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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.
anyone else read that and feel like the author just has an axe to grind against online gaming.
I think he is kind of shortsighted by saying (strongly implying at least) that full games will never be web based.
I certainly can see (as broadband speeds increase) purchasing a game like halo, and you download the 30 mg level in a 30 seconds. Video clips are streamed in real-time instead of being played off the DVD.
Am I just off here, or was that author lacking vision.
I hope so... Not all the content has to be free.. but I'd like to play online without a monthly subscription. Finally some competition.
I personally don't think XBox Live is the type of service Microsoft is trying to compete on price with; they seem to be more focused on quality of service and increased functionality. By having a charge, Microsoft will be able to provide services that would not be cost effective on a free service; much of this functionality may be of questionable value (gamer-scores and what not) but it is what the service is based on. I would expect that XBox Live would (probably) increase the ammount of services it provides rather than reduce the price.
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.
"the system does show you friend sign-ins and new messages received in overlays on top of the game you're currently playing"
"Oh - and it's all free, too. The only place you'll be asked to fork over a penny is when you purchase something in the PlayStation Store - all of the online services, from sign-up right through to voice and video chat, are free, as is normal multiplayer gaming"
"the only things you'll pay money for are paid-for downloadable content, or subscriptions to premium services like massively multiplayer games."
"Unlike Nintendo and Microsoft's offerings, Sony doesn't hide the price of items behind an arbitrary "points" scheme"
"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."
"what we've seen is very promising. Account creation and management, buddy lists and various types of chat appear to be working just fine, the interface is simple and elegant, and the PlayStation Store"
Zonk: "After all this time, it's nice just to know there is an online strategy. "
Pathetic. Just pathetic.
The Wii and PS3 are only a month away and the Slashdot community is missing out on many major console gaming news due to the 'fucked in the head over Sony/PS3' Zonk. It's time for a change. It's not funny. It's not inflammatory. It's just fucking sad.
Zonk, go away. Deal with whatever the fuck issues you have with Sony on your own time. Slashdot is long overdue for a sane games editor.
From wikipedia page on the PS2.. comedy gold!:
Sony rolled a PS2 online adapter in late 2002 to compete with Microsoft, with several online first party titles released alongside it, such as SOCOM US Navy SEALS to show its active support for Internet play. Sony also advertised heavily, and its online model had the advantage of being supported by Electronic Arts.
Uhm...
Xbox live 360 from Microsoft costs 40 bucks a year. Has there been any indication this is going to be free or something?
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
If only microsoft, Sony and Nintendo could get together and have a "global" network with all three systems and even PC maybe (gamespy? or one of those guys?) and let people that have say Ghost Recon for the 360 play against people with the PS3... or even a global store where you could buy the things once... When i get the Wii and IF i get the PS3, i really dont want to pay for all 3... with Live costing 40/year or whatever it would be good to get a deal on all 3...
360+wii = 60
360+wii+ps3 = 90
where all seperate could cost people 120+ a year!
but we'll see... Nintendo seems to have things going the right way with rumors of being able to download old nintendo games (whether it be for free or not we'll see).
Also Microsoft seems to already be rolling with their network set up while the PS3 will have to work out all of their bugs that Microsoft worked out with the first XBOX... Nintendo also might have the same problems that Sony will have, but who knows...
For 500 dollars you get from Sony:
This amazing and free online network
1080p games - already at least seven 1080p games - and 1080p looks like it will be the standard rez for most PS3 games
Full backwards compatibility with the entire Playstation and PS2 library of games
1080p BluRay movies
HDMI
20 gig harddrive that can be upgraded to any size from any computer store
The ability to buy old PS1 and PS2 games from the online network
The tilt controller
A full Linux distro right on the harddrive of every PS3 system
A full set of dev tools right on the harddrive of every PS3 system
DLNA compliance
And I believe you can just plug any standard USB WiFi device into the system
The Xbox 360 for 400:
Needs to have 50 dollars every year to play online - add 200-250 dollars to the system over four to five years
Needs to have 200 dollars and a clunky addon to play HD-DVD movies - but no HDMI connection and no 1080p or high quality audio output
Plus Microsoft charges you to be allowed to do homebrew - 50? 100?
Can't upgrade the harddrive
The now admitted massive hardware defects - 50 dollars just for an extended warranty
And let's not even go into the ridiculously marked-up 360 peripherals...
How well it does these things remain to be seen, but Sony has far more ways of making money than either MS or Nintendo do with their systems. The other consoles have their online systems, but all their other revenues must come from games. Perhaps that is why the PS3 sometimes appears to be a "kitchen-sink" system to catch all those revenues.
