Back at the special showcase in early 2013 when Sony announced the coming of the PlayStation 4, fans were pleasantly surprised to learn that Sony was moving away from its traditional proprietary computing architecture.
PlayStation machines 1 through 3 had always proven difficult to develop games for, for this reason, requiring extra time and effort from developers. Crafting games for the Xbox 360, on the other hand, was very similar to making PC games, because they shared similar, PC-based architectures.
So when Sony decided to solicit developers' wishes for the next PlayStation console, adopting a PC architecture was one of the top requests. Sony took their advice, and the PlayStation 4 is now considerably easier to develop for than any of its predecessors. There is one fairly substantial downside, however: the PlayStation 4 is not backwards compatible. In other words, you can't play PS3 game discs in your PS4.
Not to worry, though. Sony has found a solution to this problem. It's called PlayStation Now, and it not only requires no discs, but no downloads, either. PlayStation Now is the world's first console-based streaming game service. You pick a game to play and the game's software resides and functions on a remote server, streaming and reacting to your controller's input remotely.
The idea has widely been considered a dream for the future, but Sony is trying to bring it about now. Using PlayStation Now, PS4 owners can rent PS3 games, streaming them to your console for the time period you select, for four hours, seven days, 30 days or 90 days. Four hours of play time will run you $2.99, while maxing out at 90 days costs $14.99. Fans are already calling it a disproportionate pricing structure, but Sony has shown in the past its willingness to learn and change things as needed.
PlayStation Now has, effective immediately, entered an open beta period that any PS4 owner can try out. Currently, the service has 123 titles available, and Sony promises that more will be added regularly. Games available on PlayStation Now include Killzone 3, Shadow of the Colossus, Darksiders II, Ninja Gaiden 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4, Alpha Protocol, All Zombies Must Die, Dead island Riptide, PixelJunk Eden and many more. The full list is available here.
It remains to be seen how gamers will react to having to pay to stream PS3 games they already own to their PS4s.
