We are all ready. Our cores ache for the inevitable announcement of the PS4 on the 20th of February. We have a good idea of what to expect. Leaks have been frequent and in most cases similar, which suggests a certain degree of accuracy. Sony have been reticent on the matter, with not a single response to the rumours. This also augers well for the coming event. Leaked images of the prototype controller have hit the net to resounding positivity and the hype can get no louder. Although there are still many questions to be answered — and I doubt all of them will be answered this coming Wednesday — one thing is for certain: Sony are about to do something BIG.
You are aware that the PS Vita has cross game chat right?
On topic
I think the article makes some very good point. PSTV as the puts it could very well be the next big thing for Sony, though I don't see it overshadowing the announcement of the PS4.
Maybe in hindsight we will look back and this was the moment when all Sony devices started sharing one brain "Gaikai".
And I think that's the way Sony will phase out the Used game market. Not by making the PS4 unable to play used game, but by eliminating the need to go out to midnight launches at GameStop. Imagine you get access to the game the very minute it is out, right from your living room. Now that's a pretty big advantage over the competition if you ask me.
PSN, PS Mobile, PS+, and Gaikai will be the soul and spirit of PlayStation that will transcend the limitations of hardware present in the traditional video game market model.
All these services rolled into one across multiple platforms and hardware devices will be what Netflix did to movies and TV.
This means more people can experience PlayStation games on their devices where ever or whenever.
Nintendo tried to get more people to gaming but it was physical hardware based and it was limited and short lived.
Software can be anywhere.
Transcendental.
Sony have a clear vision & knows where its going.
It will continue to nurture & cultivate video gaming industry as a new but enduring form of entertainment of the 21st century.
Sony will not let video gaming industry die for its best interest and of course all the gamers.
website bookmarked
Also, did nobody else notice this article is not listed as an opinion piece and the author repeatedly states his assumptions as outright fact? The article projects itself horribly and I'm glad everyone here knows enough to realize it's speculation as the less savvy may think these things he's saying are confirmed.
its available in stores the very next day.
Yeah that would be huge. people knowing it was coming is a tough thing to hide. The actual release date, that would blow their minds if it did happen like that.
That being said, I do agree that digital distribution would be very good. Steam has proven to be successful. Why can't a similar option for any game system be just as?
The big difference between Steam and the new tech that was patented is that with Steam, you still have the option of going out, getting that hard copy, and (assuming there's no draconian DRM involved on the disc) do what you think you should do with the disc without incident. Steam doesn't stop you from doing that, and I want to say that they have some form of allowance for game sharing, but I can't say that for sure. Also, keep in mind that many PC games have user created mods that extend the lives of those games (not every PC game supports it, but its widespread enough, even more than enough, to bring it up as a plus because there's a lot of great mods out there for games like Skyrim).
But the patented thing that could be in the next gen platforms wouldn't give you even that option, which should be a given option. What if the game has no replay value? Once you squeeze every inch of fun out of a game, what use do you have for the game? In a console's case, there's no room for user created mods as there is on the PC, and console makers have made zero effort to delve into this possibility. So that means that once you beat all the offered DLC and game data, then the disc becomes an expensive coaster.
With the ability to resell the game for a fraction of the cost, what do you gain? Plenty. You get some money back, and the person you sold it to now can experience the same thing you have with the game, and might become a fan and wish for a sequel along with you. It creates exposure for a game that you wouldn't rather play. And keep in mind that there are some older games that cannot be bought any other way (especially on consoles), making such a market even more worthwhile.
And really, is this us complaining about a market in which devs don't see a dime out of (which is more short term thinking than long term), or is it us being taken advantage of because we seem to loathe Gamestop's involvement in this market, and we are just willing to step on the toes on the entire used game market just to troll Gamestop?
Their previous plan was to upgrade the entire country by the end of this year but its not happening anymore. In fact most rural areas are at least 2 years from being put on the list, let alone actually upgraded.
Honestly I doubt streaming will be viable for a long time. If here in the UK were lagging behind I can only imagine some countries will be even further from having the necessary speeds country-wide.
But as you say much of the world won't be making use of such services for a while.
That would be awesome, but it would never happen. :-(
Why?
FF Versus XIII, never happened.
And Square Enix sucked this generation. They made some really poor decisions. I blame it ALL on Youchi Wada.
I can't believe they skipped a generation
I think the whole streaming PS3 games service will come into this as well if ture. Sony is not going to let the PS4 have any weaknesses. God Im excited.
The console is going to be a beast. I cant wait. Might be the first time I ever camp out for anything.
Gaikai is going to be part of Ps4 and perhaps the whole PSN/SEN network and its tech is prolly going to be used between PS3/Ps4 and Vita for remoteplay.
Damn you sony I still want to play all my Ps3 games on the vita! (watching KZ3 on vita remote play video on youtube)
Then you must just suck at it. It's very easy for most people and it's very beneficial. It'd work wonders.
Regardless of your opinion, you are still missing L3/R3. These buttons are not always used but they perform important tasks in many games, so my point still stands. How exactly are you going to play these games on Vita?
http://arstechnica.com/busi...
