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PS3s Online Services to Compete With XBox 360 182

Posted by CmdrTaco from the big-surprise-here dept.
wh0pper writes "Dubbed WA!PS3 Online, Sony plans to combat the Xbox 360's download service with their own service for the Playstation 3. Though this is only going to happen in Asian markets at first, this adds even more fuel to the fiery debate over whether the Playstation 3 will have a hard drive included with the system. The Playstation 3 will be able to download games to the console for gamers to play and Sony says it will be better than the Xbox 360's features."
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PS3s Online Services to Compete With XBox 360 More

PS3s Online Services to Compete With XBox 360

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  • Name? (Score:3, Funny)

    by TheBogie ( 941620 ) on Thursday February 23, 2006 @03:06PM (#14786826) Journal
    WA!-T-F is with the name?

  • I'm hyped! (Score:5, Funny)

    by saboola ( 655522 ) on Thursday February 23, 2006 @03:06PM (#14786830)
    Anyone for an eight way match of Rootkit Wars on the PS3? Let me know and I will let my DRM PS3 get permission from your DRM PS3, only after Sony gives us both permission to play in the first place. Game on!
    • Anyone for an eight way match of Rootkit Wars

      Whomever modded the parent as Troll -1 is a MORON -5.

    • I can't think of any way to make the "in Soviet Russia" joke work for this story.

      Either way, you get clobbered with DRM.

      So instead, I'll steal a joke from an earlier article:
      In college, you owned a Sony. In Corporate America, SONY own YOU!

      I don't feel too bad about stealing that joke though, the /.er who originally made it designed http://www.dixie-chicks.com/ [dixie-chicks.com] as his personal website.

  • Where's the real stuff? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 23, 2006 @03:07PM (#14786840)
    I think I speak for a very large portion of the gamer base if I say :"Put up or shut up."

    So far Sony has been able to provide people with.. promises. Nothing concrete and no I don't consider a few screenshots or videos here or there as believeable material as most of them have already been revealed to be pre-rendered material.

    There's way too much hyping on both sides, yet only one party has so far been able to even deliver a reasonably working box to consumers.
    • Have to agree with you there. I'm skipping the 360 (like I did the xbox), because

      1. I don't like MS all that much
      2. GTA5 will be exclusive on PS3, at least for awhile.

      I'm not a PS fanboy, but you could say I'm pro PS, or more Anti-MS, whatever.. still these stupid bullshit vaporware press releases are annoying me. Show me something, or shut up until you're at least near where you need to be.

    • I think I speak for a very large portion of the gamer base if I say :"Put up or shut up."

      So far Sony has been able to provide people with.. promises. Nothing concrete and no I don't consider a few screenshots or videos here or there as believeable material as most of them have already been revealed to be pre-rendered material.

      Ah yes. Sony has never done anything. Like have the last two leading consoles. With thousands of titles. Selling hundreds of millions of consoles worldwide. Yes, I'd say t

      • SCE has what's called benefit of the doubt.

        Yeah, I remember when Atari and Nintendo had that too.

        -Eric

    • >> Where's the real stuff?

      Well since nobody seems to have patented reading between the lines and empty speculation yet (:P), I'll try to answer your question.

