Except, of course, it’s not, yet. There are significant issues with a streaming-only platform, not the least of which are that it is in the end only viable for people who have high speed internet, no data caps, and live near a data center—on a Venn Diagram, that’s a very minuscule intersection of circles right there. Add to that other problems, such as, for instance, you lacking any ownership of your games—even more so than digital games, where something you download stays with you forever no matter what unless you choose to get rid of it, as opposed to streaming, where it is ephemeral and stops existing the minute servers go down—and you can see why it’s hard to take the notion of Stadia as an actual threat to the existing market paradigm seriously.

For instance, consider Sony. One could argue Sony is in the most precarious position with the entry of Stadia—Microsoft and Xbox have their own, far better accomplished cloud service in the offering which can counter Google, and Nintendo can get away with anything they want as long as they own IP like Zelda and Pokemon. One would argue, presumably, Sony on the other hand doesn’t have the infrastructure of Microsoft to weather the entry of an entrant like Google into the market. One would be wrong.

We’ve discussed this previously, but Sony on their own part have also been working to have at least a foothold with their various services over the last few years. PlayStation Now already exists to provide cloud streamed gaming options to users, and also has multiple pricing models. While I contend that the actual streaming quality is not anywhere close to what Stadia or xCloud purport to offer with PS Now, the fact is that Sony already has basic infrastructure and the content in place—from there, it’s just a matter of scaling up. Scaling up can be expensive, and even take some time, but presuming that Sony sees Stadia start to catch on, they can start doing it to keep their presence in the market where necessary.

So many ancillary features offered by Stadia are already covered by Sony’s various services—SharePlay offers a form of streaming-based co-op gameplay not dissimilar to what Google offers with Stadia (albeit Sony would need to enable SharePlay implementation for PS Now, which to my knowledge currently they do not offer). Remote Play technology allows Sony to offer users the chance to play their games anywhere they like (albeit Remote Play is still not offered on all devices as it should be—but again, this is a matter of scaling up). PS Now itself is offered on PCs, TVs, and consoles for now—again, it’s a simple matter to scale that up to include and encompass a broader offering of hardware from there.

Even Google’s YouTube integration with Stadia isn’t entirely unique—Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo all offer their own sharing functionality on their systems, and while nothing integrates as deeply with YouTube as Stadia does, that is more than made up for by the fact that not everyone really uses YouTube for streaming to begin with—they use Twitch, which as of right now Stadia’s competition is compatible with, while Stadia itself? Not that we know.

It’s also important to note that just as Sony has a foothold with its services to counter a potential transition to services, it also has the IP to ensure its bottom line is not degraded by Google, or any other similar entrants. At this point, Sony’s first party has a halo that is legendary, on par with Nintendo’s. People will buy the next PlayStation for the next new games from their first party studios. They will want to be privy to Sony’s first party, and the only place you can play Sony first party games is on their platforms.

That ultimate focus on games is what could save Sony and the PlayStation 5 in the end, more than even their investment in services. In terms of games, as of right now, what exactly is Google bringing to the table? DOOM Eternal and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey are both great games, but they run on literally every other major gaming platform. What else does Google have to offer that might induce an en masse migration of 100 million PlayStation owners to them? Google had the foresight to invest in a first party game studio, headed by the legendary Jade Raymond, and that’s awesome. This studio will make games only for Stadia, which is great. So far, it also has not actually announced any games.

And if it does, if it puts out multiple games a generation, and all of them are amazing, would that be enough to get anyone to drop PlayStation or Xbox or Nintendo to go only to Stadia? At most you might supplement yourself with a Stadia subscription or purchase for the extent of playing that game, or those games—but will they be reason enough for you to just drop your investment into ecosystems with deeper libraries, actual game ownership, and no lag, as well as your existing online accounts, friends lists, achievements, and your game libraries?

