XFire is Sony's Answer to Xbox Live

1up is reporting on Sony's 'answer' to Microsoft's Xbox Live system: XFire. The PC-based game networking service is already extremely popular among FPS and MMOG players. Financial reports indicate the service will now be extended to the PlayStation 3 as well. From the article: "By incorporating an existing service into their own PlayStation Network Platform (PNP), Sony hopes to circumvent existing problems in the console space that Microsoft has had to sort out and in using Xfire -- a company with an established messaging, matchmaking and gaming client -- Sony hopes to narrow the four-year gap in online gaming services that Microsoft currently enjoys (Xfire has been around since 2002)."

Comments

But when...

[Hangin10]

But when does Nintendo release XCube (XWater, if you want some other ironic/humorous tie-in) to compete with XFire and XBox Live?

Does anyone else detect a rather lame naming gimmick catching on across the board?

Re:Innovation!

[Jerf]

spend hundreds of man-hours developing.

I'd estimate a rock-solid service of this type to be tens of thousands of man-hours. The scaling and reliability issues are challenging. That includes significant maintenence and feature-addition, and isn't entirely programming either (art assets, etc.), and I'm not including testing in that count, which would probably push it up into the hundreds of thousands if you include stress testing with real beta customers, although Sony probably wouldn't be paying for that directly.

Buying that is not at all unreasonable. Sony isn't Microsoft, they aren't even Nintendo.

Re:as if...

[why-is-it]

I think that by the time the PS3's price drops enough to be considered reasonable by the average gamer, it will be far, far too late for it to do well in the marketplace

It depends on what you consider to be "reasonable" and "average". Like lots of /.ers, I could afford a PS3 on day one, assuming I could find one. I'm certain that it will sell out in the beginning due to a combination of actual shortages and fanbois. The question for me, and most other folks is whether it is worth the price Sony is willing to sell it for.

I suspect it won't be worth it at first, but then I haven't seen what it is capable of doing, or what titles are shipping for it. Not many first-gen titles are must-haves though, so I expect to wait. For me, cost will not be the barrier as much as perceived value. What do I get for my money? I imagine that a $600 console will have a longer, and more useful life to me than an equivalently priced PC. But, if there are no really interesting games out there to justify the OTC of the hardware, I will wait until something comes along that does.

It is possible that the PS3 will crash and burn, but I think that is unlikely. They are the biggest name in consoles, and have sold some 200 million PS2s. That kind of brainshare and marketshare does not evaporate overnight. I would hazard a guess that most of those 200 million PS2 users are not /. nerds and are unaware of the rootkit fiasco or any of Sony's other mistakes. I look at it this way: microsoft is the king of corporate ruthlessness and greed, but it hasn't hurt them in the marketplace...

it will be much longer than a year before the PS3 drops down to a reasonable (IE sub-$200) or even only-moderately-expensive (~$300) price range.

If that is your pricepoint, you will be waiting years! Taking inflation into account, the PS3 is pricy, but not radically expensive compared to other console launch prices. If the PS3 offers functionality above and beyond a game console, it might look like a relative bargain at $500. It will all hinge on the games I think. If it has fun and interesting games, it will do fine. If it does not, there's always Nintendo.

I'll go a little further here....

[Khyber]

FF and GTA will most definitely NOT carry Sony. Note the FF series being ported to other consoles, now, and the GTA series (which came out on PC first, and most likely will always keep it's mass following there - I'd say 1 out of every 7 PSX/2 owner that I know personally has a GTA title, and I have quite a diverse group of friends. Even the thug-rappers play more Tony Hawk than GTA.) has always been multi-platform. If Sony wants to keep their heads (or asses, depending on how far their heads are stuck up there,) above water and survive, they're going to have to pull some major stops and get on the ball. I forsee lots of beauracracy in Sony's future, or at least for their computer entertainment division.

Honestly, I don't really care about Sony anymore since their brilliant rootkit move. I had to replace my DVD/CD-RW combo drive after I got rootkitted, because it seriously screwed my drive up to the point it wouldn't even read a standard audio cd from the early 90s. Screw them for destroying my hardware.