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September PS3 Launch, Online Service
Next Generation (which has generally been fairly reliable regarding information of this nature) has a report indicating that the PlayStation 3 may be launching in September of this year. They also have information about the Sony online console service that has been rumoured for the last few weeks. Apparently called HUB, they theorize details about that aspect of the console will be made available in the next few weeks. From the article: "PlayStation HUB is being described to developers as a 'subscriber service' suggesting a monthly charge. We understand the service is being created by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, although this is unconfirmed. Sony boss Howard Stringer is pushing for all media content to be available for distribution over PlayStation HUB, such as music and movies, thus opening up a powerful iTunes-like distribution network for Sony."
God you're retarded....
thus opening up a powerful iTunes-like distribution network for Sony.
Except it's not portable. Insert "wah-wah-wah-waaaaah" sound.
Come on, an internet-required playstation is about as portable as a grammaphone.
So you can potentially buy movies and music, and apparently the thing also plays video games (which we haven't heard much about). The Xbox360 lets you plug your iPod in at least (and apparently does a pretty good job of handling it). Yet Sony wants people to not only pay a monthly fee, but also use their service to buy movies and music electronically, encumbered and weighed down with DRM, and which will almost assuredly work only with Sony devices.
"But it'll have Blu-Ray!" Yeah, big deal.
There used to be such a company that existed up until they willingly attacked the worldwide information infrastructure with malicious software and assumed all their customers were criminals. But now that company is dead as far as I am concerned.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Expect the ability to transfer stuff from your PS3 directly to your PSP for portability.
Also expect the ability to transfer music and small videos directly to your Walkman phone.
Or this "live" is an internet based service.
And, if it is an internet based service, then ISP will ask for their cut as the "Free ride" thing with Google?
Or this will be another reason to push the tiered internet?
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With its monthly fees, the Live service must also be a key aspect of justifying losing hundreds of dollars on every XBox sold. Given the fact that the PS3 will also have a few C-notes wrapped around every console, Sony absolutely needs this to make up that money.
Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
Apple isn't selling a video game device, nor is it setting up an online hub for a monthly fee. It already controls over 70% of the portable MP3 player market. It doesn't make TVs with memory stick ports, nor does it create its own Cameras, Camcorders, DVD players, and so on.
But if a company is going to sell me a product, it better try its hardest to at least make other stuff work. When I plug my Archos AV420 into my mac, it shows up in iTunes -- it's recognized. Sure I can't do funky playlist stuff with it, but I can copy music to it. iTunes supports MP3 the same as it does its own AAC format (and music purchased from the iTMS).
All that completely disregards the fact that Apple has had its iPod out for years prior to the iTMS coming out, proving that the iTMS was created to supplement the iPod. Sony's portable offerings have been laughable, and performed poorly in the market, yet they keep pushing proprietary formats and stores on people. And this shows that they're taking the same approach for their PS3.
You know Stalin was just as bad as Hitler... So what?
I don't think that anyone is saying that Apple is a bastion of openness. I will say that Apple isn't as bad as Sony. As far as I know Apple has not ever put a root kit on end user computers to protect their content. That would make Sony worse than Apple IMHO.
Frankly I am not fond of Apple's iTunes or Sony at this point.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
This is so layer in speculation, that I can smother my pancakes with it. Probably doesn't taste as great though.
It seems wierd that they mention none of the details are specific, nor confirmed by Sony, but they can say that Japan and US might get it around the same time? Somehow, I think Sony would honor their Japanese market before it every makes it over the Pacific.
As for the subscription service, I would like to see it in action, and how well it can hold up to Xbox Live. "an iTunes like distrubtion"? Sounds like like you still pay seperately for each Online game you purchase. You might see a list of games on the server, and pick two, for like $9.99 each per month. Might be more convient to acquiring the game, but it would suck if they charge for each game's monthly subscription seperately. I know they hinted at it just beinga flat monthly fee, but still...
But remember, this is speculation.
The Galatic Freedom Force marches on! Defend!
i wouldnt say that. its more like the other gamers really suck.
you have to really do some networking and try to stick to playing against people you know arent assholes.
A subscription model? You're kidding me, right? I'm sorry, if I am going to be paying $50-$60 for a new game, the last thing I am doing is shelling out more money on a monthly basis to play online. Furthermore, given the stupid subsciption model, where's the incentive to upgrade from my PS2? I can still play SOCOM and Madden online, if I'm inclined.
