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Details on the PS3 Online Service
Eurogamer has details of Sony's online strategy for the PlayStation 3. Finally. The long article goes into the process by which you log into the service, some of the things you can expect to find online, the different aspects of user accounts, and finally some details about the PlayStation Store. From the article: "As to the content that will be available, Sony is still playing its cards close to its chest to some extent - but one thing the giant firm is clear on is that the PlayStation Store will grow to encompass more than just new game content and demos. Alongside the free and paid-for game content, the store will also play host to a wide range of new titles developed specifically for download (the first of which, fl0w, was shown off at TGS - dozens more PlayStation Store exclusive titles are being worked on around the world thanks to an initiative which Sony launched at GDC last year) - and as Ken Kutaragi revealed at TGS last month, it'll also be possible to buy PSone and PS2 classics you missed out on, as well as a selection of PSP games, from the PlayStation Store, and download them directly to your PS3." After all this time, it's nice just to know there is an online strategy.
While the web browsing and friends lists looks nice, people seem to be missing one key point...the sony online services doesnt tie into games. You can chat all you want or buy things at the sony store but they service still isnt going to link you up to play some madden head to head. Gaming on the PS3 may be free (or may not in a few cases depending on the publisher) but its also piecemeal. Peer to peer or publisher control online play is still the only way to do it with Sony, there is no centralized matching service or more importantly infrastucture maintenance for gaming.
Thats the big advantage of XBox lives subscription services...if all you want is profiles and shopping, MS already has that for free its called Xbox Live Silver.
This is an excellent point. PS3 developers/publishers are either rolling their own or using services like XFire or Gamespy to get their games online. That could (based on the history of the PS2) mean multiple logins to access multiple games. I just can't imagine developers being happy with that compared to the ease of use cited with Xbox Live from just about its beginning on the first Xbox.
Past the initial setup, Xbox Live access has been completely transparent with my 360. I start the console, I'm immediately logged in, any game I insert checks for updates and has multiplayer ready to go when I select the appropriate mentu options. The most I ever have to think about is how many XBL points I have when I'm looking at perhaps downloading something.
Maybe Sony will have similar functionality that allows the third-party online services to utilize Sony's login, but we haven't seen any evidence of that, yet. The bottom line is that if Sony's online complexity varies on a game-by-game basis, then it will continue to suffer in comparison to Xbox Live.
PS- I should note that XBL multiplayer is by no means perfect across all games. Lag is reported as an issue in some games while being a virtual non-factor (except on a connection-by-connection basis) in others, so obviously there is still code that depends on the developer. MS and developers still have some work to do in this area, but as far as convenience and ease of use they seem to have things down pat.