Those who are looking to steam games from PlayStation Now onto their PlayStation consoles or non-PlayStation gadgets will require 5mbps connectivity for what Sony claims will provide “good experience for most games”. Further, those wanting to play the game on a Bravia Smart TV will also require a DualShock 3 controller.
These requirements come from none other than Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) Social Media Manager Sid Shuman who demoed PlayStation Now during CES 2014 using Bravia Smart TV and PS Vita and four PlayStation 3 titles including Beyond: Two Souls, God of War: Ascension, The Last of Us, and Puppeteer.. Shuman has jotted down his findings on PlayStation Blog.
Shuman noted that after the initial loading screen on Bravia, “the experience looked and felt faithful to playing the game locally on a PS3.” Shuman said that the latency was non-noticeable and had no trouble handling the camera, attacking enemies and fending off attacks.
“In fact, after a few minutes of play I forgot that I was “streaming a game” — I was just getting absorbed in playing The Last of Us”, noted Shuman. The social media manager experimented with Puppeteer and God of War: Ascension and noted that the experience with those titles was also convincing. However, he does note that there are ‘minor concessions’ related to graphics including compression artifacts.
Towards the end of his findings, Shuman noted that like all other bandwidth-intensive streaming content, performance on PlayStation Now will also depend on the connectivity at user’s end.
“The PS Now team is currently estimating that a 5 mbps connection will provide a good experience for most game,” he noted.