Sony To Detail "Premium PSN" Plans At E3 171
ranulf writes "VG247 is reporting that Sony will reveal their plans for 'premium PSN' services next month at E3, even though they've long stated that one of the PS3's advantages over the 360 is that they offer PSN for free. In addition to the premium services, they intend to offer a free PSN game to subscribers each month (from a choice of 'two to four games'), which should make the premium PSN effectively free if you already bought a game every month. VG247's source claims 'nothing planned will impact the service’s current free aspects,' and that 'there’s nothing in the premium package which will gimp regular PSN users.'"
Sounds Ok (Score:2, Interesting)
Sounds good, especially if you get to pick the PSN title
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Sounds good, especially if you get to pick the PSN title
Sounds like a "book of the month" club to me. Just with games and no option to send games you don't want back.
Re:Sounds Ok (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, but it'll only be a matter of time before SONY, those lieing cheat bastard fucks, arbitrarily start disabling aspects of it. Honestly, how naive would you have to be to spend anything on a SONY product, at this point?
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Imparing free PSN users would be like removing a feature. SONY would never do such a thing.
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Sony has a rather long history of screwing people over, the linux/ps3 thing was just the latest example, and thus tends to be on top of the pile when people go for examples of sony being lying cheating thieving bastards (remember the audio-cd rootkits?)
anyway, anyone who trusts sony further then they can throw em (and i dont mean a ps3, i mean the corporate HQ), gets what they deserve
Also:
*Points at ps3 fanboys screaming over free internet functions* HA-HA!
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the removal of the other OS/backwards PS2 compatibility
The former was dropped as a feature from new machines, and then effectively removed from everyone's machine. The latter has only been dropped as a feature (to date anyway), not removed from anyone's existing machine.
Playstation, ask the Xbox how this one turned out (Score:4, Insightful)
The same thing will happen to the PSN, first they'll start by adding new features only for "Premium" subscribers just as MS only added new features for "Gold" subscribers. After a while Sony will start taking away features from the free service whilst maintaining them on the "Premium" service. Little features at first, hardly noticeable, a form of slow attrition. Then before you know it, there is no functionality left. Game publishers like EA and Activision will jump right on board making their games playable only over "Premium" subscriptions. Now Sony has the numbers on the Playstation 3 they will start to monetise it, to bleed money from their existing customer base as sales are bound to drop off.
It is antics like this that are the reason I remain a PC gamer. To be nickled and dimed for such basic service like online multiplayer and internet chat is ridiculous to me.
Why doesn't Slashdot have a Star Wars opening credits formatting option?
Re:Playstation, ask the Xbox how this one turned o (Score:2, Informative)
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Launched in November 2002 there were two levels of subscription, Xbox Live Silver and Xbox Live Gold, the Silver subscription was free but fairly useless (I think it's still around but no-one acknowledges its existence any more). Microsoft was pretty quick to Monetise XBL.
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FFXI on the Xbox 360 has always been available to Silver subscribers (asking people to pay two subscription fees just to be able to play at all is too much for even Microsoft to ask).
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Re:Playstation, ask the Xbox how this one turned o (Score:4, Informative)
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Umm, games that already required a monthly fee were playable online for free under a Silver account. Microsoft didn't have the balls to try double-charging.
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"You're full of shit. When Live first launched, there was no Silver and Gold, only subscribers."
Hi! You're full of shit. There were MANY games which were playable online under a silver subscription for free.
I was a support tech, want me to start breaking down the list of games Silver subscription users could play BEFORE 2008?
Starting in 2008 Silver and Gold accounts lost distinction and Silver accounts were allowed to play all games online free.
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There were MANY games which were playable online under a silver subscription for free.
I was a support tech, want me to start breaking down the list of games Silver subscription users could play BEFORE 2008?
Yes please, I was unaware of any (aside from those that didn't use XBL for online).
Starting in 2008 Silver and Gold accounts lost distinction and Silver accounts were allowed to play all games online free.
Ummmmm, the only references that I can see to this are temporary offers, usually weekends, and one that ran for several arcade games for a couple of months. As far as I can tell, Silver users can only play online during these special offers. Have a link that proves me wrong? I'd love to get my fiance playing online without needing to buy her another account.
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Trust me, it was easier working on the units themselves at Solectron than dealing with full-on customer support.
