official PlayStation Now

[trooper11]

Starting a game in under a minute is a good sign in my opinion. 

 

But I have to wonder how it works in the background.  Obviously there is not much data traveling to the console in under a minute, so you would think that data size would increase as you actually play the game. 

 

Still, it sounds good so far. 

[Showan]

I think I've asked this before.  But are these games a straight stream (a-la Netflix) or is there a caching station somewhere in there?

 

Us here in the USofA are going through some net neutrality issue's right now :angry:, which won't help out a lot at all.

 

So if someone has a 150GB data cap and goes on a weekend gaming binge, they may not be in good standing with their isp, come 30days later

[trooper11]

I think I've asked this before.  But are these games a straight stream (a-la Netflix) or is there a caching station somewhere in there?

 

Us here in the USofA are going through some net neutrality issue's right now :angry:, which won't help out a lot at all.

 

So if someone has a 150GB data cap and goes on a weekend gaming binge, they may not be in good standing with their isp, come 30days later

That's a good question, but I dont think anyone knows the exact details of Sony's service yet. If that info is out there, I'd love to hear it as well.

My first thought was that they are streaming data to you constantly as you play the game, with a small amount of data being cached, but there could be more to it.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

The games are streamed to you, there is no download/install (at least in its current form).

[BajiRav]

The games are streamed to you, there is no download/install (at least in its current form).

 

The streaming doesn't start for 1-2 mins depending on the game, GAF has the numbers in the Playstation Now-ish :laugh: thread.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

The streaming doesn't start for 1-2 mins depending on the game, GAF has the numbers in the Playstation Now-ish :laugh: thread.

 

I posted the numbers 2 days ago in this topic :p

 

Munky > Gaf ;) :laugh:

[trooper11]

The games are streamed to you, there is no download/install (at least in its current form).

But there is caching of some sort.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

But there is caching of some sort.

 

Well that goes without saying really. Would be an absolute nightmare for games with heavy backtracking / MP maps. Plus a lot of games reuse textures throughout the SP and MP components. It would be nice to see them add a download option and use the timebomb they do on PS+ to prevent people playing indefinitely.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Well that goes without saying really. Would be an absolute nightmare for games with heavy backtracking / MP maps. Plus a lot of games reuse textures throughout the SP and MP components. It would be nice to see them add a download option and use the timebomb they do on PS+ to prevent people playing indefinitely.

Certain parts could be downloaded, that would be a good idea. It just depends how they're running things at their end though, probably PC dev builds or something? They're not going to have PS3 clusters.

[trooper11]

Well that goes without saying really. Would be an absolute nightmare for games with heavy backtracking / MP maps. Plus a lot of games reuse textures throughout the SP and MP components. It would be nice to see them add a download option and use the timebomb they do on PS+ to prevent people playing indefinitely.

I guess that is only feasbile for games that the console can play locally though. Anything else must be rendered and streamed ondemand to the console.

[Showan]

A 2hr hi-def movie streamed from Netflix is about 4.5 - 5GB... Now imagine a high demanding game game being streamed.

Unless I'm crazy, the end user is going to need at least 12dwn/10up so that the game can look as close to a physical copy being played as it can...

I saw the requirements that Sony posted, for being able to play with little to no lag. But it's just not equating in my head.

If I were Sony, I would go with a PS+ (Galaxy Edition)... Charge $100-$150 a year and let people go nuts. Let them download to a physical box.

[trooper11]

A 2hr hi-def movie streamed from Netflix is about 4.5 - 5GB... Now imagine a high demanding game game being streamed.

Unless I'm crazy, the end user is going to need at least 12dwn/10up so that the game can look as close to a physical copy being played as it can...

I saw the requirements that Sony posted, for being able to play with little to no lag. But it's just not equating in my head.

If I were Sony, I would go with a PS+ (Galaxy Edition)... Charge $100-$150 a year and let people go nuts. Let them download to a physical box.

Well remember that even Sony admitted that if you only meet the minimum requirements, the graphic fidelilty will vary. It seems clear that you will not get a 1:1 experience when streaming ps3 games if your hitting the minimums. They have not spelled out what it would take to be 1:!, but maybe the beta testing will give them the info they need to make recommendations.

Also, there is no option for Sony allowing you to download to another box like say a ps4 since the box does not have the hardware to play a ps3 (later to include ps1 and ps2) game. The game still has to be processed via a server and the data streamed to you.

