New PS5 feature confirmed as PS Now – letting you stream classic games to your console
PLAYSTATION fans will be treated to a treasure trove of classic games when Sony's next console hits shelves.
The PlayStation 5, out next year, will come with fan-favourite platform PlayStation Now, according to one Sony engineer.
PS Now is already available on the PS4 and lets you stream select legacy PlayStation games directly to your console.
Which games you have access to changes each month. Current big-hitters on the platform include Grand Theft Auto: V, Uncharted 4 and God of War.
A Sony worker has revealed the feature will also be coming to the PlayStation 5, which Sony recently announced the high-powered will launch in Christmas 2020.
Speaking to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, Sony software engineer Yasuhiro Osaki gifted fans a few details about the latest version of PS Now.
Current subscribers to the £8.99-a-month service will get to keep all their existing titles when they swap over to the new console, he said.
The current list of 700 games will be bolstered with new additions, though they'll come with a catch.
PS Now offers both permanent and time-limited titles, but Osaki said the number of time-limited games will increase with the PS5.
That means you'll have to get cracking with games like God of War to ensure you don't miss out on current-gen titles.
Osaki also confirmed there were no plans to add support for PS Now for mobile.
Sony's PS5 was originally unveiled in April, but didn't have a name or release date for months.
All we learned at the time were details about its performance, loading times and impressive hardware.
But last week Sony revealed that the PS5 – the successor to 2013's PS4 – will be here in time for next Christmas.
Are we ready for game streaming?
THE UK's cities seem to be well-served for game streaming.
Ofcom says 95 percent of the United Kingdom has access to 'superfast' broadband, defined as over 24Mbps.
This is higher than the 20Mbps Google recommends for Stadia streaming in HD, and while it's not quite enough for 4K streaming, average speeds are rising very quickly.
However, outside of major cities the average speed in the UK is still under 20Mbps, with high-speed connections in urban areas skewing the numbers.
Speed isn't just about how fast you can download movies, but also about how fast the server your computer is talking to responds when you ask it to do something.
Called 'latency', this can be a problem for games - and while Google has released minimum speeds for Stadia, it hasn't said how low your latency should be.
Even with a super-speedy connection, if the server is a long way away or the messages to it need to take a complicated route, that 'travel time' for your messages can have a serious impact on gaming.
It might not matter if your 30-minute movie download doesn't start for a second after you ask for it - but when playing a game if the on-screen character doesn't appear to respond immediately to you pressing a button on your controller the experience is ruined.
Average broadband speeds in both the US are below the minimum recommended by Google for Stadia for even HD-quality gaming, and significantly below the 4K-quality top-notch consoles provide.
More than a quarter of Americans outside major cities say that getting ANY high-speed Internet is a "major problem", .
How to check your internet speed
Doing a speed test is easy – simply head to the hugely popular SpeedTest website:
You can also download the app on both iOS and Android:
- iOS test –
- Android test –
SpeedTest will give you a download speed read-out in Mbps (megabits per second).
So as long as you're consistently hitting 25-30Mbps, your internet is probably good enough to play using Google Stadia.
Google hasn't said how low your latency needs to be - but if it's over 30ms that's an indicator something might be awry.
In a surprise blog post, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said: "Since we originally unveiled our next-generation console in April, we know that there’s been a lot of excitement and interest in hearing more about what the future of games will bring.
"Today I’m proud to share that our next-generation console will be called PlayStation 5, and we’ll be launching in time for Holiday 2020."
The console will be a direct competitor to Microsoft's Xbox 2, currently only known as Project Scarlett. That console is also tipped for a late 2020 release.
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In other news, Sony's PS5 has been tipped to cost over £450.
Read our round-up of the latest rumours about the Xbox 2 and PS5.
And find out why both of these consoles could be the last you ever own.
Are you excited for the new PS5? Let us know in the comments!
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