Sony likes keeping things free: We like things being kept free, incidentally

While Microsoft continues to charge for its online service, Sony has remained adamant that the PS3 is the place to be for those who don't like paying for things. Claiming that Sony is keen on providing as many free services as possible, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has been talking about the process of offering these services.

"We're more open about approaching and bringing services in to PS3 and PSP," explained Yoshida. "We can't support all the needs of the consumer and there are great companies providing services on the PC already - so we're very open to provide the opportunity to those companies to reach our user base as well.

"... We like to provide as many services as possible for free - we already provide our network access for gameplay for free - and the interesting thing about the network side and the Internet business is that there's a variety of revenue sources. Not necessarily getting people to pay, but with advertising and so on."

Sounds good to me. Personally, I can't wait for Sony to become more competitive with its online services. Hopefully the company can eventually force Microsoft's hand and we can forget about this ridiculous subscription business. Okay, maybe that's a bit too hopeful, but since MS already shoves adverts on its service and is trying some frankly pathetic methods of making XBL Gold worth the money (holding demos back from Silver members is ludicrous) I wouldn't mind seeing Sony smack its rival down a little.