How to play Playstation Now in USA. Detailed instructions and service description
2019 should see a real flourishing of gaming streaming services. But while xCloud and Google Stadia are just beginning to loom on the horizon, Playstation Now remains the most optimal service for streaming games. Especially in light of the recent addition to the PS Now library of games with such big exclusives as God of War and Uncharted 4: Thife's End, which in some way may finally answer the age-old question of how to play PS4 on PC. The only problem is that the service has not yet been officially launched on the territory of the USA Federation, but do not be discouraged, because in this article we will tell you in detail how to play PS Now in USA. Learn more about Playstation NowFirst, a little history. The streaming app's origins date back to 2013, when Sony decided to buy Gaikai for $ 380 million, which was one of the first to offer working technology for streaming games. Over time, Sony decided to rebrand the service and in 2014 introduced PS Now, which was officially launched in early 2015. At first, the service was available only to US residents and focused more on supporting the suddenly deceased PS Vita handheld console than on streaming subscription games. Among the important and already sunk into oblivion functions can be noted Share Play, which allows you to broadcast the game to the screen of another user and Remote Play, which offered the opportunity to stream games from PS4 to PS Vita. But as sales of the handheld console became less and less comforting for the Japanese media giant, Sony completely repurposed Playstation Now into a service for streaming both its own games and projects from third-party developers.  To date, the library of PS Nau games is more than 800 game products, some of which are regularly updated every month. Therefore, if you see a large project, we recommend not to waste time and start playing as soon as possible. For example, the same recently added God of War, Uncharted 4: Thife's End and GTA V will only be available until January next year, in order to be replaced by more relevant projects. Receiving achievements, having saves, and even the ability to continue playing from PC to PS4 - PS Now offers a lot of functions that will only require three things from you - the presence of a Xinput standard gamepad (a keyboard is also suitable, but not in all games), high-quality Internet connections and the ability to pay regularly for a monthly subscription. Important note: the app, unlike Google Stadia, works on the Netflix principle, so when you sign up for a subscription or trial, you have access to the entire list of games in PS Now without having to pay for each project separately. Playstation Now subscription price:
Since the processing of streaming games is performed on remote Sony servers, the quality of the picture and the serviceability of the connection largely depend on two factors: the speed of the Internet and the distance to the nearest servers. In theory, a comfortable game can be achieved even at a speed of 5 Mbit / s, but if you live in the CIS, multiply these figures several times. In my case, the Internet speed fluctuates around 20-30 Mbit / s, and even when I was in Rostov-on-Don and not the most impressive Internet indicators, I managed to achieve quite a comfortable game in PS Now on a PC without frequent disconnections with the server. How to play PS Now in USA on PC and PS4Until today, Sony has not launched the service in the CIS countries, but there are still ways to get around the restrictions. You will need to be attentive, a little patient and 10 minutes of free time. First, let's look at the classic way to launch PS Now in USA with the creation of a foreign Internet wallet. Please note that the USA profile will not work and you will have to create a new one. The best option is a Japanese account. British or Canadian will work as well (we will tell you more about it later in the article), just remember that it will require a VPN to create it. If you haven't purchased a paid VPN yet, some free apps like Windscribe, which runs in a browser, will work as well.  After choosing a country, we write a real foreign address, respectively, indicating the city and postal code. Google Maps will help you to find real data. For example, if you chose Great Britain, then find the country on the Google world map, zoom out, click on a detached building and write off the data from the panel that opens on the left side of the screen. You can use the following address: England, Chesterfield, Postcode: S41 7HS.  When you have completed the PSN registration stage (with the obligatory indication of 18+ age), you can proceed to create an Internet wallet, the best option is PayPal. If you have a currency card, then it will be perfect for launching Playstation Now. To order a PayPal wallet, follow the instructions below:
If you plan to launch PS Now in USA on a PC, you will have to download the service on the official Playstation website. If you want to play on PS4, then select the service from the list of applications in the PS Store. Use search for convenience. On personal computers, the service is available only on the Windows platform. After installing Playstation Now, we authorize the account and select the type of subscription. For testing the application, a 7-day trial period is best, just do not forget to turn off automatic subscription in the settings so as not to accidentally say goodbye to a dozen honestly earned dollars in your account.  How to play PS Now for free without creating a PayPal wallet and linking a bank cardIf for some reason you do not have a bank card or there is no desire to bother with creating an Internet wallet, then even in this case you can play PS Nau without any problems. This requires several steps from you:
