With 1 Move,Sony can make the PSN better than Xbox Live

It's no secret that Microsoft's Online gaming Network is widely considered to be superior to Sony's own Online infrastructure; Whether it be competitive Online gamers setting up Clan meets or merely 13 Year olds setting up Team Fortress 2 "glitch-games", Xbox Live is considered the definitive venue for all Multiplatform Online gaming. Many a publication and regular gamers with blogs have offered their own take on what Sony can do to combat Xbox Lives 'superiority', with numerous websites claiming all Sony has to do is provide more content and features such as Cross-Game chat, Custom Soundtracks, etc, and all will be even Stevens between the two Networks. Or so they think.

[ape007]

cross game chatting

chat parties

join session in progress\invites cross anything

you can play music everywhere

the sound "blopop" give you a good feeling when your freind is now online(lol@ me,yeah im that stupid)

AND ONE IMPORTANT POINT THAT IS OVERLOOKED,xbl has DEEP PLAYER STATUS,it tells you what your freind is doing exactly and this help the online experience like no other,I can describe it in two points:

1-you feel that your friends is active,playing this,playing that,it's really LIVE

2-YOU KNOW WHEN TO SEND INVITES AND WHERE IS YOUR FRIEND,for example,I started my 360,and open my friend list,I saw my freind playing gears 2 and it write"in a gam,e lobby,gathering friends" or "in a private game" or "in co-op lobby searching" or "single player,act 1,co-op on insaine or even"at the title screen"

this helps you to communicate and decide what to do like no other and with cross game join\invites,comunicating,chat ting and jumping into game become like a dream,you truly feel it LIVE

in psn,it only tells "cod:waw"

but anyway,psn is a pretty good too

and ms should lower xbl cause some gamers don't care for these things

[kevoncox]

I agree.
I have both and I can tell you when yousing my PSN i feel alienated.
Not only is the games deathly quiet( lack of mics) but you simply feel like your friends are connected but not doing anything.

Deep status' are a god send. 1 think about XBOX is it's ease of use and it was well thought out. Now only if they can make it free. Paying 50 a year sucks but I do it because playing on PSN is less enjoyable.

[-EvoAnubis-]

That's true for most games, but not all of them. For example, in LBP it shows the game, the name of the level, and how many people are with them. Several EA titles also show specifics along with the name of the game. SOCOM does this as well.

[creeping judas]

One thing both of you forgot is the joining of games. I cannot just press a button to join my friends game. I have to accept the game request then goto to the game menu and find the online portion of the game. Where as in XBL it takes you there automatically. I can't wait for 3.0 to come out!!

[Anon1974]

The very last thing that we need is every single idiot out there with a mic.

Having to buy a mic acts as a intelligence test. In order to get a mic you have to
A) Have $25
B) Have the mental wherewithal to get to the store
C) Know what kind of mic to get. That can require some research.
D) Find your way back home.
E) Charge and setup your mic to work on your PS3.

Right there that seems to have eliminated 80% of the morons out there compared to XBL. They might have $25, but getting their shoes on to go to the store they usually slip in a puddle of their own drool, hit their head, yell about how it's some *insert bigoted term here*'s fault and ultimately forget why they were getting their shoes on in the first place.

Anyone who's played on both systems knows it to be true, there just aren't as many vocal, racist, homophobic 12 year olds on PSN and that's a blessing to the rest of us. Sure they may be lurking around - but they don't have mics so I don't care.

So no. Headsets for all is not the answer.

[StephanieBBB]

But you should play socom on the PS3. On 80% of all servers theres trash talk and communication all the time. I think the main issue is that there is no garantee that you will get to use a headset if you buy it to the PS3. There is always a gamble on which games that will include it and which who won't. This is where Cross-game chat would be the ultimate edge tipper that would make you buy that Headset and don't care which games you can use it in because you can always chat with your friends anyway.

[beardtm]

PSN need to be faster, i could download about 5 demos from live in the time it takes to download a single demo from PSN.

And thats no joke.

Even small game updates take an age to download.

And thats on a 16Mb connection.

Also maybe random here, but PS Store needs to get itself a demo section. The stores a bit of a mess tbh.

[Jinxstar]

The only thing I can really say is "Dedicated servers" but most people don't really get it... They don't see how it helps stop cheating and other things. PSN offers dedicated servers for free which is a big deal. XBL offers none... What can a dedicated server do/ Offer you potential games like MAG or current games with a ton of people like Resistance 2 or Warhawk... Or in the future 1000's on games like DCuniverse... Really cross game chat and parties is nice but I would never use it and really don't know anyone that does. if you use it or not though it's always nice to have the option... Although your still paying for it...

