XBL's Greenberg calls PS3 online a "knockoff"

Yesterday, Sony finally showed its cards for the PlayStation 3's online network strategy. At a Gamers' Day press event in San Francisco, the electronics giant demonstrated a number of features for its PlayStation Network, from streaming video to the PlayStation Portable to downloading new titles and original PlayStation games straight to the PS3's hard drive.

As closely as gamers were watching the event, it's a safe bet the architects of Microsoft's Xbox Live service were just as interested. In July, Xbox Live group marketing manager Aaron Greenberg answered some questions for GameSpot at Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays premiere event. In the wake of Sony's event, GameSpot again went to Greenberg to get his reactions to the PS3 online service and see how much difference a few months can make.

[zypher]

yeah, its a "knockoff" that just so happens to be free. i'd take $50 a year over originality.

[shortyNZ]

a free knockoff? no it wont be all free this sony were talking about, there will be some major catches, and why would sony fans want a half @rsed knockoff? wouldnt they want sony to do somthing origonal that can compete rather then just trying to copy the best? and the yearly cost of xbox live is a small price to pay, all those free demos! and updates and when you do want to buy somthing you dont need a credit card! XBL is made for everyone!

[zypher]

if it won't be free, then tell me what they're gonna be charging for? in any event i myself am not a Sony fan; i'm a Playstation fan, and that's quite a difference. Microsoft and Sony fan(boys) dilute themselves into some supposed, demented loyalty under the assumption that either company truly cares about them. i know neither Sony or Microsoft cares about me (or rather, they care only about my money); and i'm fine with that, just as long as either company delivers a product that's worth what they're asking for. and if Sony can provide a service that's a knockoff of a great service such as Live...and it's FREE, then i'm game for it.

as far as originality...yeah, okay. the 360 is a Dreamcast with better graphics made by Microsoft that just so happens to include Live and a bunch of fps'. the PS3 is a PS2 is a PSOne with better graphics that just so happens to include a Live-knockoff. neither is at all that original; at least not as original as Nintendo, whose intuitive invention pungently reeks of the ingredients of a gimmick. how's that for an objective perspective?

[Jay da 2KBalla]

Sony wont charge you but devs will or it may all be free but features that you get for live for your 50 dollars wont be enabled across all games for your ps3 such as cross game voice chat for ALL GAMES, matchmaking, gamerscore, achievements, rankings, video chat, cross game invites, free demos, game with fame, and of course the greatest thing ever made: Bringing it Home.

Thanks Microsoft

[lalaland]

"cross game voice chat for ALL GAMES"

Do you actually use that?

"matchmaking, gamerscore, achievements, rankings, cross game invites"

They've all been shown ingame... Ofcourse there probably won't be a crossgame thing for theese just yet -- but do you really NEED that?

"video chat, free demos"

Both of theese has been announced for the PS3.

"game with fame, and of course the greatest thing ever made: Bringing it Home."

Well, we won't know for sure until they are announced for a specific event, But something along the lines of "game with fame" has been promised by XFire for PS3, and will probably happen for a lot of titles. But not really a dealbreaker is it?

[Jay da 2KBalla]

bilial- If your simply going to make dumbass comments that dont add to the conversation then how about you just shut da f*** up.

laland- Yes I do actually use that and millions other people do. And my point is that all that other stuff wont be consistent across ALL games. An example of is why so many titles are dropping online features for the ps3. Another example is why do you think the 360 gets the best online features for multiplatform games? The way I see it is that this greenberg guy is completely right. Sony online is a bullsh!t knockoff I mean a buddy list for every game WTF who knows what else you will need for every game. I think I heard that a user account for EVERY game as well WTF. The quality of xbox live will simply be unmatched face it and due to that and that alone I honestly dont see a problem with paying 50 bucks.

[lalaland]

" Is every game online with voice chat integration? Do they have Achievements and Gamerscore? How are they handling safety, security, hacking, viruses, and parental controls?"

Well, I've never used the voice chat thing across games ingame on XBL Gold... hardly a "must-have"... Same goes for Achievements and gamerscore, both are "nice-to-have" and won't influence my online experience by much. And regarding safety, the PS3 sounds safe enough since it is a proprietary OS with a browser that doesn't allow downloads. Just like the X360 by the way, except for the browser part.

And then he goes on about the XNA initiative -- something EVERY PS3 owner will be able to get for free come december as well (or the Linux equivelant) -- and you won't need a PC to run that, just your PS3.