Stadia may yet do well. Streaming may yet go on to do very well. I don’t mean to imply that Stadia or game streaming are doomed. They might introduce a brand new paradigm to the gaming market, and that is exciting to me as a fan of the medium. But any success Stadia has will be additive. It will grow the pie, not eat up the shares of PlayStation or Xbox or Nintendo. In the end, it will get more people playing games if it’s successful, which is great. But that doesn’t mean that its entry spells doom for any of the current big three, specially Sony and PS5.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

One of the best surprises of the new Update 6.50 which went live for the PS4 earlier today is remote play via iOS devices. As far as phones go, this feature has only been available for Xperia Android phones for the last few years. This marks the first time Sony has brought it to a smartphone that they do not manufacture.

The PS4 Remote Play app can be downloaded from the App Store now. It runs on any compatible iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Since only Mfi controllers certified by Apple work on iOS devices, DualShock 4 isn’t compatible with the application. By default, it puts a controller overlay on the touch screen. This means that while this is actually a terrible solution to play something like Destiny on the go, it should do better for turn based games such as Dragon Quest 11 and Persona 5.

Now I wonder if Sony will also bring this functionality to non-Xperia Android phones as well…

It was just a few days ago that rumors started flying fast and furious that Sony was going to be launching support for PS4 Remote Play on PCs and Macs. Now SCE Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida confirmed on Twitter that the application is indeed coming. While that’s good news, it doesn’t appear we’re going to know just when this feature is available until a later date.

The tweet went out with the message, “Some people asked if we plan to provide Remote Play function to PC, and yes, we are indeed working on an official application for PC/Mac. :D” The announcement of this new application is on the heels of a member of the hacking community that released an unofficial application that would do the same thing. Considering that particular application is only costing people $10, Sony might want to make sure and get their official application out there are quickly as possible.

During the release of the unofficial application, the user, known as Twisted said he’s been working on this particular application for over a year. There’s no indication just how long Sony has been working on their official application, though it seems as if Sony would be able to make the application quite a bit quicker than what someone who has actually had access to Sony’s technology would be able to do. It stands to reason that we’ll be able to find out just when this application is going to be made available in the very near future.

All three home consoles have some form of Remote Play built in this generation- the Wii U has made it its central concept, and streams to its Wii U Gamepad controller; the Xbox One streams to any mobile, tablet, or PC running Windows 10. The PS4 streams to the PS Vita, or to certain models of Android smartphones.

And now, thanks to an unofficial hack, it can also stream to PCs. If only unofficially, PC Remote Play is no longer the sole domain of the Xbox One.

“I’ve lost count the amount of hours I’ve put in over this time but I’ve enjoyed every moment working on this project which leads me onto my main point,” said Twisted, who has been working on the project part-time for over a year.

“I’d like to work on this project full time, adding features, getting it stable and porting it to other platforms which I know a lot of you want! The only way to support this is to charge for the app, all my previous projects have been free and I don’t want to have to but sadly its the only way to support my living costs.”

Which means that the software suite that enables this costs £6.50/ $10. If you are interested, you can buy it starting November 25.

As stated a while back, Bethesda’s Fallout 4 supports PS4 Remote Play on the PS Vita. This essentially means you can stream the game to your Vita from your PS4 and play it on the handheld. How does it hold up overall though?

As indicated in a video by Jamal Khan on YouTube, pretty well. The controls are pretty tight and there aren’t any issues with lag per say. Check out the overall video for more information on control schemes and such.

Fallout 4 released yesterday worldwide and has been breaking its fair share of records. It had the highest number of concurrent users on Steam at its peak, even beating out Dota 2 for a short time (though it’s now in third place behind Counter Strike: Global Offensive). Overall, it’s doing pretty well even as some critics point out the lack of any real evolution to the Fallout formula.

What are your thoughts on Fallout 4 thus far? Let us know in the comments.

Though the PlayStation Vita isn’t much of a hot topic when it comes to gaming, the handheld is still fairly useful when it comes to the Remote Play of PS4 titles. Bungie’s Destiny supported it and designer Josh Hamrick ensured that the controls will be optimized for the handheld. Now the same designer will be responsible for bringing it to Bethesda’s Fallout 4. The news was confirmed by Bethesda on Twitter.

