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A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

After yesterday’s post on a Sony’s online service, I had quite the response. Now, blog reader Kronium points out that in this video, recorded at GDC in March, Phil Harrison clearly states (at 17:00 minutes in) that Multi-player gaming will be ‘free to the consumer’ and that they ‘have no plans to charge for that at the moment.’

So, what is the real answer? I guess we’ll find out later this year when they go on sale.

Thanks for the pointer Kronium.

Posted: May 15 2006, 07:32 PM by Major Nelson | with 107 comment(s)
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Anon 1
Would be nice free but $50 a month ain't bad at all its excellent
May 15, 2006 7:37 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 2
Eric, it's hardly $50 a month... $50 a YEAR. :-)
May 15, 2006 7:54 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 3
In march, Sony also said that the ps3 will be in 4D... lol, we can't trust them...
May 15, 2006 7:56 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 4
Major -

Tell Kronium that Sony has been saying that 1080p is the 'true' HD...but, listening to one of their mouthpieces Kaz Hirai...you'd think he'd be shouting from the mountain tops about it, instead he says that there's really no discernable difference to him.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=16942

May 15, 2006 7:56 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 5
Since when can you believe anything Sony or someone who works for them says?  Remember the AOL and Real Networks streaming Major?
May 15, 2006 7:58 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 6
Interesting Major, I wasn't expecting that at all. I can't imagin how online multiplayer can be FREE. Doesnt that mean the gamer would have to have a user name for each game they own? like PS2.. anyway good luck with that Sony! I'd rather have xbox live I think it's a more dependable and universal way to get people playing online.
May 15, 2006 7:58 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 7
The key thing everyone here misses is this:  What Xbox Live ACTUALLY is.  It is a collection of servers in Data Centers throughout the world that provides a uniform experience for gamers and developers.  When a developer, with the exception of EA who prefers to handle their own servers, utilizes Xbox Live they need to set up almost ZERO on their side.  The Xbox Live service handles most of the work.  

What Sony's online service is:  A collection of servers that simply redirect traffic to the game developers servers.  Of course they aren't going to charge for it--they are going to do the same thing they have been doing:  Absolutely nothing.  With the Sony platform, the developers eat the cost of providing you online play.  Why do you thing 99% of the online experiences with Sony suck?  The developers/publishers simply don't want to/can't pay the small fortune it costs for PREMIUM Data Center Hosting.  

Example--a 100MB pipe runs about $5k per month, plus about another $1000 for space (footprint).  Depending on user connection speeds (256k-1MB) you can only get 100-400 users per connection.  How many people are on GR-AW at any given time?  Do the math, it ain't cheap.  

So what happens in the Sony model?  Same thing that happend wiht Fight Night for the PSP.  $2 to play.  Or you give up your email to spammers.  

Either way, you're gonna pay for the service this generation, it is really just a question as to who (MS/Sony/A bunch of different developers) will be taking the check.  For me, I'm sticking with Xbox Live at $50 a year (or for the math challenged, a whopping $4.16 a month)--a service I can count on to provide me with a generally consistent experience.

May 15, 2006 8:16 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 8
Good post, Mike. I hadn't really looked at it like that...
May 15, 2006 8:23 PM [Direct Link]
Major Nelson
Xbox 360 Dashboard
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Excellent point(s) Mike, thanks for posting.
May 15, 2006 8:31 PM [Direct Link]
Anon 9
well it looks like the basic service that sony will offer will be free, but the other part of the equation is that the other guys who have to host their own servers will be given the liberty to do what ever they want. If they want to charge then so be it, as long as it's not running of sony's servers. another solution might be that sony is going to be hosting users via p2p. which will mean that when a user runs or hosts a game other people that are searching the network will be able to jump to a game. this will mean that there is no real central servers just a global conection of ps3's like icq users
May 15, 2006 8:33 PM [Direct Link]
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