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Sony's PS2 Online Lays Claim To TV Generation

Posted by simoniker on from the and-it-turned-into-a-pr-blitz dept.

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting a Sony press release in which they claim online gaming using the PlayStation 2 is taking away viewers from the TV, noting that "...the audience for online gaming with the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system grew to 2.6 million this month" - though that figure seems to be the number of PS2 systems with online adapters, not the amount actually online. Elsewhere, Sony notes that online play is "...up 239 percent when compared to February of last year, with 67,708 new gamers registering during the 29 day month", and that some games have extremely committed players: "SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs players spend an average of 4.2 hours a day playing the game online." This comes shortly after news that 25 million PS2s have been sold in North America, a figure "contributing to overall worldwide shipments of more than 70 million units" - meanwhile, GI.Biz notes that Xbox Live "has been celebrating having 750,000 Xbox Live users [in the States], with a target of a million by June."

30 comments

  1. Take with a grain of salt, please by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thanks to the invention of TiVo and the VCR, people can play these games for hours on end. Frankly, in my Quake days, I did the same thing. I found that between 7pm and 9pm was the ideal time to get on for the particular servers I visited, everything else was put on hold.

    This statement could be true, but I'm not sure I'd quite say that it's eating too heavily into TV. I can't speak for any household but my own, but when work or games interfere with my watching TV, other members of the family suddenly take an interest in it. Did TV go down or up?

    Sorry Sony, but people still want to watch their favorite shows.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
    1. Re:Take with a grain of salt, please by ddsoul · · Score: 1

      There's always PIP ... play AND watch tv simultaneously.

      --
      *604x
    2. Re:Take with a grain of salt, please by jkcity · · Score: 1

      "Sorry Sony, but people still want to watch their favorite shows"

      They don't want to watch drek though, it was'nt that many years ago I would watch alot of tv including drek just because there was little else todo, these days with games being so cheap and so much choice I only have time to watch show's that are definatly my fav. The problem of not watching tv will egtw orse as people's fav show's go off air as well, since like alot of people I'm sick of investing time into new shows just so they can be cancelled half way through season 1.

    3. Re:Take with a grain of salt, please by bigman2003 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I haven't had any type of TV reception for about a year now.

      I got rid of DISH for two reasons:

      #1- I would much rather play games, just as the article suggests.

      #2- TV is generally shit anyway, just as we are all aware.

      The last show I really enjoyed was The Office. That was painfully funny stuff. But when my house seemed filled with MTV and stupid 'entertainment' shows, like Extra, and (Insert other crappy shows about celebrities here) I figured that myself and my family don't really need to be inundated with news and information about Paris Hilton, Martha Stewart and Janet Jackson. Now we spend more time doing things.

      The one time I am really bummed about not having TV is when I am sick. Somehow being at home sick, and brainlessly watching TV just go together. Now what does that say about watching TV?

      --
      No reason to lie.
  2. FFXI! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If anything the MMORPGS will prove as addictive as ever. My friend is thoroughly hooked on FFXI, playing 12-15 hours a day. His wife isn't too happy, but has more or less accepted that it's futile to resist. =)

    Posting as AC of course...

  3. It's interesting that it's online games by foidulus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    that they are talking about. Could people finally actually want to communicate in a slightly social setting instead of getting the one-way communication that television offers us.
    I still personally would prefer a trip out to a local eatery etc for my social interaction, but it's definately interesting to see how much better people respond to playing other people(or at least what they think are other people, I wonder how many people have an internet buddy that is actually a chatbot)

    1. Re:It's interesting that it's online games by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
      "I still personally would prefer a trip out to a local eatery etc for my social interaction"
      So you're the guy that comes up to strangers at Burger King and asks them if emacs is better than vi?
  4. Well Duh by BigDork1001 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Sony press release in which they claim online gaming using the PlayStation 2 is taking away viewers from the TV

    This can be said about any of the game consoles whether they are online or not. It's pretty hard to watch TV when you are playing Nintendo, X-box, or PS2 on the TV.

    A new report also shows that listening to CDs is taking away listeners from the radio.

    --
    "Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
  5. SOCOM Navy Seals... by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 1

    I remember asking for that game from my wife for Christmas last year when I bought our PS2. Turns out I played it for exactly 10 minutes, found I kept getting killed on the first boat mission, and promptly got bored of it and shelved it since last year. I don't know how these kids can play FPS games on those dinky controllers... I need a decent keyboard and trackball to kick ass.

    1. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by bigman2003 · · Score: 1

      10 minutes might not be enough time to make the adjustment. How long did it take you to learn to play first person shooters on your keyboard and trackball? I doubt you were an expert after 10 minutes. Possibly the millions of console FPS players are not all wrong. The controls can, and do work.

      One thing that every single person I've played with on a console-FPS does though- that you might want to try. Invert the controls. This seems to be a much more 'natural' method of control. I don't know about SOCOM- but all of the games I play have this capability. And before I switch the controls, I am completely lost.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    2. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by Pluvius · · Score: 4, Interesting

      10 minutes might not be enough time to make the adjustment. How long did it take you to learn to play first person shooters on your keyboard and trackball? I doubt you were an expert after 10 minutes. Possibly the millions of console FPS players are not all wrong. The controls can, and do work.

      You forgot the word "poorly" in that last sentence. There's a reason why most console FPSes have autoaim and most computer FPSes don't.

      The millions of console FPS players that actually like using a controller to play have almost certainly never tried using a keyboard and mouse.

