Rumor: PlayStation 4 Will Feature PS3 Game Streaming

[Sylveria]

Right, so I paid for all those hard copies for nothing. Way to think smartly, Sony. I don't see this working out at all for you guys. Try harder.

You still have your PS3 right? So, what stops you from using it when you feel like playing a PS3 game? I honestly have no clue as to WHY this is an issue. Was never an issue back in the NES/SNES/N64 era, so why now? Besides, backwards computability makes things more expensive so, by not having it, the system is cheaper, isn't that what people want?

I'd rather pay more and have backwards compatibility than have to find a place to hook up yet another console or have to hooking and unhooking them whenever I want to play something on an old machine.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Single-handedly the most retarded "solution" for backwards compatibility ever.

This is Always-Online DRM all over again. Fucking stop it already.

 

[ivc392]

Single-handedly the most retarded "solution" for backwards compatibility ever.

This is Always-Online DRM all over again. Fucking stop it already.

At least they are trying... but yes, retarded is more than accurate. Between the used games issue and now this moronic excuse for backwards compatibility the only console Im exited about is the Ouya.

Know what? Fuck sony, fuck consoles. Long live PC, where Steam reigns supreme and I don't have to deal with this crap...

 

[mjc0961]

If they wanted? Very easy:

- Insert the old physical copy of your PS3 into your PS4.

- Have the console read the disk and identify the game.

- Give you access to said game Stream.

With that, selling digital copies at a discount and maybe charging a small montly fee for the backward compatibility service (to pay for the bandwith and stuff, probably along the lines of 4.99 with adds or 9.99 without adds) you end up with a great service that will lure many hardcore PS gamers.

Nope, they won't do that. One of two things would happen: it will be abused by people renting games or trading them with friends if it's free, or for even a small fee, those of us with legit collections will be pissed off and not buy anything.

Not that it matters because streaming is garbage anyway. I'll be keeping my PS3 so I can play my games without lag and without bandwidth charges to worry about.

Single-handedly the most retarded "solution" for backwards compatibility ever.

This is Always-Online DRM all over again. Fucking stop it already.

how else are you going to stream games without a internet connection??

You aren't going to stream games at all because streaming games isn't worth the time or money. Cid is spot on, it's just always online DRM and all of its problems all over again, except this time, where always online DRM only ruined your single player experience if the internet connection went out or the servers went down, streaming a game ruins your single player experience 100% of the time due to input delay caused by lag. Why the hell does anyone even pretend to think this technology is useful or a good idea? It's garbage. It's the worst thing introduced to gaming in a long time. So many negative things to say about it and not a single positive aspect about it to help balance out all the negatives. It's useless and the sooner everyone gives up on it, the better.

 

[Burst6]

I have no idea how much putting a ps3 chip in the ps4 would cost, but i imagine it would be very expensive. Isn't sony using a coding system that's not a nightmare for developers to design this time? I imagine adding hardware that lets you play ps3 games will be very expensive. I already have a PS3, and i don't think the extra 1/4 of a cubic foot of space is worth 100 dollars. Hopefully Sony learned their lesson about console pricing so i highly doubt it would be added.


You know what would be nice though? An optional attachment that would add PS3 compatability. Just a small box you can buy and plug into a port on the side or something.

Anyway, this is just a rumor that comes from pretty much nowhere. I wouldn't trust it at all. I'll wait for the official announcement.

 

[Evil Smurf]

And for those of us who already own a mountain of physical PS3 games? I'd rather have actual backwards compatibility or none at all. The more I hear about this next generation of consoles, the less interested I am with owning one.

If I did not already game on a computer this would push me too it.

 

[heroicbob]

doesn't game streaming chug like 2 gigs an hour? whatever I'm just nitpicking the one complaint about every new console is that there isn't enough games so they pretty much had to do something like this

am i the odd one out for keeping my old consoles?

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

doesn't game streaming chug like 2 gigs an hour? whatever I'm just nitpicking the one complaint about every new console is that there isn't enough games so they pretty much had to do something like this

am i the odd one out for keeping my old consoles?

No, because I plan on keeping my PS3 until it dies a honorably while letting me play a game.

I know that some people don't have the space to have that right next to their new console or anywhere, but I don't plan on throwing it away since I paid good money for it and it still works.

 

[Irridium]

So... what happens when they shut the servers down? I'm guessing no more PS3 games?

If nothing else, I really hope the PS4 plays PS1/PS2 games. That's what I really want.

 

[Irridium]

doesn't game streaming chug like 2 gigs an hour? whatever I'm just nitpicking the one complaint about every new console is that there isn't enough games so they pretty much had to do something like this

am i the odd one out for keeping my old consoles?

No you are not. Still have my PS2 and Xbox. Because my PS3 and 360 can't play the games I have on 'em. Or in the 360's case, the games I have aren't on the list of supported games. Because Microsoft stopped doing that.

Grr...

