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Details on the PS3 Online Service
Posted by
Zonk
on Sat Oct 14, 2006 10:40 AM
from the going-online-take-me-away-we'll-go-online dept.
from the going-online-take-me-away-we'll-go-online dept.
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.
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Carl Bialik from WSJ writes, "USC student Jenova Chen's Flash game, 'flOw,' attracted interest from Sony, which commissioned an enhanced version that will be sold through its PlayStation Network, WSJ.com reports. From the article: 'Gameplay is incredibly smooth, particularly for a Flash game. But it's the design touches that set flOw apart. Players will notice faint outlines of the creatures lurking at lower depths, a foreboding sign that vicious manta- and squid-like enemies await. The water darkens as the creature advances to deeper levels. The game's ambient sound is somewhat hypnotic. The intuitive controls and design simplicity are among Mr. Chen's mandate: build immersive games for people who don't consider themselves gamers. 'My parents and grandparents don't play games. My girlfriend, she doesn't play either,' he says. 'I want to make games that those people can appreciate.'"
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Details on the PS3 Online Service
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shortsighted. (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.pattensoap.com/)
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.
The Details For The Lazy (Score:4, Insightful)
"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.
Re:The Details For The Lazy (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Sony have shown time and time again that the one thing they are hopeless at is software, and an online service is all about the software, not forgetting of course the hardware/server farms, which I think Microsoft just might have more experience with.
Knowing Sony's MO, the fact that this service is free basically telegraphs to me that Sony don't think this service will be as good as Xbox Live. In other words, they can't compete on quality or value with the online system, so they've decided to compete on price.
Wikipedia: comedy gold! (Score:1)
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...
How much will it cost? (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://astore.amazon.com/srtcr-20/ | Last Journal: Monday September 05 2005, @02:10PM)
Re:How much will it cost? (Score:4, Insightful)
From the article:
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. There's no equivalent of the Xbox Live Gold account, where you're expected to pay extra for a further tier of services - the only things you'll pay money for are paid-for downloadable content, or subscriptions to premium services like massively multiplayer games.
If Only.... (Score:2, Interesting)
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...
The Xbox 360 Just Became Massively Overpriced (Score:1, Insightful)
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...
Re:The Xbox 360 Just Became Massively Overpriced (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Thursday October 11, @12:00PM)
You compare:to 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).
You compare: toThe Xbox 360 is supporting 1080p [slashdot.org] following the fall 2006 update, which I believe is scheduled to be distributed prior to the PS3 launch. If that's a result of the competition from the PS3, great. But it really isn't a selling point right now. Also, the Xbox 360 does support digital surround sound audio. You don't make it clear what is better about the PS3's audio.
- You are correct that the Xbox 360 doesn't have an HDMI connector, but I believe it's $600 for a PS3 with one.
You compare: to 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?
Are you claiming that the PS3's peripherals will be dirt cheap? (See comment above about $50 PS2 network adapter.)
How is anyone modding this "Insightful"?
Pretty obvious really (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Lots of assumptions there (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Zonk's philosophy (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Saturday November 18 2006, @07:24PM)
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
RTFA (Score:2, Informative)
"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!
PS3sstrategy sounds like a lot of "hopefully" (Score:2)
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.
"fully upgradeable operating system" (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Thursday October 11, @12:00PM)
PSP emulation? (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Wednesday April 12 2006, @12:43AM)
Re:Will this force XBox Live to become free? (Score:1)
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.
Re:Will this force XBox Live to become free? (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.sohomedic.com/)
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.
Re:Will this force XBox Live to become free? (Score:5, Informative)
(http://doghole.blogspot.com/)
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.
Mod parent :) (Score:4, Insightful)
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
Re:Mass suicides in the Xbox community (Score:2)
(http://www.dadhacker.com/)
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 :-)
Re:Valve has been doing this for over 2 years now. (Score:2)
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!