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WSJ : PS4 "may allow users to compete against others using different hardware"

The new PlayStation also will allow players to share achievements on social networks through smoother links to Facebook or Twitter, while also enabling aspects such as sharing footage of game play online through YouTube, people familiar with Sony's plans said. Sony's new console may also allow users to compete against others using different hardware, such as smartphones and other portable devices, those people said.

...

So companies have been developing ways to run such software on server systems and stream it over the Internet to customers, an approach sometimes called "cloud gaming." One of them is Gaikai Inc., which was purchased by Sony last July for $380 million. The deal was spearheaded by Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai, a former protégé to Mr. Kutaragi, who no longer plays a day-to-day role at the company.

Since the acquisition, Sony has been investing heavily to prepare Gaikai's technology to enhance its new console, the people familiar with Sony's plans said. Sony has been preparing the technology to be used to allow users to play current PlayStation 3 games on the device, making a broader array of titles available at the outset, these people said. The new device is also expected to play new games stored on optical discs.

But streaming could have implications beyond well-dedicated game machines, potentially allowing Sony's smartphones and televisions to tap into graphics-heavy games they can't play now. Andrew House, head of Sony's videogame unit, said in July that the Gaikai acquisition was a "recognition on Sony's part that the cloud and cloud-streaming technologies are going to have a profound and possibly a very positive impact."

And on Durango :

Microsoft's successor to its current console, the Xbox 360, is expected to arrive before year-end, according to people familiar with the software giant's plans. Like Sony, Microsoft has also used AMD chips in prototypes of its new console, those people said, and it has worked on upgrades for the cameras and other components in its "Kinect" motion controller to better identify, track and hear gamers as they play.

Microsoft, while it has tested cloud gaming, is putting greater emphasis on software that allows the Xbox to interact with mobile devices like Apple's iPad. The company is also planning to create new interactive TV content to be played on its consoles, after opening up a new production studio in Southern California.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323764804578311993152891294.html
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
So do they mean...games streamed on other devices? Playing with people playing via other devices?

If so...hype hype hype.

They make it sound like PS3 games on the cloud service is there to have 'a broader range' from day one, rather than just exclusively PS3 games...
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
WSJ obviously doesn't play PS3. Trophies, not achievements


Also, PS3 already allows you to play against other platforms. Cross-play between PS3 and Vita.
 
Sony's new console may also allow users to compete against others using different hardware, such as smartphones and other portable devices, those people said.

I don't understand...so Sony is releasing cross PS4 / smartphone games?
 
So do they mean...games streamed on other devices? Playing with people playing via other devices?

If so...hype hype hype.

They make it sound like PS3 games on the cloud service is there to have 'a broader range' from day one, rather than just exclusively PS3 games...

Maybe only Playstation Certified Devices.
 

nib95

Banned
Well, I'm certainly intrigued. Also, I think Mr Hirai likely made a great move having Sony buy GaiKai. Bit early to tell, but the potential is there.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Sounds interesting, but it all depends on what other devices they're talking about.
 

eso76

Member
well, if PS4 allows users to compete against others using different hardware...that has to mean those different platforms must allow that too :p
 

ToxicAdam

Member
No offense, but I can't imagine a game being very good that plays just as well on a PS4 w/ controller as it does on a touch-based device. It's either going to be too simple for a PS4 player or too cumbersome for a touch-based player.

Cool idea and might work for a very small (1 or 2) amount of titles in specific genres.


Maybe a game like Puzzle Quest or something.
 

Interfectum

Member
well, if PS4 allows users to compete against others using different hardware...that has to mean those different platforms must allow that too :p

Steam, Origin, iOS, Android, Nintendo (prolly) wouldn't stop that. The only one that would is Microsoft.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
I think the opening paragraphs set the context as referring to cloud streamed games to devices rather than multiplatform games:

More than a decade ago, the Sony Corp. executive credited as the "Father of the PlayStation" predicted that one day videogames wouldn't require a console, because the hardware would eventually "melt" into a network that linked players together. All they would need, Ken Kutaragi said, is a display and a controller.

As Sony prepares to take the wraps off a new home console, it will take one major step closer to that vision.
The Japanese electronics conglomerate's next PlayStation will allow users to play games streamed over the Internet as well as on discs, according to people familiar with Sony's ...

Now we just need to know if this includes PS4 games, or will lag by a generation, and refers to PS3 games...people playing PS3 stuff on different devices, together.
 