@ ape a lot of those things you can do on PS3. Send msg's and see when friends get on and what game they are in... The only thing it doesn't have is cross game chat...

@ Below
100% Disagree man. 90% of those people are rude, swearing and being all around poor sports. Talking does not make it better imo. matter of fact even on my PS3 when i have my mic in I normally take it off because I hate listening to these people whine... 360 is 100X worse imo.

@ Kigmal
I have had 4 person video chat via PSN before so I am confussed to what you mean...

[C_SoL]

"What makes Xbox Live perceived as being superior to the masses is the ‘Live’ feel of the Network; It feels on demand, it feels like it’s in the ‘now’. Simply put: It feels like an engaging Social experience. The Playstation Networks biggest problem is it does not engage gamers in the same way Xbox Live does: it does not feel ‘alive’ and ‘active’, and the sole reason for this is the lack of people talking."

I agree.

[Bnet343]

This is what people tend to forget. Microsoft isn't going to stand still. Here's what I mean. Before NXE, you can only private chat with 1 person on XBL. On PSN, you can only private chat with one person as well. So people would say, "Sony already has Microsoft matched on that feature" So what happens after NXE? BOOM, 8 player chat. Now Sony has to work to get to that point. You guys see where I am going with this? I'm not insinuating that Sony will never "catch up", I am simply saying Xbox Live will always be evolving just like PSN. I feel that PSn needs to improve on interaction with other PSN users like people above me mentioned. Cross-game invites is a very important feature, it's been with Xbox Live since day one and Sony has yet to implement it.

[claney]

i must have been dreaming then when i had 6 person chat on psn,
either i was dreaming or you can have 6 player chats on psn.

[shovelbum]

I wish MS didn't pack a mic with the console. Too many damn adolescent kids screaming curse words long before their balls have even thought of dropping.

[Anon1974]

beardtm said "PSN need to be faster, i could download about 5 demos from live in the time it takes to download a single demo from PSN."

Something must be wrong with your connection. I've certainly never found my PSN slow compared to XBL. MTV just did a comparison test with Mega Man and found that PSN is actually the faster of the two wirelessly, and that the two services had almost identical speeds when wired.

[Darkseider]

ROFLMAO!!! Funniest damned thing I have read in a while.

[ape007]

oh sorry I forgot about that

have an agree and a bubble

[ry-guy]

Not only that but what kills me is HipHopGamer's need to make it appear that Xbox Live is unique for glitching and PSN is immune to that.

Come on.

[JsonHenry]

I have both consoles and the second Sony gets those last few things that LIVE has left to call its own I will ditch LIVE for the rest of this console generation.

[likedamaster]

@Darkride66

Do you always have to be so condescending?

I've never had a problem with kids, there's always a way to keep them quiet. If not, xbox live has always had the "mute" feature, where you mute that certain individual if you want. Obviously someone here never really had xbox live.

Live is gamer-friendlier, more organized, much more robust and community driven than PSN. There are features I'm still finding out about in xbox live.

[pixelsword]

I just synced my Jabra wireless mic to my PS3 (when my phone was off), and it worked. Is this common, or am I a rarity? Maybe My mic is unique? I don't think my mic is unique, though.

Maybe I'll check it later on tonight or tomorrow.

[The Lazy One]

What's better. having 50% of your community without a mic, or being able to communicate with almost everyone, but have to deal with some assholes.

It's really not that bad if you spend some more time playing either. Once you rank up, people tend to get a little more serious.

And xbl has dedicated servers available. A lot of EA games use them. I think LOTR conquest does.

[Miraak82]

y don't u spend the money u would have spent oo an annul subscription of xbox live towards a new superior bluetooth headset. at least its a 1 time deal

[FrankenLife]

I like that people don't talk too much online. When I play with my friends we chat it up.

[SlyGuy]

The only extra feature I need (stress on "I") is cross-game chat.

[pain777pas]

I download stuff on PSN all the time and it is very quick. Now the problem I'm having with PSN is custom soundtracks and it must be done for all car games especially GT. Please Sony fix this.

[barom]

Actually I feel the only thing Xbox Live has that me as a PS3 owner really wants. Is in-game voice chat party. If I can join up with my friends in an external voice chat, all of these "hard to accept invites" is all of a sudden alienated cause you have effective communication.

