fingers crossed the US launch (pilot!?) goes smoothly. And also rolling out to TVs and, eventually, other devices? Yowzas!

Now to look into the details; like cost.
 
I still don't get how they can overcome the input lag??

They cannot overcome it completely, I don't care how good their tech is. Best case scenario is if they can get it under 100ms (and that value includes the TV's own input lag, which varies by TV model and calibration settings), assuming the end-user has a decent quality connection. That would be sufficient for most games.
 
If it's as good as remote play is now on the PS4 then it'll be pretty good. There are some issues (i cant play a multiplayer match on BF4 while remote playing as it gets really choppy, games run @ 30 fps instead of 60 fps) but overall it would be a great feature.
 

Oriel

Member
"Fiber to the home" is an extremely ambiguous way of putting it. Copper can carry 10Gbps, or more economically 1 Gbps. Fiber is required in densely populated areas, where you and all the people around you share a good uplink.

Anyway, isn't "fiber" in a consumer setting related to speeds closer to 100mbps? If they can't make this service work on 10mbps, they'll alienate more than half their costumers. You seem to forget that this is essentially nothing more than Netflix. It's just a stream of video of your game happening at a remote location. So, interactive Netflix, I guess. The only data upload that happens is your button presses. Also, I know the entire bandwidth capacity of Netflix in my country - there is no way you can easily distribute content to a lot of players at even at 20 mpbs. Netflix' HD streaming is ~6mbps. I think it'll be around there.

It's more than just Netflix though. It's one thing for a server to process pre-recorded video content and stream it one-way to the consumer, but quite a different feat altogether when that server is basically a super computer that has to render, in real time, the video data that needs to be sent, all while receiving input commands from the user potentially thousands of miles away, all within a tiny fraction of a millisecond. Video skipping may be acceptable for watching films but many people wouldn't accept it for gaming. It's one of the reasons why OnLive has struggled up until now.
 
Sony are getting closer and closer at making the Playstation platform a service. Like Netflix, they want to sell subscriptions because that way they'll make a shit ton of money.

Good to see Sony being pro-active here !

I can't wait to play PS2-PS3 games on my Vita !!!

Amazing news !
 

curb

Banned
They cannot overcome it completely, I don't care how good their tech is. Best case scenario is if they can get it under 100ms (and that value includes the TV's own input lag, which varies by TV model and calibration settings), assuming the end-user has a decent quality connection. That would be sufficient for most games.

Despite their claims that PSN services like multiplayer will be supported, I can't see this environment being conducive to super-fast twitchy shooter type games. I imagine that stuff like RPGs and moderately paced action stuff will work decent-to-well depending on your distance to a data center.
 

Zoe

Member
To be fair, this is a pretty different situation. It entirely depends on the quality of your internet.

Not different if you've done RP over the internet. I did a full play-through (
in easy
) of Resogun sitting at a restaurant during a football game.

In fact, probably a worse experience because my cable upload speed would surely be worse than whatever Sony's servers get put on.
 
What they need to do is straight up make your PS3 digital library available to PS4 owners at little to no cost- PS+ subscription or something. That'd be enough to get me to make the jump.
 

Alfredo

Member
So it this the only way we'll get PS1 games on PS4? I'd honestly rather have a native emulator to play PS1 games locally...
 
Oh, Sony is pushing hard the always online future. If this service is a hit i can see the end of the Sony dedicated hardware for playing games. I can't say i'm very excited about this...

HurrjOo.gif
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Prove me wrong Sony, but I'm worried this will end up being not-for-me because they won't decide to add the games I'd want to play. My expectations for this service may have been way too high, like i even started buying PS3 games on PSN with Gaikai in the back od my mind...but it'll end up being like it is up when I boot up Netflix and see nothing I really am interested in.
 

Omega

Banned
Am I reading wrong or does this only work with Bravia TVs?

Say, I wouldn't be able to do this on my 24" Asus monitor?
 

Baleoce

Member
They cannot overcome it completely, I don't care how good their tech is. Best case scenario is if they can get it under 100ms (and that value includes the TV's own input lag, which varies by TV model and calibration settings), assuming the end-user has a decent quality connection. That would be sufficient for most games.

Yup, speed of light is what it is. There's only so far you can optimize it. There will be a lot of factors at play as to how smooth your experience will be. How close you are (ping latency) to the nearest PSNow server. Your maximum HDTV gaming profile visual latency. Broadband up/down. Router capabilities, if you're playing on a wireless device. I'm guessing if you're playing via HDTV you might wanna hook it up via ethernet cable.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Prove me wrong Sony, but I'm worried this will end up being not-for-me because they won't decide to add the games I'd want to play. My expectations for this service may have been way too high, but it'll end up being like it is up when I boot up Netflix and see nothing I really am interested in.

This basically sums up my take. And also, put the service on PC. Do me a favor of never buying your hardware please. =)
 

mekes

Member
Its a shame because there are so many PS2+3 fighters that I want to play but they will obviously run horribly on the service.

But still, Dark Souls on my Vita ain't bad!
 

curb

Banned
What they need to do is straight up make your PS3 digital library available to PS4 owners at little to no cost- PS+ subscription or something. That'd be enough to get me to make the jump.

I was hoping that would be the case but the further we get, the less I think that will happen.
 

Phades

Member
So does Vita haz games now?

God dammit, why are us EU'ers measly peons and need to wait ? :(

The US is the petri dish of the software world apparently. They drop anything new in our laps, to see how well it bonds and what bugs start to grow and fester within it, so that the rest of the world gets a clean product. I am sure there are many who take this duty with pride.
 

Symax

Member
This could end up to be a trojan horse. Maybe sony will transit form console market to cloud based products.
 
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