Playstation Now Game Streaming Service Beta Launches in the UK

Sony has confirmed the PlayStation Now game streaming service will be available to UK residents as part of a public beta. Previously, only US and Canada customers could utilize the service which allows you to stream PS3 games on a range of devices including televisions, tablets, smartphones, Playstation Vita, PS3 and PS4. Currently, it’s just a rental only system but the subscription model is set to arrive this summer.

In terms of pricing, games are available between £2.99 and £7.99 and vary depending on the rental period. You can try out each game for a brief 48 hours or use it for a month if required. This is Sony’s answer to the lack of backwards compatibility amongst pressure from Microsoft who managed to find a unique way to support last generation retail games. Microsoft uses a disc for verification purposes and the software is downloaded as a digital title. This behaves in a similar fashion to Origin which replaces your retail CD key with a digital code by contacting customer support.

I’m not overly impressed with the rental pricing considering most mainstream PS3 games have been re-released as HD remasters. However, I do feel a subscription service would be a superb idea especially if integrated into PlayStation Plus accounts. I doubt this will happen though unless Sony raises the price of the PS+ service.

How do you feel about the rental system? Would you rather wait and purchase the game cheap on the second hand market?

Thank You TheNextWeb for providing us with this information.