Games By James Plafke Sep. 22, 2014 12:30 pm
Sony’s PlayStation Now open beta is a success — not because it may be generating money, or even because people are talking about and using it, but because it actually works. Long before (in internet years) PS Now, both Gaikai and OnLive attempted game streaming, and it was a mess. Games would stream, sure, but the lag would often make the games unplayable, and compatibility requirements severely limited the catalog.
PS Now was (and still is) met with a ton of skepticism, mainly because people aren’t sure if the service can actually deliver a response time that won’t lessen the reactive experience that is gaming. So far, PS Now works, and that’s why Gaikai thinks Sony saved the very idea of game streaming.
Gaikai founder David Perry states that before Sony purchased Gaikai back in 2012, game streaming was becoming a nightmare for his company, thanks largely to compatibility*issues. Gaikai was a PC game streaming service, and as we all know, PC games are made for an open platform that can be composed of a wide variety of hardware, making it difficult to ensure that software runs well across the board. Moving its game streaming efforts over to the Sony ecosystem greatly reduces the variety of hardware on which a game needs to run, and made it easier for Gaikai to achieve that goal.
What also helped Gaikai make PlayStation Now so smooth is that Sony’s network is much bigger and more complex than the one Gaikai used as a PC game streaming startup.
For now, PS Now is running well. Perry says a lot of people are using the service to buy and play games, and the service will only expand from here on out. To check out the rest of the interview, such as Perry’s feelings on the Vita, head on over here.
Now read: Why PlayStation Now is the future of video games
More...
PS Now was (and still is) met with a ton of skepticism, mainly because people aren’t sure if the service can actually deliver a response time that won’t lessen the reactive experience that is gaming. So far, PS Now works, and that’s why Gaikai thinks Sony saved the very idea of game streaming.
Gaikai founder David Perry states that before Sony purchased Gaikai back in 2012, game streaming was becoming a nightmare for his company, thanks largely to compatibility*issues. Gaikai was a PC game streaming service, and as we all know, PC games are made for an open platform that can be composed of a wide variety of hardware, making it difficult to ensure that software runs well across the board. Moving its game streaming efforts over to the Sony ecosystem greatly reduces the variety of hardware on which a game needs to run, and made it easier for Gaikai to achieve that goal.
What also helped Gaikai make PlayStation Now so smooth is that Sony’s network is much bigger and more complex than the one Gaikai used as a PC game streaming startup.
For now, PS Now is running well. Perry says a lot of people are using the service to buy and play games, and the service will only expand from here on out. To check out the rest of the interview, such as Perry’s feelings on the Vita, head on over here.
Now read: Why PlayStation Now is the future of video games
More...
