PlayStation UK head Fergal Gara has explained in an interview with Eurogamer that they intend to make drastic improvements to PlayStation Network to add more value in its expanded role in the PlayStation 4.
Fergal’s comments are a reaction to issues that PlayStation Network had with the Grand Theft Auto 5 release. Simply put, the system was unable to handle demand, with low download speeds leading to some Playstation 3s locking up. Fans took to the official PlayStation forums to complain, with many repeating reinstallation of the game until they could get it to work. Some fans continue to run into these problems when downloading the game for the first time.
Fergal takes the optimist view, stating that the system will grow for sure as more uses arise for it. The PlayStation 4 itself also has new features that will ensure these problems won’t come up again. In particular, Play As You Download, powered by Gaikai, will allow you to start playing the game even if you don’t have the complete file yet. This functionality will be even more important in the next gen, as games get exponentially bigger. Killzone Shadow Fall will be 50 GB.
Fergal does talk about how the process remains tedious. The system is not yet perfect, although they have worked on predelivery of files. Fergal thinks they may have to do more QA on digitally downloaded games to alleviate the problem.
However, it is definitely a priority for Sony, especially since PlayStation Network become integral in providing a more social gaming experience.
For now, Fergal’s comments remain talk, albeit it’s very promising. There’s more than enough reason to remain skeptical in the actual execution of cloud computing in gaming. Sony (and, of course, Microsoft) still has something to prove to us.
Source: Eurogamer