      This is how I interpret what's been happening with the PS3, especially in the last couple of weeks:
      1. IBM, Toshiba, and Kutaragi's part of Sony have a great, world-beating idea ---> Develop truly revolutionary hardware, and guarantee its success by riding on the back of a huge games catalogue (PS2), terrific hardware expertise (IBM and nVidia),
  • The PS3 is ditching memory cards for Sony's Memory Stick Pro Duo format (same as the PSP and newer Sony gear use), which hold up to 2GB of data right now. While that's not enough to hold a full traditional game, that is enough to hold mini-games and media content the likes of which are currently being seen on XBOX Live and happen to be very popular. While a HD is an option that I'd probably want, I like having the option of getting one in the size that fits my needs, and given the size of HD content, I'd
    • So they're going from insanely high price per megabyte of storage to just ridiculously highly priced storage. I thought the PS3 was supposed to have a reader for other memory card formats as well. Wonder if they're going to only the memory stick option will support other media like that.
      • Not exactly. I picked up a 1GB MS Pro Duo on sale for $45. You can pick up 2GB for around $100 shipped if you look. If the PS3 doesn't come with a HD, and I don't think it will to keep costs down so the $499, $45 for 1GB of storage space isn't a bad idea. Compared to $40 for 8MB of space on the PS2, it's a pretty significant price reduction.
        • I don't know, looking on Amazon the price for compact flash is still between 50% and 90% the price of memory stick. I bought a Sony camera a couple years back because the prices looked "close" to me. I've had to take endless ridicule from CF users as I hunted for bargains on memory stick that brought the price anywhere near that of cheap compact flash card.
        • Some things are more important than keeping costs down, like customer satisfaction. It would be nice if someone would just release a console without paring out features to buy seperately, but which pretty much everyone is going to need anyway. In the past, that should've been two controllers, and 1 game. In the present, that should be two controllers, a game, a HDD, onboard NIC, and a mic/headset. It seems that the idea of exceeding expectations has, as of late, been highly underused as a marketing tech
        • Compared to $100 for 20GB of space, it's all a friggin' joke. I'll never understand how people can spin memory cards (especially Sony's format) into a good thing - or even an "average" thing - for a game console when the Xbox demonstrated how great it is to have a hard drive (BTW- Microsoft's decision to release a version of the 360 with no hard drive was similarly boneheaded).

          I'm not against Sony generally but on the memory card issue I think they're completely out to lunch. This is particularly true
    • Great idea, one 50 dollar game per every 125 dollar proprietary memory card. Oh the savings.
  • "Sony says it will be better than the Xbox 360's features."

    Big surprise that Sony says that. Well it should be better since it's gonna be out over a year later than the 360.

    http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]
    • No one cares about your website. Put it in your sig where it belongs.
      • No one cares about your website.

        I liked it. I'd suggest you try to remember that the only person you speak for is yourself. Nobody voted you in as Grand Poobah.

        Put it in your sig where it belongs.

        He can put it wherever he pleases. Go be something less obnoxious, like a grammar nazi.

        Max

  • No HD in the US = foolish (Score:4, Insightful)

    by stupidfoo ( 836212 ) on Thursday February 23, 2006 @03:09PM (#14786858)
    What's the most widely acclaimed feature of the Xbox 360 so far? Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace (downloading demos).

    There is no question that any next gen system needs to have some type of local mass storage. The only question is how big it needs to be. The 360's 20GB HD is already looking way too small.

    Oh and Fight Night Round 3 kicks ass.
    • I agree with the "too small" thing. I just got my 360 last week and I already have a good amount of stuff on it. The quake 4 demo is over a gig. The PGR3 demo and a bunch of others are > 600 megs. HD trailers are hundreds of megs. Plus the 4 or 5 Live Arcade games I have too (not sure of the size on those though.

      I'm not pushing my HDD, but its by no means empty. And storage on the order of single digit gigabytes would not be enough IMO.

      Of course all of this may just be a ploy to sell memory stcks.

    • There is no question that any next gen system needs to have some type of local mass storage. The only question is how big it needs to be. The 360's 20GB HD is already looking way too small.

      Hard drives are so cheap nowadays I don't see why they don't bundle them with 250GB drives. Of course, it was very smart of them to have the hard drives be user-swappable in the 360, which makes upgrades in the future a very real possibility. If they're smart, they'll start letting people download full games soon. I h

      • I can't say for sure, but I'm betting that's exactly what the console manufacturers fear.

        Big publishers would never support a console that cut them out of the equation entirely. Madden would never shout "Boom!" on a machine that cut out EA. EB wouldn't be too thrilled about pushing a console that pushed them out.

