Sony says a PC-compatible version of its PlayStation Now cloud gaming service, which at the moment boasts a catalogue of more than 400 PlayStation 3 games, is imminent in the U.K., and the U.S. and Canada “shortly thereafter.” All you need are a PC, a sufficiently fast broadband connection and a PS Now subscription.
PS Now is Sony’s way of reaching backward to touch its generationally fragmented ecosystem of PlayStation games. Unlike Microsoft’s Xbox One, which supports hundreds of Xbox 360 games natively through emulation, the PlayStation 4 only plays PlayStation 4 games (and a small clutch of PlayStation 2 games, though the rollout’s been plodding). If players want continued access to earlier PlayStation games, that’s meant holding onto older models and in many cases physical copies of games. PS Now, which launched in May 2015, mitigates some of this by letting you play scads of PlayStation 3 games on select smart TVs and the PlayStation 3, 4 or Vita for $19.99 a month.
And now PCs. Sony says you’ll need a Windows 7 (SP1) or greater PC, at least a 3.5 GHz Intel Core i3 or 3.8 GHz AMD A10 processor, 300 MB or more of disk space and 2 GB or more of system memory, a sound card and USB port, and a minimum 5Mbps connection (a speed standard for the service to date; the company recommends a wired over wireless connection for an “optimal experience”). What you don’t need is any kind of PlayStation console. The new PC app will be downloadable from
www.psnow.com.
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