A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

Bodanarko — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:44:08 GMT

50 a month not bad? Excellent? Maybe if there was not XBL

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

THaT 1 DJ — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:44:08 GMT

I'm just as interested in this as you are Major to see how this free service plays out.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

Allen — Thu, 18 May 2006 02:01:07 GMT

Are Sony's statements that THEY (because they will make developers use their own servers) won't charge for online play as accurate as their statements about the unit having dual HDMI outputs? Or having six USB ports? Or having three ethernet ports? Or being usable as a router? Or launching in Spring 2006? Or the Cell being so powerful the PS3 wouldn't need a GPU (the stripped-down nVidia 7800MX GPU was added to the system at the last minute when the real-world performance of the Cell fell far below their target numbers)? Or that the PS3 would have 8 SPUs for processing (developers can now only use four SPUs as three are monopolized by the OS and one is disabled to compensate for low chip yields). And this is just on the PS3. Let's not even get into all the Sony doublespeak on the PSP.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

Anthony Hanses — Wed, 17 May 2006 23:54:18 GMT

Sorry about the horrible reactions in PS3forums, we try to keep those under control as much as we can, but unfortunately a lot of people just don't seem to understand the meaning of being civil on internet forums (and we ban a lot of those). Several people in that thread got penalties for their involvement.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

theone — Wed, 17 May 2006 22:35:11 GMT

MULTIPLAYER IS FREE CONFIRMED BY SONY
--------------------------------------------------
One of the latest PlayStation 3 rumors to make the rounds over the past couple of days was in regard to "free" online gameplay, or the apparent lack thereof. Even though Sony reps at both the Game Developers Conference and the E3 stated otherwise, due to the fact that Sony's E3 conference powerpoint presentation didn't explicitly state the fact, some sites jumped to conclusions. Well it just isn't true.

This morning, SCEA's PR Manager helped to clarify the situation. When asked to confirm whether playing games online via the PlayStation 3 would be free of charge, it was stated, plain and simply, "Please note that online gaming will be free right out of the box". There ya go.

Of course, like Square Enix did with Final Fantasy XI on the PS2, Xbox 360 and PC, a limited amount of publishers may still charge a fee for MMO-style titles.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

kid — Wed, 17 May 2006 22:26:43 GMT

cervezafria,
your referencing ONLY his reply to his first post.
read the first post here.
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/05/14/A-look-at-Sonys-Online-service.aspx
i just disagree with his selective use of info that is then presented as news.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

Linus — Wed, 17 May 2006 19:36:06 GMT

gamerscore is useless, man. All it means is that you bought some EA sports franchise game and harvested points. Bleaaah. If Sony do do something like gamerscore (and really, they should, it's a great concept) they should lock in some way of having scores relative to difficulty.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

Dricas 09 — Wed, 17 May 2006 07:39:15 GMT

1 word: GAMERSCORE

you can bet your ass that as Sony stealed motion sensing controller, they will steal this feature too.

Gamerscore is a simple yet neat feature, as J. Allard said, it's your braging rights!

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

CervezaFria — Wed, 17 May 2006 05:02:41 GMT

kid said:
"uh, why dont we wait for the service rollout before we make any more unsubstantiated comments, er posts....major.
meanwhile, lets all enjoy the great service that is xbox live."

What unsubstantiated comments, er posts were made? I sure didn't see any. Here is what major said above,

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

Take a few minutes to read what people actually say.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

CervezaFria — Wed, 17 May 2006 04:57:56 GMT

Travis said:
"All i want from either XBL or PS3 Online is a party line where I can have all 4 of my friend chat at the same time without having to do it ingame. How could a feature like that be overlooked when it was first made?"

It wasn't overlooked. In one of Major's blogcasts, he interviewed a guy who explained why it was structured they way it was.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

Buzzy360 — Wed, 17 May 2006 03:03:06 GMT

PKG said:
$600 Dollars!!!! Enough said! Don't need to hear about any online plan. $600 Dollars!! = NO

Amen Brother Amen!!!!

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

kid — Wed, 17 May 2006 02:53:38 GMT

uh, why dont we wait for the service rollout before we make any more unsubstantiated comments, er posts....major.
meanwhile, lets all enjoy the great service that is xbox live.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

nojok3 — Wed, 17 May 2006 01:28:50 GMT

"Makes online play a higher risk for developers, and therefore less likely to join in. "

I think in most cases if they cut online, they would cut the game. That will go over great

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

nojok3 — Wed, 17 May 2006 01:26:37 GMT

What's great about Xbox Live is that you have to pay. You get less people who will cheat because they don't want to lose their subscription. What happens when they get banned from PS3 Online? You make a new account? Whoopty do.

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

electricpirate — Tue, 16 May 2006 22:50:16 GMT

Sony's strateg seems to be this:

- Handle the cross game stuff centrally (Video chat, friends list, ect)

but it:
- Leave matchmaking servers up to developers.

So basically it's PS2's online with chat and a friends list, and maybe some kind of simple ranking.

err something like that.

Positives: Cheap for sony, probably provides free online play, unless of course it's an EA game :\.

Negatives: Riaises bar for entry for online games. So your Ninja Bee software, and you makea really cool game. You put in XBLA, and it has multiplay. Your game does well, pays your salaries, helps you grow. But how long do you have to keep supporting the servers? How long before you give up, and end all matchmaking services?
- Developers developing online stuff have to keep re-inventing the wheel.
- Makes online play a higher risk for developers, and therefore less likely to join in.

Those are the biggies. Advantages to both approaches, but i prefer MS' personally. I probably never would have played the awesomeness of MBU online under Sony's system.

Char

re: A look at Sony's Online service Take 2

waldo15 — Tue, 16 May 2006 21:18:15 GMT

Man, did Sony got flammed this E3! Maybe they answered one or two important questions (controller, release date, price) but they left may others unanswered.

For the online experience, XBL is rather unique and I believe should become a 'de facto' standard. It does not matter what game you plug into your system, your username and password is unique and there's no need to switch names when switching games, or create new ones when new games are released. All the content is centralized, the online gaming is somewhat transparent. And the fee is really insignificant once you tally the price of the system, the games and the peripherals.

Sony still has to provide a compelling answer, nay a compelling real-time demonstration of their online capabilities; not slides or press conferences, but real demos. There was ZERO online content show off by Sony in E3, no question about it. In the meantime, they will be under the microscope and will be severely analyzed, by friends and foes alike.

Keep up the good work Major. Maybe you have the Xbox MS flag on your side as a Stigma at times but you do a great job by keeping us on the loop. Big kudos for that!

waldo15 out