Couldn't care less about what my friends are doing, just knowing the game is actually enough. I don't wanna stalk them and I don't want someone watching me either. If I want to join up with them, just send an in-game voice chat invite and it's all good.

For those experiencing slow PSN downloads, take a look at this:
http://boardsus.playstation...

[Bloodwar]

Are you saying that 80 percent of PS3 players are morons? That can't be good.

And I noticed some folk act as if XBL doesn't have dedicated servers. That depends on the developer. One of the reasons EA Games jumped on board with XBL was that MS allowed them to run their own servers, but MS wanted the fully integrated fully functional Live experience. EA Games agreed to those conditions and the rest is history.

[callahan09]

cross game chatting
--This can be neat, I've used it once or twice on XBL, but it isn't any big deal. If I'm playing on PS3 and want to be talking to somebody at the same time, I just use my bluetooth set with my cell phone. But usually I like to focus on my game and I only talk to people while playing games if I am in a team-based multiplayer match. So this one means very little to me.

chat parties
-- Again. Exactly the same thing. In fact, these can be even worse, because it allows people to cheat in a game like Gears of War where you're not supposed to be able to communicate with your living teammates when you're dead because you can tell them where the other guy is so they can get the jump on them.

join session in progress\invites cross anything
-- It's nice being able to send an invite in every single game, but all the games that I actually enjoy playing, I can send invites from, to anybody whether they're playing the same game or not. So, this is a good feature to have, but I've lived without it just fine so far, because all the major games allow you to send invites from the game's lobbies.

you can play music everywhere
-- Don't use this feature personally, and it's more of a dashboard feature than an xbox live feature, so... OK. Cool for those who use it, though. But again I'm weird and always like to be focused on my game, so I don't talk to people or listen to music while gaming. I engross myself in the game. That's just me.

the sound "blopop" give you a good feeling when your freind is now online(lol@ me,yeah im that stupid)
-- Here's the only point I DISAGREE with you about and I'm glad PSN isn't this way... I hate that sound and I find it so distracting whenever it happens. I prefer the PSN where it tells me when someone comes on, but doesn't interfere with my game any more than a little notice in the upper right corner of the screen. No sound = better for me.

AND ONE IMPORTANT POINT THAT IS OVERLOOKED,xbl has DEEP PLAYER STATUS
-- Here is where I agree with you the MOST. I highly agree with you on this one. The deep player status info is awesome and I wish the PSN had something like it!

/ Just my opinions everyone, hope they make sense to all of you.

[N4PS3G]

Before opening the article i knew it was from HIPHOPGAMER ...nough said

[dragunrising]

The only thing he brings in spades is fanboy controversy. Otherwise, the articles have horrible logic, grammar and last but not least...the titles. Perhaps the only reason the site is alive is because of the obnoxious titles and "facts" propagated on the site. Also, n4g.com eats them up without question. Each article should say, "Editorial" as there is nothing he says or writes that the average Joe couldn't come up with. Exclusives? No. He doesn't have access to pre-releases and review builds. He claims he has connections, but I haven't seen them. Perhaps, if his popularity continues to grow, he might be privy to "exclusives" however he doesn't have any yet. Rumors and speculation found on the web that someone else published are his primary sources.

Best example of his writing "skilz" :

"The biggest problem facing the Playstation Network is the exact same dilemma which when solved will, without a single doubt in my mind, result in the Playstation Network being perceived and accepted as being the superior console Network to game on."

Enough said...

[Zeus Lee]

Great article,I definitely agree sony should make sure the ps3 has a headset

[ape007]

sony should add a headset with each ps3 unit

just think about the community

but it shouldn't be an expensive one,a cheap one like 360 has will do the work

[ALL_STAR_28]

why the H3LL would they do that you dont want the psn to be like Live with all the teens cursing every 3 seconds do you....??? no that would be stupid.... just bundle them with quality online exclusives like warhawk and the updated socom

[Simon_Brezhnev]

100% right allstar i dont want lil kids swearing and cussing

[Sevir04]

and thats most. case study shows that the average gamers on the dominant console in the US at the time which is "xbox 360" are 30 year old men. thats not to say that kids are on it. but i'm likely to belive that the kids that own the system have limited online play due to parents moderating what they do online, So it's only safe to say that it's the adults that swear, behave racist, talk trash and totally show off there testosterom, while also being homophobic. I'm sure some kids do, but what kid will behave like that over a competition? only developed adolecense and adults males carry on in that way.

