PlayStation 4 will stream PS1, PS2, PS3 games

The PlayStation 4 will use the "PlayStation Cloud" service to stream PS1, PS2, and PS3 games, solving the backward compatibility problem with technology developed by Gaikai. This functionality was first reported last week by the Wall Street Journal, and confirmed today during the PlayStation unveiling event.

In the presentation, Gaikai founder David Perry expressed PlayStation's desire to use this service to stream "everything ever," but no specific games were revealed. On one hand, that suggests the PS4 isn't natively able to play legacy discs; on the other hand, there's tech built in to play those games on the system via streaming.

This is part of "PlayStation Cloud," the services of which will be rolled out gradually.