One of the biggest bummers of the PlayStation 4 is that you can’t play PlayStation 3 games on it. In fact, that was the biggest bummer about the PlayStation 3 is that it didn’t play PlayStation 2 games. Look, we get it, the systems are built on entirely different architecture and it would cost more to include another chipset like they did with the initial run of PlayStation 3’s. I get it. That’s why we can’t have backwards compatibility. That being said, we’ve all been sitting around waiting for Sony to do something with this mysterious Gaikai company that they acquired and it looks like we finally have that answer.
That answer is PlayStation Now. PlayStation Now is going to be their game streaming service, which will apparently be subscription-based and will be working on a wide range of Sony products beyond just PlayStation consoles. If you own a Sony television you’ll be able to stream Sony games through the PlayStation Now service, as well as through the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. There really isn’t any sort of news as to what the pricing will look like or when this will happen, but there have been reports from CES of attendees playing The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension on a PlayStation Vita and saying that it worked pretty well.
PlayStation Now is in a closed beta at the moment and should be launching at some point this year. It will be entirely cloud-based, including saved games, and will apparently be subscription or a per-game basis for costs. On top of that Sony announced that they are working on a streaming television service for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 as well right now, but were rather sparse with the details.