        With downloadable games, a lot of development houses could cut out the publisher. More and more people these days are willing to throw some high-risk funds at video game developers. And develope
  • "and Sony says it will be better than the Xbox 360's features"

    you think... i don't think they would come out and say "we are going to add this thing but the 360 blows us out of the water.. hell we wish we had that feature set on this thing"

    everything you do is better in your own eyes.. only others (and not the people you pay) can tell you if it really is

  • "Better than the Xbox 360!" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Sparks23 ( 412116 ) * on Thursday February 23, 2006 @03:10PM (#14786870)
    ...Sony says it will be better than the Xbox 360's features.

    'cause no company, anywhere, has ever made claims like this as a matter of course. I mean, I'm sure Sony actually /will/ put together a good service; they have the know-how over in the Sony Online Entertainment division. But did that even really need to be quoted in the article? It's pretty much a given that Company A is going to say, when hyping their product, that it will be better than Company B's.

    I mean, can you imagine Nintendo, for instance, coming out and going, "Yes! The Revolution is cool...! But the Xbox 360 is a better product." Even if it were true (and of course, the jury is still out on the competition to the 360), of course they wouldn't say it. ;)
  • Is anyone else pronoucing that WASP online, also?

    Submitter could have just included the next two sentences and left off the link entirely, too.

    ---John Holmes...

  • Goes something like this: (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 23, 2006 @03:12PM (#14786892)
    Microsoft: "And then.. my system.. it's gonna have a harddrive.. and a..uh.. wireless controllers.. and it's HD compatible.. and I'm gonna make the, uh, Live even awesomer."

    Sony: "Nuh uh! Your system is poop! Mine's gonna be awesomerer than your's! My system is gonna have, uh.. um..A ROUTER.. and uh, dual shock 3.. maybe I can squeeze in a harddrive.. nah, no harddrive. well, maybe.. And it's gonna play the Blu Rays! And, and, and it's gonna go online too! Only faster than your system! With prettier colors! And more funner games than what you've got! And I'm gonna call PS Web! It's gonna rock. So, nya!"

    Microsoft: "Wow, that sounds pretty cool." Here's mine *shows an Xbox360 Premium*

    Sony: "DOODY HEAD!!!"

    somethin like that

    meanwhile, Nintendo is playing quietly in the sandbox by itself making controllers in the sand and revolutionizing the way the other kids are playing on the playground they've been using for years.

    • To quote another /.er, "Sony and Microsoft are fielding the greatest cavalry regiments known to the world. Nintendo is building a nuclear missile."
      • That's the most willfully ass-backward analogy I've seen in a long while. Nintendo's the one producing the less technologically advanced solution. A better way to look at it is that Microsoft have made an Uzi, Sony are working on an AK-47, and Nintendo are putting the finishing touches to a Nerf Chinese repeating crossbow [atarn.org]. I know which has the latest and greatest technology, but I'm sure there's fun to be had with the crossbow that I won't get elsewhere as well.
    • Meanwhile, sinisterly lurking in the background is Father O'Atari, looking to molest the first boy to venture from the herd.

      -Eric

  • 1. Dupe [slashdot.org]: you made the list [slashdot.org] (or you would if I cared enough to add it).

    2. It's not going to be as good as Revolution: I'd given up on consoles (I'm not spending over 60hrs walking around some rpg fantasy land, slowly) - but the revolution allowing me to download old snes games from my past sealed the deal.

    3. I would like to pass my condolences to CowboyNeal (aka. da honk) for being shot yesterday at 2.47am while running his pimp service on the streets of Harlem, and wish his right arm a speedy recovery. I wi
    • I think the real news here is that it is only going to be released in Asia to start with.
      Also, the point is brought up that the PS3 doesn't even have a HDD announced yet. All this is majorly pointing to a tiered release like the 360 had. After all, if us non-Asian countries don't have access to the online action, what would we be doing with the hard drive?
      And I think I recall reading something about developers or some other group wondering how Sony is planning on fiting everything into its little model bo
    • 2. the revolution allowing me to download old snes games from my past sealed the deal.