Was kinda expected with their failure to have mobile success and the purchase of Gaikai. Still, from the wording, it sounds like it may be limited until they get stuff going later. I like the idea, but I wonder what the games will be like when the control schemes are different with touch-screen versus touch-enabled game controller. I hope it's not just more optional stuff that works with the full game, like Smartglass has been used for so far.
 

noobasuar

Banned
Can't wait to see that Sony's throwing all its focus on PS Mobile in hopes of getting the IOS crowd.

Don't think it's going to work out well.
 
I think the opening paragraphs set the context as referring to cloud streamed games to devices rather than multiplatform games:



Now we just need to know if this includes PS4 games, or will lag by a generation, and refers to PS3 games...people playing PS3 stuff on different devices, together.

^Damn crazy Ken. Vindication perhaps...
 

grkazan12

Member
It just struck me. I never thought about it until now, but the acquisition of Gaikai totally allows Sony to stream to tablets and smartphones which was one of the selling points of onlive. Making a universal "PSN Plus" app for iOS and Android could allow paying PSN Plus users to stream a catalog of PS3 games to their device.

It probably won't go down that way, but something similar could arise.
 
Too bad Durango probably won't! (let you play with PS4 players, I mean, obviously it'll have smartglass and cloud stuff for mobile)
 
No offense, but I can't imagine a game being very good that plays just as well on a PS4 w/ controller as it does on a touch-based device.

Cool idea and might work for a very small (1 or 2) amount of titles in specific genres.

Yup. For this and other reasons, I'm not sure why this is exciting news. Seems like an inventive feature that amounts to an answer in search of a question.
 

Cornbread78

Member
I was really hoping somethign like this would progress and made a thread about it a week ago, lol.

I really hope they do, it woud be awesome stuff....!!!
 
I was thinking more like you could play PS3 games online on your PS4 through the cloud against people playing the same game online on their actual PS3s.

It'll probably only work for games that "make sense" to work across devices.

You're not gonna play Killzone 4 against other players on other devices. But PS3, probably, and stuff like Jetpack Joyride, where you can have integrated leaderboards and interactivity
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
Vita is saved?

I think at some point in the future...maybe even the very near future with the way things are going...the Vita is going to be more of a "shell" or a companion to Sony media and gaming, rather than having it's own set of exclusive games running specifically for Vita.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
No offense, but I can't imagine a game being very good that plays just as well on a PS4 w/ controller as it does on a touch-based device. It's either going to be too simple for a PS4 player or too cumbersome for a touch-based player.

What if...you can pair a Dualshock to a iPad, or PC, or TV?

Less optimal interfaces can be provided as a fallback, ala the PSMobile UI 'fallbacks' if you don't have real sticks/buttons.
 

Interfectum

Member
No offense, but I can't imagine a game being very good that plays just as well on a PS4 w/ controller as it does on a touch-based device. It's either going to be too simple for a PS4 player or too cumbersome for a touch-based player.

Cool idea and might work for a very small (1 or 2) amount of titles in specific genres.


Maybe a game like Puzzle Quest or something.

You're forgetting about PC, Mac and Vita I guess.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
You know, I really am glad the ps4 seems to be shaping up so nicely.
 
An interesting use of Gaikai would be to allow unlimited streaming of a bought retail/DD game to other devices. Basically, you would play PS4 version at home and Vita/Android/iPhone Gaikai version when you're out.
 
I think at some point in the future...maybe even the very near future with the way things are going...the Vita is going to be more of a "shell" or a companion to Sony media and gaming, rather than having it's own set of exclusive games running specifically for Vita.

makes sense with Gaikai.

Maybe they have universal apps that run on a suite of PlayStation devices
 

Monas

Member
Wow, Sony is entering this gen with guns blazing this time. PS3's penetration curve must've really scared them.
Or this is the last Gameconsole gen for them, before they start exploring the multimedia-network-all-in-one-box space. So they will need to have a tough contender, to be able to fall back to, if they should have to retreat.

Makes sense.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
I would be #dead if at the conference they have a live demo of Killzone 4, started up a video chat with someone who was at work or something, who then fired up a browser and started playing in the match off the cloud, in the browser.

#dead!

I should probably look for more detail before letting my imagination run away with itself, though... ahem.
 

I-hate-u

Member
Well, if that leaked ps4 controller is real, then certainly the ps4 is capable of playing almost any game on any smartphone due to its interface.
 
I think the opening paragraphs set the context as referring to cloud streamed games to devices rather than multiplatform games:



Now we just need to know if this includes PS4 games, or will lag by a generation, and refers to PS3 games...people playing PS3 stuff on different devices, together.

All those 4D gaming, shared computing, cloud gaming jokes people were making 5 years ago seem pretty stupid now. Ken Kutaragi wasn't crazy, just WAY to for ahead of his time and technology level.
 
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