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Sony creates custom PS3 hardware for PlayStation Now
- Thread starter Hanmik
- Start date
Netherscourge
Banned
Actually, it's the exact opposite of what you just said.
They were ORIGINALLY going to use standard PS3s to stream the games over PS Now, but decided to create custom hardware servers to better deliver the games over a stream.
Very true.
OlympicTechno
Neo Member
2015 Europe release isn't too bad. Considering this is a new service for Sony there are bound to be problems when released in the US, so hopefully by the time it is released here in Europe these issues have been ironed out and latency is lowered.
Be patient people.
Be patient people.
qa_engineer
Member
You don't roll out a product of this magnitude in a smaller country with a smaller user base. that makes no sense from a business standpoint.
You roll out this product in a massive country/continent, with a high user base, with varying connection types, speeds and infrastructure and use this country as beta testers.
Once you've ironed out the major issues you can then begin rolling it out to your other major markets.
This is pretty impressive. I'll have to double check but 8 streams from a rack would make it pretty cost competitive with PC game streaming. IIRC, for higher end games nvidia was advertising 2-16 streams with a grid rack depending on the particular game. It's certainly much more streams from a given rack volume vs using ps3 slims...
Triggerhappytel
Member
qa_engineer
Member
Could they use these PS3 racks/ data centers for other computing needs as well? Remember when Cell was touted as the supercomputer on a chip and defacto protein folding machine?
iamshadowlark
Banned
What I wonder now is if this array is the complete solution for all games or is it just to facilitate the ps3 titles.
They will be pretty limited in the type of games they can support if they limit themselves to rsx/cell.
They will be pretty limited in the type of games they can support if they limit themselves to rsx/cell.
CosmicGroinPull
Member
That sounds like a lot of investment for BC. Hope it pays off, but I really can't see how.
KoopaTheCasual
Junior Member
We're living in the future, dawg.
Tier 3 continent
You don't like this? I'm moving from Canada to Japan, there goes my PlayStation preference dibs. lol
It wont hurt you much. PS Now arrives in US during Q3 2014, and in EU during Q1 2015. That could mean less than 6 months of delay between two regions.
Is 6 months so unbearable for you? As I said, at least EU was Tier1 for PS4 deployment. We got great gift with that move, now we have to wait for PS Now, which maybe wont even launch in all supported EU countries.
Don't know about the infrastructure.... USA's is decent... they just shit it up because they are basically monopolies that can get away with whatever they want.
My PS3 does that too.
2015 EU launch doesn't surprise me, though I'm curious to see how it performs over a US server.
NTIETS13A_Superiority
Banned
Thoughts..
No br-drive needed... Games running from hdd (hopefully good/fast ones). Possibly better performance.
Custom hw. Faster sata for better performance?
RSX/Cell combo chip reality yet? Cost reduction to ps3s.
Hard to think all the ways they could customise these apart from formfactor and motherboard.
No br-drive needed... Games running from hdd (hopefully good/fast ones). Possibly better performance.
Custom hw. Faster sata for better performance?
RSX/Cell combo chip reality yet? Cost reduction to ps3s.
Hard to think all the ways they could customise these apart from formfactor and motherboard.
Suzushiiro
Banned
Yeah, that's kind of how I figured it would work- PS3s stripped down to the stuff they actually need, running off of custom firmware that enables them to do the weird, hack-ey shit they need to make this sort of operation doable.
enanogrande
Member
So... I guess we can expect PS2 emulation to be done through the PS3? That sucks for compatibility...
chaostrophy
Member
They probably won't have local HDDs, or if they do, they'll be for OS only. Games will likely be stored on SAN arrays, with the servers connected by fiber, so any server can access the games.
There is no 'EU' infrastructure. It's 26 different networks, 27 different legal entities responsible for regulating said networks (national & EU) and a host of local service providers Sony will need to negotiate with before dropping a bandwidth bomb like PSNow.
Speed and quality varies wildly from crazy fast in Scandinavia to just-about-got DSL in some places. Where I live in London I get about 4-6meg with no real prospect of improvement as our line goes direct to the local exchange rather than a street cabinet so we won't benefit from FttC; a mate who lives 3 streets away on a road where Virgin have laid fibre gets in excess of 40, and this is not atypical across the whole continent.
Seriously - the Euros on this thread need to get over themselves. Rolling something like this out in a single country would be a 12-18 month project on its own, let alone a many-limbed-no-headed beast like the EU.
That's a pretty aggressive schedule, but if they can do it, that would be impressive.
Is PS Now servers then just going to consist of these custom PS3 ones? If that is the case, it'll be interesting to see how they will modify and support the system if, for example, they want to later add in PS4 or the handheld platforms.
Is PS Now servers then just going to consist of these custom PS3 ones? If that is the case, it'll be interesting to see how they will modify and support the system if, for example, they want to later add in PS4 or the handheld platforms.
Suzushiiro
Banned
I'd imagine PS2 games won't run on that hardware- they'll either have a similar "multiple copies of the actual chipset on one board" setup for PS2s or just have standard x86 servers running software emulators.
The hardware can do it, on hacked PS3s the PS2 compatibility list is quite high.
Or just...electrical engineers.
enanogrande
Member
I can see the x86 route, but the custom PS2 setup doesn't seem cost effective. They're still making PS3's, but the PS2 production lines have been shuttered for a while now. God knows where they'll get all those emotion chips...
Exactly.
Europeans tend to forget that Europe is a lot of different countries, lol.
The sheer amount of work it takes for a company to release stuff in every country is incredible. Some of the EU countries don't even have Music and Video unlimited because of the legal hurdles.
Ploid 3.0
Member
What if they use PCs and emulate PS2 D:
HD button, blury HUD.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=427321
HD button, blury HUD.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=427321
It's not high enough for an official service. Even the games that have been released on PSN are buggy; Persona 3 apparently has a serious texture flashing bug towards the end. Digital Devil Saga couldn't be released at all due to emulation bugs.
Using PS3 servers is good news for PS3 games compatibility, but that brings up the question of why Sony bothered to port Flower, flOw, Sound Shapes and Escape Plan to PS4. If they're not going to rely entirely on PS Now and offer native PS4 ports of various games, that could be really good news all around.
Captain Tuttle
Member
Sonyland indeed.
I'm really curious about this service, I really want to see it succeed.
TheCowboyPoet
Member
Thank god. Those replies from Sony employees on the PS Blog about nothing to announce in regards to Canada made me nervous. Still, it'd be nice if Sony would quit assuming Canada is a part of the US. We're different!
Anyone with a picture of Richard Rider as their avatar deserves to get into this beta. Kudos to you sir.
Anyone with a picture of Richard Rider as their avatar deserves to get into this beta. Kudos to you sir.
TheRealTalker
Banned
Very interesting article
Made sense that EU would be 2015 with Q1 at the earliest seeing as NA's release is Q3...
I also wonder how small Sony engineers could make the PS3 seeing as they've already decreased the size with this custom version suited for streaming farms
I wonder if they could release a slim model compared to the PS2 last slim design
Also Canada.... Hell Yeah!
Made sense that EU would be 2015 with Q1 at the earliest seeing as NA's release is Q3...
I also wonder how small Sony engineers could make the PS3 seeing as they've already decreased the size with this custom version suited for streaming farms
I wonder if they could release a slim model compared to the PS2 last slim design
Also Canada.... Hell Yeah!