So it's mot that the gaming community on live are 12 year olds it's more acurrate to say that the gaming community on live, acts and behaves like "immature adults" and to prove this you only have to look at some of the comments here on N4G.

interestingly enough, On popular games like Warhawk and Socom, resistance, ,motorstorm, COD4 and WAW, These same immature grown men exist, perhaps you dont here it as much because PS3's dont come with head sets and Sny didn't drive the community social online network as MS did at launch but you certainly get it. i cant tell you how manny times i simply turned off chat on warhawk because Some grown ass man was calling a fellow player on the map in my area a F@G, or cursing up a storm because he got pwned, like in Resistance and COD4...

i'll agree, Live has some really great features, an indepth system that shows exactly what you and your buddies are doing, but to me, since i've gamed on PS3 daily from the start. i'm foreign to the xbox live gaming so I think PS3 gets the job done for me.

i send live email, messeges, invites, voice chat with up to 12 people and video chat conferencing with up to 6 with crisp audio and visual clarity. my games suppoort achievement-esqe reward systems, I have a social networking hub with alot of XBL features plus something they dont have, I have free gaming online that runs far more smoothly than i've had with my few times playing on live, and i have a stable and pretty decent online platform that i dont pay for at all more than the $600 price of admission Sony asked for when they designed the PS3 2 years ago. I cant ask for more, but i continue to get because the network was built to be ever changing and evolving so soon, one day i may not have asked for the features, but it'll have everything MS's "better" service had from day one and will only continue to get better. As a PS3 owner, I cant ask for more especially when it's costing me nothing.

So i'll leave it all with that.

[Liquid Snake]

PC, DS, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, hell even Dreamcast gamers have being playing online for FREE.

Lets face it folks MS is charging you to use your internet connection. Peer2Peer (p2p) is what it is, connecting to other users without any servers. You are the server. (forgive the crap explaination) No Microsoft involvment whatsoever (expect taking your money)

What gives Microsoft the right to do it? Is it because they can? Is it because they came out with 360 console first?

Even if Xbox Live Gold was 10 dollars a year i would still complain. Its the principle of the darn thing.

I'm not saying Xbox Live Gold is bad, but charging for a free service like online gaming is.

[creeping judas]

a lot of PS3 fanboys say, "you get what you pay for, therefore the PS3 is superior to the cheaper 360", but the same doesn't hold for XBL vs PSN???

[SpikeSpiegel]

You had to buy it through SegaNet or AT&T. I had heard of a way using Netzero as a way to go online, but I thought that this was a rumor.

[Liquid Snake]

I apologize for the Dreamcast having free online play. But it was almost 10 years ago. I can't remember everything! lol.

[Zeus Lee]

100% agreed i dont care how many 48 hour trials microsoft gives out for free,the service needs to be completely free if they want my play time

[evilmonkey501]

not gonna happen. Why dont they just give us all the same features? I'm sure it has to do w/ the legality of the situation....and I'm sure SONY is trying hard to find a workaround...what we really need is, well, the same stuff the other kids have... all of it. and sooner is better.

[Marie]

Standard headset in the box should have happened long ago. The one thing MS did get right early on.

[bassturd]

runs just as good and it is FREE

there...it is already better.

[villevalorox]

ok. ill be honest xboxlive has alot of stuff i do wish my psn had. But again when i do play on xboxlive all there is is little snot nose kids who run their mouth. And no not all the time i take that back but most the time. Xbox live is great and so is psn. You really cant beat free

[air1]

make a friends list that is free of snot nosed kids. it's pretty easy to do that bro.. but you wouldnt know you just play your friends 360 from time to time.

[creeping judas]

try plaing SOCOM, and you will hear the same thing!! The best way to avoid this is build up your friends lists with like minded people.

[bassturd]

wut features does xbox live has that are so much better than PSN?

I'm just curious because, apparently I don't use these features. I always hear people say how Live is better...then they never list why. I own both consoles...

PSN is better because it's free (obviously). Also I the payment system is better. No buying stupid xbox points.

[air1]

well sony has a 10 year plan. they have many years to go to deliver that 1 move. im sure by then ill be on the next box on some whole other sh!t that sony will still be behind on.

maybe sony should think about including hdmi cables first. they are pushing the blu ray right now you cant get 1080 nothing if you dont have the hdmi cables..

