Author Topic: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC  (Read 2779 times)

Offline MysterD

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PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« on: Sunday, August 28, 2016, 07:00:53 AM »
PS Now is coming to the PC, which will have some old PS3 games coming to it.

This is great news, to have PlayStation games hit the PC, even if it's years later and a console-cycle later (or more). It's better than them NEVER coming here.
It's going to be $20 a month to join this - and you can play from whatever titles they have added to the PS Now network.

Though, PS Now on the PC is a Steaming network.

Personally, I'd rather the PS Now on the PC be a service like Steam - where you buy your games (individually); locally store them on your PC; and then you can play them whenever you desire (connected ot not to the Internet).

Discuss.
« Last Edit: Sunday, August 28, 2016, 07:30:09 AM by MysterD »

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #1 on: Sunday, August 28, 2016, 07:34:21 AM »
Yeah, it's streaming.  You press a button to, say, jump, that input gets sent across however many hops to a server out there, which then submits that input to the running game code on its side somewhere.  The remote game then processes the input and its results get rendered to a frame.  That frame gets compressed with a codec suitable for streaming at consumer-internet speeds, then it gets sent to you across however many hops it takes.  Your PC receives it, uncompresses it and displays it for you.

No thanks.

Offline gpw11

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #2 on: Sunday, August 28, 2016, 06:10:59 PM »
It totally depends on the game but it works pretty well.  Well, at least when I briefly tried it out on my vita.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #3 on: Monday, August 29, 2016, 05:35:05 AM »
Yeah, it's streaming.  You press a button to, say, jump, that input gets sent across however many hops to a server out there, which then submits that input to the running game code on its side somewhere.  The remote game then processes the input and its results get rendered to a frame.  That frame gets compressed with a codec suitable for streaming at consumer-internet speeds, then it gets sent to you across however many hops it takes.  Your PC receives it, uncompresses it and displays it for you.

No thanks.


hahah.. funny.

I've read that for this to work well, you need a 10 to 15 mbps connection.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #4 on: Monday, August 29, 2016, 07:22:06 AM »
Proximity to the server (low ping) is probably about as important.  There are other troubling issues with the streaming approach.  You are wholly reliant on the service at all times.  If a game becomes inordinately popular, demand may exceed capacity.  (I'm not sure how the game-running tech works.  The obvious approach is a separate game instance running for each user, but I suppose a system which saves and restores virtual-machine states on the fly might be employed to get a single instance to serve multiple users.  This would add to lag, unless the system is so godly powerful that it doesn't much matter.)  And games may get yanked from the service at any time, much like Netflix lost some of their content not long ago.  Also, the service may go belly up, leaving you completely in the dark.  That happened within the last few years with the first such service (I think), whose name I now can't recall.  I know of one guy who was playing Borderlands through it.

The up side is being to play any game on any platform capable of streaming.  That's nothing to sneeze at, but it simply isn't for me.  I need to have my games running right here, under my full control.  Old dog, new tricks, and all that.

Offline ren

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #5 on: Monday, August 29, 2016, 12:32:39 PM »
I'm excited for this. I travel a fair amount for work and it'd be great if I could stream my ps4 games onto my work laptop from a hotel.

I also spend my time split among two houses, only one of which has video games in it so this could fix that issue too.

Offline gpw11

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #6 on: Monday, August 29, 2016, 05:59:50 PM »
I'm excited for this. I travel a fair amount for work and it'd be great if I could stream my ps4 games onto my work laptop from a hotel.



https://remoteplay.dl.playstation.net/remoteplay/lang/en/index.html

Already a thing you can do I believe.

Offline idolminds

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #7 on: Monday, August 29, 2016, 10:46:07 PM »
Yeah remote play and PS Now are different things. Remote play requires you to own a PS4, have your game on/in it, and then you can remotely play it.

PS Now doesn't require you to own anything, as far as I know. You pay per month and can choose games. Note that PS4 games are not on the service, its PS3 games only.

Offline Xessive

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday, August 30, 2016, 07:42:36 AM »
PSN Now is comparable to GeForce NOW, which is Nvidia's streaming service for the Shield. Of course both are modern takes on the idea behind OnLive before that fell apart and officially closed down last year.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday, August 30, 2016, 11:48:58 AM »
OnLive.  That's it.

Offline ren

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #10 on: Thursday, September 01, 2016, 07:22:20 AM »
Oh, interesting. I only skimmed headlines so I thought remote play and Ps Now we're the same. I'll have to choose carefully as Sony is only going to get my money once for this.

Offline gpw11

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #11 on: Thursday, September 01, 2016, 08:48:08 PM »
Oh, interesting. I only skimmed headlines so I thought remote play and Ps Now we're the same. I'll have to choose carefully as Sony is only going to get my money once for this.

Remote Play is totally free.

Offline ren

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday, September 06, 2016, 07:49:17 AM »
Well then... Maybe I'll read the article.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PlayStation Now streaming network will be coming to the PC
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday, September 06, 2016, 10:00:28 AM »
These are two different things.  Remote play allows you to stream games running on your console to some other device.  So you need the console (e.g., PS4) and a digital or disc copy of the game installed on the console.  PS Now doesn't need for you to have a console at all.  Games are running on the service itself.  You just send player inputs, and get back streaming video of the results.

I don't know about game selection.  I think PS Now isn't meant for running PS4 games, but rather older ones like PS3.  Since it's coming to PC, then maybe Sony will expand the catalog to include PS4 games (since originally the service was meant for PS4s, and those can run their own games natively).  I don't know, though.

Edit:  After a quick look at the article, yeah, it's for PS3 games right now.  If you want to play PS4 games, Remote Play is the way to go.