The only problem with the Canadian account is that almost all games do not support USA. But there are some nice exceptions like Killzone 2. Playstation Now in USA: features and problemsAt the moment, the service has an extensive library of more than 800 games for every taste. Sony's large-budget PS4 projects, such as God of War and Bloodborne, and equally large-scale games from third-party developers, including Fallout 4, DOOM and GTA V, are presented. In addition, the library includes many games released on previous generations of Playstation consoles. There was even a place for such big titles as the original Red Dead Redemption and Mafia 2. For those who want to find little-known and no less interesting games, there will also be something to do. As mentioned above - all games are available for free at any time, at least while the subscription or trial period is active. The Playstation Now interface is generally user-friendly. Tile design is mouse-driven and focuses on famous projects first. There is a breakdown both alphabetically and by genre. Problems can arise only when trying to find a little-known game on your own: for some unknown reason, there is no search function in the PC version of PS Now, so you have to carefully scroll through the list of games if you want to find the title you want. Another drawback is the lack of a system for recommending games by preference, similar to Netflix. It nominally exists, but mostly only gives out popular projects.  In addition to the lack of a search system, the service on the PC has another annoying drawback compared to the PS4 version - there is no way to download the games you like from PS4 and PS2. Therefore, on PC, it remains to be content with streaming only with the inability to play offline and possible errors on the server. The main complaint about PS Now is not the remoteness of the Sony servers and the disconnection of the connection, with this everything is not bad at all. The picture displayed by the service at the maximum resolution of 720p is another matter. And if in many PS4 games low resolution can be partially compensated by the initially detailed picture and the presence of anti-aliasing, then titles from PS3 and earlier can already damage your sense of beauty. The best example is the picture in Red Dead Redemption.  However, in the absence of suitable alternatives among streaming services, the lack of FullHD can be forgiven, and besides, Sony has already promised to raise the resolution to 1080p in the future. Another thing is surprising - even with the remasters, the Uncharted and The Last of Us trilogy is streaming from the original PS3 versions. Speaking of sound, at the moment only stereo is supported and the likelihood of adding multi-channel sound in future updates is still in question. Strange as it may seem, but even with an Internet speed of 24 Mbit / s, I have a minimum of complaints about PS Now's work in USA. The launch of the first games was overshadowed by the inability to connect to the servers, but as soon as the VPN was turned off, all problems disappeared at once and all that remained was to enjoy the vast library of Playstation Now games. Among the problems I can mention periodic freezes for 1-3 seconds, pixelation of the screen in case of problems with servers, afterimage after switching from cutscene to gameplay (the game continues, but the last fragment of the cutscene is still on the monitor). But such problems were always solved in a matter of seconds.  A minimum of claims to the fremrate. It should be borne in mind that the frame rate largely depends on the game itself. PS4 projects are often better optimized and generally more comfortable to play than PS3 and PS2 hits. What really surprised me - from my own observations, I can see that the download speed in God of War on PS Now is slightly faster than in God of War on PS4 launched from disc.  We should also say about management. The first attempts to start playing can come to naught if you do not have a gamepad of the required format. Many games will not even start without a gamepad, so it will be useful to get a controller from Xbox360 in advance, or the best option is to buy a Dualshock 4. A supported gamepad can be found on Avito at around 1000 rubles without any problems. But with a strong desire and the presence of the necessary programs, you can completely play PS Now with a mouse and keyboard. Unless there is always a problem in games where you need to use a gyroscope. The saddest example is Infamous: Second Sun, which, due to the need to perform actions with a gyroscope, remains impassable on the keyboard and mouse.  Streaming gaming is always fraught with lag issues between pressing a controller button and the player's input-lug. In this regard, the games in PS Now, although far from ideal, but the delays are less than expected and it is quite possible to comfortably go through single projects, including shooters and fighting games, which traditionally require a high reaction speed. Is it worth downloading and playing Playstation Now in USA today?It all depends on the purpose for which you are going to join Sony's streaming service. Are you interested in the cult classics of the PS2 and PS3 era? No option to buy a console, but still want to try out some of Sony's iconic exclusives? And, again, there is currently no extra money for a PC upgrade, but would you mind playing the iconic multiplatform games of recent years? If at least one of the questions was answered in the affirmative, then yes, even despite the numerous shortcomings, it is definitely worth giving PS Now a try, besides, given the free trial period. See also a selection of 10 cult games that need remakes. The Topic of Article: How to play Playstation Now in USA. Detailed instructions and service description. |
