Sony on Crack : Xbox Live
Do Sony executives really believe this stuff, or do they have to say this because it’s their corporate duty? (Much like Ferrari’s insistence after each of the last three races that McLaren’s perfmance in each was a fluke.) What am I talking about? I’m talking about this:
[Eric Lempel, director of PlayStation Network operations] said that there was little to differentiate Xbox Live and PSN offerings to consumers bar the price
And this quote:
“Microsoft had a year jump on us for the launch and essentially we’re offering a lot of the same stuff. I don’t think there’s a big difference in exactly what we’re offering when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of what’s actually there for the consumer… We’re not charging money for our service. That’s a key differentiating factor.”
While I agree that the key differentiating factor may be the cost of each service, I can’t really agree on the rest.
But!
I think that PSN really needs some better chat support, XMB in-game access, and globally-used friends lists before it starts to stack up to Xbox Live. (Many of the other defencies are because of the lack of developer support, not because the PS3 is incapable.) However, I’ll take what I have because it’s free! Both Gary and I were very skeptical of online until we tried it and liked it. Every online game we buy, we can try out online for free. Some games won’t require online while some will. I’ll go through dry spells where I don’t play much for a while, then I go through spells where I play a lot. All of this makes the fact that PSN is free so much more attractive to me. For some people who use their console differently than I do, Xbox Live could very well be the solution that suites them best. But for me, the free factor trounces the lack of features. Of course, I’m not saying I don’t want those features - not at all. It’s just that I can live without them for now because the service is free.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
To be fair, the friend list is globally used, the only game that doesn’t support it at the moment is Resistance, and I believe that will be fixed soon enough. Plus the chat support is dependent on the game developer to choose to use it, the support is there. I’ll agree that developers should be pushed more to put these features in, rather than just not bother. But in general the service is pretty much on parity.
On the subject of achievements, I’d rather games have ratings more specific to them, like their own leaderboards for example. Gripshift has done a good job of this when it comes to its own rankings.
XMB access in game is something that I definitely want, there’s no doubt of that but it’s not a criticism of the service itself.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I really like that the PSN is free. It does need more content. But I think all that will change this fall when more big titles hit the PS Store & Home is out.
In game XMB & global chat will come in time. The in game chat is more of a developer issue. To bad sony doesn’t force the developers to include it in every on-line game.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
But chat between users playing in different games? Or one in a game and the other in XMB or Home? While that may require some developer effort, the support needs to be there from Sony too.
As it is, there’s currently no solution for getting together with friends to play a certain game unless you decide all the details beforehand. There’s no easy impromptu way to get online and connect to your friends who are already online.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I disagree. Eric Lempel’s statements are completely reasonable.
Yes, XBL has more polished chat features (particularly cross game chat) and simply has more content. Hoever, Lempel was quoted admiring that. It’s not like he was pretending that didn’t exist or burying his head in the sand.
The “nuts and bolts” of a simple to use online service with Internet multiplayer, game downloads, demos, marketplace, etc: both PSN and XBL have that and do it reasonably well.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
I have my own opinions on this article. I hate when the PlayStation Network heads always bring up the fact that the PlayStation Network is better because its free and XBOX Live is not.
Let me tell you, most things in the PlayStation Store cost money, besides demos and videos. This one year head start thing they keep mentioning shouldn’t even be brought up. By XBOX Live’s 8th month, they already had much content up.
We seen many PlayStation Store updates within the 8 months that the PlayStation 3 was released. Most of them sucked. Sony has to start working with third-parties like Microsoft is already doing daily. We barley see any demos anymore, or any third-party content.
We also need a better PlayStation Store interface. If you listened to the interview, you’ll notice Keighly said that he liked how the XBL Marketplace was integrated into the user interface. They should do that with the PS3 to make it much better and faster.
They also should have a seperate section for downloaded games, or arcade games, so we can easily sort them. It’s annoying having them all under game.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
This was taken so far out of context.
I watched the interview last night. Pretty good really, he confirmed that achievements are coming and trophies are only a part of that. In game XMB, cross game chat, better buddy list and better cross game settings for all games including PSP PS3 and more content.
Then said “when it comes down to the nuts and bolts” Live much different then PSN just more content right now.
Which is pretty much true. Most of your complaints aren’t PSN’s fault as much as the developers, and will all be worked out soon (”but not the next firmware update” on the In game XMB)
June 18th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
The major difference for me is Microsoft is much better at forcing features from developers. All 360 games have the option of using my music instead of the tracks on the disk. Microsoft makes developers do things like this. I am all for developer freedom, which 360 developers have but their are a lot of standard features I know each game has before I even open the box.
Sony is behind the 360 in online and I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. The important thing is that they are taking the steps necessary to improve. It might not ever be Live but it doesn’t have to. It just has to be great enough that no one cares much about the differences. The PS4 will have the online worked out. Sony is going to learn a lot this round.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Now I’m all for singing the praises of XB Live Marketplace, I love the service. And I’ve never had a problem paying $50 to play games online. The integration you’re paying for is well worth it in my opinion. If Sony could compete I’d gladly pay for that as well. Sony’s service may be “free” but I rarely find myself wanting to use it for online multiplay and instead I stick to the 360.
