Sony finally puts its Gaikai tech to use in PlayStation Now game streaming

By Adam Rosenberg Updated January 7, 2014

best ps4 bundle deals version 1470733788 sony playstation 4 grips

Many questions have swirled around Sony’s plans for using Gaikai’s tech to stream games, and the company’s CES 2014 keynote answered some of those questions with the reveal of PlayStation Now. The service appears to be focused on delivering PlayStation 3 titles to multiple Sony platforms, including the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and “most” 2014 U.S. models of Bravia TVs. The intent is to eventually expand the service beyond Sony hardware, allowing PS Now users to access streaming game content “across a broad range of Internet-connected devices.”

We’ll have more details after we check out Sony’s booth here at CES, but the top-level bullet points laid out on the PlayStation Blog are promising:

Play video games instantly across multiple devices, similar to the way you might stream TV, movies, and music.
Stream full games to all of your compatible PlayStation devices including PS4, PS3, and PlayStation Vita as well as non-PlayStation devices, beginning with 2014 BRAVIA TV models and expanding to numerous other Internet-connected devices.
Always play the most updated version of your game. With games hosted in the cloud, you can take your game with you – just log in with your Sony Entertainment Network account on a compatible device and your games and saved progress will be easily available.

Question remain relating to latency, especially when it comes to multiplayer-focused titles, as well as any costs attached to using the service. The blog post notes that users will be able to pay for games a la carte as rentals, but there will also be a subscription option “that will enable you to explore a range of titles.” A beta program will launch later in January, with the full launch “expected” for the summer.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Gaming

Dreams live support is ending — and that’s a big misstep for PlayStation

Art fights a giant bird in Dreams.

Sony could’ve had its own popular proprietary game engine and metaverse. Instead, it just let it slip through its fingers.

Media Molecule is ending live support for Dreams, its highly ambitious game-creating and playing tool for PS4, on September 1. Its servers are staying online for now -- and it has a few more content updates in the pipeline before then -- but after August, there will be no new tools, ports, or events for Dreams. That means it’s not coming to PS5, PlayStation VR2, and, most critically, PC.

Gaming

PlayStation VR2’s best launch game isn’t the one you we’re expecting

fantavision 202x impressions hands on psvr2 outer space fireworks

With the PlayStation VR2 out now, all eyes are on Horizon Call of the Mountain. The action-adventure title is Sony’s first big exclusive for the platform, acting as its tentpole launch title. While it’s a must-buy for anyone picking up the device on day one, it's more successful as a strong technical showcase for the headset rather than as a fun game that stands on its own. If you’re looking for the latter, you’ll want to check out PSVR2’s real hidden weapon: Fantavision 202X.

『FANTAVISION 202X』 - ゲームプレイトレーラー

Gaming

How to find PlayStation VR2 games on the PS5’s PlayStation Store

An image featuring several launch window titles for the PlayStation VR2.

PlayStation VR2 is out now, and many of us are trying out the headset for the first time. If you didn't buy the Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle, you'll need to buy some games for the headset on the PS5's PlayStation Store. Right now, we have the benefit of the headset and its biggest launch titles being prominently featured on the PlayStation Store on PS5. That won't always be the case, though.
PSVR2 is not backward compatible with games for its predecessor, and just searching "VR" on the PlayStation Store will bring up many games that are only compatible with the original PlayStation VR headset. As such, searching for PSVR2 games manually on the PlayStation Store is more complicated than it might seem. To ensure you don't accidentally buy a game you can't play in your new headset, this is how you can find and identify PSVR2 games on the PS5's PlayStation Store.
How to manually find PlayStation VR2 games on the PlayStation Store

Currently, the "Latest" tab of the PlayStation Store does have featured widgets for specific games and an entire row dedicated to PSVR2 games, with a "View All" option at the end, which will bring you a list of the headset's games and demos. That's currently the easiest way to find PSVR2 games, but it likely won't stay there as we get further out from the PSVR2's launch. To manually search for PSVR2 games, you'll need to head over to the Browse section of the PlayStation Store. By default, "All Games" for PS4, PSVR, PS5, and PSVR2 will be shown, sorted by bestselling. To filter out non-PSVR2 games, choose the "Filter" button featuring three lines and a downward-pointing arrow on the screen's left side.
Once there, you'll see filters for price, genre, platform, release date, VR, and age rating. To ensure you're only served PSVR2 games, you'll want to go to the platform tab and choose the PS5 option and to the VR tab to choose the PSVR2 option. Once that's done, you can sort them by bestselling, most downloaded, name, release date, or price in the filter menu. Once everything is set to your liking, you can press the circle button to exit out of those filter options and you will see a list of games that all work with PSVR2. From here, you can easily access each game's store page before choosing whether or not you want to buy and download them.
How to tell if a game is PlayStation VR2-compatible