For some time now, it’s been speculated that the markets of gaming consoles and television sets are eventually going to start merging, given the close relationship between the two types of devices. And now, Samsung have announced the first entry into this field, with their latest Samsung Smart TV scheduled for a release in 2015. According to reports, the television will be capable of running PlayStation games without requiring an actual PlayStation console!
This will be done with the help of Sony’s PlayStation Now service, which gives users the ability to stream a selection of more than 200 PlayStation 3 games over their Internet connection, playing them from a remote hosted server which does all the processing. This is a similar concept to what OnLive tried to do a while ago, although the project fell through back then due to lack of popularity.
According to the official announcement, gamers using PlayStation Now on their Samsung Smart TVs will get full access to the service, which means that they’ll not only be able to play their games, but will also earn trophies, be able to save their progress, and even play online with other gamers. Cross-platform support hasn’t been explicitly confirmed, but it’s rumored that those playing on a Samsung TV will be able to play online with gamers on other devices.
Of course, this won’t be free – gamers will still need to subscribe to go through PlayStation Now’s subscription/rental service, which gives them access to their desired games for anywhere between $1.99 and $19.99 per rental. The announcement wasn’t entirely clear on how pricing is going to be structured, but according to Sony, more information will be made available at a later point.
A preview of the new TV sets will be made in 2015 at the Consumer Electronics Show, so those who want to see how the new Samsung Smart TV will handle their favorite PlayStation Now titles should head over to Las Vegas in the beginning of January and check it out. It’s not known if it will be a hands-on presentation or just a demo by Sony’s representatives, but it should still be worth watching.
It’s expected that this kind of technology will start seeing more and more prevalence in the market, especially if initial response to Samsung’s new Smart TV is good. There have been rumors about similar solutions from other companies coming up, although it’s not clear if Sony are the only ones jumping on board for the time being. Nothing has been announced on Microsoft’s side so far, although if the concept takes off, the company will surely not want to miss their chance to join early on.