Japan-based electronic maker and entertainment giant Sony on Wednesday announced a new game-streaming service called PlayStation Now, which runs on the company's PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and most 2014 model television sets.

PlayStation Now allows its users to select a game from the list, let it load up on the device and then play it as normal.  The image that the player views on the screen is actually being generated by a console that might be hundreds of miles away, rather than streamed to you live, like a film on Netflix.

Currently, the new service offers only a few games to select from.  Most of the available games are high-profile titles from the last couple of years.  The Japanese company has assured that it will expand the lineup in the future.

The new service demoed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas showed good video quality, but it was not as good as provided by your own local console.

PlayStation Now is expected to enter closed beta before the end of current month, while its release for the wider audience is expected to take place in the summer.

Sony unveiled the new service alongside an announcement that it shipped more than 4.2 million PlayStation 4 consoles by the end of 2013, outshining 1.2 million sales of Microsoft's Xbox One.