Sony Streaming PS service incoming

[scaryjim]

A little surprised that there isn't a homepage article on this yet (no doubt one is on its way though), I picked it up from the BBC this evening:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25645867

Basically Sony is going to provide a streaming game service from its servers to PS4, smart TVs and other devices. It's an interesting concept, leading on from OnLive's offering (which I don't think ever gained much traction), and will be intersting to keep an eye on. Given SteamOS's apparent focus on streaming games from your PC, I did wonder if Valve had considered doing an online game streaming service as an option for SteamOS. Apparently Sony think the infrastructure is there to support such a service, so perhaps streaming your library from Valve's servers will end up being an option on SteamOS after all (it would certainly provide a more obvious use-case for a SteamBox....).

[Pob255]

Umm this is not really "new" they announced this back with the initial ps4 reveal stuff (back when they only showed off the controller not what the actual ps4 looked like) this was their big answer to backwards compatibility, you'd play the games off a streaming service (Gaikai which they bought in 2012)
What is news is their plans to allow other devices to run it not just the ps4.

Unfortunately it could well suffer the same issues as onlive, the service worked (for 720p res) but most places internet infrastructure couldn't cope, where resolution could drop and often leading to high latency which causes interface control lag for some games it was not such an issue but for some (eg fighting games) it made them pretty unplayable.

Although OnLive also had a major issue in Apple, apparently they had an ipad app all ready to go but Apple refused to let them release it. (at that time Apple was still the only major player on the table scene) This meant that the only real market for it was pc users, the majority of pc owners who want to play games already have pc's that can play games so didn't really want a service you had to pay for, which was reliant on the internet infrastructure in your area.

So far the steamOS/steamBox streaming is only "In-House" ie in your own home, so you can stream a game from a pc to another or to a steamBox, pretty much the same this nVidia has done with the shield.
Steaming over your home wifi/network/router doesn't have nearly the issues that a internet streaming system does, nVidia has proved this with the shield, big question "do you want to play your pc games on your TV instead of your pc?" because that pretty much what it comes down to.

The current steambox information is still very scattered, but atm it's looking like any small form factor units built from a fixed (but rather large) an approved hardware list that will run the SteamOS
The current crop from CES http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming...u-buy--1213121
The whole thing seems to be a bit of a mess, the basic idea of a custom linux OS streamlined for limited hardware and optimised for only games/limited software is nice, as developers should be able to get far more out of pc hardware (which is basically what MS and sony are doing for the new consoles).
But the hardware library seems to be fairly large and will grow over time.
This is leading to a large range of units at different prices, many of which are rather high compared to the current consoles, this is going to create some major confusion in the larger public and could be it's undoing.

[Dooms]

Main reason I would be interested in this is it would allow me to play the PS3 games I've missed out on and want to play on my PS4 but I won't believe it until I see it. OnLive was great on paper but terrible in action.

[amitlalani]

Doubt we will see it in the EU this year

[DeArmittE]

Main reason I would be interested in this is it would allow me to play the PS3 games I've missed out on and want to play on my PS4 but I won't believe it until I see it. OnLive was great on paper but terrible in action.

Yep OnLive looked promising, but after it's shaky start I'm hoping everyone can get streaming games right from now on.

[loki365]

I can't see streaming games really taking off for a while still. At least until fibreoptic broadband becomes the norm rather than the top-end product.