[BajiRav]

Well that goes without saying really. Would be an absolute nightmare for games with heavy backtracking / MP maps. Plus a lot of games reuse textures throughout the SP and MP components. It would be nice to see them add a download option and use the timebomb they do on PS+ to prevent people playing indefinitely.

You mean like 24hr online check? HMMMMMmmmmmmm.

 

 

 

 

sorry, couldn't resist :p

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

You mean like 24hr online check? HMMMMMmmmmmmm.

 

 

 

 

sorry, couldn't resist :p

 

IIRC the timebomb works offline too so :P :laugh:

[Showan]

Well remember that even Sony admitted that if you only meet the minimum requirements, the graphic fidelilty will vary. It seems clear that you will not get a 1:1 experience when streaming ps3 games if your hitting the minimums. They have not spelled out what it would take to be 1:!, but maybe the beta testing will give them the info they need to make recommendations.

Also, there is no option for Sony allowing you to download to another box like say a ps4 since the box does not have the hardware to play a ps3 (later to include ps1 and ps2) game. The game still has to be processed via a server and the data streamed to you.

 

 

Thanks for the info.  I think Sony should release a Roku sized box (priced at $20 or so) to be used as a Cache station to help with this.

[Brian M. Veteran]

A peer to peer solution would be quite nice IMO. Make the service free to those who opt in, and allow other PS4 consoles nearby with the game installed to handle the streaming etc whilst they're in standby.

 

It would take some effort, but would be a nice solution. Caching servers don't work. Anybody who regularly uses Netflix on Virgin Media will attest to that!

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Only rumour for now:

 

Gaikai site redesign reveals potential PS Now game prices

Monday, 10th March 2014 09:17 GMT By Dave Cook

 

PlayStation Now developers Gaikai has updated its official site, which now contains a UI concept for the service, along with some price-points for games such as Far Cry 3, Uncharted 3 and The Last of Us.

 

It follows Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter calling PlayStation Now ?a joke.?

 

We?ve also got a full report on what PlayStation Now is and how it works here.

 

These are possibly place-holder RRPs, but here?s the concept image, as found in GaiKai?s history section.

As you can see; there are options to stream Far Cry 3 and Uncharted 3 in their entirety using PS Now in for $5.99 and $4.99 each, while The Last of Us is priced $49.99 to buy outright. They each say ?Full Game? next to them.

 

Over on Gaikai?s About section, the company writes

 

?At Gaikai, we believe in solving difficult problems to create exceptional experiences. People said it was impossible to stream video games at high quality with low latency. We did it anyway. They said there was no way for a small company to build the world?s fastest interactive entertainment network. So we did that too. We even won a Guinness World Record for it.

 

?It isn?t easy. It requires custom hardware. Dozens of software systems. And a world-class team to put it all together. But you know what? It?s worth it. Because, when you find yourself playing a PlayStation game within seconds of pressing a button, without downloading or installing anything, on a device that was never designed to do that, it?s nothing short of magical.?

 

We?ve contacted Sony to see if these prices are in the right ballpark, and our local rep replied, ?we don?t comment on rumour speculation. ?

 

http://www.vg247.com/2014/03/10/ps-now-gaikai-site-redesign-reveals-potential-game-prices-report/

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

An all you can eat type of service is really needed.

[Brian M. Veteran]

An all you can eat type of service is really needed. 

 

Or at least an "all you can eat for games you already own" service.

[trooper11]

Hmm, so I wonder what the details are on what 'buy' and 'stream' mean.

Does paying $5-$6 mean I must stream the game within 24hrs, several days?

Does buying mean that I own a digital copy that I download to my device, or is that just owning the rights to stream the game indefinitely?

I too would want to see a service that I could just pay a monthly fee and get access to it all. A nice bonus would be a way to 'match' games I already own to the cloud for streaming as I would with music.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

GAF picked up on this - http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=784269&page=1

[Showan]

Interesting...

I wonder how Game Fly feels about this... Of course PS Now is in its infancy right now, but a year or 2 from now, this can cause some headache for the game rental giant...

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Any context for this yet?

[LaP]

Interesting. So in the future we might be able to rent PS3/PS4 games and play them on a PS4. That could be really cool.

[firey]

If/When they get the PS3 backwards compatibility.. this will be awesome.