PS4 Remote Play on the PS Vita essentially means streaming the game to the handheld through broadband in order to play the game on the handheld. Bandwidth requirements are fairly hefty so it’s only really recommended when trying to play a game in different corners of your house. It also means reworking the control of the game specifically for the Vita, which can be a challenge.

What are your thoughts on Fallout 4 supporting PS4 Remote Play? We’ll find out how it works when the game releases on November 10th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

PlayStation TV is undoubtedly a very niche product. The appeal is, of course, somewhat broad in concept, offering gamers the opportunity to run any Vita game (that doesn’t make use of the touchpad) as well as any game from the massive PSone Classics library.

As appealing as that is, the initial price point was not. This seen a number of retailers sell the device below the recommended retail price. Now, following an official price cut for the little black box, Sony have dropped it’s retail price to a mere £44.99. Speaking about this, a Sony spokesperson has said “Starting from the 27th March, PS TV will offer even greater value for money when it becomes available for only £44.99”.

That actually is fantastic value, and if you’re a PlayStation Plus user, and why would you not, then there’s even more reason to get your hands on one of these little beauties. The chances are good that you could pick up a second hand PS TV even cheaper than the £45 mark, but that’s for you to decide.

With the Vita library already having some real hits, the added PSone Classics library and PS4 Remote Play functionality make this too good to miss out on.

If you’ve always wanted to jump on board the Vita train, you are in luck- Sony’s PlayStation TV, their Vita based microconsole that plays a majority of Vita games while outputting them to TV, while also having access to the bulk of the PSP, PSOne, and PS Minis library, in addition to PS Now and Remote Play (thereby acting as a PS4 extender in the house), will be available tomorrow on Amazon for 50%– that is as low as $40, going by current prices.

Not only would that be an amazingly good deal all on its own ($40 is almost a throwaway price), but you also get the benefit of playing most of the Vita’s best games, including the absolutely amazing Persona 4 Golden. Actually, considering Persona 5 is coming later this year, and how good it looks, it might not be a bad idea to get one of these just to play the best version of the best game in the series so far.

Even without the allure of Persona 4 Golden, though? Hell of a deal. Go for it.

Sony have suddenly woken up and realized that they have a handheld on the market, so they’ve gone ahead and decided to highlight the upcoming games on the system this spring in this brand new video. It’s not pretty. First off, they show off games that are already out, which is a bad… sad, and screams of just trying to pad this video long (which is already just a minute long).

Then, they show absolutely nothing noteworthy, outside of Oreshika- while Hotline Miami 2 and Shovel Knight are amazing games, they are also available on other platforms. Finally, the last two thirds of the video almost seem like an open taunt for any remaining Vita fans, showing off a shovelware Spongebob Squarepants game, and then using PS Now and Remote Play for the PS Vita’s ‘lineup.’

It’s just sad. Probably more than even Sony’s damning assertion from last year that they would no longer support the Vita with any AAA games, this right here is proof that this handheld is well and truly dead, which is really sad.

While the PlayStation Vita TV has been a decent addition to the handheld, allowing one to play their Vita games on a TV via HDMI, it’s newest feature may be its greatest. You can now stream PS4 games directly to your TV using Vita TV with a new firmware patch.

The PlayStation Vita already supported PS4 Remote Play but this now means you connect the Vita TV to any screen in the house, wirelessly connect it to your console and play PS4 games on said TV. The only issue thus far seems to be that the patch is only available in Japan.

The Vita TV has seen some decent success in its initial run, though sales have reduced heavily in the past few months. But like the Vita, which receive a boost thanks to the launch of the PS4, maybe the Vita TV will also see improved sales. Currently, there don’t seem to be any plans for Vita TV to arrive in the West, although Sony is interested in the same if demand is high enough.

(Source)