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Dreamcast had a broadband adapter that installed by replacing the modem that shipped with it. However: a) DHCP didn't work with it and b) it had a production run of about three. GameCube also had a broadband adapter that plugged into one of the serial ports, which is actually not that hard to come by.
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That doesn't change that the XBox was the first to be networked out of the box, without the need for an add-on.
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As others have mentioned, you are mistaken, since the silver membership was released with the 360. [cnn.com]
Xbox 360 will offer a multi-tiered system for its Live component. One of those tiers will be free.
Members of the free tier, dubbed Xbox Live Silver, will have access to the system's online community function, allowing them to chat with other players and freely download game demos. They will not be able to play games with others except during occasional 'free preview' opportunities (much like those that cable movie channels sometimes offer).
Xbox Live Gold members will pay an as-yet undetermined annual or monthly fee to play with or against others. Current Xbox Live members, who currently pay $50 per year, will be able to keep their online nicknames.
Unless you can find a reference to XBL Silver from 2002, your comparison doesn't hold water. XBox Live added free features to its subscription-only service, while Sony is adding for-pay features to its free service.
Re:Playstation, ask the Xbox how this one turned o (Score:5, Funny)
Why doesn't Slashdot have a Star Wars opening credits formatting option?
That option is only available to premium Slashdot subscribers.
Re:Playstation, ask the Xbox how this one turned o (Score:5, Insightful)
I understand your point completely, but how about giving the benefit of the doubt for once?
I know it's the old story of "but they promised!", but currently I see no signs that Sony is moving currently free services over to Premium services.
And why should they? It's a huge selling point for the PS3 still. Free online multiplayer. Taking that away, could seriously cut down their userbase.
I think this idea, on paper, is great. Add new features and services, but only available to paying customers as opposed to the current PSN where everyone is roaming free for "basic" services (buy games, download trials, play online etc).
If people want some of the more exotic features, you pay a subscription. You don't have to, it won't cripple your current experience.
If Sony manages to keep this strategy, I really can't see a problem with it.
Re:Playstation, ask the Xbox how this one turned o (Score:5, Insightful)
It's Sony.
If this comment was about IBM, Shell, BP, or even Microsoft I could somehow, in some weird alternate universe put aside my all too useful cynicism and give them the benefit of the doubt.
But it's Sony, one of the most anti-consumer companies ever to exist.
I just can't see that happening. I reckon the PS3 hardware sales are going to level off, it's a natural thing for this to happen after a while and it will/has happended to the Wii and Xbox360 (and all products really) so it's a logical assumption that Sony wants to start monetising it's existing user base.
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But it's Sony, one of the most anti-consumer companies ever to exist.
I won't argue there, but Sony hasn't been so bad with the PS3. Yeah, the install other OS option was attractive to me, but I never used it. I play games on the PS3, I run linux on my PCs.
Also, the PS3 supports quite a bit of standard hardware. Standard power cable, no expensive proprietary external brick. Bluetooth for headset connection. USB storage/charging. 2.5" SATA Hard Disk. Included 802.11g, as well as wired ethernet.
It's not like consumers have been totally shafted by Sony on this device.
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Wait, what? That better be sarcasm.
Sony has been ESPECIALLY bad with the PS3. Back-compatibility with your PS2 games? Hope you bought a launch system. Want a controller with force-feedback? Hope you didn't buy a launch system, if you did you'll need to pony up another $40 each for new controllers. SD/MS/CF card readers? Gone. Spare USB ports? Gone. SACD pl
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Benefit of the doubt? Sony? (Score:2)
I understand your point completely, but how about giving the benefit of the doubt for once?
We tried that when they released the slim PS3 without Other OS support ("don't worry, they won't take it away from current PS3s"). Look how that turned out.
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Gee, it's not like they could release an update with a security patch. You know, like every other computer manufacturer or software vendor in existence. And how serious was this threat? It was so serious that anyone with an electronics background, a soldering gun, and a special version of the patched software could work the hack. In other words, very, very few people. Sony decided to piss off their customers instead, so they do not get the benefit of the doubt.
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I know it's the old story of "but they promised!", but currently I see no signs that Sony is moving currently free services over to Premium services.
How quickly they forget [slashdot.org].
Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, I must be an idiot. If you trust Sony, you're the idiot.