OTOH, I don't think there's a single PS2 game that has me inspired to play online -- of the four years I've owned my PS2, I've had it plugged into a network for maybe 10 days.
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I would like to see some evidence that your non-interesting pathetic attempt at a comment is not the result of a paid shill, trying to seem non-partisan yet still staunchly pro-Xbox Live. "The online console era is the new thing for consoles and is now definitely here to stay"? Come on now, really. Did you phone in this comment from the year 2000?
It will be interesting to see how this service does compared to the new XBOX Live available for the XBOX 360 users. XBOX Live over the past couple years has become the standard for online console gaming with in my opinion great service and the ability to download content for live-enabled games.
The online console era is the new thing for consoles and is now definitely here to stay as it looks like both XBOX 360 and PS3 both are going to be media centers in one form or another. I think HUB is going to have some catching up to do to match the growing success of XBOX Live.
The growing success, put into perspective.
10% of Xbox owners ever got on Live. Microsoft's Xbox sales were 20% of Sony's PS2 sales. Nintendo's sales were also around 20% of Sony's. Doing the math, we can see that Live stormed onto the scene and sucked in a whopping 1.6% of the console gaming market.
Holy cow! How will Sony ever catch up to that???
people talk with their wallets.
after the poor reception of atrac, sony has seen the light finally. the psp plays mp3s as does its new line of walkman products. i dont see the real problem, unless you just dont like sony in general.
I highly doubt that the Playstation is "carrying" Sony in any way, shape, or form. I am sure that it contributes to its profits, but there is more of a world besides video games to Sony, as a company. I am sure that their publishing and a/v equipment carry the company more than the console does.
You are in a maze of little twisting passages, all different.
But if a company is going to sell me a product, it better try its hardest to at least make other stuff work. When I plug my Archos AV420 into my mac, it shows up in iTunes -- it's recognized. Sure I can't do funky playlist stuff with it, but I can copy music to it. iTunes supports MP3 the same as it does its own AAC format (and music purchased from the iTMS).
And if I plug my memory stick loaded with MP3s into my PSP, it will play them. And if I bluetooth some mP3s to my Walkman phone, it will play them. What's your point?
The above comment is not a troll. The defnition of trolling is expressing a view that you do not believe in order to elicit a desired response. If anything, it would be flamebait, except badmouthing sony isn't exactly going to start a flame war. The parent comment is not deserving of negative moderation. (This one is offtopic - consider this parenthesized statement a continuance of your moderation education information.)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I haven't seen anything to suggest it, but will the PS3 play the UMD discs that work with the PSP?
Why do you even come on here, just to be taken out like this?
[/irony]
This comment is guaranteed*
*not guaranteed
Which means it'll be out around Spring 2007 in Europe :(
...
So long to wait until the Xbox 360 drops in price
Sony *hasn't* announced anything about the rollout sequence and territories. Just the "Spring 2006" timeframe, that was all. In interviews they even said that various rollout options were being considered in terms of territories, but that they could confirm none. So it's perfectly plausible that it could launch in Japan and the US simultaneously - at least they've said nothing to contradict that.
thanks for the irony tag. almost didnt get the joke.
/did/ eventually renew my live subscription for some reason. [havent used it since november, though].
you gotta point though, maybe im a sucker for punishment; i
but at least the racists arent as pronounced here on slashdot as on live.
Will HUB bring anything new to console gaming? Or is Sony going to primarily focus on copying as much of Xbox Live as possible? It's pretty easy to point at an existing competitor and try to copy as much as their features as possible, but much more difficult to bring something new to the table. The concept of having HUB be a "media HUB" for Sony music, films, etc. is interesting, but I really wouldn't call that new. (And it's something that can already be done on the 360, and presumably Nintendo's Revolution)
As much as people like to whine about the 360's subscription model (which only applies to the "Gold" membership) and the lack of users so far, I do enjoy some of the new features introduced in the latest incarnation of Live. For example, the gamerscore and the achievement system have turned into "mini-games" in themselves (if you enjoy that kind of thing). However, there are definately improvements that can be made. I wonder if Sony's going to go the extra mile, or if they're just going to be content (for now) with playing catch up?
-- jchenx
FY 2004 (ended 31 March 2005)
(millions of dollars, converted from Yen)
Electronics -321
Games 404
Music 82
Pictures 597
Financial Services 519
Other -38
Total 1243
So, games was about 1/3 of Sony's profits for the most recent year. Certainly much more than music over that period.
