The Sony PlayStation Now cloud powered gaming service is rolling out as we speak. Having recently opened for beta testing the new service is now under the microscope. A number of gaming industry stalwarts have had a play and feedback is now beginning to trickle in and as usual Sony is generating plenty of controversy.

Presented for your viewing pleasure is the IGN PS Now preview video, a sneak peek into the very expensive future of gaming. Sit back, relax and prepare for a bumpy ride, Sony is at the wheel.

Sony seems to be legendary at causing controversy; it may actually be their specialty. The PS Now network is no exception. The latest Sony decision to get the web talking is the pricing listed on the beta Now service.

It almost seems as if Sony has high balled the gaming world. For example Deus Ex: Human Revolution costs $4.99 for 4 hours, about how long it takes me to get into a game. 7 days with a game will cost $6.99; $14.99 gets you 30 days while $29.99 buys only 90 days. In anyone’s language that is an expensive way to play previous generation games. Still it’s probably not as big a deal as the internet may lead you to believe, remember Sony isn’t aiming to displace consoles with the cloud gaming, not just yet anyway.

Overall impressions of the PS Now gaming service are actually pretty positive, the graphics are impressive with only slight compression visible to keen eyes. The frame rates are also good but latency has been an issue for many. Some games seem to suffer from latency issues more than others; Final Fantasy was free of latency issues while many FPS shooters tended to suffer.

Now what would be really interesting is if Sony could release a home game server with the octa PS3 chip inside, the chip that powers the cloud service. Sony custom developed the special chip which contains 8 PS3 chips on a single die. A chip that could power multiple PS TV’s, all playing full blown PlayStation 3 games over your home network.

The cloud may just be the future of gaming but it is a future that’s not here now. From a technical standpoint Sony has already made incredible progress with its cloud gaming service but there is still some way to go it seems.

Reference: Sony PlayStation Now