Press who attended CES were invited to test out PlayStation Now at the event, and IGN have handily captured a video of The Last of Us running through the service, being played on a PlayStation Vita, which you can see embedded below.
At first it’s slightly odd seeing one of last year’s biggest PlayStation 3 games on the handheld, especially when controls seem so responsive as though it’s actually running on the system, with minimal to no lag or slowdown.
You’ll notice that the system adopts the same control scheme as Remote Play, which suggests the networking features are much the same – you use the back touchpad of the system for L2, R2, L3 and R3, while all other controls work as they would on a DualShock controller.
Naturally this is in a controlled environment, so the connection is tested to be as stable as possible – PlayStation Now might not fare quite as well in an at-home environment with many more people using it at once, but it’s simply amazing to see a service such as this up and running so soon.
PlayStation Now is expected to launch in the US this summer. You can sign up for a beta test – which will run towards the end of this month – now, using this link.
Source: YouTube
Youles
Wow, that’s pretty cool. Would mean I might actually get through my PS3 backlog.
If this is streamed straight to the Vita it would be awesome for work (seeing as I can’t seem to access my PS4 for remote play from work). When at home I wonder if your PS4 could stream the game via Ethernet to help with speed/lag, and you just use your Vita for remote play as you usually would for PS4.
McProley
Yeah, but technically you’d be paying for the games again via a subscription so not really doing the backlog.
Youles
Well, they’re games I intend to play so it doesn’t really matter how I play them. Obviously if the streaming service price isn’t right, I won’t bother – going by the great PS+ price and the fact that they are old games, I would hope the price isn’t too high. Also when you consider that we have a great catalogue of free PS3 games via PS+ and a lot of decent PS3 games can be picked up for cheapo (although you won’t be able to play them via Vita). That said, if it’s access to all games then the price is likely to be high; and I imagine we’ll get priced with the rest of Europe so we’ll get bumped.
Tuffcub
Perhaps not. Sony just need to scan your trophy list, you got a trophy for a title then you get access to games you already own for nothing. Easy.
SpikeyMikey23
Wish you worked for Sony! This idea is bound to be too straightforward for them!
Kevatron400
Yeah but TC what about games you rented for a day to get a couple of trophies? Or ones you borrowed from a friend?
tactical20
I’d literally eat my cock if that was the case TC!
tactical20
Leading on from Kev… or games you own but don’t have any trophies for?
Cron_13
/want
boyinastairwell
Looks amazing!
I assume it’ll support cloud saves? I’ve got loads of half played games that I could finally finish if I could play them on my Vita.
McProley
Thats an interesting question I’d quite like to know the answer to actually
bunimomike
Cloud saves supported. Start on the PS3. On the loo with the Vita. Finish session on a Sony Bravia TV with DS3 controller synced via Bluetooth. Stunning.
McProley
As impressive as this all is (and it really is), personally i would never find a use for it. when i’m at work with my vita, I sadly don’t have wifi, and when i’m at home, my PS3 is still hooked up next to my PS4 anyway so it makes the whole streaming thing pretty redundant for me.
Still great to see The Last Of Us on vita though :)
Avenger
Indeed. I think the more interesting aspect of this news is the fact that Vita TV can be a virtual PS3. Even then though, the PS4 would just have the same feature, so as you say, it’s all a bit redundant outside of PS4. It’s a rarity that an internet connection is fast and stable enough to enable smooth gameplay on-the-go.
blarty
For people who travel this is a great boon, throw a Vita or Vita TV in your bag with you and fire it up when your in the hotel…. as long as it works on those kind of networks of course.
TSBonyman
Cool, i wonder what hardware it’s streaming from? Some sort of a high end server combining PS3 emulation and Gaikai tech?
bunimomike
Imagine it was someone else’s PS3 half way around the world whilst they slept?
TSBonyman
Maybe it’s this.. ;)
https://twitter.com/yosp/status/218685663426510848
Starman
Apparently the server was in the next room.
lambchop
I don’t think you can really tell how good it’s going to be from that video. I’ll hold judgement for now. If its as good as the performance I get playing Resogun on the toilet though, I`m IN!
lambchop
Having watched this now at home, this does look pretty damn smooth!
rob_b
Is that OSD of the Vita back panel (I assume for rear touch controls) mandatory or can it be turned off? That thing would annoy the hell out of of me.
But regards to the tech, love it. I’d assume that if you own the title digitally then it would be free to stream (maybe PS+ required) as that would remove any ownership issues.