I think that is very likely the case for 4 hour rentals on PS Now. Not having access to the actual terms I'd assume it's 4 hours of play time in a certain window (24-48 hours). All the other rental terms would just be the window with no play time restriction.
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I think that is very likely the case for 4 hour rentals on PS Now. Not having access to the actual terms I'd assume it's 4 hours of play time in a certain window (24-48 hours). All the other rental terms would just be the window with no play time restriction.
Maybe for a week, not an evening... unless you like throwing money away with nothing to show for it.
Who wants to rent Uncharted to play for 4 hours and not even come close to finishing it? Once you get into the longer rental terms, you could probably do better just buying a PS3 (used or new) and getting used copies of the game, borrow copies of the game, PSN+ free games, sales at stores etc.
The idea of a subscription service is nice, but looking at those prices I'd be shocked if it cost less than $15 a month. That puts you at $180 a year. If the subscription is any cheaper than that, there's have to be some pretty strict limitations on use. At that price, fuck it. You can buy a bunch of new games for that price, especially if you factor in indie titles.
There isn't a clear price advantage over getting a PS3 to play old games, and it's a lesser experience. You have lag and degraded image quality, you use your Internet cap if you have one, and you have potential issues caused by other users in your home torrenting/streaming etc.
Sorry but a 4 hour rental makes a lot of sense.
I have bought many games I thought I'd love but which, it turns out, were not games I'd want to play for more than a couple of hours, let alone finish. $5 for what is essentially a 4 hour demo is nothing.
IF there is a possibility to play the game for 4 hours and then 'upgrade' to 7 days by paying just the $3 extra, if the game is actually interesting enough to finish, then this whole thing makes a lot of sense.
I have bought many games I thought I'd love but which, it turns out, were not games I'd want to play for more than a couple of hours, let alone finish. $5 for what is essentially a 4 hour demo is nothing.
IF there is a possibility to play the game for 4 hours and then 'upgrade' to 7 days by paying just the $3 extra, if the game is actually interesting enough to finish, then this whole thing makes a lot of sense.
What do you mean "upgrade" by paying the additional $3? You would have to pay the full 4 hour price then the full 7 day price, no?
For the case of super hardcore gamers that have enough time to sit and finish a game within a weeks time, sure, maybe this is great. But for people who have lives, that isn't going to happen, and the whole pricing scheme doesn't make any sense. You're looking at at least $15 to at least be able to finish a game, and in a years time people are going to be dumping their ps3 games into garbage bins for lack of better things to do with them. Without much effort I could track down a ton of free games to play, and probably a cheap used console.
Well if a 7 day rental is $8 and 4 hours is $5, I could get the 4 hours deal, then if I want to continue I could just pay the extra $3? No idea.
There is plenty of discussion on forums to know the service quality is a function of your internet, some are very happy others not so much.
The bigger issue is cost, there likely isn't a big enough market for this service based on how Sony intends to monetize it. The fact that they shared so little at E3 suggest they know that just as we do.
I'd be surprised if you didn't. Ultimately you didn't buy a physical+digital copy. At the moment you don't get to download the digital copy for free if you have (had) the disc, right?
People know how rentals work. They understand they only have so much time to finish a game and can simply budget their time accordingly.
Yah, people are used to renting movies which you can watch in 1.5 - 3 hours. A videogame takes 10-20 hours to finish, something most people do not have time for. Only hardcore gamers finish those kinds of games in a week, and those are not likely the people that will want to use a service like this.
I'm not exactly sure why people are getting offended by the 4 hour option so much.
It's not as if you're not offered other options...
Apart from the 4 hour option (which has its merits in certain circumstances) the rest of the prices seem reasonable.
7 days 8 USD, about $1.15 a day
30 days 15 USD, about $.50 a day
90 days 30 USD, about $.33 a day.
Last checked red box charges $2 a day so I'm not sure why some of you are raging over the 4 hour option. Ignore it and move on, the other 3 prices look reasonable.
It would be nice if they allow you to upgrade your rental mid-way though, like if I played through the 5th day under the 7 day rental, I could get an additional 23 days for 7 USD.
It's not as if you're not offered other options...
