The U.S. is about to get its hands on a gadget that Japan has been playing with since late last year. It's a $99 set-top accessory called PlayStation TV, and despite appearances, it's not a competitor to Apple TV, Google's Chromecast or Amazon's new Fire TV. It's a one trick pony that does just one thing: PlayStation TV plays games.
Sony's new PlayStation Now service — the cloud gaming service formerly known as Gaikai — will stream directly to PlayStation TV, giving gamers direct access to a huge library of PS3 games that can be played instantly. Users will also have the option of downloading classic PS One, PSP and PS Vita games locally. PS4 owners can use the device for Vita-like Remote Play on a secondary television located elsewhere in the home, using nothing but a standard Dualshock controller. PlayStation TV supports up to two controller connections. The ultra-thin black device is incredibly small, at about 2.5 inches wide by just over 4 inches long.
The real surprise here is that Sony has chosen not to include video or audio streaming services. This means owners won't be able to use PS TV to connect to Netflix, Hulu, Pandora or any number of other popular streaming media services. This could hurt Sony in the long run, as streaming media subscription services are on the rise and many gamers have come to expect to find them on modern consoles. It's unclear if Sony could opt to incorporate Netflix and its ilk in the future via firmware updates.
Sony is positioning PlayStation TV as a kind of pared-down game console, or a much more affordable option for those who can't afford or don't want a high-end machine like the PS4. It will retail for $99, though of course game downloads and/or a PSNow subscription are expected to cost extra. The base unit includes just 1GB of storage space for game downloads, though this is easily upgradable via a higher-capacity memory card. As announced at 2014 E3 Media Briefing on June 9, PS TV will also launch with a bundled option that includes a Dualshock 3 controller, 8GB memory card, and The LEGO Movie Videogame for PS Vita. The bundle will run $139.99.
Worth noting is that PS TV was first launched in Japan in November 2013 under the name "PlayStation Vita TV," which probably tells us plenty about what's going on under the hood of the new device. In other words, PS TV has a lot in common, hardware wise, with PS Vita. That explains why many of the games available for PS TV are Vita and PSP versions of popular games. Not that visual quality will suffer much for it; PS TV games may not be the 1080p bonanzas that PS4 owners enjoy, but PS Vita's high-def imagery should be perfectly serviceable on most television sets.
Sony hasn't given an exact release date for PlayStation TV, deferring to a vague "Fall 2014" arrival. Pre-ordering has not yet begun.