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If half the people complaining about OtherOS removal had actually used it, Sony would be the richest corporation in the world
Irrelevant. There are plenty of other examples of Sony boning customers. Rootkits, anyone?
As it is, you probably don't even know just how limited the hardware actually was for other operating systems - you certainly couldn't play games on it. OtherOS never was aimed at end-users.
I'm highly familiar with how limited the hardware was, notably that the hypervisor prevented most GPU access because the GPU had access to main memory. Of course, all the hypervisor actually HAD to do was enforce memory protection, so it's clear that Sony took this action to prevent using it for games. However, this is a complete red herring, it's easy to see why you're too cowardly to log in. The PS3 plays Games witho
show me the troll, modtroll (Score:2)
There is no troll in the above comment. Not only is it my actual opinion, but it's also wholly factual. When will modpoints be taken away from the masses of asses and given to the responsible? Oh wait, rationality would reduce page views.
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Because I got screwed so badly with the Linux option. Not that this matters to me, I decided to keep Linux and forgo all PSN access, but Sony has lost the "benefit of the doubt" once and for all.
Two Words: Other OS (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm very interested to see how these class action lawsuits turn out.
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I'm from the future and here's how things turn out: A settlement is reached and the lawyers prosecuting the case reap a large sum. The plaintiffs are given a coupon for 50% off their next PSN purchase.
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I know it's the old story of "but they promised!", but currently I see no signs that Sony is moving currently free services over to Premium services. And why should they? It's a huge selling point for the PS3 still. Free online multiplayer. Taking that away, could seriously cut down their userbase.
The market changes as time goes on, so does the company's direction to either maintain market share or to get more money. I doubt Sony will care about maintaining user base if they dominates at 90% of the market share and they can get a a sizable revenue from tens of millions of users. XBox Live was up front about the fee since the beginning. A sticker shock for sure but they are not deceptive of their intentions. They have maintained their position since day one, and somehow there are people willing t
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Because Sony is Evil. They can't help it. Its like trying not to punch a kitten.
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You're clearly deluded if you think "OtherOS" was a huge selling point for the PS3. I doubt the majority of PS3 users even knew they could install an OS on their PS3 when it was possible.
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I bought my PS3 instead of a Wii because I wanted to put Linux on it. I use Linux on my PS3 for development and testing and as a 3D rendering node.
I don't see where other people get the right to say because only a few people pai
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It was the selling point for me. It's why I own one. Games were a bonus. Yeah, that's backwards, I know. Dropping support for it was understandable. Kicking it off the systems is a breach of contract. I'm looking to join one of the lawsuits if it gets awarded class-action status. I won't make more than a few bucks, but if I can poke Sony in the eye, I'll feel better.
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In other news, the US Air Force and US universities are morons. You don't purchase consumer hardware if you want reliability.
It's called Consumer Off The Shelf (COTS). Government does it all the time to save money hence why it has its own acronym. The USAF Could have bought a bunch of IBM Cell based servers and $10K a pop, but Instead decided to try and save tax payers some money by buying a much cheaper products that were advertised as doing what they needed them to do. I also highly doubt this was the decision of one or two people. The process I have to go through to buy a piece of hardware or software needs to be approved by s
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Yeah. live has always had the paid for model, it might've been free on beta but i'm pretty sure you still had to buy the pack.
Lets not be cheap here (Score:1)
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My point is, its different when you buy a game like Metal Gear Solid (ignoring MGO like most people) for 120 NZD, and play it just for the singleplayer, and buying anothe
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Well it's the developer's problem. They decided that control over the future availability of online play through their servers(= cripple service in time for next sequel) is more valuable than saving costs by providing players with software for dedicated servers.
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Re:Playstation, ask the Xbox how this one turned o (Score:1)
There are plenty of PC games that require a subscription to play online. So what are you talking about?
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It is antics like this that are the reason I remain a PC gamer. To be nickled and dimed for such basic service like online multiplayer and internet chat is ridiculous to me.
Apparently you've never played any MMO, the Sims, or downloaded any additional DLC on your PC? While you may lament the age of DLC and premium online subscription fees, but until an open-source alternative arises the pricing models will change until they milk the consumers for all they're worth. Welcome to capitalism. The free service, allegedly, is not going away. Personally, I'd wait and see what they are going to offer at E3.
