Which Console Is Leading The Online Race?

Thanks to GameSpy for their 'Sole Food' editorial discussing which console has the lead in the online marketplace. The author says: "If you asked me a year ago which console would be the online leader, I would have said Microsoft Xbox - no doubt." But, twelve months later, he's rapidly drawing other conclusions: "I forgot the most important lesson in publishing: Content is king. And most of the killer online content is not on the Xbox, but rather the Sony PlayStation 2." And, after citing specific examples of great titles on both PS2 and Xbox, he concludes: "There's just more games for the PS2, ergo there are more online games. It doesn't matter how good and how uniform the online user interface is if the content isn't there."

Comments

Re:Quality VS Quantity? (and a PA quote)

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

I think the PA quote is overstating the situation quite a bit. Yeah, you get on Live by pushing A. That's super. To log in to play Madden, I simply select Play Online and then my user name and password are loaded from my memory card. I push X a few times and I'm online. Boy, that's tough. I mean, if the folks at Penny Arcade are dismayed by having to log in to online games using a PS2, I can only imagine the trouble they've had with using a PC to play games online.

I also don't understand this sentence: "There is an ethernet port. That's not so you can put a jelly bean in there in case you need it..." What does that have to do with comparing XBox Live to PS2 online gaming? I honestly don't get it.

Here's something I am wondering - what happens if I am living in a house with multiple people who play on XBox Live? Can we have multiple accounts without having too pay two times the online price? I don't have an XBox and am curious how this works. (I'm not really an XBox hater, I just haven't been convinced to buy one based on the selection available.) I do like the idea of having a friend's list but, and this may be just be, normally if I want to play someone online with my PS2 and I already know them, I contact them through some internet messaging service using my computer. I don't see how useful it would be for me to have a friend's list with my PS2. I wouldn't turn my PS2 on, connect to a server, just to see if anyone I know was around. Now, the XBox Live friend's list is accessible via the web but again, how useful is this? If I'm already at my computer, I can just check my PS2 Online Friends category in my instant messaging buddy list. To me, this seems like unneccescary overhead.

But besides Madden and THPS 4, I don't play online games with my PS2. My PC will always be my first and foremost online game playing machine. (please feel free to reply and enlighten me about XBox Live - I'm sure I've got some things wrong since I don't have an XBox. Maybe you can convince me to buy one - although...Zelda Gamecube bundle is calling to me quite loudly these days)

Re:Content? It's just a matter of raw numbers!

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

Oh, so you can provide nationwide statistics based on numbers you derive from counting done in your dorm? That's great. Although...

if we had used your method back when I was a wee undergraduate and I got placed in an all-male dorm for my freshman year (what a sausage party!), we could have safely concluded that everyone in teh United States was male.

You see how sampling the people around you is not an accurate means to measure how many XBoxes have been sold in the U.S.?