      Rob

    3. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by John+Gaming+Target · · Score: 1

      Oh please, that's the most tired argument in the book. Some people prefer a controller. Some people prefer a mouse and keyboard. One is not inherently better than the other. And

      You forgot the word "poorly" in that last sentence. There's a reason why most console FPSes have autoaim and most computer FPSes don't.

      cough... Doom ...cough

    4. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by ddsoul · · Score: 1

      The cool thing WITH the PS2 is it does have 2 usb ports for such devices as a keyboard and mouse...

      --
      *604x
    5. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by Pluvius · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Some people prefer a controller.

      Chances are those people aren't all that serious about FPSes. If you don't really care about how well you play, then controllers are fine.

      One is not inherently better than the other.

      The assertion of one who has never actually tried playing the same game with both control methods. Try playing Rainbow Six, first on a console, then on the PC. Tell me which one is easier to play.

      cough... Doom ...cough

      Oh, no, you've defeated my argument by mentioning a decade-old game!

      Rob

    6. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by scabb · · Score: 1
      I played it online (for long enough) at a cousins house once, and I was totally unimpressed too - the original version, not the sequel. It just seemed like it was knocked up* conveniently and thrown in with the modem.

      *Knocked up meaning made, not impregnated.

    7. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by bigman2003 · · Score: 1

      Oh...so console FPS players are not 'serious'?

      First, I wonder what is required to be considered 'serious'. Second, I wonder what is more important- being serious, or having fun.

      But- all fun aside. Really, 10 minutes probably isn't enough time to determine how good or bad a certain control scheme is for a game. The first time I tried a console FPS, I thought it was horrible. But it ended up being pretty good, and a lot of fun. It was, as they say...different.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    8. Re:SOCOM Navy Seals... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "cough... Doom ...cough"

      You needed auto-aim because things that were far away were only 2 pixels across on the screen. That and you couldn't look up or down.

  6. XBL 750K.... by unclethursday · · Score: 3, Informative
    meanwhile, GI.Biz notes that Xbox Live "has been celebrating having 750,000 Xbox Live users [in the States], with a target of a million by June."

    Actually, the 750K users is worldiwde, not just in the US. Europe has around 100K subscribers, and so does Japan, with the remaining ~550K in the US and Canada.

    The 1 million subscribers by June also reflects worldwide subscribers, not just the US.

    The actual quote from GI.Biz: In other words, this is Sony's distinctly unconcerned response to recent announcements from Nintendo (which stated this week that the GameCube has sold out in many retailers in the USA, with emergency supplies being shipped in from overseas) and Microsoft (which has been celebrating having 750,000 Xbox Live users, with a target of a million by June).

    1. Re:XBL 750K.... by scabb · · Score: 1

      Japan has 100,000 subscribers to Xbox live? Are Xbox sales even that good in Japan?

    2. Re:XBL 750K.... by fondue · · Score: 1

      Well, they sold 300,000 copies of DOA3 and Halo so I guess so. Xbox Live sales probably aren't that healthy though.

      I think that 100,000 figure sounds more like the whole of the Asian territories Live has launched in (including Taiwan and Korea, and possibly even Australia).

      --

      Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck

    3. Re:XBL 750K.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      ~550K in the US and Canada.
      That means those numbers have remained virtually unchanged over the past year? (+50K maybe?) I wonder if that includes the free 2-month Xbox Live trial period included with units sold over the past couple of months.
    4. Re:XBL 750K.... by unclethursday · · Score: 1
      That means those numbers have remained virtually unchanged over the past year? (+50K maybe?) I wonder if that includes the free 2-month Xbox Live trial period included with units sold over the past couple of months.

      Pretty much.

      From late April until end of year sales came in, MS kept saying ~500k worldwide. Now that end of year sales came in, they say ~750k, worldwide.

      Considering that Europe has only 100k subscribers, and launched in March with around 80k signing up, that says sales of XBL in Europe are dead.

      Japan's sales were mainly for Phantasy Star Online Episodes I&II, which came with XBL in Japan.

      The only place XBL seems to sell, and even then only at a trickle, is North America... but it still took Microsoft to give it away to get sales moving. Sales had flat lined in North America for months on end as well, before the free two months with every Xbox purchase deal.

  7. SO TRUE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Although I play Xbox I agree with Sony on this. The reality TV phenomena has ruined TV for good. My girlfriend and I have digital cable and we check the listings after dinner and almost never find anything worthwhile. She chats online or emails her friends while I snipe out gomers in Ghost Recon. During the summer of course we just cancel cable altogether because who watches TV during the summer? Anyway TV has been awful for the last 2-3 years.

  8. taking credit by andy_fish · · Score: 1

    I think the article paints Sony as taking too much credit for this phenomenon. Video games have been taking people away from TV watching from the very beginning. (cause after all, they are mutually exclusive activities). The only unique thing about the PS2 Online service is that they can actually measure it.

    --
    & I wish I knew the password to your heart . . . &
  9. why not do both? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I usually use PIP or have a TV next to my game console monitor in case one of them gets boring.

  10. sort of off topic: multi-player-HERE online games? by ClioCJS · · Score: 1
    I just bought a network adapter, but am sadly distressed that many of the net-capable games are only sufficient for putting one person online.

    For example: Amplitude. This game supports 4 players at once, locally. So me & my wife play, and sometimes we play with another couple or other friends.

    But online, only 1 person can play. Sure, I can join a 4-player game, but there is no way for BOTH of us to join a game online.

    This just sucks. What good is a network adapter if I have to play alone? I prefer to ONLY play 2+ player games. I do not play single player games. I almost always play a game with my wife. (Current obsession: Culdcept.)

    So my actual question is this: Are there any online games which allow 1-4 people HERE to join an ongoing online game. Something that Me + wife + network adapter + (only one) PlayStation2 can play???

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com