It won't stop physical sales of games because Sony will not want to stop the momentum of the PS3 and PS4. You'll get PS1/PS2/PSP/PSMobile games for certain, and older PS3 titles, but they'll want to make sure that there is only one way to play the newer games (until of course they too are older)
You are right they probably wont intend to use it for backwards compatibility exactly but for other devices they should be able to play PS3 games through Gaikai, I honestly see no reason why they would limit the PS4 from that though, some people prefer cloud gaming, takes no hard drive space, no download and it's just quick and easy for the most part if you have good internet.
That is what Gaikai is for, it's far from a tool to alienate individuals it was created to do the exact opposite and give people the freedom to play a game on the device of their choosing or to have access to games in a new way (well not technically new but you know what I mean).
I just see no reason why they would not allow PS4 users to use Gaikai and have access to the PS3 games that no doubt will end up in it.
This report http://gigaom.com/2012/09/0... says 90% of computer users do have broadband, and if you don't have a computer...you're unlikely to be interested in a PS4, Gaikai, or other newfangled devices I think.
For free
watch the video for more details:
Related video
Some people do prefer the cloud for many different reasons, having it there as in option is better than not having it at all. I don't want to see it as only in the hardware or only in the cloud. It should be offered on both
Granted Gaikai and what it can potentially promise are VERY interesting, but it takes second place here.
I think they may be onto something. PlayStation 4 + Gaikai implementation.
from now i will not underestimate the stupidity of you.
And by the way, could you please stop commenting???
You living on cloud nine if you think it doesn't have major flaws. From reliability, to ownership, to devs going under Sony/MS, to devs not getting paid, to losing many devs, to some genres having payment advantages over others, to devs making their games 'longer' with mobs of obligatory written text that cannot be forwarded to skew the 'metrics', to so many other problems. Get ready to pay triple for some games, and other games get almost none of your money. Of course you won't know because you'll be paying a subscription, and the devs won't have the right to their money because Sony is the new overlord determining who gets paid and how that is even determined. THEY determine how much of a cut to take as well. When to pull games off, what to put on. All your gameplay is governed through new and expanding rules, and if they aren't followed you lose everything.
People are denying these problems are real, just like the morons who repealed Glass-Steagall said they were smart enough to overcome the problems with combining deposits with hedge funds and insurance..that they could make derivatives safe. That they were smart, and we'd learned alot since the 1930's. Whoops. Now, as predicted by anyone with a brain in 1999, we'd be back in a great depression within a decade, and sure enough, we are.
Well while this is only gaming, the same hubris is applying itself to streaming games. Get ready to upgrade your internet to the $100 a month tier, because now instead of just using internet to ferry some data in multiplayer, or to download a game, now you'd literally be downloading EVERYTHING that is loaded up, when it is loaded up, over and over and over again. Talk about bandwidth waste.
The biggest announcement would be the PS4, the biggest mistake would be to announce a streaming service. If it's limited to PS3 games it isn't so bad, but it is a knock against backwards compatibility.
People are just fools for 'new' things, they assume they'll be 'good', because there are plenty of morons who think anything 'new' by definition is 'good'. Not everything invented, created, or built is progress.
If you ask me this will push devs right back to competitors that don't have this, and PC which is open. Still see many devs shutting down.
Streaming games will become cheaper. In many major cities it is already pretty cheap. In DC you can get 30/5 for less than $30 a month in a bundle. And that is without a major competitor. Verizon is moving in and Comcast have started to up the speeds. 50/10 is now pretty standard. Verizon is supposed to be coming back with 75/35 so Comcast will bump up soon. And they don't charge more when they bump it up. On top of that they are both giving you Visa cards worth as much as $350 to get their service.
As more and more things demand bandwidth and competition continues, they will raise the speeds and lower the prices even more. Streaming games aren't a problem in this area and that will be the case in most of the country soon.
Where I disagree with the article is on this being a hardware replacement. I think it can be one more option. This is no different from what Gaikai was already doing. There are several problems. Sony has already drilled into the heads of it fans that infrastructure should be free.
Gaikai wasn't flourishing as a company, PSN is already held back by giving it away. So making that the whole system is not the best idea if people already feel it should be free. If they can sign contracts with the developers for a flat fee per copy and then sell for $60 per game, it might be workable. But there are no guarantees that the titles will sell enough to support the infrastructure.
They could sell to hotels, hospitals and airports. But as hardware gets better and storage gets smaller even that becomes less of an option. They might have been better off shrinking the Cell and RSX and combining them for BC.
Well, on the plus side, I am convinced these people will be disappointed because a) it won't work and b) it doesn't even make sense.
Neither from a business standpoint, nor from a technical perspective.
It would cannibalize PS3 game sales and render their own next gen platform obsolete before it even hits the market.
I can imagine this tech will be used in one or the other way. But I think it will be assimilated into whatever Sony is cooking up and not "just another stream solution". So, can we please move on and not make Gaikai the most talked about topic because it is in fact a side story.
Feb. 20th. P-Day.
20th feb cant come quick enough.
I expect it to be used just for BC at the moment.