[Firstkn1ghT]

The only thing that the PSN has going for it is that it's free. LIVE beats PSN in every other way.

[Bathyj]

I'm not an online gamer, I've said it many times before, but I just dont see why chat and invites are more important than stable dedicated servers and whenever I ask, I just get PSN sux XBL pwns.

I'm more interested in the meat of the meal than the garnish on the side.

[Liquid Snake]

you banned to the Openzone or something Bathyj?

Is it a temp ban or pernament?

Just a question, cause i never see you in Gamerzone.

[floppyfeet]

Dedicated servers for all or most games on a console is a complete pipe dream.

Think about it like this

PC gamers have dedicated servers all over the place for all their games correct?

so why not consoles?

I will tell you why

PC gamers have to PAY money to host their dedicated servers. Quite alot of money for just hosting a multiplayer game as a matter of fact. It costs money to host those servers.

So you may point to PSN with its 3-5 games that have dedicated servers , Good for you , now understand that each one of those games is from sony entertainment and is taking a huge loss every day that those servers are up and running.

That is the main flaw with the idea that dedicated servers will ever happen for consoles on a massive scale , or on PSN for that matter

the cost of hosting servers for potentially MILLIONS of gamers ( per title) is completely rediculous.

Peer2peer gaming is absolutely fine for console gaming , and it will only increase in potential over time when net speeds increase.

Dedicated servers are essentially using a nuclear bomb to open a wooden door , sure they are nice and big

But they are expensive and put false expectations into ignorant gamers heads who think its completely plausible to pay for some 20-40 million people to play online video games without charging them a dime

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

The xBots need 'Cross-Game chat' so they think they got real friends!!! ;-D

Cross-Game chat, Custom Soundtracks...Not bothered really.
More old-skool games on PSN is all i want;)

[Bathyj]

Yeah Liquid. I invented the term Boxheads and got 2 weeks in the hole.
Only 3 days to go.

floppyfeet
Thanks for your answers. Thats why I ask the question.
And while I still plead ignorant on the subject I still have to say it seems from a purely performance point of view that PSN is not inferior at all. I'm not talking about money or whether its sustainable for all titles.

I'm talking about from what I hear on the net and people I know in real life, Gears cant get 5 on 5 to run smoothly, while PS3 has games like Resistance 2, Warhawk and apparently Killzone is gonna be not to shabby too. I think (again, from my own dumbarsed point of view) that dedicated servers have alot to do with this and if M$ are gonna charge the cost of a game a year to play software you already own online then they should be the ones leading in this ares, not Sony. that doesn't appear to be the case but.

From an outsiders perspective it appears

XBL = More bells and whistles. Annual fee.
PSN = Better performance where it matters. Less bells and whistles. Free.

I cant stress enough, that I may be wrong, but I'm not the only one who thinks this, its a pretty widely regarded notion (I wont use the word fact). And like Xbox owners who look at multiplat games and say show me the proof PS3 is more powerful, even thou they know it is, I have to say, show me games that run as well as PS3's multiplayer offerings as proof XBL is better. Till that happen I say XBL's superiority is a myth built on cross chat and invites. Is PSN get them, there will be nothing left to say.

[floppyfeet]

agreed , it is nice that sony does that for its fanbase and im in no way saying that P2P is better then dedicated servers

Im just saying that Its never going to happen for a vast majority of games.

psn or no psn

Nobody is going to pay for all that , and out of all the people the developers are not going to pay for it.

Large P2P games are possible though , from what i understand perfect dark zero is P2P and is 32 players online. I played the game alot and for being a launch game with not much developer exeriance , they have amazing netcode for the game.

Another thing about gears of war is that epic does not have very good netcoding skills and unreal engine in general is not very good at hosting multiplayer ( see rainbow 6 vegas and its lag issues )

It really depends on the developer to see what is possible

if you write good netcode , you write good netcode

[blackbeld]

PSN is already better.... and it will be even more better

[Sibs]

Well... maybe they can pay US to use it.

That's another move I would like. :)

[Charlie_Shene]

most people post holiday have gotten headsets. Ive noticed from summer 08 to now that the number of people with headsets(or people using headsets) has almost doubled on cod4,5.

[darthv72]

demos for all the games offered for sale on psn. At least if the game is offered on live you can dl a trial and see if you like it. PSN has some but not all. I don't know if that is an issue with the dev releasing their IP or with sony.