That said, it’s not really fair to bag on Sony. At least not yet. Their online content has only been up for a while and I’m quite sure given a bit more time they’ll more than catch up. The one major advantage Sony has over MS is the access to music and movies under the Sony name. Just imagine adding Spiderman in 1080P HD for download, I’d imagine people would go nuts for that. They also have some great features that the 360 can’t do. Like transferring PS1 games to the PSP. My girlfriend has been loving Crash Bandicoot and for $5 I’d say it’s a great deal.
The one thing both consoles have been great at (especially Sony) is putting out updates to get a lot more out of their consoles. Give Sony another 6 months to try and launch that video store and hopefully in the next year they’ll get there online chat/multiplayer stuff together and I’m sure we’ll quickly forget about this slow start. I’m sure things will get better with Home and just in time for when the PS3 starts getting some news games that haven’t already been released on other platforms.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Yes, they are taking steps to close the gap.
Another piece of news recently that ties to this story is Sony’s reshuffling of Sony Connect people to the PSN division. Since they announced a few months ago that Music, Television and Movies and VOD are coming to PSN this summer, we can put two and two together and see what they are preparing.
The forced features in Live did help get everything in place faster, and allow 3rd parties to just ignore adding them to PS3 versions. But soon online, voice chat and buddy lists should become standard since their games will be reviewed lower without them. Sony’s first party games will set the bar for the rest. With Sony working on and home, trophies, along with adding achievements and cross game chat, unified buddy lists. That should help close the gap.
I do with they would make the navigation faster on the PS Store though and add more content. If they can’t get demos and games out each week they should at least throw up PS1 games to fill the blanks.
I kinda wish Sony would host the servers for 3rd party games, anyone that’s played on Live and on Resistance or Motorstorm knows PSN can be smoother and less laggy online, but leaving 3rd parties to host can diminish Sony’s advantage there.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I find his statement reasonable. Of course some of the more nuanced elements will eventually be added as the service evolves, but sony has managed to provide a very competent system. I don’t think the issue of cost can be stressed enough; the PSN is consistently less expensive in the three major areas (retro games, new downloadable arcade titles, major releases) compared to what both microsoft and nintendo are offering.
Microsoft has always been better and enforcing standards, they have been doing it for years with windows before xbox was even a thought. Sony on the other hand perhaps feels giving freedom to developers will cause less resistance and let them be more confortable in making content for their system. However, as many can attest, let a standard be soft, and developers take it as a license to be lazy. Sony just need to enforce some things across the board to ensure a consistent experience.
I dont see it being a far fetched claim that both PSN and XBL both have the basics. Its just that in the PSN’s case, developers dont feel pushed to adopt all of the features.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Time should fix these problems or issues. Well M$ is forced to stuff there Live place with what ever cuz you pay for it. Imagine paying and not getting very much. People will not stick around very long…
Sorry this is of topic but I was playing a PS1 game (Einhander) and I seen something strange. As I was playing the game peoples names (off my buddy list) where showing up as the where signing in. It even showed me receiving messages. I like that idea, Iam not sure if I was visibly still online though. I know this messaging thing dont work with my PS2 games, but wish it would now.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
There are a THIN amount if issues that differentiate Xbox Live from the PSN. They’re not on as much “crack” as you think.
June 18th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I don’t know but we spend most of our time on-line to play GAMES. For on-line play RFOM and Warhawk are better than anything I’m aware of. Is there anything on Live that comes close?
Warhawk is impressing the hell out of me.. 32 player is lag-free, draw distances are crazy and there is ALOT of stuff going on .. if that means waiting for more content, etec so be it. Getting movie media etc is available from many other places, but the on-line GAME PLAY the PSN is delivering is second to none as far as I can tell.
Gears was only 8 player and it’s my understanding Halo 3 will only be 16 max. Is there anything on Live that scales past that? It’s been around for 6 or 7 years now as well. 9 months for PSN - pretty impressed myself. From my perspective some of the stuff your talking about is for more frequent (and vocal) gamers - for the casual gamer like me it’s simply not as important as high-quality game play. And 32 CTF on a large map is just something that doesn’t seem to be possible on any other console at this point. Warhawk has changed my mind about how good and engrossing on-line can really be.
June 19th, 2007 at 3:42 am
IF Sony decide to charge to use PSN then I would be pretty annoyed. They banged on about how their service is free compared to Live and it’s the main reason why I play online games because I don’t have to pay.
They aren’t stupid. They give you a free service that people will get hooked on so that it becomes part of their daily gaming experience then BAMM!!!! they decide to charge you for it.
You go ahead and charge people for it Sony but I won’t be paying, so you can go to hell.
Until that day, I’ll keep enjoying PSN for free…
June 19th, 2007 at 6:03 am
Henning you may be interested in this article..while not PSN specific..it just “confirms” many things are on the way, why some stuff took some time (getting it right being one), how much is possible due to the Cell and still yet to be released.. and the commitment these guys have to continually increasing your investment by listening to what people want…if they are getting that message at this level..it means they are getting it at the higher levels as well..
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=567411