PlayStation 2 Celebrates One Year Online

Thanks to Yahoo! for hosting the Sony press release celebrating the first anniversary of the PlayStation 2 online adaptor, as well as new figures showing "more than 780,000 gamers with online connectivity." By comparison, a recent Taipei Times article says that Microsoft has 500,000 Xbox Live subscribers worldwide. The release stresses the differences between the PS2's 'open' philosophy and Xbox Live's more managed attitude, pointing out: "...the results of the open model approach include more than 20 publishers developing more than 50 titles for the PlayStation 2 platform by the year-end." Sony also trails the PS2 hard drive with regard to Final Fantasy XI, but hint at other uses, saying it "...further demonstrates the company's focus on extending the functionalities and capabilities of the PlayStation 2 for a total living room experience including games, movies and music."

Re:Statistics can prove anything

[MMaestro]

Indeed. The PS2 has sold something like 30 billion systems (correct me if I'm wrong) while the XBox hasn't even sold half of that. If the PS2 only has 780,000 gamers online at this point, they are doing horribly in terms of online capabilities.

Everquest has something like 500,000 registered users, and thats for a 4+ year old MMORPG game on the PC. Its not a fair statement to compare consoles to PCs, but it sounds to me like Sony's flagship machine is being trounced by their own decommissioned flagship game.

Re:"Online Connectivity"

[bedurndurn]

What does this mean? Is it that 780,000 people have signed up, or that 780,000 people own PS2 online adaptors? I could say that 100% of Xbox's have "online connectivity" because every Xbox has an ethernet port built in. I think these numbers are very deceptive.

Well it could very well be 780,000 broadband adapters sold. Unlike the X-Box though, I'd imagine if you bought a broadband adapter (as opposed to having it come with the system), you probably intend to actually use it.

Re:Apples and Oranges

[Yaztromo]

PS2 are probably mostly dialup. Broadband is the future; if you want good gaming without lag, you need broadband. And if you want a broadband platform where all your opponents have broadband, you must choose Xbox.

Ever play Frequency or Amplitude online? Both of these games support a mix of broadband and dialup users, and I have never seen an issue playing with people with different connection types.

Sony was smart. They made it possible for a game to specifically function with only one connection type. Take SOCOM for example: it doesn't support the dialup element of the adapter, because it just won't work.

Sony made it so the game developers can decide wether or not to target just broadband users, or everyone. There are a lot of styles of games that work quite well on a dialup connection.

And in this big old world, there are still lots of places where telephone lines are readily available, but where broadband is not. Personally, I applaud a company that is willing to embrace players in remote (or odd) areas where broadband simply isn't an option.

Yaz.