And, to gauge against XBOX 360 sales, they sold 16.17 million PS2 units between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2005.
Disclaimer: I worked on the microprocessor in the XBOX 360 and also on the Cell processor expected in PS3. I game on both XBOX 360 and PS2.
Microsoft has claimed publicly that about half of XBOX360 users have joined XBOX live. No word on how many are regular users vs. tried it once. Also, I believe that Xbox live access is required to run old Xbox 1 games on XBOX 360, so some folks may have joined just for that.
All that is required to play old XBOX games is the hard drive. Microsoft released the required updates online so that users can download the updates, burn them to CD, and then the XBOX 360 will copy the needed updates onto the hard drive to allow them to be played.
What's the matter, James? No glib remark? No pithy comeback?
with japan and the US now belonging to the same "region" in regards to regional machine encoding, i wouldnt be surprised if they tried to pull off a simultaneous launch. the same consoles can pretty much be used for both launches; sans a few packaging details. can they do it? i highly doubt it.
/sony/ source where they announced which territories will be released first?
please reference your
also, keep in mind that this is a rumor article still. not OFFICIAL word. september 16/21 or whatever could be crap. september is a long way away from "spring" in terms of when they stated they would launch.
personally, id rather have the ps3 in september if that means i get more launch titles and a larger [and more stable] supply of the actual consoles.
Don't forget that 50% figure is almost entirely composed of early adopter hardcore gamers, Xbox Live silver users who pay nothing (can't play games online, but can buy content and post scores) and trial users which are also currently paying nothing.
We'd have to wait a little longer to see if the actual, Live Gold user statistics are truly higher than the 10% who subscribed to Live on the Xbox1.
That's kind of misleading. By the time Sony's put out the PS3, they'll have to deal with an Xbox 360 that's had a good half year's head start in the channel, since the supply chain problems have apparently been fixed. Last stats I heard, _50%_ of 360 owners had put their console online. That's an excellent number, if they can maintain it.
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Now all you have to do is wait and see how much of the market the 360 captures, and you may be on to something.
It's not an excelent number until you know if the console is a success or not, and that is far from certain at this point. Come back in two years and we'll talk.
Perhaps it's because the PC has always been my primary game platform, but I simply am unwilling to pay a fee to game online. I see this as nothing more than a way to have a sustained monthly income for Sony and M$.
Don't forget that you have to pay to get patches for Xbox games, which ironically need patches... My PS/2 doesn't crash nearly like my Xbox (as in almost never).. Stupid Xbox thing...
Now if I can just defeat Malak..
Come now, you're just trolling. I've had the original Xbox since it was launched, and it has never crashed or needed patches. Nor has my PS2.
As has been said before, access to the XCircle online store doesn't cost money. Playing multiplayer games online does.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
I have a gut feeling that MS will only release figures for all XBL users, not mentioning how many of those are paying.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
PSP resolution is 480x272 pixels. Though DVD in NTSC regions is encoded at up to 720x480 pixels, there are major differences between what's on the DVD and what the viewer sees:
Sure, UMD Video on a PSP isn't as good as DVD Video on a high-end monitor, but it's at least as good as most people's affordable TVs.
I've noticed that lately there has been a trend among /.ers.
1. Pick an evil corporation that is making billions of dollars.
2. Hate evil corporation! Say bad things about it and refuse to acknowledge any good aspects it may have!
3. ?
4. Profit!
Guess what? It's possible to like all the consoles for different reasons! *Gasp!* You don't have to take sides at all! Sony isn't better than Microsoft, and vice versa. They're both companies, and it is their job to make their stockholders happy by increasing profits. Of course, the Xbox is seeming to make Microsoft LOSE money, but that's another story.
Anyway, Microsoft's Xbox Live service has many good aspects, and Sony recognizes this. They decided NOT to include an online service with the PS2 because back then they saw no need for it, but the fact is they thought about it. Now that they've seen that a centralized online service is not only feasible but also desirable, they are creating one as well. So, enough of this talk about "OMG they copied xbox! Xbox rules $ony sucks! [insert comment about rootkit or DRM]! LOLz"
They contemplated a centralized online service long before Xbox live existed.
At any rate, I am interested in how Sony's online service will debut (provided it even exists). While I personally favor the PS3 to win the next-gen console war, I recognize that the 360 will have had a year-long headstart, along with a well-established online service, and that will be very dangerous footing for Sony. If they can't convince people that the PS3 will surpass the 360, then they will probably even lose to the Revolution (which, seeing the way things are going now, might win the console conflict yet). It won't be a dull war this time around, that's for certain.
