PS Now coming to PC and Xbox Anywhere

[Harrison]

Sony have announced they are bringing PS Now to PC, allowing pc gamers to play many PS3 games on pc for the first time.

This service is already running on PS4, allowing its owners to play PS3 games. However it is a streaming subscription service, whereby you play games streaming online and you don't download or install anything. So only any good if you have broadband capable of 15Mbps minimum. I've bit heard anything about Vita support, anyone know as that would be cool?

Sony have also shown a wireless USB adapter to use a PS4 controller on pc with this service.

This announcement comes at the same time Microsoft announce Play Anywhere and their plan that all future xbox games will be released cross platform on both pc and xbox one. You will be able to play against players on both platforms and have the ability to switch between platforms whilst retaining your saves and settings. We don't yet know if you only have to buy the game once to access them in both platforms, or have to purchase twice. Great to think that future first party games such as Forza, Halo and Gears of War will be on PC. Finally able to play them utilising much higher PC specs.

Of these 2 the Xbox one announcement is definitely more interesting for current gamers, having access to new titles across both platforms. For Playstation I can't see it being quite so popular due to its subscription nature of $100 per year and owning nothing. But interesting to play older titles, plus it opens up using PS NOW to deliver PS3 games on more devices. Even built into standalone smart TVs. Could be a good service for children's bedrooms or playrooms. And possibly great for public spaces.

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[Kin Hell]

The only thing that springs to mind immediately about this, is the "crap-ness" of console Port-overs to the PC platform. :eyebrow:

Consequently, I can see much more "crap" now being available for the PC. :lol:

[Harrison]

They are not ports though. As with the PS4 and Vita, the PC version of PS Now will run the games on their servers and stream, so you never actually download the game, but okay it on the server, using your pc as a terminal. This means games will be locked to their original resolution and framerate as originally on the PS3.

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[Harrison]

BTW the latest Final Fantasy ports to PC have actually been spot on and they have spent time updating and cleaning them up, rather than just dumping the game straight over.

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[Kin Hell]

& I only just saw your PM mate.......



Soooooooo sorry....... :(


....but....


They are not ports though. As with the PS4 and Vita, the PC version of PS Now will run the games on their servers and stream, so you never actually download the game, but okay it on the server, using your pc as a terminal. This means games will be locked to their original resolution and framerate as originally on the PS3.

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Locked to the PS3 Resolution @ 60Hz?

Why would anyone with a rig that can do 144Hz @ 2560 x 1440 & hold 144 fps with all the eye candy Maxxed out, want to do such a thing?? :hmmm:

You can not play shooters properly @ 60Hz/60fps. :guns:

[Harrison]

Remember PS Now is a server streaming game service, meaning you are in effect playing a PS3 over an internet connection. The system you are accessing it from is irrelevant as it's basically acting as a server terminal. You can play the games using a PS4, Vita and soon PC. The real opportunity is for pc gamers who have never owned a Playstation to gain access to some of the exclusive titles. If you played them on a PS3 originally the framerate and resolution would be the same so you are playing them as intended. Console games are designed taking the locked hardware into account, much like developers used to on retro systems, so whilst a 30 or 60 fps rate on a current pc game might be an issue and effect gameplay, it won't on a console in the same way.

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[Kin Hell]

I'd have to see it to believe it. But when PS4 is now £299, just go buy an old PS3 for around fifty bucks & be done with it. :ninja:

[Harrison]

But many people just want a single current gen console under their tv. Not everyone is as sensible as us horders

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[Teho]

PS Now never launched in Norway so I've never even considered it. And Norway isn't included among the launch countries for this PC launch either, but that is of course easily remedied. ;)

Since I've owned most Playstations since their launch I'm not personally very interested. But it is an interesting idea. There are plenty of PC gamers that never owned a console and that has never had a chance to play exclusives. Not just Playstation exclusives but console exclusives like Red Dead Redemption which PC gamers have been crying for a port of for years. But on the whole I don't believe PS Now on PC will be as successful as Sony hopes it will be. I don't see there being that much interest among individual users beyond a small number of titles they are curious about. And while I don't recall the cost of this service I do remember it struck me as expensive when I saw it.

[Demon Cleaner]

I have PS Now beta version, but all the games that are available, I have anyway, as I have around 300 games for the PS3, and my PS3 is still set up. So not so interesting for me in the end.

I tried to play some though, and the streaming works quite well, although I guess you need a good connection.

They mainly have collections, like GoW, Killzone, Sly Cooper... not bad games at all, but I already played them.

They also have Ico and Shadow of the Colossus which I never finished though, might be an opportunity, but then again, I have so much other stuff to play, and also with slight priority.

[Harrison]

There is a rumour Sony will be adding PS2 and PS1 games to the service.

You have to wonder if this is their way of testing the technology ready to deliver current gen games in the game way. It would completely remove piracy and all games would be up to date without the need to download patched. It would also tie in with Sony's comment about the PS4 possibly bring the last console. You wouldn't need to keep bring out need hardware generations in the same way if you only needed to develop and upgrade the streaming hardware.

I personally hope this never becomes the standard delivery setup for new games as I want to actually own games I can play for years to come.