When Nintendo is secretive about its product: "It makes perfect sense for Nintendo not to give everything about the Wii away all at once. Secrecy keeps the rumor mill churning, thus making sure that the Wii doesn't lose its presence in the news media. And every time Nintendo releases new information, it causes a feeding frenzy among the fans. Secrecy also keeps Nintendo's competitors guessing and sometimes catches them off-guard."
When Sony is secretive about its product: "Christ, what the hell is taking them so long to give us information about the PS3? Obviously the only reason they aren't talking is because they have no clue what they're doing."
I'd like to remind Zonk and the other anti-Sony fanboys that most of the important details for the Wii's Virtual Console were only revealed a month ago.
Rob
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.
Troll.
<sarcasm> Heck, games are just pushing pixels onto a screen and handling user input, what's so hard about that? For online games you just sprinkle some packet handling in there. Should take you like half an hour to do all that.
I mean, operating systems just use standard hardware (e.g., paging and protection) and some standard protocols (e.g., SATA, USB), and what's so hard about them? Compilers? I wrote three last week, and didn't even stoop to use a parser generator. This afternoon I think I'll do a browser, and maybe an MPEG-4 decoder after supper. It's just mundane, standard stuff, innit? </sarcasm>
It's really easy to dismiss this stuff as easy. Sir (or Madam), you have no idea what you're talking about.
... obSnideAside: Or if think you do, maybe you work for Sony :-)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is insufficiently documented.
One thing the article doesn't go into is what Sony is planning to do in response to Xbox Live's gamerscore and achievements system. They mentioned a while ago something similar called "Entitlements", but it would have been nice to hear more. As neat as the Friends notification and system are on Xbox Live, it's really the gamerscore that I find really cool. My friends and co-workers are often competing/comparing scores and achievements, and it's gotten to be a bit competitive. I know it's not something everyone cares about, but enough people do.
-- jchenx
Heh. Not everyone feels the same way about Steam.
I've had to reinstall it about 5 times. I've fought with it to get it to recognize games I have installed. For someone without limitless free time, auto updating (especially without knowing how long it's going to take) just cuts into what little gaming time I have. I hate having to shut down my net connection just to run Steam if I want to enjoy my 30 minute gaming window instead of spending 10 minutes updating.
It's stopped working, lost games, and yes, it has switched me to Steam-related messages while I'm playing.
I just happen to think it's a bad model. At the very least I should be able to tell it "pretend this is standalone" when installing, but I can't. I understand why they did it, but it doesn't make me any happier with the product.
I'm glad it works well for you, though!
"Oh - and it's all free, too. The only place you'll be asked to fork over a penny is when you purchase something in the PlayStation Store."
"So, once you add friends, what can you do with them? Obviously enough, you can check their status and see if they're online; you can see if you have any new messages from them, and send them messages. Sending emails through the system uses the same peculiar text messaging style keypad that users of the PSP will be familiar with, which seems a bit painful at first but rapidly becomes a much faster way of entering text than the on-screen keyboards used by other system"
Please take of the fucking blinkers! slashdot?! you ate my balls with the xbox360 fellatio!
These guys have seen the final system? Sure they have.
Remember that this is the same company who releases patches for the PSP over and over, yet does it actually improve the PSP? not exactly. They are just tempting people away from home brew and hacks and keep getting broken.
I'm all for a robust online experience, but from the sounds of it this is going to be the SAME online that Xbox has. Though with one difference. Xbox Live is a pay service which pays for the servers. the PS3, will not be paying for the servers which means the cost falls on the manufacturing price for the games, not the Xbox Live cost. I have a feeling that you'll see weaker online games where as the 360 has a huge push for "every game has online"... which has the best stategy? Don't know. don't care.
Does this mean we can't call it a "rootkit" anymore?
As others have stated, the Xbox Live does have a free service as well, and I saw nothing in the article describing free online multiplayer gaming (which is mostly what you pay for on Live).
Playing online is free on Sony's PS3 network, just like it is on PS2. PS3 online gameing: free. Playing on Live costs money.
You are correct that the Xbox 360 doesn't have an HDMI connector, but I believe it's $600 for a PS3 with one.
$500 in US. $430 in Japan. All PS3s have HDMI connectors, not just the expensive one (was announced a month ago).