Microsoft has claimed publicly that about half of XBOX360 users have joined XBOX live. No word on how many are regular users vs. tried it once. Also, I believe that Xbox live access is required to run old Xbox 1 games on XBOX 360, so some folks may have joined just for that.
Right. Well, considering that 360 sales to date are a fraction of the original Xbox sales, I don't think taking even half of the total 360 owners into consideration is going to change the percentage very much.
I guess my point was that MS has had Live out as the only service for several years, and the adoption by users has been pretty slow to date. If there were 20 million people hooked on Live already, Sony might have something to "catch up" to or worry about. As it is, the lagging sales of Microsoft's consoles have limited the potential impact of their head start.
This isn't a dig on Microsoft or Live, just the current facts.
That's kind of misleading. By the time Sony's put out the PS3, they'll have to deal with an Xbox 360 that's had a good half year's head start in the channel, since the supply chain problems have apparently been fixed. Last stats I heard, _50%_ of 360 owners had put their console online. That's an excellent number, if they can maintain it.
If they are able to get actual 360's in stores, and add a couple of interesting exclusive titles to the lineup by the summer, they may have a chance. The supply problem has really squandered a lot of the initial launch excitement. When the PS3 launches, MS is going to be in the unenviable position of being "last year's" console in the face of Sony and Nintendo unless they have an impressive stable of games.
My opinion, obviously. We'll see what happens.
Is it really wise to launch a new platform at the same time in two countries that speak different languages? Many of the games - actually, all of them - that I own for my PS2 are English translations of Japanese games. The only reason I own a PS2 is in fact for the Japanese console RPGs and Gran Turismo. Unless SONY pulls off a miracle, launch titles in the US will mostly be cross-platform franchise titles (i.e. EA Sports games) and it could be 6+ months until the good Japanese games are released in English / US. I suspect that is partly why the XBOX 360 is selling so poorly in Japan.
;)
SONY clearly realizes that Spring is not the best time to release a new platform. But the question remains, will they rush the console out the door before Christmas even if the selection of US launch titles is as abysmal as the PSP's. You could argue that it can play the existing library of PS1 and PS2 titles, but I do not see many parents justifying the $500 pricetag because it can play their kids' old games and eventually desirable PS3 games. The Revolution on the other hand, if priced reasonably, may be able to fallback on NES/SNES/N64 download service and GameCube backward compatibility at launch.
The only saving grace I see for the PS3 in such a scenario is the BluRay player. I own two HD sets and would gladly fork over $500 for a BluRay player that can also play PS1/PS2/PS3 games
Most people watch DVDs through a composite video cable, which sends luma and chroma over different frequency bands (roughly 0-2.7 MHz and 2.7-4.5 MHz) on one wire pair. In order for the luma not to overlap the chroma and cause color fringing, the DVD player horizontally filters the image down to the equivalent of 480 pixels wide. Now you're down to 480x480, the same resolution as SVCD.
Bollocks. You can take any S-Video cable (which by your definition would not have said filtering), stip it, twist the luma and chroma wires together, and pop it into any composite jack. I would challenge anyone to see any "color banding". I have played literally hundreds of movies over such a connection because I was too cheap to go buy a converter when twisting two wires will do.
This is a wild guess but I would say roughly 30-40% of Xbox owners with broadband decided to subscribe to Xbox live.
MS has a huge headstart on Sony. Granted, Sony has been able to sit back and see where MS went wrong, they still have a lot of work to do. Trying to diminish the impact Xbox LIVE had on gamers who chose to enjoy their service is only denying the inevitable. There will always be room for good single player games but personally, the computer is boring and not challenging. Humans are much tougher opponents.
This is what gets me... how is Sony going to pull this online gaming network off without charging people? I mean, they've gotten some people really happy that their online gaming solution was free, what will those people do now?
Not meant to troll or anything, I'm geniunely interested in what Sony will do, because providing free online gaming has made them kinda the "good guy" in many people's eyes. And if they provide this service for free, I don't see how their service could compare to Live. It's too obvious to say that we'll have to wait and see and I'd really like to know what they're planning.
Remember, the Playstation brand has been saving Sony as of late, and it's a brand that they can't let become a money drain. This'll be interesting.
"This is considered plagiarism."