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Sony can't be trusted (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry for the knee-jerk reaction, but Sony still hasn't won my trust back over the retroactive removal of the Install Other OS feature from already-bought PS3s. [slashdot.org] I really should have learned better than to trust them after the rootkit fiasco, [wikipedia.org] too. Now that they have twice demonstrated their willingness to sabotage their customers' private property in order to protect their own business model, it's absurd to think that I or any self-respecting geek would want to do business with them any more.
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Sony has managed to lose my trust too. I was a very happy customer of PS1-3, but the retroactive otheros thing has put me right off. I rarely used Linux once I installed it, but that they were willing to retrospectively nuke an advertised feature of their product clearly demonstrated to me that they do not put the customer first. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they do start crippling the PSN for non-paying customers.
The dumbest thing about the OtherOS removal is that it is probably not even going to h
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Some Games Require Upgrading the Firmware (Score:2)
"Effectively" is rather subjective (Score:5, Insightful)
That depends entirely on what games they give away as the free options. I've not got a PS3 and not seen the PSN (why waste money on a cut-down computer that isn't even as good as the real thing?) but if you buy the best game from the PSN each month then I doubt that it would be the one that they put in the list of freebies. Chances are it'll be some fairly naff one or a middle of the range one that they just want to increase the numbers on without giving away anything they could make good money on.
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awesome graphics, and not having to constantly upgrade to play the newest games at full quality.
You don't have to upgrade your PC to keep playing games at the same quality; 'Full quality' on a console is the same quality, so it's no different from a PC.
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Actually, because of standardised hardware, the game can be optimised graphically, so it's not really the same thing.
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awesome graphics, and not having to constantly upgrade to play the newest games at full quality.
You don't have to upgrade your PC to keep playing games at the same quality; 'Full quality' on a console is the same quality, so it's no different from a PC.
That depends vastly on the developers. Crysis comes to mind.
Re:"Effectively" is rather subjective (Score:4, Insightful)
awesome graphics, and not having to constantly upgrade to play the newest games at full quality.
Well, there's your problem. Your full quality on the PS3 is the same as mainstream quality on the PC. But since you know that it is possible to get better quality on the PC you feel that you are missing out on something.
I currently own a card that is about $100 on the current market (was $300 when I bought it), and I simply can't play games like Mass Effect and Far Cry if I crank the graphics up.
Well don't crank the graphics up. Leave it at mainstream settings and you will get your PS3 experience. The advantage of the PC is that if you decide to play a game again in a few years time then you will get improved visuals due to the advances in graphics and CPU. But in my opinion the improvements are not compelling enough to warrant spending hundreds more on a top of the range video card right now.
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I've played Fallout 3 on both the PS3, and my reasonably-spec'd desktop system.
It's far prettier on the PC. Until it crashes, anyway. Why does it crash? Dunno - it only ever crashes with that game, otherwise the machine goes for weeks between (planned) reboots. It's not overclocked. It's appropriately cooled. So, I can research the problem on forums and/or play Driver Upgrade/Sidegrade/Downgrade Whack-a-Mole, and eventually it might get fixed (or it might get worse, or break something else that previo
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I guess so, yes.
At least, that's the problem worth naming this week. It's certainly not the first issue I've ever experienced in more than twenty years of PC gaming.
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Yeah not like back in the day, when I used to play Zelda and Mario on my 486 since Nintendo was so willing to release PC versions of their exclusives back then!
Sign me up! (Score:2)
... if it means I will see fewer 12 yrs old in multiplayer games. And I am serious.
As it is, even when playing mature rated games, there are still far too many immature kids in the game, either griefing outright, or in other ways to spoil the fun for everyone, and in general unable to behave with minimal civility that most adult typically show, even when online.
Although the design of PSN and the games already shielded it somewhat (eg lack of global chat, only voice chat within squad with mute function, so
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Don't worry, you won't.
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... if it means I will see fewer 12 yrs old in multiplayer games. And I am serious.
As it is, even when playing mature rated games, there are still far too many immature kids in the game, either griefing outright, or in other ways to spoil the fun for everyone,
13-15 year olds have the buying power. No joke. You lose. Better resign yourself to those 12 year old kids kicking your ass at Tekken.
12 year olds (Score:2)
Xbox Live? (Score:2)
... if it means I will see fewer 12 yrs old in multiplayer games. And I am serious.
