Most of us have dreamed about the technology which will help us play graphic-intense games without having a proper gaming hardware or native game on hard drive to play. Well, this is no more a dream as it has been turned into reality by the introduction of PlayStation Now services.
Sony announced this service in Consumer Electronics Show 2014 (CES 2014) and later released it in July on PS3, PS4, PS Vita and some compatible TVs. It is still in beta state for PS3, PS Vita and TV. On PS4, the stable release rolled out on 13 January, 2015. The idea is majorly based on cloud computing and Remote Play. Sony teamed up with Gaikai, a streaming service which is a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment.
[highlight color=#4192ee ]The service features modified PS3 hardware within its data centers, with the processing power equivalent of eight PS3 consoles shrunken onto one motherboard within a slimline server cabinet[/highlight]; this permits for optimum utilization of the physical area, reducing electricity in addition. There are tons of games available to stream.
[highlight color=#4192ee ]Non-PlayStation devices will need a DualShock 3 controller for the service[/highlight], as Sony believes that the games are designed with the DualShock interface in mind, whereas PlayStation devices will use their native game controller. Sony additionally recommends that players must have a 5-12 Mbps net connection with low ping to attain good performance.
[highlight color=#4192ee ]Currently, all of the games offered to stream in PlayStation Now are PlayStation 3 games.[/highlight] There are over 200 such games offered to stream in open beta on the PlayStation Now service as of early 2015, and the new games being added every week. Also as of 2015, there are two options to stream games in PlayStation Now – either as a subscription based service like Netflix, permitting unlimited access to all games covered by the subscription model, or users may rent the games one by one. It is usually available to rent in one amongst the four time-frames: 4-hour, 7-day, 30-day and 90-day. There are 2 pricing choices within North America for the subscription service: $19.99 for one month and $44.99 for 3 months.
