PlayStation Vue announces a la carte service, coming to SF and LA

Michelle Starr
Updated

This article, PlayStation Vue announces a la carte service, coming to SF and LA, originally appeared on CNET.com.

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Andrew House at E3. Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET

Speaking at Sony's presentation on Monday at the 2015 E3 gaming expo, the company announced big changes coming to its Vue, its live TV streaming service -- new regions, as of tonight, and an a la carte channel service launching in July 2015.

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"This year, we also delivered on the promise of PlayStation Vue, one of the most ambitious services we've created since launching the Network," said Andrew House, president and global CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

"PlayStation Vue is not just a streaming service, it's a complete live TV experience designed for the gamer, making it simpler and easier to find the television they want. We are currently in the New York, Chicago and Philadelphia markets; and we are launching tonight in San Francisco and in Los Angeles."

Currently, Vue, which launched in March of this year, offers users bundles of channels. Its offering, however, will be expanding to allow users to pick and choose which channels to which they wish to subscribe.

Here are all the exclusive Playstation 4 games Sony just showed (pictures)

The clip for The Last Guardian was the first game shown at Sony's event for E3 2015. The art style as well as the companion-based gameplay brings up memories of both Ico and Shadow of the Colosses. The Last Guardian is due out in 2016.

Destiny also got some love with a trailer for the new expansion, The Taken King.

The Taken King will add new quests, Strikes, and Crucible maps, along with new locations to explore. You'll also get new subclasses for Titan, Warlock, and Hunter classes that add new skills and Super attacks.

The Taken King is available for preorder now, but is coming in September of 2015.

Street Fighter V mixes the old with the new with the high paced fighting action we've come to expect from the franchise, with a great looking modern graphical style.

Two new characters were announced during the press event and we got a look at some of the action that looked great.

The public beta is a Playstation exclusive coming July 25.


Media Molecules, makers of Little Big Planet showed off Dreams. It's a game that lets you animate using very touchable tools that let you sculpt characters and animate a world that's incredibly unique. Like real dreams, the video demo seemed to jump from scene to scene with little to grab on to besides the amazing paint-like graphics.

With a setting that seems to take from both the future and the past, Horizon: Zero Dawn had some fantastic visuals as a protagonist with a bow fought it out against giant dinosaur-like robots.

No Man's Sky, the long awaited sandbox space exploration game got some stage time, showing off the vast (and I mean VAST) universe. We saw some ship to ship fighting before warping to an unknown planet. There we encountered a strange landscape with alien animals and dangerous Sentinels that try to keep explorers away. There is not yet a release date for No Man's Sky, but we can't wait to check it out.

World of Final Fantasy (coming in 2016) drew cheers from the crowd with cutsie characters in a Final Fantasy setting. It will be exclusive on both the PS4 and Playstation Vita.

To end the Sony press conference at E3, Sony showed off one of the most popular franchises that needed no introduction.

Uncharted 4: The Thief's End took us on a wild ride as Drake took the wheel of a jeep and slammed through villages (without hitting a single civilian) as an armored truck tried to take them out.

It was filled with explosions and combat that we've come to expect from the franchise and it will be here in 2016.

"Starting in July, we will be offering a la carte channels nationwide, and we will be the first pay TV service to allow users to subscribe to individual channels without the purchase of a multi-channel bundle," House said.

The initial a la carte offering will launch with Showtime, Fox Soccer Plus and a new exclusive channel from Machinima. PlayStation Plus members will receive discounted rates for these packages, but those rates are yet to be revealed.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2015 on CNET and GameSpot.