Gakai and Backward-Compatibility

Hello, I am a PC Gamer but am thinking of getting a PS4. I don't see too many (PS4 exclusives) that really demand my attention. On the other hand, I am very interested in a lot of PS3 games: Heavy Rain, Last of Us, Ni No Kuni and some more. Its my understanding that Gakai will be used to provide access to these games. Unfortunately, details seem to be very scarce. If anyone could help me out:

1) What games will be available and at what cost?

2) When will these games be available?

Thanks.

I believe the Gaikai thing will be revealed more in the coming weeks. I'm hoping they do let us stream these games because I couldn't play The Last of Us due to my ps3 being broken at the moment.

To your first question: Are you asking what Ps3 games will be available on the Ps4 or what Ps4 games will be available at launch? The cost of the Ps4 games will be ranged from Free to Play to the traditional $60.

For your second question, I remember reading an article somewhere a while ago that Gaikai might launch early 2014. I wish I could retrieve that article for you, but I can't remember.

Nothing has actually been announced as of yet, beyond a nebulous "2014" date for the inauguration of the Gaikai service. If you want me to speculate, I would not be surprised to see the majority of Sony's exclusive titles from this generation (e.g. Uncharted, Heavy Rain, Killzone) being on the service, the earlier titles launching first and the more recent ones (Last of Us, Beyond, etc.) launching much later in the service's life.

@lord_xp: Thanks for the response, I was referring to the price of PS3 games via Gakai.

This is all stuff that's up in the air at the moment, and what we've heard so far has mostly been about the technology as opposed to the content. I certainly wouldn't hedge my bets on it.

Nobody knows yet. Probably won't for awhile. I kind of doubt it'll be superior to PS3 in any way, (price, resolution, control lag etc). If you're not interested in Second Son or Killzone, you may want to pick up a PS3 instead. The cash you save can go toward games.

They're probably still working on the network for it all. Despite OnLive not being all that bad, the experience was still sub par imo so Sony will really have to build up an impressive network if they want to deliver a decent experience. I'm pretty skeptical that this solution will be anything other than clunky at best.

I could imagine it being a part of a subscription service to be honest. Like you pay a fee to use Gaikai and you have access to the whole library of those games, and if you are a PS+ user that fee would be cheaper or something. Or each game could be individually priced and you get discounts if you are a PS+ user. However, at this point, all of this is just speculation and everything is up in the air until the PS4 gets closer to launch. Maybe we will see something at Gamescom though.

Honestly, I would wait until more details have been revealed before considering getting a PS4, especially if none of the exclusives tickles your fancy. At the earliest, my guess would be GamesCom, at the latest, early next year. Depending on how patient you are, you might be better off getting a cheap PS3 and the games.

Giving this a bit more thought logically, it still makes more sense for providing PS2 downloads, which I recall being the rumour before it was announced. Since what we *have* been told is that it's a method for downloading and streaming games (and both at the same time), it follows that such games would need to have low install footprints and no online play. More PS2 than PS3 there.

They are "working on it" but i wouldn't put my money on it ever actually happening. They had backwards compatibility on the original ps3's as well, then took them out later. Seems like it'll cost more than it will benefit sony, you could always wait and buy a ps3 when it's dirt cheap.

We don't know how the Gaikai stuff is going to work at all. All we know is it's something they're hoping to implement next year.

If you're primarily interested in the PS3 games, I'd say just get a PS3. That's my plan. I didn't own a PS3 last generation either, and I don't see the point in paying a small fortune for a shiny new box with no games. I can just buy a significantly cheaper box, buy bucketloads of cheap games for it and get months and months of entertainment. I can then circle back around later and look at the PS4 and Xbox One later and evaluate which will be the better purchasing choice based on the games, rather than playing guessing games based on the launch lineup.

Well i feel its harsh to say it won't happen, i don't think Sony would buy gaikai if they were on sure it had benefits for sony. Now how this PlayStation catalog thing will pan out may not work as they wish but i'm sure something useful will become of it.

I think the full functionality of Gaikai is far enough in the future to recommend buying a PS3 if you want to play PS3 games.

yea "mystical cloud technology" has to be proven first, so if none of the ps4 games appeal to you, just get a ps3.

heck if you can wait, just wait till black friday, very likely they will have a sale on the ps3.

I'm in this same boat. I don't currently own a PS3. I was looking to E3 for a price cut to pick one up since the PS4 won't be backwards compatible, but instead they indicated another $300 bundle releasing this fall which would imply that there is not any chance of a price cut on the horizon.

I don't have any faith in Gaikai technology to make something like the upcoming Gran Turismo 6 feel right with the latency built into a cloud solution. It would be a huge leap of faith to assume anything about how well Gaikai will work or what part of 2014 it might be available.

For my part, I'm just looking for a good deal on a PS3 to play through the games that interest me before the new consoles release. I don't have so much time for gaming that I will necessarily go searching through the PS3 back catalog next when there will be games like Titanfall and Infamous: Second Son consuming the limited time I can spend on gaming.