Sony's $99 PlayStation TV set to battle Apple TV in U.S. and Canada this fall
At a press event during the E3 gaming conference on Monday, Sony revealed plans to release the $99 PlayStation TV in the U.S. and Canada this fall, taking aim at set-top streaming devices like the Apple TV.
Sony already launched its PS4 go-along in Japan as the "Vita TV" last November, bringing mobile game titles and a limited assortment of streaming movies and music to the big screen. Rebadging the device as PlayStation TV, the company is relying on its gaming chops to expand its footprint in consumers' living rooms.
Unlike the Apple TV, PlayStation TV is heavily focused on gaming and will reportedly support 1,000 titles at launch. The device can handle select PS Vita, PSP and PlayStation One classics, while the upcoming PlayStation Now streaming service-- slated to enter open beta on July 31 -- is expected to grant access to PlayStation 3 games.
Finally, Sony's box is able to connect to PlayStation 4 consoles via Remote Play to extend the gaming experience onto other televisions in a household.
The PlayStation TV will have stiff competition in the stalwart Apple TV and newcomers like Amazon's Fire TV, the latter of which also sports built-in gaming support. Apple is rumored to be baking iOS game compatibility, as well as motion controls, into a future version of its device that could see release by the end of 2014.
Sony's PlayStation TV is expected to hit store shelves at $99 for a standalone unit or $139 for a bundle including a DualShock 3 controller, 8GB memory card, HDMI cable and voucher for a copy of "The Lego Movie" video game.
Sony already launched its PS4 go-along in Japan as the "Vita TV" last November, bringing mobile game titles and a limited assortment of streaming movies and music to the big screen. Rebadging the device as PlayStation TV, the company is relying on its gaming chops to expand its footprint in consumers' living rooms.
Unlike the Apple TV, PlayStation TV is heavily focused on gaming and will reportedly support 1,000 titles at launch. The device can handle select PS Vita, PSP and PlayStation One classics, while the upcoming PlayStation Now streaming service-- slated to enter open beta on July 31 -- is expected to grant access to PlayStation 3 games.
Finally, Sony's box is able to connect to PlayStation 4 consoles via Remote Play to extend the gaming experience onto other televisions in a household.
The PlayStation TV will have stiff competition in the stalwart Apple TV and newcomers like Amazon's Fire TV, the latter of which also sports built-in gaming support. Apple is rumored to be baking iOS game compatibility, as well as motion controls, into a future version of its device that could see release by the end of 2014.
Sony's PlayStation TV is expected to hit store shelves at $99 for a standalone unit or $139 for a bundle including a DualShock 3 controller, 8GB memory card, HDMI cable and voucher for a copy of "The Lego Movie" video game.
Comments
And then Apple releases the 4th gen Apple TV and makes this look like the garbage it is.
That said- who gives an F? Give me the new Apple TV already!!!
I don't get the negativity with the Playstation TV. I'm excited this will finally be released here in North America. I checked these out when I was in Japan and they are really cool. This is also great news for us PS Vita owners. I can't wait to check out Uncharted Golden Abyss on the big screen. The PS TV is a really good companion to the Playstation 4 as well.
I'm excited to see what the next Apple TV brings, but being a big gamer, mobile gaming doesn't do much for me. You can't compare mobile gaming to consoles. Console games blow mobile gaming away. I think it's hard to compare this to an Apple TV. Playstation TV is for gaming. Apple TV is a great all in one device. Even if Apple adds support for gaming, the quality of console games is so much better then iOS games.
"the graphic quality of console games is so much better than iOS games"....
As for the quality of games themselves well... It depends. All I seem to see on the console front is FPS and AC installments, as well as some sports for good measure.
Me, I own a PS3. And like it a lot. I am by no means an "extreme" gamer. But I like gaming. I own all AC series games.
But I also use Rocksmith a lot. A "game" that I like very much.
All in all I think most of the games would play really well on an ATV with a newer processor (provided it doesn't heat like a pan).
If it were Apple doing something like this, the talking heads would be claiming how they're cannibalizing their higher-priced product line. Of course, I don't know if that would be true or not. I'm sure the Playstation TV won't be running Gran Turismo or any of their other high-end games.
Not that I think it's critical or anything but Apple really didn't do much over the last three years with AppleTV considering they could have had the device running iOS and at least some simple games that didn't involve a more powerful processor. I don't know what $99 can buy in the way of A-series processors but it could be much. Apple likely had too many other projects going and just keeping AppleTV updated was all they could do. It seems as though Sony might have an edge in gaming but it all depends on what developers can do with the next iteration of AppleTV. Is it possible that the next version might be running iOS 8? That would be huge if they could at least put an A7 processor in the next AppleTV. Maybe Apple would only have to boost the price a bit to keep profit margins if they use an older processor.
If it hasn't changed much from the Japanese version, it would be a throughly disgusting UI.
As an owner of PS3, it better have significantly improved UI to make it worthwhile. PS3 UI is an absolute nightmare to use.
If it hasn't changed much from the Japanese version, it would be a throughly disgusting UI.
Which part, the XMB? I think that's pretty good actually.
Some of the store UI could be a lot better though, if that's what you mean.
Well, I think Sony is playing defense against a nonexistent Apple Gaming device.
I can't blame them when Apple is announcing enhancements like Metal for 3D Graphics acceleration.
Which part, the XMB? I think that's pretty good actually.
I agree. It is really simple. Left and Right for main options, Up and Down for sub-options, PS keys for actions. It can't get simpler than that.
And the PS3 home screen looks very nice at 1080p!
Apple won't because they don't work that way. The new Apple TV is so much more than the device that serves the content. It is all about ecosystem and content, not CPU and features. Apple will have to step up and provide a new way of serving content or they'll miss the boat just like iTunes/Spotify.
No doubt that Apple's business model is based on the ecosystem. Apple may or may not adjust the Apple TV business model following the Beats acquisition. None of that suggests that Apple will not update the Apple TV hardware this summer, to improve performance and perhaps add support for 4K content and apps, including games.
Agree. If I were still into gaming, I would be really excited about RemotePlay.
I do think this is going to wipe out Amazon's gaming push as well as make any future push by Apple to start gaming on the AppleTV more difficult.