Most stuff online (wii, live, psn) dont offer a refund policy so if you purchase a game and dont like it, you cant swap it at a gamestop. I like trialware and then decide if I will buy.

I purchased stardust for psp after having bought it for ps3. Lucky for them I like the original and like the psp ver cause if I didnt.......

[DJ]

They have to be constructed separately from the full game, and require a lot of man hours to do properly. Smaller teams have a harder time, which is why small, independent titles typically don't have demos.

[Mr Tretton]

All I care about really is the stability of the network. And PSN seems problematic lately.

XBL has it's bad times too. Other than that I don't care for what XBL charges you for and am glad PSN doesn't.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

Mr Tretton:

Which games are you having trouble with? The only game I have trouble with is Cod4. And that's because Infinity Ward can't design online for crap.

[bassturd]

really cuz I've never, once, had a problem with PSN. Look at Xbox Live....how many times was it completely DOWN a few months back? I think they had to shut the entire thing down a couple times.

who puts stability and xbox in the same sentence?

[Mr Tretton]

Hellangelz, yes, both CODs. That's all I've been playing online lately

[GiantEnemyCrab]

"who puts stability and xbox in the same sentence?"

Xbox Live has been up for going on 7 years now and I can count the times it's been down on one hand. That is stability.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

It would be a smart idea..but..what about all the users who already have ps3s and don't have mics?

Yeah, they can just go out and buy one, but this is the only problem with this one plan right here.

He brought up Cod4. I'm glad people don't have mics on that game! I've met sooo many asses on cod4 it's not funny.

Everytime I get, you bloody wanka! You bloody american wanka! Or..some racist obscene name, hell I even got called a f@g by an 11 year old. (Yes this person was 11.)

(Oh yes, a tip for all those people that get cursed out by 11 year olds. Just tell them to let their balls drop before they even try to curse you out. That will shut them up.)

[Spike47]

actually I really couldn't care less. The fact that PSn is free levels the two on my gaming scale.

[OOG]

ill add a few more thing id like to see on psn....

1. Cross Game invites
2. Voice Messages (BIG TIME)
3. Private Chat
4. Universal Mute (Mute them on the network and never hear them again)
5. Quick join from the dashboard.
6. Group chat (comes in handy in tactical games or just when u have lots of friends)
7. TrueSkill System..(not really used often and was in the CoD4 multi beta but not the reail... but is an interesting concept that more games should use.)
8. More detailed information about what your friends are doing...

Thats I think my main few... basically my main thing is that I would like PSN to start feeling more like a community instead of the games feeling like different worlds... kind of like the seemless jumping in n out of games etc like xbox live has.....

and yes it would be nice if they at least had a usb headset packaged in a playstation bundle...

[Liquid Snake]

PSN does have private voice and video chat. But not text.

[OOG]

I didnt mention video chat....

and when I say private chat I mean you can actually play games etc while in private chat... not sitting on the dashboard chatting...

[Marquis_de_Sade]

You can't private chat while playing a game on PS3 can you? I've never tried :S

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Great suggestions. Also, I would like to see:

Recommend to a friend, like XBLA has.

Community Event Calendar clickable from the XMB. Heck I'd like to see weekly events period. XBL has a community event every day of the week partically. Things like Game with Fame, Ladies Night, etc.

I'd like to see PSN updated daily with new content like XBL instead of the once a week PSN does now.

Trials for ALL games on PSN. There are many but still a lot without.

Improved presence when logged into PSN. Right now if somebody is online not playing a game I have no idea what they are doing. Life with Playstation and Home do show up but if you are watching a movie or accessing media it doesn't. Also on XBL if the person isn't online I can see what they were last doing. PSN just shows Offline for XXXX time.

Gamercards that are actually dynamic vs some type it yourself ghetto thing they have going now.

Complete web integration like XBL has where I can make purchases from the web and have them download to my 360 when I turn it on. I can add friends, check messages, compare games/achievements/gamerscore, see my friends list, etc.

So hard to think of these but they are glaring when I log out of PSN and into XBL. PSN has a very disconnected feeling. There are so many of these "little" things that people who complain about XBL charging and how PSN gives you the same features for free. That is a fat load of crap. I have both and I will pay for XBL thank you but would love to have it for free as long as the quality doesn't suffer.

This spring XBL is about to add a whole new group of features as well. Big things like the party movie watching and PrimeTime. The bar will again be raised.