The article doesn't say the hard drive is upgradeable. Are you making it up? I remember not putting my PS2 online because I had to pay $50 for a special 10/100 network adapter that fit the PS3, when a generic one cost $10. I'm not convinced there will be an easy way to upgrade the hard drive without buying proprietary hardware. This is Sony after all. (BetaMax, MiniDisc, MemoryStick, BluRay) etc. And are you sure opening the box won't void your warranty?
Over half the games on PS2 that played online would support a cheap 10/100 network adapater, in addition to Sony's which was $50 (but fell to $35 very quickly and is included in the Slim PS2).
The hard drive is upgradeable on the PS3 (do a search). You don't have to open the box either, it goes in the end. Sony never said it was upgradable with just any hard drive though, it's quite possible you have to buy Sony's HD (like on PS2) to upgrade it.
The higher-end PS3 has CF and SD memory slots next to the memory stick one. My Sony digital camera has a CF slot! And don't use BluRay as an example of Sony going it alone, HD-DVD has only one company backing it (Toshiba), BluRay has the entire rest of the industry. On the other hand, UMD (as used in PSP) is a great example of Sony going it alone, to their detriment. Dumbos.
Are you claiming that the PS3's peripherals will be dirt cheap? (See comment above about $50 PS2 network adapter.)
PS3 uses a standard HDMI cable. It uses a standard power cable. It uses standard USB cables. The only proprietary cable it uses is the analog video out, and that's the same connector they have used since PS1, so many cheap 3rd party versions are available.
Additional wireless, rechargeable SIXAXIS PS3 controller: $43 (only priced in Japan so far). Charges with a standard USB A->mini B cable.
Additional wireless, rechargeable 360 controller: $62 ($50 controller + $12 rechargeable battery pack, and you still don't get a charging cable).
So, at least so far, the cost of peripherals for the PS3 looks pretty reasonable.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Sendou Wave Kick!!
This is an excellent point.
:|
It's not only an excellent point, it's the point. I can't see Sony getting their online service right for another year- they need a unifying framework that all of their game developers can use to provide one login, one matchmaking service and one game update platform.
Microsoft had it 80% sussed with the Xbox (there was no tangible dashboard, but the basic core was there) and are doing extremely well with the 360's service; sony have, it seems, only reached the 30% mark
When the posters fear their moderators, there is tyranny; when the moderators fears the posters, there is liberty.
Actually, it's a pretty reasonable comment - and a sentiment that many PS3 developers share, which you'll have seen evidence of, if you've been following the PS3 news in the past couple of months.
What are you talking about? I follow game news pretty rigorously (for all systems, including the PS3) and there's not that much of a hint developers are all that in the dark regading online play. Some have said they are a little unclear about the sales of extra material online, but the core seems pretty fixed in place with games like Fall of Man already knowing they will support fourty simultaneous players online.
The actual part of online play we'd most care about - playing online with other people - seems to have been in place for some time.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The entire flipping XBOX wasn't cost effective as a franchise. So far, neither is the 360. It's a BS argument anyway, since somehow Steam isn't a charge service and yet Valve is still making money hand over fist.
Two links - covering the same story, which if you actually read carefully only mentions "Online Components". Somehow other developers seem to have been able to do online play just fine, includign Warhawks and Fall of Man.
Just because one developer does not have all the online libraries does not mean others do not as well or Sony has not planned out what they are going to have. You are basically zonking yourself here with a misconception based on piss-poor reporting - like reading game news from Ars Technica!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Is cheap, reliable, FAST broadband available to the (gaming) masses? No. Its not unheard of to still meet people who surf the net or play online with dial-up.
2. Has anyone ever successfully streamed a DVD quality, full length video over the internet yet without hiccups? Not near the commerical level so that rules out Sony's dream of selling movies directly to customers.
3. Remember when Microsoft initially announced that Xbox Live was going to be broadband only? That didn't sit very well with many people did it?
With few exceptions, Sony's lineup has nothing on Nintendo's all-star launch and Microsoft "our system is already out so show up or shut up."
Peripherals (like bluetooth TV remotes, headsets, controllers, keyboards / mice (?) etc.
Which are directly tied into the system's success. Peripherals don't sell systems, systems sell peripherals.
Monthly subs from "premium" online services, whatever they happen to be
They just promised not to have monthly subs. And "premium" services are likely to be one-time purchases, not exactly a cash cow system.
Online games, movies & music promote to buy, rent & (sell?)
Unless Sony has some kind of PS3 Online Arcade system in the works, I'm not seeing this happen anytime soon.
Lots of licence fees if Blu-Ray wins the HD TV format war
General concensus is: Don't hold your breath.
Blu-Ray movies.
