Playstation Network initial impressions...

rp2000

rp2000

rp2000

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A mini preview of the Playstation Network by eurogamer.net

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=68677

Sounds very promising. Their equivalent of Xbox Live Marketplace sounds leagues ahead of Microsoft's offering, mainly due to it using the built in web browser.

Also The cost will be displayed in local currency. None of this "Points" stuff which I always thought was a bit misleading. People like to see the price of what they are buying.


Short Quote:

There's still some way to go - and one area we're still intrigued by is what Sony will do about user profiles, which Microsoft revolutionised with Xbox 360 thanks to Gamer Points and Achievements. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're a big draw for many people, and how Sony will handle this aspect of its community remains to be seen.

However, for now we can say for certain that the online service is there - it exists and it's working, and according to Harrison, it will definitely launch right alongside the console this November. For those of us in Europe, of course, that probably means the rest of the world gets to iron out all the bugs before we see the console in March - there's always a silver lining on every dark cloud. Whatever your views on the console war may be, this is an excellent thing for gamers. Microsoft have a vast head-start over Sony online, but Sony's service has clearly learned many lessons from observing its rival, and in areas like the Store, is actually introducing new ideas and strong features which provide a genuine challenge. Head-start or not, Sony is now, finally, snapping at Microsoft's heels in the online space - and as the two giants inevitably launch into a race to take or maintain the lead in online services, the biggest winners of all will be gamers.
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rp2000
 
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They're leagues ahead of Xbox Live because of a web browser? :confused:

It's still worrying though that Tony Hawks and Virtua Tennis 3 will be lacking online play on the PS3, and that both the COD3 devs and the NBA 07 devs said that they were still trying to figure out Sonys online tools.
 
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i am still curious about gaming and friends lists tbh though.
What with untold legends using a xfire backend (and thats made by SOE who are developing the PSnet work) and Full Auto 2 using gamespy backend
I am thinking they are gonna have a centralized area but still leave it up to devs to sort their own multiplayer out though

and yeah i agree points are a pain, they are gonna do the same thing with the zune.

[edit]
this may also have something to do with the PAL delay, its gonna be enough of a pain to sort it out for 2 currencies but when u even just add in the pund euro and Aussie Dollar, and god knows how many other currencies in europe then it could be a pain.
The web browser wont necessarily make it better, but could make it very easy and quick to navigate, and very customizable
 
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lol Leagues ahead, MS has had years of Online gaming experiencem, Live was a success on the Xbox and its even better on the 360, They got it spot on but Sony will have either copied Live or done something as good.
 
Chrisss said:
They're leagues ahead of Xbox Live because of a web browser? :confused:
Click to expand...


I was refering to the frontend of their Marketplace. I much prefer the sound of this one as it is going to look more like a website. The xbox one is functional, but very basic in design.

Leagues ahead is probably pushing it a bit though ;) Just impressed that they have managed to find a feature that MS have and actually improve on it. It wouldn't be impressive if it was just a carbon copy of Xbox Live.


rp2000
 
they said net play would be great look at what happend to that, MS xbox live is great and is the market leader, I feel that sony have left it too late this time as MS have had the market to themselves for too long and poor old MR Sony has missed the boat and playing catch up
 
I'll have to use the PS3 interface to give my own personal opinion of it, but from what Microsoft have said about the web stuff, is that the 360 will never be used as a web browsing platform, and no full keyboard and mouse support will ever happen (at present).

That's what's good about the 360, in my opinion, is that it is simple, it is nice to use, it's not difficult to find things. From what I saw from the PS3 interface was that at 1080p, it'll look great, but the fonts seemed tiny, and rather hard to read. I'm guessing it'll scale differently to how the 360 does, as the 360 keeps everything the same nomatter what resolution, wheras I guess the PS3 interface will look great at 1080p, but pretty basic and large on a PAL TV.
 
I don't get it, the Dreamcast had web-browsing and it was pointless.

I also prefer points to currency, there are a lot less arguments over points because the US and UK pay the same amount of points per-item, however, when it's in currency people will be able to spot straight away when certain territories are paying considerably less for stuff.
 
NokkonWud said:
I don't get it, the Dreamcast had web-browsing and it was pointless.

I also prefer points to currency, there are a lot less arguments over points because the US and UK pay the same amount of points per-item, however, when it's in currency people will be able to spot straight away when certain territories are paying considerably less for stuff.
Click to expand...

So true, MS want to get into the home entertainment market so you think they would have slammed a web browser into the 360, NO? why well the reasons are obvious, gimmick, typing and using a mouse on the sofa is crap, I have my 360 in my bedroom and a mouse and a keyboard would be ok but in the living room would be abit gay.
 
I would like keyboard and mouse support + a web browser on the 360, i want to be able to surf the web using my tv.

If sony have it on the ps3 then i can see MS adding it in the future.
 
NokkonWud said:
I don't get it, the Dreamcast had web-browsing and it was pointless.

I also prefer points to currency, there are a lot less arguments over points because the US and UK pay the same amount of points per-item, however, when it's in currency people will be able to spot straight away when certain territories are paying considerably less for stuff.
Click to expand...

Because the resolution was so poor on 480 TVs?

I remember in the first few months of the 360 release the people on here moaning that it didnt have a web browser, how good it would be if they could just surf the internet from there instead of having to boot up the PC.

The PSP web browser is one of its big used features, even by people in there home, so if its as easy to use as that then its fine. Keyboard and use the controller as the mouse and bobs yer uncle, no need for a mouse.
Hmmmm i have a bluetooth keyboard wonder if that will work, hmmmmmmmmmmm lol just thought of that there lol
Points you end up forced to buying more than you need, end up with spares etc, if you just want one car or one map, the money makes sense. And no matter what, people will moan about the rip off the is the UK anyway.
 
Granted HD TV wil make web browsing nicer, but on SD tvs it looks dire, very very few websites are optimise for TV browsing, if it was such a good thing why dont we have it now?

I like the MS Live front end, its nice since it intergrates with the rest of the blades, where as a browser without seeing the interface would feel like a seperate entity if the system is like the PSP.

Also there is a major re-design of Live coming out with this years update to Live which really will improve matters.

It is sad state of affairs where a number of Devs are not shipping online elements with their games since they can not grasp, get to grips etc with the Sony online tools, surely if Sony is looking to compete with MS they should be giving all the help they can to the Devs to get online working.

But to say Sony is ahead of MS is a bit of a poor statement, MS has had live for going on 4 years now, it is a robust, simple easy to use platform, the online part of the PS2 was utter rubbish and perhaps has tainted peoples views of online gaming on the PS3

Kimbie
 
Was just reading this b4 i see this thread and it says that it pops up msgs when people are online or when you have a msg, but as of now you cant look/reply to anything as it doesnt take resources away from the game :confused:

So if you get a msg you have to leave the game to read it?
 
I hope thats not true. I'm sure Sony said they were leaving a core free to do all this in the background (which you can bring to the foreground at any time).
 
At present, however, there's no system for actually reading or responding to messages while you're still in the game, as the operating system doesn't take resources away from games in order to do that - however, according to Harrison, that functionality may well appear in an OS update, presumably based on whether users actually express a desire for it or not.
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seems a really stupid idea to me surely everyone wants the abilitiy to do it :eek:

*edit*

also as this has a built in browser and is running an O/S etc.. Would it be hackable?
 
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