[air1]

How many game nights have sony hosted? how many game with dev nights have they hosted? how many game with fame nights have they hosted? How many community play nights have they hosted? I could go on and on but at the end of the day wheter you like psn or xbl, what you dislike about each service is just splitting hairs. statements like this from sony is not gonna sway that many people just like statements from msft aren't gonna sway many people. People's minds are made up from talking to friends and initial price. and right now at least here in the states when it comes to "hardcore" console gaming msft is winning

great points by mcgrawgamer...

it's not just the features guy, it's the whole package. you should know that you have a 360 right? why would you ask what features it has over psn?

yea live went down when halo3 came out cause of the traffic. that game broke sales records and it's not a multiplat. i dont think sony had an install base on psn at the time bigger then the traffic that halo3 put on live. plus we got a free game out of it, remember? oh wait you dont really have a 360 like you say you do..

never had a problem on psn? lmfao i guess you was the lucky guy that was able to play socom day one online, or the lucky guy that still got to play the mgs4 tourny even though it got canceled.you must be that lucky guy that didnt have to put up with patch after patch update after update every other week. what a lucky guy you are..

[naiku]

omg, man, stop being a fanboy and shut up. its his opinion ok? "patch after patch..." wtf? makes no sense, because 80% of xbox games have patches... I frickin have bot consoles and I know that. Frickin get a life and stop bashing PS3. I love both consoles and they are awesome...

[360_Rules]

Until you get all the features that are on XBL onto PSN then XBL is the beter of the two. I bet the time Sony does have all the features that are on XBL it's going to cost money to use PSN.

[user3915800]

What a dumb article and by the way I have to agree that hardware wise the PS3 last longer although not by much, there is no way in hell that the quality of software will ever be more advanced or higher quality than the biggest software company in the world MS. SOFTWARE ITS THE STRONGEST POINT OF THE 360 and no loosing giant (PS Sony and wii-wii) could ever dream of ever matching its quality.

[Ldubbz]

Headsets would be a good start, definitely. But it really doesnt matter what they do...the thing is a lot of people are already on LIVE, some of which for years now. It really is a community, and its been going strong since last gen. People join because their friends are already on it.

Its an uphill battle.

[kosovo]

as if your father has a percentage(%) stock in Sony.
i hate all these fanboys with great intensity.
xbl is better, psn is better, who cares?
why not make your measerable life better,.
what a waste of bandwidtch.

[OSIRUSSS]

Maybe, if MS stopped all the "CHAT SERVICES" all the pedoes that infest live would leave. But I guess Predator or not MS still loves the $50 they take from them every year.

[Marquis_de_Sade]

Maybe if the internet didn't exist too.

[Microsoft Xbox 360]

Its already better than XBL. Its free and it does the job well. XBL is overrated.

[Marquis_de_Sade]

Dammit, I gave Hiphopgamer a hit >_>

[naiku]

sounds pretty reasonable, but sony already sells PS3 for less then they are manufactured for. So they cant add extra $10~15. Maybe after couple years when PS3's making will cost like $250.

[azmanmanz]

if u want chat just use yahoo messenger lol

[likedamaster]

"With 1 Move,Sony can make the PSN better than Xbox Live..."

Sony would've done it by now... plus, you get what you pay for.

[Traveler]

You don't always get what you pay for. Some things are simply not worth the money they cost you.

Half the time I don't even have access to my online games on 360 because I don't always have the money for LIVE. Other times what happens is I pay for several months of LIVE and I end up not using it that much because I am engrossed in some single player game or a multiplayer game on my PS3. The end result is that a lot of the time I have LIVE it goes to waste, but then there are other times that I feel like playing something online on my 360 and I can't because I don't have the money for it at that moment.

A free service that does 90% of what another service charges for is always going to be a more attractive proposition for a person like me.

[godkiller]

Simple as that, I will never pay microsoft any more money.
And if I ever meet bill gates I will shove windows vista up his arse.

[anubis12]

they should of did that 1st 2 years ago....

[Jrome]

I have never been online...and gone to a room where less than 80% of the room had a headset. A lot of players on PS3 have headsets...it is not quiet at all.

And when it is quiet...sometimes it's better off that way...some people are just annoying. Sometimes people are charging their mics as well.

[redsnake]

i thought this was a stupid pointless article at first but he has a good point. for the first three paragraphs he said absolutely nothing but i see his point and completely agree

[SinnedNogara]

No

I have seen it. PSN downloads are VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY slow.

[OhReginald]

No. no its not slow.