 

[Something Amyss]

And for those of us who already own a mountain of physical PS3 games? I'd rather have actual backwards compatibility or none at all. The more I hear about this next generation of consoles, the less interested I am with owning one.

Especially since 0% of it is confirmed and not much of it is at all likely to be true. Good reason to lose interest.

 

[loa]

What's the point of streaming if you had to rebuy games anyway?
Sounds like an awkward, cost intensive way around porting games.
Surely having servers compute and stream games in real time online 24/7 is more expensive than the 1 time cost of porting it and offering it for download?

 

[Austin Manning]

I'm kind of hoping for something like this: PlayStation Plus subscribers get access to every game for free. Regular user get access to all of Sony's first party titles for free. (and maybe some promotional free weekends for certain new releases)

 

[Proverbial Jon]

I have the perfect backwards compatibility method for the PS4 already, it's called a PS3! It will live in my cupboard until I feel the need to replay a game!

Even then it's unlikely I will need it, I don't really replay games at all, once I have beaten them once.

This. I have all my consoles and original games kicking about somewhere. If you want to continue enjoying older games it's really the only way. [small]Takes up a lot of space though...[/small]

OT: I didn't buy a PS3 until long after it had been released. It meant that I then had a large back catalogue of games to keep me occupied. I'll do the same this time, if indeed I even buy a PS4 at all.

 

[Kyogissun]

Well if I have to rebuy my copies of Tales of Graces F, Record of Agarest War 2, Tales of Xillia (when it releases), Tales of Xillia 2 (If it releases), The Last of Us, The Last Guardian and numerous other titles I still have this system for, Sony can kindly go fuck themselves.

I'm not rebuying shit for their new console if this is true.

 

[TheDarklite]

I have no idea how much putting a ps3 chip in the ps4 would cost, but i imagine it would be very expensive. Isn't sony using a coding system that's not a nightmare for developers to design this time? I imagine adding hardware that lets you play ps3 games will be very expensive.

You know what would be nice though? An optional attachment that would add PS3 compatibility. Just a small box you can buy and plug into a port on the side or something.

Well you see it would be quite difficult for them to achieve this on the PS4 for very real reasons. The PS3 uses a custom CPU from IBM - Cell as you might have heard. The easiest way to put it is that Cell has it's own instruction sets and needs very specific coding. It won't execute much else (again, all of this is simplified).

The PS4 looks like it will be using more traditional CPU architecture. This brings it in line with a PC CPU. A CPU like this will be unable to process instructions and code aimed at a Cell CPU. This rules hardware compatibility out completely.

The only realistic solution (besides the rumor this thread revolves around) would be software emulation. That is to place something between the PS3 game and the PS4's CPU that translates the instructions to something usable. This would require an incredible amount of resources to accomplish though. The system would need to be very strong to accomplish this. A lot stronger than the rumored specs.

Unfortunately whilst an attachment in theory could hold software to achieve this, the full system specs of the PS4 would need to allow for the emulation which just isn't going to happen.

It's kind of like the whole PS2 compatibility problem with the PS3 - Only significantly worse.
(For the record, I am aware of the emotion engine emulation on the early PS3 models, but it cost Sony far too much to keep going with.)

This is all a very basic explanation but you get the idea I hope.

More On-Topic: Streaming seems to be a rather iffy solution at best. Latency would be the biggest issue. Controls will be way to slow for any sort of twitch-gameplay.

If I get a PS4, I will just be keeping the PS3 next to it.... And still use the PC more than either >.<

 

[dragongit]

you don't need to buy into the new games. Just keep the one you have. Hopefully this streaming will allow us who hadn't bought those games to do so on the PS4 and hopefully slightly cheaper. otherwise you already have a method to play them. The Ps3 hasn't been backwards compatable since it's fat days. Even now, not all games are on the PSN. people still resort to their PS2 or PS1 to scratch that itch. I see this as being no different.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

I think keeping your old PS3s is the best option. You will most likely have to re-buy any old PS3 games for much more than you could get them used, and even then you'd have a bad experience if you don't have state-of-the-art internet. There's also the issue that this is pretty much always-online DRM and any instance of that is fuckin' shit.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Right, so I paid for all those hard copies for nothing. Way to think smartly, Sony. I don't see this working out at all for you guys. Try harder.

You still have your PS3 right? So, what stops you from using it when you feel like playing a PS3 game? I honestly have no clue as to WHY this is an issue. Was never an issue back in the NES/SNES/N64 era, so why now? Besides, backwards computability makes things more expensive so, by not having it, the system is cheaper, isn't that what people want?

Personally I see it as a format that easily allows backwards capability. Unlike the cartridges which got a different design each time to fit the new chip, discs don't need a new read method.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Um... why not just, you know, ACTUALLY MAKE YOUR CONSOLE BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE? Sony, I get that you are pretty bad when it comes to user convinence and customer service, but you have to actually be trying to be this bad.

However, this could work if you put a PS3 game in and it either installed the game on your hard drive or read the game and gave you a downloadable copy for free.