I've been seeing a lot of posts and people suggesting that Sony will be using Gaikai for ps2 games on the Ps3 but I was thinking surely with the way that Cloud gaming works the quality of the game being streamed doesn't matter to begin with so the sky is the limit really. This made me think about the playstation 4 and how it isn't going to be using the CELL architecture which will mean almost certainly 0 chance of having backwards compatibility with the ps3. Sony knows that lacking BC will hurt, not just causing the immediate decline of ps3 software but also much like is being seen with the Psv/psp ie. if you don't allow the older systems games to be played on the newer system people can be torn between which system to follow more, this basically generates competition between its own products.

Basically if you think about it the methods of putting BC on a new system are, similar architecture (wii/gc) Previous hardware inclusion in the build (original ps3 model featuring the emotion engine and graphics synthesizer) or Software Emulation (xbox360s basically utilizing it being an upgraded pc in a box to the original xbox). Sony will not be going near such unique processing tools again the next generation so that is out, they are going to want it cheap, so there is no way in hell it's going to have a cell processor and RSX in there just for the BC since that would push the price well up near the launch price ps3 again and I would safely guess that there wont be any machines capable of straight up emulation of the ps3 for many years to come.

If you take that into account the only real option to have BC in the next generation of playstation would be Gaikai, it would pretty much just need a cluster of ps3s stuck onto the business end of the streaming technology that sony now owns and an App on the next playstation capable of rendering streaming video and uploading controller inputs at the speed we basically have now on Psn. I was just thinking it to myself and yeah I wouldn't mind hearing others thoughts on what Sony will do with the ace they have in their back pockets now. Doing this for backwards compatibility would also have the massive bonus of allowing people to still buy games from brick and mortar stores for the system, since all the playstation 4 would need to do would be read and confirm the disk was a valid ps3 game it would then give you access to that game on Gaikais network much the same as the Xbox360 checks that it is the correct 360 disk in the drive but then fully plays the game from the harddisk if it is installed.

Edited.to.add.full.stops.I.hope.you.can.read.it.now.slime.beast. (try and keep replys above responding to tone, thanks)

Sometimes I think I must be the only person with a slow broadband connection. I can't watch high quality video streams without buffer breaks so there's no way I'd be able to play a game streaming across the internet. If Sony or MS or whatever installs a server farm across the street maybe I'd be more hopeful. But right now I have no interesting in stream gaming.

I know I'm not the only one. The US has a huge number of rural slow connections that aren't going to get upgraded any time soon. The US is just far too big to get fiber in every home at a reasonable cost.

you can't even watch a 720 youtube video without giving it some time to buffer up? because you have to remember that almost all playstation 3 games are rendered natively in that anyway, Even here in Ireland it's been possible to stream at 720 for the past couple of years, and our internet is made of potatoes and lucky charms.

Mmm, potatoes. I do love potatoes. Maybe if our internet ran on potatoes it would suck.

I can't even watch 480p without letting it buffer for 5-10 seconds. I just download anything HD and watch it later off my harddrive. It's not worth streaming HD. I quit Netflix because they upped the price, but the steam quality for me was so low it wasn't worth it.  If I want to watch a youtube video without any buffer breaks I have to set it to the lowest quality.

You have to understand that the USA is very big and it's population is very spread out. The entire island of Ireland is about the size of one of our medium sized states, the state of Indiana. Take a look at this map to see what it's like for Americans who can't get fast internet no matter what they are willing to pay: http://www.broadbandmap.gov/technology

I live in Oregon and in the less populated part. I feel lucky to have the reletively slow speeds I have because I still remember how bad dialup was. I'm happy with what I have, but there is just no way that Gaikai or Onlive will replace local hardware in the USA any time soon.

well you have to keep in mind that not only will the playstation 4 not be out for a good year or possibly 2 but compression and decompression on both the sending and recieving ends could be far more advanced in the ps4 as well allowing what would be currently a 240streams amount of information be packed with all the info needed for a 720 or full 1080 hd game stream, it wasn't that long ago where the concept of not having to wait 10-30 second for a picture to load was reality for most people where as now buffering can totally ruin the romantic mood :D

Even if the streaming process was to be more akin to the one used by netflix atm where it automatically increases and decreases the fidelity of the stream as your net changes then the service could still allow the playing of ps3 games on the ps4 in standard defination through streaming which lets be honest would be the only chance of the system having BC unless there is something I've not thought of in the first post and like I would happily take lower definition BC than none at all any day of the week.

I already tried Gaikai on my PC and I think the service is running really well. Fighting games could be a problem, but apart from that most games, especially in single player, should work pretty well with that.

PS3 BC also was one of the first things that popped into my mind when they acquired Gaikai and I think they could keep that platform alive pretty effectively if they made an iOs and Android app (PS3 controllers could be connected to many of the tablets/phones over bluetooth). PS3 Disc games could probably as you described only be played by a PS4 as they need to be verified first though.

Ofcourse there would have to be a monthly fee for using Gaikai, but I think if they combine it with the Plus subscription (like, an additional 3$/€ per month on top of the plus subscription to use it) that could work out nicely and give those people not using a PS4 enough of an incentive in my opinion.

ah, while that would work perfectly to sell it on other devices I literally meant just taking the 380m investment and using it to cut out having to work Cell processors and RSX graphics chips into the ps4 like not to have it as a feature which you need to pay extra for each month but to just have it set up where you could pop your existing ps3 games into the ps4 and rather than reading the disk and playing the game using the hardware in your home, the ps4 simply checking the disk is a valid ps3 game then booting it up on Gaikais cloud for you to play and streaming the video seemlessly. Like you wouldn't even really need to know it was being done off console other than the obvious you couldn't play the ps3 games on the system while it wasn't connected to the net.

Ps3 games on anything that could stream media would be insane.... you can get fairly good streaming programs on the xbox360 if it's modded :D how amazing would it be to play Uncharted on the xbox haha.

Why do you type long sentences like this that force the reader to be really focused and concentrated to understand what is actually a pretty basic message conveyed through these huge paragraphs and walls of texts and I also think it would be neat if you were using more commas because they help and I am sure you sometimes have asked yourself what they are good for and I also wonder how many readers who tried to read your post felt exactly like me and pretty much ignored this topic because of it and all in all I must admit that I didn't even read your original post because I'm so angry at video games right now.

fair enough, it's called expanding on a point and I was pretty tired writing it. Sorry for bothering you.

What do you mean by "it's called expanding on a point"?