[OhReginald]

make a PSN PS3 bundle. im not saying put it in every new PS3 system, because not everyone have online or play online for that matter. Im just saying sony should make a PS3 Bundle that includes an 80gb PS3, a PS3 official headset, Warhawk or Socom, and $20 PSN card. Sell it for $470. It will be called the "PSN Experience" bundle.

[JokerSGS]

I honestly think it takes a high level of ignorance to pay to play online when online play that started on the PC was free from the BEGINNING. It's not like MS created Online play even on consoles, since Sega had it somewhat in the Dreamcast. The features added are really nice and some Sony should definitely add to PSN but to pay for something that was free and not even comparable to some of the great things we've seen on the PC and are seeing with numbers and ability of mods on the PS3.

Thats my opinion though. If you're paying for this don't call yourself the truest of gamers because MS did this realizing that most individuals can't afford the most high end PC's so they put all these features that have been available before and sell it off to people who have never experienced it. But we all know thats just MS stealing and manipulating the customer as usual.

[N4Garbage]

Easier features create more activity.

You can't invite any of your friends on the PsN with the click of a button or get an full description of your friends actions to see what he/she are up to.

You can't get on the PsN and hop right into a friends with the click of a button.

Blind folk can't see that those features make the XBL community embrace more social activity due to its simplicity.

The PsN left a bad taste in my mouth...being accustomed to XBL it felt like a downgrade and a service that I didn't want to experience not even for free.

I want to be able to connect with my buddies no matter what I'm doing...the feeling of just having a friend connect instantly to your game without having to go through trials and tribulations is great.

No matter what game it is...if there is a spot open you can get in it.

$50/yr is miniscule for on XBL I've met friends I can call family and the simplicity of XBL's features keep us connected easily with the addition of several other things that make XBL more user friendly then PCs.

My PsN friends list is moderately filled but (I don't know if it is just my Ps3) but my In Game XMB is so SLOW and laggy that I don't bother using it because it locks up at times.

Having to sit on the XMB playing NO GAMES waiting to receive a reply is horrid and for a system that released a year after the 360.

A year worth of time to research and improve features instead we get random firmware updates with each one liable to cause problems in a game of catch up.

[James Vanderbeek]

i dont need all the other crap.. One thing i like about PSN.. Its FREE and i dont have to subscribe to a membership.

Anyway most of my friends on my ps3 buddy list i dont even know.. And i sure as hell dont want to talk to them.. lol.. My actual friends on there dont even play video games like i do.. and if they do they dont really play games online.. the only time i chat to anyone on the psn is when im actually playing a game and talking to my teammates. I dont need the other stuff..

[Adolph Fitler]

It is not mentioned that PS3 allows up to 60 player lag free game sessions in Resistance 1 & 2, amongst other games, whereas, due to 360's p2p setup, a lot of games suffer from lag, with smaller numbers.

I agree that Sony needs to worry more about getting the basics right (like X game chat, easier friend joining abilities and such), but in the grand scheme of things, if some of these features cause other problems (like lag), then I'd prefer Sony's current free service.

I did buy my PS3 and 360 soley for game playing, the other stuffs just add ons that do not enhance the core playing experience. On saying that, 360's chat features are nowhere near perfect either. I have been cut off from private chats with friends, the mics break up something terrible a lot.

Some of you need to climb out of MS's ass so much, as they are providing a far from perfect (hell, even far from great) service, considering they charge you for it. I consider MS's charging of the service major milkage, considering it feels I am paying two different ISP's, for the same functions. The difference is that if I stop paying for Live, I can still access internet, play games and such on my pc or ps3, the only thing I can't use is something that should be free anyway. As opposed to this, if I fail to pay my REAL isp, I have nothing.

[hulud86]

This is stupid. If Sony could beat LIVE they would of done it by now. They wouldn't just sit around letting Xbox LIVE own the competition while they watch from the gutter.

This video reminds me of the PS3 and PSN:
http://www.geekologie.com/2...

[deividpaulo]

PSN is already better than LIVE!! FACT

[RumbleFish]

I do hope that PSN will never have Party Chat that would ruin tactical shooters for everyone. Cross Game Chat would be nice and the choice to have acoustic notifications. Everything else does not matter to me.

[Legion]

I really can't put into words how clueless Hippityhop is on this subject. (not that he knows anything more on any other gaming subject)

He might as well have said PSN will be better then LIve when they make it better. He is just full of it!!!