Such a setup could also kill future retro generations, unless every game released via stream distribution remained on the service forever, which I doubt would ever happen.

I suppose they are looking at this technology due to the popularity of video streaming such as Netflix.

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[Kin Hell]

Teho is right about this being an interesting idea & sure it could help kill Piracy altogether, but lmao....

Sony screwed an awful lot up by taking the Emotion Chip away after the first Gen PS3's released.....

I really need to replace my SLR Camera. It's the only Sony device in my home & no, as a matter of principle, I don't have a Single BluRay either. :shades:

I'm off topic & sincerely apologise....

*....Kin walks off mumbling nasty things about Sony....*

[Harrison]

I've always liked Sony products and they do make some nice Cameras. They really improved in the SLR market after buying Minolta.

However, personally I only buy Canon as it's my favourite. For bridge cameras though we do have a Panasonic.

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[Demon Cleaner]

I personally hope this never becomes the standard delivery setup for new games as I want to actually own games I can play for years to come.
Same here, I completely agree with you.

[Ghost]

I personally hope this never becomes the standard delivery setup for new games as I want to actually own games I can play for years to come.
Same here, I completely agree with you.

Sadly there is this whole move about getting everything 'on the cloud' for these last ten years now, ease of delivery without needing physical distribution, and control of course.
For one it could help reduced the second hand games market that publishers have been wanting to get rid off for a while now. (every second hand title sold means that a new copy was not sold)

At first I never really saw the harm of having everything digital, I found it rather easy to be honest. But now I am starting to realize how much power it gives certain publishers. Heck a publisher can decide I need to pay a monthly fee in order to play the Single Player games that I have bought from them. (of course they would not do that, it would result in public backlash, but they could have such control then)

If it ever goes that far I am not sure if I will continue to spend money on gaming.
I wonder if it could result in people moving into retro gaming, going back to machines which software is on physical mediums.

[Harrison]

I love digital distribution such as Steam and GOG, because you own the actual games you buy, paying just once and owning forever. You can also download and install locally, and store a local copy if you wish, just in case the service did ever vanish.

With streaming services, I like the idea, but as you say it's completely in the hands of the company running the service. It hasn't happened yet with gaming services, but look at video streaming. Netflix has started to remove films and whole series boxsets from their servers. If I were a subscriber I would be quite mad about this. I thought the whole point of a video streaming service was to ditch your local collection and have it all at the touch of a button. Doesn't seem so now. Looks like you are only allowed to watch what they want you to.

Streaming game services will be exactly the same. They are not going to continue serving remote gaming for a title that only gets played by a few players. What would be the point of utilising the server power to sit waiting most of the time to run a game. Much better to replace it with an alternative people will play.

Equally this is very bad for retro gaming. It might seem amazing to begin with having a large library of PS3 games, and soon PS2 and PS1 games, all served and running remotely. No need for hardware, storing and setting up hardware, or repairing and maintaining hardware. But then the games start vanishing or the service closes and you lose access to the lot.

It would be even worse if EA started a similar service.

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[Ghost]

Bit late with responding but this subject has been on my mind, that as more material such as movies, television, and games, but also books and comic become more 'online' (no more physical copies in any form), that the audience becomes more and more limited by what the studios/publishers allow us to read. Based on what sells the most of course but also material that fits defined standards/parameters.

There is indeed a lot of junk that should have never been made or been published in the first place, pointless pornography or snuff, or political directed material. But under this dissenting voices and material that does not go with conformism or standards could also be prevented.
Not necessarily because of censorship but because the marketing department believes that it would not sell enough to warrant the space and place it gets on the cloud.

For gamers a lot of smaller or different titles could never get any kind of attention because they are too niche, or don't sell well in the allotted time they are given. What if it is a title you happen to like and want to play again after you had to remove it a while back because you needed the space or have bought a new PC or console?

[Harrison]

I think content vanishing from digital distribution is a big concern at the moment. Especially streaming TV and Movie content. A good example of this is the BBC in the UK. I wanted to watch a series, but has missed the first 2 week's episodes. So I downloaded them and then set my sky box to record the rest as they were shown. Problem is the BBC started deleting the episodes after 30 days old, so I never got to see the series and deleted the rest. And the series hadn't been offered for streaming since.

Sky do offer box sets now for most of their content, including all previous series. However there is still no guarantee they will remain available forever. And there are many series still not available.

And for movies, although Sky have 1000s on demand I still keep finding a lot I search for are only available in the Sky store to purchase and not in the on demand store.

Therefore we still need to buy the physical boxsets and movies if we want access indefinitely.

Regarding games, it's not as bad.

Steam doesn't normally remove a game's files/download from their servers. If you have purchased a game, even if it's page vanishes from the actual store the game remains in your library with links to all it's support sections. A recent one I noticed was A-Train 9 v3. Now that v4 has been released the older v3 has been removed from the store. However it was still in my library for download. It's annoying not having access to such game's steam store pages though as you lose the access to details about the games such as screenshot, videos, reviews, publisher and developer info etc.. so that is annoying. Would be better if they kept the store pages but deactivated the purchase section.

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