Thats assuming Blu-Ray takes off in the first place.
Increased sales of HD televisions.
Sony is not a major seller of HD-TVs these days. They don't own the patents either. Sharp is destroying Sony (and the rest of the market) in marketshare as well.
Increase sales of LocationFree wireless room-to-room / internet streaming devices.
The only people who would probably benefit from this would be companies like Netgear. People don't exactly think Sony when they buy a wireless router.
Why oh why will MS not have an optional Extreme pack for a 80gig HD is a mystery, or at least
allow 3rd parties the permission to do it if some dick at MS thinks theres not a big enough market for it.
Is it really that much to ask for MS to allow any HD to be plugged in, just replace and 'reinstall' from
a dvd.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
The SPEs are like real processors, ie the full instructions that you usually get with motorola, 40 branches, 40 moves, complex adds/subs/mults, what more do you want?
printf in assembly?
Either you can 'send code' to the SPE and run it, or the linux OS wont allow you to do it, but will allow you to use built in
libraries that use the SPE to do common functions/opperations, kind of like having 200 macros/apis with enough flexibility
that you wont be needing to make your own SPE code.
So go read the SPE assembly docs, its quite powerfull and flexible that it could easily run any code, recompile c/c++ code easily
at a nice speed. Its not a $3 dsp at 3ghz.
So sony could tell us but they wont, marketing dept rules and tells the engineers to shush up.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
http://cell.scei.co.jp/e_download.html
The instruction set doc is at http://cell.scei.co.jp/pdf/SPU_ISA_v11.pdf
If you know what instructions from 68k to intel to ppc are, then reading should show you its more than a simple FPU, its
has full power of a normal processor (sans fancy pipelines etc..) but its still powerfull dude. If your not
a programmer, then its beyond your comprehension.
Oh and a linux emu on that site too btw, inc gcc.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
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.
RTFA, it's single sign-on. It's in the page one.
Are you joking? Besides the absolutely enormous back library of PS1 and PS2 titles, I don't see any shortage of big games for this launch. Hell, it looks a lot better than the PS2's initial launch lineup.
Which are directly tied into the system's success. Peripherals don't sell systems, systems sell peripherals.
Yes, however we know for a fact that the system will do well at launch. That is practically a given. So chicken-and-egg is not really an issue with Sony. Wouldn't stop them at any rate. Or 3rd parties for that matter.
Huh? Sounds alright to me! What, you are suddenly concerned with SCEA's bottom line?
Well I'm not convinced that even the well-executed Xbox Arcade is raking in tons of cash. A fine point, but do you think things like Geometry Wars are really going to make or break a platform?
I do assume this. It is practically a foregone conclusion as far as I am concerned. Its not an ideal situation mind you, not one I'd prefer, but I can see the momentum behund Bluray and it is impressive. Apple, Sony, Disney, + 4 of 5 movie studios are on board with that thing. That's all you need to know.
Dude, put down the kool aid and go look at the Bravias. They are a huge product, Sony sells tons of them. You are deluding yourself if you do not think this console (and the Xbox360) spur HDTV sales.
The only people who would probably benefit from this would be companies like Netgear. People don't exactly think Sony when they buy a wireless router.I also recommend you look up exactly what LocationFree does; Netgear is not involved. It is not a 'wireless router' it is a 'wireless realtime streaming server'. I'm not convinced of this product's viability.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Does your question also require that the movie have been published by a movie studio that is a member of the Music And Film Industry Associations? If not, then yes. Remember that entry-level cable modem service is up to 6 Mbps, and DVD is 10 Mbps, and some DVDs don't use the full bitrate because a dual layer disc costs more to replicate, and some video codecs are twice as efficient as DVD's MPEG-2.
But do they work with dial-up? In the United States, broadband can cost $25 per month more than dial-up, and I can imagine that a lot of families, especially those who choose a Wii over a PS3 on price, don't want to have to spend $300 (billed as $25 per month over a minimum commitment of 12 months) on an upgrade from dial-up to DSL just to buy one game. File sizes aren't an issue in this case, given that the largest NES game in North America was 768 KiB and the largest Super NES game was 6 MiB.
But will first-person shooters for PS3 recognize a standard USB keyboard and a standard USB mouse as game controllers, or does Sony require that the keyboard and mouse controllers be ignored during game play? And can players connect and use any old USB HID joysticks as a wired game controller, or does it have to be a Sony brand joystick?
I would imagine that in Europe, tax on goods produced by a foreign country and imported into the European Union tends to be higher than tax on goods produced in Europe and sold to a European end user.