PlayStation Now Beta (PS3 and PS4)

[Brandon Strader]

Hi! I played with the PS Now beta on PS4. It's also available on PS3. I used it to stream a PS3 game on my PS4 and I took some screenshots of the game selection and various screens using the ps4's share button. In game screenshots were disabled.

Here is a gallery: http://imgur.com/gallery/9Wq3g/

First image: This is the Now beta's icon as it appears on my "dashboard". It was a very small download. Clicking on it leads to the second image.

Second image: There's an options menu on the left which isn't shown, which has options like "All Games" and other stuff. This disclaimer says to use an ethernet connection to play the games so it works best. I used wifi which is shared between many devices, and only gave partial bandwidth to testing out PS Now.

Third image: First part of the game selection. I wasn't impressed at all. I ended up testing with All Zombies Must Die, which is a cheesy zombie game that actually feels out of the ps2 era gameplay-wise.

Fourth image: More game selection!

Fifth image: It tested the connection when I told it to play the game. Then there was a popup that said to press the PS button to switch to the game. I did that, and pressed "start" and it immediately went into the game. I thought the credit slides at the beginning seemed choppy, but that choppiness wasn't present in the actual game.

Not shown: you can rent for 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month. All of the options during the beta were "Free". I do not know what pricing will be like for the final, open product.

I didn't actually notice the jpg compression until a trophy popped up and I could see it around the text. It's noticeable only if you are really looking for it, as some fuzziness around the edges of things.

The game was responsive despite the other things I was downloading and had using up the bandwidth on my PC (possibly contributing to the jpg compression) and I did not notice any lag. I also did not notice any audio glitches, and the quality of the audio seemed normal and uninterrupted.

The ease of use is very great. I love the PS4's UI. Everything loads up quickly and is easy to navigate. I hope the game selection improves. I also hope we are given the ability to stream games we already own on disc or even digitally, from the ps3 era, on our PS4s.