Quote: "ugh...another microsoft fanboy"
well yes, i'm a fan of microsoft; not just in this console generation but on the whole.
doesn't make anything of what i said any less true though.
online gaming is a dominating factor in any gaming platform, be that entertainment console or personal computer.
Sony know full well that part of the attraction for Xbox360 owners is their Xbox Live system. As it doesn't just allow online play, but provides a whole host of features that give people more drive not just to play online but play their games for longer.
Many of the features they're trying to impliment emulate what Microsoft have provided for years.
A good example has nothing to do with the end-users but developers (which Sony have been loosing left and right), of a simple fact that Microsoft platforms are easier to develop for. DirectX and ATL(XTL) quite frankly provide the backbone to developing anything you want on Microsoft systems.
They are very easy to use APIs that provide direct access to what developers want to access.
Sony have recently released their own version of this for the PS3 (forget it's name, but no doubt someone here will know), in an effort to make it easier to develop on and hopefully get more games to attract more users.
Every step of the way though Sony have been trying to compete directly with Microsoft's Xbox 360 in terms of features. Problem I find with Sony though is they're forcing too much on users.
For example on the XBL, I can join a party of friends from the dashboard and hop between games as a group. This is what PS:Home is intended for primarily.. thing is, with Dashboard and Live; this can be achieved in seconds. Especially with a friends list.
With Home you have to connect to the internet, connect to home, load home, then wait for each user's avatar to load, then choose the group. Sure it can be done fairly quickly once in, but having to go into a 3d environment that is "perminantly" online so to speak is irritating. It's like having to go to an online chatroom to decide what MMORPG you want to play when you're at you're PC.
Pain-in-the-arse.
The trophey room is another example, of something that is just more complicated than it has to be.
The whole console has the feel of "see what I can do better than you", it's like when you buy a nice new Widescreen with HD; and one of you're mates see it and has to get the Flatscreen version. The picture quality is no different it's all just for show.
And here'in is really the issue I have with Home more than anything. It's not that they're copying features from Xbox Live, because personally I think it's about bloody time the Playstation had a decent network and friends system (*bitter PS2 NetPlay talking here*) .. just why the hell does it have to be 3D?
Why can't it be an extension of XMB?
More to the point is why the hell does every damn system on the PS3 force you to use JUST that system. If I want to talk to friends online, I have to drop out of the game I'm in; and use that stupid "keyword" system then boot it back up.
If i want to show off to my mates what new achiements I have, no doubt I'll have to load up home.. boast about it a bit, then restart the game we were playing.
Accessing pictures, playing movies, playing music.. it all is very seperated when really if that feature is there I want to be able to access them very quickly and easily.
One of the biggest gripes people have about XBL is that you can't watch videos as they download, or if you're playing a game on XBL no matter how much bandwidth you have you can't background download. These are being changed soon, because Microsoft listen to user complaints.
Sony are just trying to emulate, and not very well. Seriously if someone are going to incorporate similar systems; atleast make them AS feature rich, not like some watered down Tesco own-brand variation.
I mean something people boast about the PS3 is "free online play", but seriously.. you get what you pay for, and some of the best XBL features are actually those you can use on the free silver account.
