Sony unveils PlayStation Now, can stream PS3 games to PlayStation 4 and Vita

Sony's cloud-streaming plans with Gaikai are part of a service called PlayStation Now, Sony president Andrew House unveiled today at the company's CES 2014 keynote.

PlayStation Now will stream a variety of classic PlayStation1, Playstation 2, and PlayStation 3 titles across various devices, including PlayStation 4, Vita, mobile devices, and most of Sony's Bravia televisions from the 2014 range onwards.

Sony is demoing the service on the CES 2014 floor by streaming Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Souls to the Vita and Bravia televisions, but the company did not mention any other titles that would be available in the PlayStation Now catalogue at launch. Sony did also not mention specific details about the price of the service, but added that customers will be able to rent titles on an individual basis or as part of a wider subscription package--one that's presumably separate from PlayStation Plus.

The company did also not mention how it intends to combat the common downsides of streaming technology, such as input lag and video quality.

But Sony did add that PlayStation Now titles will also support multiplayer and Trophies. “PS Now will allow users to engage in the world of PlayStation, whether they’re existing fans or have never owned a PlayStation platform," added House.

A PlayStation Now beta will run in the US at the end of January, with the full service expected to launch in summer 2014. No other territories were mentioned.

Sony acquired the streaming company Gaikai in July 2012 for $380 million, and referenced the tech during its initial PlayStation 4 announcement back in February 2013, mentioning the possibility of streaming PlayStation 3 games to PlayStation 4 as a way of getting around the system's lack of backwards compatibility. Sony has said that a lack of viable broadband infrastructure is causing the company problems outside of the US, however.