by Phoenix, HSM team writer

If 2013 was the year in which Sony finally returned to the forefront of console gaming with the PlayStation brand, then 2014 has seen them open up with a gigantic enfilade that promises to reshape the entire industry: PlayStation Now.

PS Now is a new streaming game service — built atop the Sony-owned Gaikai platform — which will be available this summer. You will be able to stream popular hits and classic games from a library of hit games, allowing you to stream and play games instantly on your TV.

This new program of Sony’s sounds like a natural evolution of the PS Plus program, with a few changes. Both remind me of an option that was available in the mid 1990’s, offered by some cable television networks and Sega: the Sega Channel. This option was offered across the globe to Sega console owners, whereby they could opt to add a service that streamed digital content through their cable service and streaming games instantly to their console. Gamers played unlimited games for a monthly fee. In the 1990’s this was a monumental achievement in gaming. The cable companies were able to change the details and content of the channel streaming, which made for a constantly evolving service with monthly updates as new games appeared in the months and weeks of the service. With a good amount of the content being exclusive to the service, this format was brilliant — much like the PlayStation Plus content and format as well as the format for Sony’s new program today.

The problem then with this type of service, back then, was that the games had to be downloaded repeatedly. There was no way of keeping them once the console was powered off. This fact made it hard to document in real numbers as to how successful the Sega Channel really was. In America the channel is remembered with popularity because it lasted a good four years, whereas it didn’t in Japanese or European regions. At the time the service was only possible through a cable network connection, but Sony’s program will not have that limitation. Sony’s service will be the first of its kind. And, more importantly, they got here before Microsoft or Nintendo.

I’m betting Sony won’t have any problems with their service being tracked or carried, as it will feed through internet connections.  The PlayStation Now program promises to start this summer, with a beta program at the end of January and a rollout first on PS3 and PS4 consoles — then to PS Vita this summer. These games will come from the PS3 library to start with, but Sony is considering measures to offer other content in future, such as PS1, PS2 and PS4 content. For now no titles have been announced, though there’s talk the titles they will be adding will defiantly come from requests received from the community in time. The program will be available for most 2014 Sony BRAVIA television lineups after the roll out. Sony hopes to expand eventually beyond their platforms and devices. This would allow streaming of PS Now to a broad range of internet connected devices. The available content will be rentals, purchases and subscriptions, Sony says whatever works for the individual gamer is what they want for the community.

The use of cloud-based technology will play a role in this new era of connection as well. The Gaikai’s advanced cloud service will allow this diverse use of other devises. Aside from being able to stream and play these video games across platforms you will be able to play the most up to date versions of the games. Cloud based gaming, as we all know, enhances one of the most important of features for some gamers: portability. Being able to play on whatever internet connectable device is fast becoming the most desirable component of purchasing a new device. Gamers can log into their Sony Network account on any compatible and enabled device expecting to see and play their games with all progress saved. I for one find this an exciting move forward in multi-platform gaming.

The Beta testing will test connections for each game’s optimization and performance. Sony wants the gameplay experience to feel as if the game is being played locally on any device. They are recommending a 5mbps+ connection in order to have that experience; low latency is key. In their internal tests, users with this bandwidth or greater have had the best experience. It is expected that the closed Beta will provide testing of gamer’s with varying connections and speeds, this will give their developers a wide range of feedback.

Once the beta testing is complete, Sony will need to have all its ducks in a row as far as pricing, which has not been publicly addressed. Pricing will need to be comparable to other rental services and to the turnover of reselling a game in order to grab the current gamers that resell instead of rent. Pricing will need to be favorable to gamers that prefer to collect games in a series too, for instance.  There is even the opportunity for Sony to see this PS Now program shoot into hyperspace if there was the offer of games that gamers already own, for free download in the program. Imagine any game title you own from PS1 through to PS4 available across all supported and enabled devices instantly after signing in to your PSN account. That feature if added could be another game changer too.

All in all, this new program announcement is one I will be watching develop in the coming weeks and eagerly awaiting the projected summer rollout.

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