14 DAY TRIAL // This is a feature that has not yet been implemented, but you won't have to wait too long for that to change. We may as well throw it out there from the onset: starting next year, Samsung Smart TVs will be able to play PlayStation games.
You might be tempted to think this is redundant. After all, being able to play games straight on a TV instead of needing a PC for it is the whole point of game consoles.
Normally, you would be right, but that's where the uniqueness of this situation comes in: the PlayStation consoles won't even figure into the picture.
Instead, the new collaboration between Sony and Samsung will allow owners of the latter's Smart TVs to play titles even if they don't own a PlayStation.
The Sony PlayStation Now program
Normally, PlayStation Now is a gaming streaming service which brings PlayStation 3 titles to PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Sony Bravia TVs.
Currently in Beta mode, the program offers around 200 PlayStation 3 titles and will start including PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 4 titles soon.
So you could say that the deal with Samsung is an extension of the service already accessible through Sony's Bravia displays.
Samsung's PlayStation Now service reaches the TV
PlayStation Now on Samsung TVs will be accessible through an app downloadable through the Samsung Smart Hub.
It will allow you to do everything you'd otherwise need a console to do, like earn in-game trophies and save game progress. Everything will be done in the cloud.
For those of you who are tired of running into that term without any elaboration, when data is stored on or run in the cloud, it means that the software you're using is running from some server or other.
The access device, in this case Samsung's Smart TV, is merely connected to the server via the Internet. It only shows you the results of the heavy lifting carried out by the host server.
The plan of the major tech giants in the world is to centralize most, if not all, operations in this manner by 2020. Or at least offer the possibility, since some people will never give up the idea of owning their own PC any time soon.
The ramifications of this Samsung-Sony deal
Set to become available to consumers from the United States and Canada, the PS Now on Samsung Smart TVs service will be demoed at CES 2015 (Consumer Electronics Show 2015, January 6-9) and could be just the first of many such pacts.
With the recent hacking scandal and The Interview mess, this could be the positive publicity Sony needs to regain its brand strength.
