First the PS3's controller looked at the Wii and said "me too," becoming the Sixaxis, now Sony's PlayStation Network wishes to do everything that Xbox Live does, finally justifying the price of a combined Wii and Xbox 360 by finally becoming both of them in one machine. Talking to Gametrailers on the Bonus Round show, Director of PSN Operations Eric Lempel has pretty much confirmed Sony's shamelessness by stating that not only will cross-game invites be implimented in the future, but that there are plans to bring an achievement system into play too, as well as ... everything, essentially.
"We're definitely going to have all of those features," Lempel stated when talking about Xbox Live and PSN's eventual intent. Of course, it's doubtful we'll see achievements as we know them on the PS3, oh no. Like the Sixaxis, Sony's achievements will surely be called something much cooler with a bucketload of letter x's in the name. Axxievementxx, for instance. So long as something has a flashy name and x's, nobody knows you're copying.
Now, to be entirely fair, Sony is so far offering one thing that Microsoft is not - a free ride. As of right now, Sony is still sticking to the business model of free online content all across the board and this is something very much worth remembering. Why not rip off Microsoft (who can't evoke much sympathy on that count) if you're going to offer it without charging? One really can't fault Sony there. Of course, Lempel did slip out a little "in time, anything can change," disclaimer when asked if PSN's features will always be free, but it remains to be seen whether or not charges will eventually creep in.
Also in the interview, Eric talked about Home and how great it is (and it's certainly charming) and gave us the usual barking about the power of the console. That said, the PlayStation 3 is still in its formative days it would seem and firmware updates bring new treasures all the time. If the PS3 eventually does offer everything XBL does for free, along with an increased library of solid titles (with that oft-talked about price drop) then the moment to rise will most likely be Sony's and the console wars will really start to heat up.
[Thanks to Burling for the tip]
Contest:
4:05 PM on 06.18.2007
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"Ultimately, the consumer will be able to choose what interests them, and they won't be force-fed: they can go from publisher to publisher, from business model to business model, and find the one that interests them. Some players may only care about SOCOM, and they don't want to pay for another game that they're not interested in. That's not to say that everything will be free on the PlayStation Network, but it is not force-fed to you in a subscription format. As a consumer, that's how I prefer to buy. I don't like to order my food before I go into the restaurant, I like to look over the menu and decide how hungry I am and what I want to eat."
slee, I don't think perspective is always in the eye of the writer. The reader can do this, too.
That is all.
hahahaha!!!
But they are very good at taking some one else's good idea and make it better. Looks like that's what they may be doing here.
There is nothing dishonorable in that. It's just giving the consumers more of what they want. Who cares who thought of the idea, just as long as they give it to us.
On a more negative note, I think Home looks gross and awful, and I'm sad it exists. It's like a 3D version of Zwinky.
Pure Yucky.
PS: DanGale might just be slow... ok, he is CONFIRMED!
XBL - A company charges me a little bit of money, and provides me with the content I want. XBLA / Demos
PSN - Free = bunch of crappy movie trailers, very few demos, and content for games I don't want.
What's the point?
Smiley face.
Agreed that the PSN description is what it is now, but that will change in the next coming months. funny, I dont see xbox coming with a "home" or even offer free DL content, its usually M$ and apple who copy and do better, guess Sony just following the trend?
Sony is bashed & expected to dominate on everything (then get bashed by the fan boys when they do) when last year XBOX had no GoW or anything of real worth on XBL. now they toss 50mil to reserve GTA4 content, they should have gone for the game, not the content if they wanted a real big difference.
And Jim nice article, I like reading your posts cuz u always add a little salsa flavor on them.
P.S. Jimbo I don't think any one here is saying the article is bad just a little flip floppy ;)I enjoyed it either way. The point I was making was that sometimes (depending on what the writer prefers) they(the writers) will slant an article to their ideal or their point of view. I just found it funny when people do that because they are neither right or wrong it is just a way of seeing things through certain glasses or if you don't do glasses contacts:)
As long as there are no more "who the fk is jim sterling"'s Jim is good in my books :) Even as a Sony fan. (I like them all but too cheap to buy any of them)
PS - I am only talking about video games not windows, but its more or less more of the same.
Anyways, I agree with his slant whole heartedly. Sony needs to think of a better interface than "home" (<- so ghey), and if that means copying a more succesful one (XBL), they just need to sack up and admit it. The community by and large would respect them for that, excluding of course the fan boy's.
Here's where the lack of inflection online is a detriment. I'm not pissy in the least, I just like to argue. I do concede, however, that I can defend my work somewhat strongly. I'm proud of my job, what can I say?
P.S. It's unbecoming of an Englishman to express himself in American-urban slang.
As for the JimSterling hate... I dunno man, everything you write pisses me off enough to start a post in rebuttal, but when I look back at what you've written I realize that it wasn't so bad. Something about the tone I guess. Anyhow, I hope it doesn't interfere with your personal life, like everything that leaves your mouth pisses someone off. That would suck.
This is bad?
Well, Microsoft released the <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d9/Sidewinder_gamepad.jpg/200px-Sidewinder_gamepad.jpg">Sidewinder controller almost a decade ago</a>, yet the press fails to mention this in contrast to the Sixaxis.
Is it really worth it to buy into slamming Sony for each and every move they make? That level of classiness is reserved for Joystiq, rag tag bunch of "reporters".
Sony is moving forward to make their platform relevant. What does this have to do with Microsoft? Other than the fact that whatever it is they are building, is being powered by Microsoft software in the end?