Next-Gen Online Services Get More Goods

Now that all three consoles are competing in the online market, regular news about the three systems is beginning to be regularly released, as Virtual Console tries to top Xbox Live which in turn tries to overshadow e-Distribution. Sony's online offering is still being finalized now that the console is on the market, and limits on the system are still being decided upon. 500 MB is apparently going to be the cap for downloadable content via the service (much larger than Live's 50 MB limit). The company has also confirmed they'll be offering new version of retro games, to compete directly with Microsoft's service. Speaking of which, Double Dragon will be joining the other classic games on Xbox Live sometime in the future. This week's update was a patch for Texas Hold Em' , while the week before saw the much-anticipated (and well reviewed) Small Arms released to fans. Related to Microsoft's service, the much rumoured Xbox Live Arcade joystick was formally announced by MadCatz this week. Not to be left out, Nintendo's Virtual Console grew by three titles this week; gamers can now download Super Star Soldier, Golden Axe, and Genesis classic Ecco the Dolphin. Like Microsoft, Nintendo has plans to release new content every week for the forseeable future.

Re:Fuck that.

[Hubbell]

I don't see your problem. My friend's 360 is in his basement, and we ran a 50+foot cord from the router to his 360. I have a 30footer in my own house from the router to the hub in my room with my comp/xbox off of that.

Re:Microsoft Better Scramble To Keep Up

[Saige]

Yeah, Sony really provides the same thing as Microsoft does, and does it for free.

The PS3 has one friends list throughout all of the games right? With detailed presence information about what those friends are doing? How about being able to send text, voice, and images all in a message to a friend? And send and receive those in the middle of a game? What about game invites - can you be playing Resistance, and then get informed that a friend has just invited you to play Motorstorm? And when you get an invite, can you have it take you right into the game with that friend? Can you voice chat with a friend, while playing different games, and then continue the conversation while you change games and your friend starts watching a movie?

And how about your game profile? Can you see what various games your friends have played, and when they last played them? How about being able to see that information from the web?

Oh, that's right, the PS3 does NONE of that. You get a friends list that only works in some games, while other games have their own list. You can only read and send messages while you're not in a game, and you can't even see a game invite unless you're already in the same game - and even then, you still have to find that game.

What the PS3 offers for free now is inferior to what the original Xbox offered years ago in terms of online service. Of course they're giving it away, since there's nothing there worth paying for.