At the end he sidesteps the XBL Arcade questions, avoiding the humiliation of admitting MS so far hasn't been able to deliver on their promises.

I can't see where XBL Gold is soooo superior to the Sony online network... What dealbreaker advantage do they actually have?

[Jay da 2KBalla]

Well lalaland thats your opinon however its definaitely a dealbreaker for me and is one of the reasons I wont be buying a ps3 till probably Q4 2007 or 2008 maybe even 2009 when the games warrant the purchase. However I will be buying me a 360 this holiday cuz I'm not a hardcore fanboy, I decided to take a wait and see approach and after playing on my brothers 360 for hours and hours and with Gears of War coming out I'll be buying it with that game because its a true system selling killer app.

Anyways like I said online features wont be consistent across all games I mean a buddy list or user thing for every single game?!?! Man sony need to get the f*** out of here with that bullsh!t. Things like matchmaking, rankings, and leaderboards will be game specific as well so some games will have em and others wont. Sad.

[Mr Murda]

Dude, you realize that you're calling yourself the "biggest fool on earth". You seem to see little to NO value for XBL and you can't wait for the PS3 Service. You'd have to be a fool then to fork over the $50 to play on XBL, according to you. Hell, you don't even use these extra functions for XBL, right?

Here's the kicker for XBL vs. PS3 Online... THE GAMES! Sony makes some great SINGLE player games, but there is little proof of great multiplayer games (I can think of two exceptions; SOCOM and FF). MS and the XBOX have been owning the online scene cause they've got great multiplayer games (Halo, Mechassault, LOTR:BFME, DOA4, UC2, CoD2, and of course we could go on and on). MS recognized early on that the future of games was in creating a community and playing together online.

Playstation fans seem content "playing with themselves".

[TheMART]

It's not a knockoff

but

XBL gives a KNOCKOUT to PNP aka PS2 online * updated* service (which only means a new name actually...)

[whateva]

then on xbox live right and you do know that the PSP came out just 8 months before the xbox 360 and has sold 20 million unit already so you can stop with you xbox is the best BS sony has sold over 220 million units of gaming HARDWARE and thats without the PS3 so when it comes out with its free online thats another 100 million to add to the list and they going to be playing online so live will not come close sorry.

[TheMART]

4 million ppl are using 360 Live

Only SOCOM you hear from Sony fanboys, why is that?

A handheld costing half the money of a console is some different market there buddy. The DS pwned PSP BTW.

As is a PS2 from about 100 dollars/euro is the same story. Laggards buy those because of the price, they won't buy games. 360 unit sells 5.1 games per unit

220 million of what? You just all count it together? ANd how many of that broke down? PS2 about 50% DVD drive kaput? Like the batteries that broke down. Nice hardware it is, no quality

So yep my point still stands:

XBL gives a KNOCKOUT to Sony's network!

[lalaland]

You are wrong again. 4 mill. people are using XBL -- that is on Xbox and X360 COMBINED... PS2 is still the single most popular console for online gaming!

[whateva]

so what you talking about and PSP was 299 when it Came out same price as the 360 core so wrong again and PS2 is still out selling the 360 and PSP well pass the xbox by next year xbox sold 24 million in 5 years and PSP sold 20 million in ONE year can you say OWND or what ever it is you geeks say and PlayStation has sold over 2,000,000,000 games xbox and the 360 dont even come close and about the ps2s being broke down I got 3 broke XBOXs right behind Me so any more lies you want to tell so I can fix them for you.

[shoota33]

Well the mart just got owned again lol .

[Jay da 2KBalla]

DS has only sold 21 million units however the DS lite has sold another 10 million units and yes the psp was "pwned" by the DS. No question.

To 5.6- So xbox is being outsold by the psp and that is very pathetic. Ok now what.

[shoota33]

Thats not the point.The point is xbox got owned and xbox 360 is getting owned by old consoles.psp is going to sell more units in less than 2 years than what xbox sold in five lol pathetic.

[TheXgamerLive]

Think before you speak.

[The great Me]

What is pathetic is people like you that won't buy a great console simply because of who makes it. I am sure that PS3 will be a great console. As is the X360. Just because one outsells the other doesn't mean one is better than the other. Case in point is the PS2 Xbox generation. The Xbox was obviously the better system and I have little doubt that the Gamecube was quite a it more powerful than the PS2. All the PS2 had going for it was a large library of mostly lame games and a few gems. However if the public had been able to get over their love of the PS brand and everyone had bought gamecubes or xboxes then that huge library of games would have likely been on either of those two systems and we all would have had much higher quality games. But most of the games came out for the weakest system because of blind loyalty. It will happen again this generation most likey.