      Okay enough about the old game downloads already. It's as much crap as those who keep their PSP's at firmware 1.0 so they can play hacked roms on the new hardware. As cool as that is, does it really make sense? I have a ton of old videogames that I never play even though I could and why would you even buy a $300+ device just so you can play 10 year old games on it? Not to mention the fact that Nintendo isn't going

      • Re:3 things (Score:3, Interesting)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

        Mostly, my Xbox is a media player. Secondly, it is an emulator, and I have full collections of genesis/megadrive and snes games on it (everything from US and UK, plus some translatations of Japanese roms.) Thirdly, it is an Xbox, and plays Xbox games. I have spent vastly more time playing SNES games than Genesis games, and vastly more time playing Genesis games than Xbox games.

        In particular, the Xbox is a better player of most games (those which are supported, which is the vast majority) than the origin

      • along with the Pimp's reasons above, I could never afford the games I wanted when I was a kid - they all cost ~$50.

        Plus I find platforms games more fun and skillful - I have yet to see something like those cool minecart levels (like the speed and timing required) in the Donkey Kong Country recreated in a 3d game. You get the very occasional platform game for newer consoles, but they're not as great as the entire nintendo backcatalogue put together.
        Additionally, since I have a PS2, and Sega has released the
      • Not to mention the fact that Nintendo isn't going to let you play without paying so there's a whole other paying for the same content in multiple media argument.

        What's funny is people say that, but at the same time tout the xbox Live, which makes you pay for EVERYTHING including to play games you already bought! Nintendo doesn't charge me extra to play online games for free with the DS. That must be why it took them much less time to get the same amount of unique connections to Nintendo WiFi Connection
  • You know they'll end up with a tiered model just like the 360 did. That way they can advertise a lower price for the one model (appearing less expensive) yet still offer the premium bundle for those who want the hard drive. As for competing with Xbox Live, it had better be a damn good service. Ever since buying my Xbox I have been quite impressed with the workings of Live; even more so with the 360. There's not much I can really see being added in terms of features though. Personally, I'm quite happy with
  • Whats next are they shipping every ps3 with a puppy ... ofcourse the puppy will be better than microsofts puppy ... lets see some product ... this garbage PR is just ... well garbage ... i can see an xbox 360 i can hold it ... i can love it ... i can play it ... well maybe in 2 weeks when its delivered ... but it's real dammit!
  • I'm used to getting the regular overdose'ing of googlewhore'ing.
    And since I'm a googlewhore, I readily enjoy and appreciate this.
    But Sonywhore'ing? Don't like it, don't want it!

    Slashdot is starting to suck just a little more every day.
    When did it jump the shark?

  • Sony should be... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by corellon13 ( 922091 )
    focusing on just making a great product. I think Xbox is winning this by keeping all the focus on them (free advertising/publicity).

    I think what Sony needs to do is make a solid product and actually make sure they have a better game line up. One of the main reasons I switched from Gamecube to Xbox was because I was attracted by titles that I couldn't get on Gamecube. All that to say that I don't think that throwing a lot of hardware and technology is the way to go. Instead, software features and game tit
    • I think Xbox is winning this by keeping all the focus on them...
      I think XBox is winning by having their product on store shelves today... sort of...

      Anyway, how can 2 products battle when one product is a myth?

  • Sony hypes something up! Sony says theirs is better! I'm shocked! Say it isn't true!

  • In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by aardwolf64 ( 160070 ) on Thursday February 23, 2006 @03:37PM (#14787094) Homepage
    PS3s Online Services to Compete With XBox360

    Well, duh! In other news, Coke to compete with Pepsi!!! Stay tuned to Slashdot where, after these brief messages from the OSDN ad network, we'll discuss how Gillette's next product will be competing with Schick! :-P
    • It really isn't that obvious. Sony currently doesn't have an online service competing with XBox Live. They have broadband hardware, but the online part is left up to the game publishers. There is no centralized service, there is not one price. Each game on the PS2 can have it's own monthy charge for connection and there is no coordination between them.