Um, have you ever tried playing a game on Xbox Live? It's the only "premium" multiplayer service I've ever used and it's filled to the brim with foul mouthed 12 year olds.
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... if it means I will see fewer 12 yrs old in multiplayer games. And I am serious.
What you're essentially asking for is to play with other people who pay money for the regular experience. The stiff white geezers at country clubs all know too well about this.
Chose Linux support over PSN (Score:3, Insightful)
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I went ahead and bought a new PS3 slim and kept my old PS3 with the 3.15 firmware on it.
IMHO, that's exactly what Sony was pushing for. Now you've not only given them money for the first PS3 you bought and got screwed over on, you went and gave them more money. The phrase "Please sir, may I have another" comes to mind.
For all the moaning about the linux support removal, I'm sure hardly anybody did anything about it except complain on message boards.
There are now three law suits on the go in the states over just this issue.
Maybe I can sell the USAF my old PS3.
I hear a PS3 with 3.15 or less is going for quite a bit on E-bay. I wasn't able to find any, I guess they're all sold out ;)
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Well thanks for enjoying the rest of my post.
However, I can in no way accept the fact that they have or are taking a loss on consoles, it just doesn't make any business sense.
What does make sense is to claim you're taking a loss so your customers will think you care about them so much that you're willing to practically give your product away. Very charitable.
If you can provide some reference other then what's coming out of Sony, MS or Nintendo's backside I'd be inclined to accept your claim.
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Particularly when Sony can point the finger and say, "Hey its not us with the requirement, that's EA (or whoever), its not our fault" while at the same time offering incentives or kickbacks to publishers that only develop for their premium service. Publishers will justify their greed by saying that it needed to use the premium service to "ensure the best quality play experience for their users", because you know, "they are all about quality".
Meanwhile at the legion of doom: Users see features being limited
I'm ok with it for now. (Score:1)
PSN is important to me (Score:2)
I'm only an occassional gamer.
I'll play for a month, then I'll have a busy month or two and my PS3 will just collect dust.
Free online play was a key deciding factor for me, I'm not willing to pay for a service that I don't use on a regular basis.
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"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
Pastor Martin Niemöller [wikipedia.org]
Why is this news? (Score:2)
It's not evil, it's profit drive out of control (Score:1)
its a matter of time (Score:1)
why God why (Score:1)
XBox Live PSN (Score:2)
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The big reason is that PSN doesn't moderate their community like XBL, partly because they don't have income to pay for moderators and partly because the publishers are expected to do the moderation. Thus, the cheater on the PS3 needs to be banned from every single game, whereas on XBL a single ban applies to their entire account. As well, the PS3 cheater can just get a new account (for free), whereas there is a monetary incentive to not get banned on XBL (you don't get refunded for time you were banned).
Nothing to see here move along... (Score:2)
Buy Sony and you get what you pay for... Well maybe not, they might just take it away, or limit your use. Its only fair, I mean its not like you own it or anything, or were sold something that was advertised with certain features or anything... right?
I am going to go out on a limb here and call it right now. Sony is going to screw everyone it can.
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Yeah they said the same about achievements. Then came out with their trophies.
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If we let Blu-Ray die, then we're all fools.
Digital Distribution of video sucks. As of now, now service, be it cable, satellite, netflix, etc can deliver anywhere near the same quality of video as on a bluray disc. They all decompress their movies into very low bitrates that do not hold up well under fast motion, and are barely passable with low motion.
I will ALWAYS opt for the Blu-Ray disc. If I want to own a movie... I want the highest bitrate possible, so that the video quality is what it should be.
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You simply cant download bluray bitrate files in realtime for viewing. Most blu-rays video streams are 40GB in size, which a very high bitrate.
The HD movies that get streamed on TV, Netflix, Video On Demand, Xbox Live, etc.. are all very low bitrate, and much smaller file sizes because they compress their videos heavily.
they compress them so heavily that fast motion scenes break down the image quality severely, often obscuring the actually action on screen. Often you can see "floating" peices in the motion
Sony's promisses are like salt (Score:2)
They touted the PS3 as a computer, you can even install a full OS. When they removed the Other OS option for the PS3 slim they promised that it would remain in the older systems. No Other OS on any system anymore, even the ones they promised not to remove it from.
They mocked Xbox 360 for having to pay for gold