[TheMART]

Still your comment doesn't make any points. Yeah it could be 299 when it came out, but I can buy a normal PSP for about 180 now and a Gigapack for just over 200.

AND IT ISN'T A CONSOLE how dumb can you be comparing apples to bananas???

So quit the stupid handheld to console comparing please man.

ANd PS2 is just over a 100 dollars. I say it again, laggards buy those. They use it to cut their bread man it's that cheap. But it's also having the worst graphics around.

Next gen?

360 sold 10 million this CHristmas
PS3 sold 500k at max.

Now what you're saying again

http://www.pwned.nl

And Gametime also knows that one

The best PS2 game sold about what. Around 7 million? And 100 million PS2's are sold? Ok 50% of them broke down, but still. What's the attach rate then?

The 360 top games sold around 25% on all units.
Compare that. Just do it. 5.1 games per 360 sold

PS2 sold 1.9 game the same as the gamecube
XBOX sold 2.4 games per unit

360 sells 5.1 game per unit. Get the point? Even the hardware sales are not all that, it matters if the businessmodel is healthy. And seeing SOny being in deep dept, just having borrowed multimillions of a bank (they couldn't find enough shareholders to buy more shares) and the destructable 3 billion dollars they'll have to pay with each 10 million PS3 units sold...

You are betting on the wrong horse dude. You'll see in the coming months

AND WHAT ABOUT THE RSX SPECS? You're buying something you don't know what it's capable of? Now the stupidest thing I've heard ever!

I have a great graphics card for your PC to buy from me. I call it the HFX (high graphics card) and it'll beat the hell out of the RSX for sure. You believe me? Nice. Pay 800 dollars. (I won't tell you it's actually a Geforce 3 allright??? ;) )

[Antan]

Man alive Mart, get out of your home !!! go and do something else !!! stop trying to bash all the time, can you see people are becoming tired of your tirades !!!??!! LOL, ireally do think you could get a job at microsoft, doesnt matter what your CV says, just point em in the direction of News4Gamers !!! man, even big bill would stick you on the board of directors !!!!! anyone got any chill pills for our dutch friend?

[Mr Pumblechook]

Sony is releasing their next-gen console with an online service. The worst that Microsoft can say in response is claim they are being unoriginal for using the internet?!

Microsoft doesnt own the internet (yet).
The internet is part of computing.
It was a ridiculous comment to make.
Its like someone wrongly slating the 360 just because Microsoft did not invent the games console.

[THAMMER1]

But I (do) think that it is on the level of what PS-gamers want. I do not think it is necessary to slam Sony's choice. But just because it’s free dose not make it better at this point. What will make it better is if we knew more about it.

The console will be out in like 4 - 5 weeks and we really know nothing(-). XBL is an open service and nothing is hidden(+). The whole Sony online thing is like picking a bugger. You know its there but you can't quite put your finger on it. LOL

[lalaland]

XBL is under complete control of MS. No thirdparty or developer is allowed to add their own specific services for their games, something which a couple have publicly stated an interest in.

We do know most of the important aspects of the Sony service -- it is just the minute details and extra features that are still somewhat in a cloud of mystery.

[THAMMER1]

I needed you to rephrase my coment in a Sony fan boy friendly way.
X ^ ) LOL

[dantesparda]

Let me ask you a question Hammer, why do you call him (or other people for that matter) a "fanboy", when you are one too? What is up with the hypocrisy on this site? Do any of you PS3 haters even own a PS3? I dont think so. I do not own a Sony system, nor have I ever owned one, but I have owned every MS system. And while I was very impressed with the first Xbox I can honestly tell you's that I am not that impressed with the 360! I was expecting to get 1280x720 resolution @ 60fps, with at least 8x anisotropic filtering w/trilinear filtering, with no vertical tearing. An instead what I get is a bunch of vertical tearing, no trilinear filtering on barely any games, so what you get is this clear transistion line between different resolution Mip-maps, that just goes from sharp to blurry (which btw is unexcusable, because the 360 should be able to do that really easily. For god's sake the GC, Xbox1 & PS2 could do it easily! but the 360 is barely doing it?), practically every game running at 30fps at best (you know 30fps on a PC is alomost unacceptable). No/or very low anisotropic filtering (and ATI cards are usually very good at that). And the list goes on. You's need to get out more and see more decently configured PC's, because I've seen better, even before the 360 was out