      In contrast, you pay for XBox Live once, and login once, and from there see where all your friends are playing, send invites to them to come join you for
  • I would prefer Slashdot to show a interesting new content.
    This one is just reiterating buzz-word [wikipedia.org] about vaporware [wikipedia.org], that has been posted before [slashdot.org].
  • Get the Gaminator 5200. It will have better network even then puny PS3! You want polygons? Gaminator 5200's got way more than pathetic Xbox 360. Xbox 360? You make me laugh! So, don't waste money now on Xbox 360, nor put in pre-order for PS3 in 2007. Come 2008, you will be sick with any such purchase, vomiting up little bits of cheetos having wasted money on puny and pathetic system. Better to save for Gaminator 5200!
    • HA! You call that puny Gaminator a "gaming system"? What a joke! It's NOTHING compared to our company's "God-Mocker 9000 Ultimate Lifestyle Alterer System". It has 2,000 TB of storage (on special superconductive solid-state storage chips) and a quadruple-core Cray quantum computer CPU. And it's capable of supporting over 400 hexmillion polygons at 20 gfps, making it a 100x more realistic than the real world.

      Don't settle for some pansy-ass Gaminator! For 2010, they is only ONE system to buy. Think the futu

  • This is the third non-story about the PS3 we've had in the past month (that I've seen). About every week, it seems there's a need to include an empty article about the 360 versus the PS3 just to start the same discussion over again. Sure, last week we called this service "HUB" [slashdot.org] and two weeks prior to that it was that"things could look bad for Microsoft's new system" [slashdot.org] eventhough no one had any ideas or facts abotu anything.

    It's all a combination of Sony wanting to maintain the hype by sending out non-facts via
    • Sony is scared shitless that the people holding out for a PS3 will stop waiting and buy a 360.

      There are good reasons to think the PS3 will be a 2007 release in a giant box at $1000 (the PS3 is a Blu-ray player and more, how's it going to be half the size and half the price of a Blu-ray player alone?) so Sony keeps making sure little blurbs about how awesome they are and that the PS3 is just around the corner. Of course the fact that no one has seen one, and that they aren't even showing demos, but only pre
  • I am all for the PS3 and the capabilities it will have, but first off, wasnt there a /. article a week or 2 ago saying the PS3 online networking system was being called "HUB" or something to the effect?

    2nd off, from what I've read (quite a bit, mind you...) no the PS3 is not going to have a hard-drive included, it's supposed to be a seperate add-on from what I understand... I think the download service the article refers to was supposed to put the games on BDs when you bought the content online through te

  • Can I download the source files for Toy Story 1 and render it in real time with this?

    Pretty please?
  • It's going to take quite a bit of effort for Sony to top Live. Not saying they can't, but Sony has a history of hype that doesn't always match actual product.
  • So... how is this news that one consolemaker is trying to compete with another consolemaker?

    Or were people thinking they were trying to compete with a Whopper?

    Or is the article trying to imply that the fact that they are going to have an online service hasn't been well known for ages?

  • Yeah, we have some breaking news from the Sony vaporware dept!

    Is it just me, or is this really old news? Sony has been promising this since GT4. Oh yeah, and it will work with the PSP too? *snicker* I'd like to see that. I really would. But I don't think that I will.
  • Should stand for "Wicked Awesome!!!!" That would be the biscuit! (Apparently kids no longer say "the bomb"
  • Why not call it Degos Online.

    The fact that they didn't catch that they are using an ethnic slur as the name of their online services suggests it's time to short the stock.

    Donald Trump would fire someone for that. How stupid can you be. And it's not like they don't have a whole lot of eyes looking at this stuff.

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