PlayStation Now brings backwards compatibility to the PS4

Sony has announced a streaming service called PlayStation Now that will allow you to play a back catalog of PlayStation titles on your PS4, PS3, Vita and Bravia TV.

The lack of backwards compatibility in the new-generation gaming consoles has been something of a thorn in the side of gamers. At CES, Sony has announced that it will be addressing this problem — with a service that will allow the streaming of PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and possibly PlayStation 1 titles to current Sony products.

Called PlayStation Now, it will allow you to either pay a subscription fee or a rental fee for each game you want to play (which means that, if you already have, say, Jak & Daxter in your game library, you will have to pay to play it on PlayStation Now). Games will stream in 720p and will be saved in the cloud, which means you can resume play on a different device.

The service comes through Sony's acquisition of cloud gaming service Gaikai in July 2012.

PlayStation Now will be supported on the PS4, PS3, PlayStation Vita and 2014 Bravia televisions initially, and will be expanded to other platforms, such as the Xperia Z tablet line, in the future. At launch, only PlayStation 3 titles will be available to stream. Beta testing will begin in the US at the end of January, with a full roll-out occurring towards the middle of the year.

Pricing and full global availability is yet to be announced.