PlayStation Now - could Sony go after Valve?

[Phil]

I agree.

BTW: I would assume a service like PlayStation Now to access the internet directly so that any use of a proxy would be sidepassed. A lot of websites do this, especially TV subscription sites where you can watch TV online. Zattoo.com is one of them (a local site for Online TV within Switzerland) that doesn't work if you enable a proxy. I assume the Shockwave app opens either a direct socket. Not to mention that using a proxy to make you seem from another country will also add lots of lag - something most will probably want to avoid, especially given that my guess would be that latency to be already a big enough issue in an optimal condition.

 

[patsu]

Love the update ! Haven't been able to track gaming news these days.

Sony is using new PS3 hardware for Playstation Now. 8 PS3s on one board. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-sony-creates-custom-ps3-for-playstation-now

But I am getting closer to finishing KZSF !

 

[Deleted member 86764]

PS3 games have been appearing on the PS Store for some users, possible indication of PS Now titles and not so distant release:

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net...cate-potential-playstation-now-launch-titles/

Edit: on the PS4's store

 

[Arwin]

The beta's been going on as well, mostly apparently with users who tried it being happy. Will be interesting, especially curious about a Vita client test.

 

[whome0]

Playstation Now subscription plan
Starting January 13th on PS4 across North America first. One month $19.99 and 3-months $44.99 ($15/month) plans available. Subscription plan is not on other devices yet but will come available later. Catalog currently consist of +100 PS3 games.

It remains to be seen how fast they upload new games or will PS4 games are in a pipeline. Second issue is the usual Sony speed do they drag this behind after release, say do Scandinavia never see this available. MusicUnlimited is avail in Finland but MovieUnlimited is still missing in action (probably they don't care about subtitling partnering).

 

[Nesh]

Has any of you guys tried it?

 

[Scott_Arm]

I could see that price tag if it played PS4 games, but for PS3 games I think that price is steep.

 

[McHuj]

I'm not convinced there is a demand for old games. I think for PSNow to be successful they would need something that's exclusive and new to it. With the subscription service model, some sort of MMO would probably make the most sense.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I don't know. If it were $10 or less, I could see people using it. $180 a year is pretty steep for old games.

 

[Rodéric]

I'm not convinced there is a demand for previous generation games yet. I think for PSNow to be successful they would need something that's exclusive and new to it. With the subscription service model, some sort of MMO would probably make the most sense.

Fixed it for you
People happily buy and play SNES era games so there's demand for old games, just maybe not for PS3 games yet.
(And I have doubts about old 3D games [PS era] as they really look bad compared to what we have now, 2D didn't age that bad IMO.)

 

[McHuj]

Of course people buy old games, I just don't think there are very many that do.

 

[Deleted member 86764]

Well, I completely skipped on the PS3 last gen, so I'd definitely use it for a month or two to catch up on Uncharted / Shadow of Colossus / God of War.

 

[London Geezer]

But don't they allow single game renting? Thought they did, can't check that in the UK yet.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

But don't they allow single game renting? Thought they did, can't check that in the UK yet.

The beta did allow for single-game renting. The problem was the exorbitant prices. Back in August it was something like $30 for 90 days to play PS3 games whose physical versions could be purchased for as little as $12 in Amazon.

 

[DrJay24]

It was changing all the time. Recently they had a bunch of first party games for $1.99 for 4 hours and 7 days for like $5.99.

 

[eastmen]

Fixed it for you
People happily buy and play SNES era games so there's demand for old games, just maybe not for PS3 games yet.
(And I have doubts about old 3D games [PS era] as they really look bad compared to what we have now, 2D didn't age that bad IMO.)

Yup , 2d from the nes on wards had clean looking visuals , the ps1 era of games have really smeary for lack of a better word visuals, i'm not sure how many people will want to play games from that time period without them getting an remastering in high def.

Anyway the price for the service seems to high , there may be some people who can get through multiple games a month to make the pricing attractive but I'm sure for the average person getting through one game would take the full month and they could most likely get the game at a much lower price.

 

[DrJay24]

I guess you are not factoring in the price of the console? This service is primarily aimed at PS4 owners who did not own a PS3.

IMO the price is fine, it is competitive with Gamefly or any other rental, they just need more content. While there are ~100 games, about half of it is crap no one wants to play, now or then. But for people who have never played Uncharted, God of War, Infamous, etc. this would be the only way short of buying a PS3 which is still over $200.

 

[DieH@rd]

Samsung's 2015 line of televisions will have PSNow app built in into them. Great way to introduce great games to whole new segment of users.

I think we can expect more news regarding PSNow at CES.

I guess you are not factoring in the price of the console? This service is primarily aimed at PS4 owners who did not own a PS3.

This service is primarily targeted for users of PS4, PS3, Vita, Vita TV, Bravia, Samsung TVs, and shortly Android devices [first on Xperias, then ported by hackers to others]. Because it serves so many platforms, higher price is IMO totally justified. Plus, users can easily switch from one device to other because all saves are in the cloud.

 

[Gradthrawn]

What I'm wondering about is the games that will be available to the subscription service. They mention "over 100", but the current count for Now is actually over 200 last I checked. Obviously 200 is "over 100" but that wording makes me wonder if the subscription only offers a limited subset of the PS Now games. Their announcement does not actually make mention of the entire PS Now catalog being available, although perhaps that is simply implied/assumed.

 

[Scott_Arm]

It would be crazy if it was a subset of the 200 games, at that price.