Apart from the 4 hour option (which has its merits in certain circumstances) the rest of the prices seem reasonable.
7 days 8 USD, about $1.15 a day
30 days 15 USD, about $.50 a day
90 days 30 USD, about $.33 a day.
Last checked red box charges $2 a day so I'm not sure why some of you are raging over the 4 hour option. Ignore it and move on, the other 3 prices look reasonable.
It would be nice if they allow you to upgrade your rental mid-way though, like if I played through the 5th day under the 7 day rental, I could get an additional 23 days for 7 USD.
If you can manage to watch a movie and return it the next day you can probably manage to finish an 8 hour game in 7 days, should you so desire. Especially when you have a weekend to work with. If you're so casual you can't do that, what are the odds you care about finishing games at all and aren't just happy to get a sense of a game and kill a couple nights?
It's an option for sharing game experiences round people's houses. Sitting down and watching/hot-seating playing a game can be plenty of fun. I showed the latest MGS:TPP gameplay to my friends and they were interested in doing just that like we did with other MGS games. I can definitely see playing Uncharted or similar game as an evening's entertainment. If not those games, other games like LBP or some karting game with immediate, short, pick-up-and-play value.
Obviously a gamer wanting to play through a 20 hour game isn't going to do it in 4h chunks, but there are other very economical options for them. 7 days for $8 is plenty for a fair number of AAA story driven games, and that's damned good value IMO. Perhaps too good if the service is excellent as it undervalues full releases. If I could rent PS4 games for the same price, buying them would be way more expensive and something I could end up avoiding (hypothetically).
That's probably true.
But you're unlikely to be buying new AAA games at that price. $180 a year is the price of three AAA games. The subscription then isn't that expensive, as long as you get your money's worth. Edit: Sorry, you meant old new games, like Uncharted 3 still shrink-wrapped or platinum editions. Yeah, eBay and the second hand market does put price pressure on a service like this, but there's still a convenience value to this service. It's basically the same with movie rentals. You can pick up second hand DVDs for cheaper than rentals, but people still rent.
The quality is worse, but I disagree on the price advantage thing. If you own a PS4 and no PS3 and want to play Uncharteds 1, 2, and 3 before 4 comes out, you'd have to spend $100 on 2nd hand PS3 (eBay average is quite a bit higher) and another $20 on the three games, or $24 for three weeks, one week each, or $45 for three months and take your time.
It all depends on usage, but overall I don't think the prices are unreasonable. Sony don't want it to be such amazing value that they undermine their core business, and there are expensive running costs to factor in. If Sony's plan is to move gaming to the cloud via this service, perhaps it costs too much, but if their plan is to offer BC to the niche that wants to revisit a few games, I think it's reasonable value. Each price-point has its justification for type of game/experience you're after, and the price at that point doesn't seem excessive.
I would not be surprised to see PS Now start as a BC/FC service and then mature into a full cloud service that streams game to PC, consoles or PS TV.
I think we've talked about this before in some of the Gaikai and OnLive threads, but you have to really think about what it would look like if PS5 turned out to simply be a cloud service. What would the benefits really be for consumers? Well, zero upfront costs. No need to buy a system, PS Now will just work on any internet connected device. The standard hardware platform could be way more powerful than they would have built as a device that needs to be $400, since the cost per node will be spread across a long time span and many users. $60 retail games could be a thing of the past. Maybe you don't buy games at all, on day one you can rent a game for a week or a month for far less. IGC-style subscription service providing a buffet of catalog titles to play. No trips to the store. No downloads. No installs. No firmware updates. No patching. No load times. There are lots of benefits they could try and sell consumers on the concept.
rockaman
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It's an interesting look at their Cloud service, though just not sure how representative those prices are.
I am interested in the service, but I think those prices are a little too high. I'd hope Sony wants to grease the wheels a little more on that front to get the ball rolling at least.
There are two main thing I want to know: how this applies (or doesn't) to PS Plus and also digital games we own outside of PS Plus.
I am interested in the service, but I think those prices are a little too high. I'd hope Sony wants to grease the wheels a little more on that front to get the ball rolling at least.
There are two main thing I want to know: how this applies (or doesn't) to PS Plus and also digital games we own outside of PS Plus.
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