Slashdot Mirror
Sony Takes Aim at Xbox Live
Joystiq and the site ComputerandVideoGames are reporting on the first real action in the next-gen war. Sony is apparently readying a strong online service that will meet or exceed the features of Xbox Live. With no firm PS3 launch date yet released, the 360 still has the advantage, but if Sony is rolling out an online matching and media service with their (reportedly) more powerful console things could look bad for Microsoft's new system. From the article: "This story, together with the recent survey Sony conducted, should remove any doubts about Sony's online ambitions. Is it possible that Sony could create a network the size and scale of Xbox Live in such a short time. It has cost Microsoft, the world's largest software company, billions and taken years just to lay the framework for the current Live service. Sony is know for their hyperbolic marketing: the PS2's Emotion Engine, the PSP as iPod-killer; it seems unlikely they could take the crown from Microsoft on their first try, but any attempt is a huge relief. It was beginning to look like Sony didn't think the Live service was a valuable addition to console gaming, or a serious competitor to their hegemony. "
Playstation 3 with rootkit pre-installed!
Fascism is the greatest political ideology ever conceived. Sorry.
I'll believe it when I see it. Feature for feature and then some. Right. I have a bridge in NY and some beach front property in Arizona to sell you.
And the Emotion Engine is powering my workstation, Cell will dominate all electronics on the planet, the PSP will kick Nintendo out of the handheld market and beat the iPod in one fell swoop. Yada yada yada. Oh and something about incredible real-time CGI. When it all falls flat on it's face it's going to be whoever bought it's fault for not understanding the awe-inspiring vision that is exuded by the Sony corporation.
Put on your waders boys and girls, stand very still and brace yourself, the Sony people are talking and you wouldn't want to be killed by the bullshit.
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
Will the online service be free?
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
Sony might having to perform a "me, too" not so much because of MS - but the combination of MS and Nintendo both having online services, plus both having a "purchase games via this interface" system (the Revolution possibly having a monthly subscription for playing the NES/SNES/N64 games).
Sony might have decided that if even Nintendo was doing an online route, they didn't want to be the last ones to the party. My guess is that they'll tell developers "You can still have the setup you want" (so if someone like EA wants to run thier own lobby/interface with ad revenue, they can), "... or you can use ours" (so publishers won't have to put all of thier resources into hosting servers - let Sony do it).
If so, I think it would be a good thing for Sony, if for no other reason than not look like the odd duck out.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
It's interesting the juxtaposition of roles here. Sony was the incumbent of the console wars, leaving M$ in the position of proving itself. I think it is pretty safe to say that M$ has given Sony a run for its money, and now M$ is the incumbent to a firmly entrenched online gaming network.
To put succinctly, Sony has one shot to get it right--not to dethrone M$, but prove that its online gaming shows the potential to rival or better M$'s system.
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
A game console that's coming out in 2006 will have "on-line" capabilities? Really?! I'm shocked! They'll try to be better than their main competitor? You don't say!
That's like saying Ford will be coming out with a car that has airbags! Or the pepsi company launching a new "soft" "drink" that is carbonated! And they're saying it will taste better than coke or fanta.. I'm so excited!
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
If you like real action with the IBM Cell processor in the next-gen war, why not try this baby:
http://www.mc.com/powerblock200/
It knocks the stuffing out of any Sony PS3.
Ok maybe I'm just jaded about having to pay for a console then pay MS for essentially just a NETWORK CONNECTION to other players, but why NOT make it free? (as in air) I know it would make my decision simple when it came to xbox 360 or PS3.
:| )
Actually when I heard you had to PAY to change the skins, I backed off completely. Where are the days when you paid for a product and just enjoyed it without a constantly being nibbled to death by Credit Card Ducks?
No sir, I will still to my "alternatives", as offline as they may appear to MS, Sony or Nintendo until one day one of these companies gets a clue stick and sets up their system to be more P2P in nature then B2B.
GIMME MY FREE MULTIPLAYER ONLINE! (not like the game, the console the internet connection cost me anything eh?
Yo Grark
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
In other news, DNF will be a PS3 launch title.
But I missed the most obvious thing.
Duh me.
When I finished reading how downloading games aren't just for pirates, and the use of Steam and MS Live for purchasing games, it became a "duh" moment as to why Sony wants their own online service:
Selling games. You can buy games off of Steam and Xbox Live for around $10 to $20 apiece, which brings us to a kind of "long tail" theory: not everybody wants to buy a game for $50, but there are probably plenty who will buy one for $15 or $10 if it's fun.
Sony can use that, and if they're making a good chunk of 25% off of each game sold, that's more revenue. Nintendo already stated they wanted to have independants on their online network, Microsoft has that now (see the success of "Geometry Wars" - and Sony sees those dollars.
I should have realized that first. I wasn't thinking greedy enough. I'm sorry.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
The great thing about this new network from Sony, is that it can install rootkits for you. And not even on-demand, but non-demand! Isn't that great?
Except in Soviet Russia of course, there the rootkits install Sony's new network...
Firehed - Unfortunately, thanks to medical breakthroughs, common sense is not as common as it once was.
Why even in NORWAY they have this to say! Bill Gates och hans någotsånär stora företag Microsoft har som alla bör känna till släppt nu två konsoller på marknaden. Den första gick enligt Forbes back hela 4 miljarder dollar. Gates snackar om detta, och han berättar att Xbox'arna är en långtidsinvestering.
;-)
The language you're quoting would be swedish...
Generally, we norwegians do not write in swedish
I'm a dreamer, the world is my playpen. But hey, I'm a serious person, I can't dream all the time.
Abso-fuckin-lutely not. People are used to Sony's constant hype machine bullshit, and when you're already used to the stink it's pretty easy to tell reality from BS and this is utter BS.
The fact is, Sony's constant "we don't need a Live service to compete with MS" has been shown to be as last-gen-thinking as the PS2's graphics currently are. Sony NEEDS to compete on this front (XBox Live/Arcade is fantastic) and isn't currently in any position to do it...at least if they launch in '06. MS is already on iteration 2 of their service for god's sake.
MS's system is sure gabbed about like it's a success, when it's not.
Xbox Live! has, roughly, 1 million subscribers. There's been a pretty steady state number of subscribers since people would run out of interesting games on Live!, leaving a drought before the next set of interesting titles. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag became boring after a while.
Compare this with Nintendo's DS service. They've already peaked over 1 million people in the space of a few months, beating out Microsoft's Xbox Live! service. Surprise, surprise, Microsoft has admitted that it's not working by offering the basic service for free (after all, if you want to pay for basic access, you're going to limit your customer base).
Nintendo was right to wait and figure out the logistics. Sony was stupid to wait too long, and set some bad precedents on their front. Nintendo has managed to turn a lot of people's biggest complaint into their biggest strength with the DS online service, and it's soon going to be linked to the Revolution service. That's a pretty good lead.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Does (any Sony product) + (Rootkit Installed) = (Barrels of laughter at Slashdot)???
Never gets old does it? Boy, the laughs never stop here at Slashdot!