PS3's Response to Xbox LIVE

[Aaron]

Exclusive: PS3 HUB; September Launch
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

According to well-placed industry sources, PlayStation HUB will offer PlayStation 3 owners much the same services as Xbox Live, including chat, downloadable demos, independent games and online play. The service is also designed to support PSP online play as well as PS3. It's a departure from PlayStation 2's online strategy, widely regarded as vastly inferior to Microsoft's.

PlayStation HUB is being described to developers as a 'subscriber service' suggesting a monthly charge. We understand the service is being created by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, although this is unconfirmed.Sony boss Howard Stringer is pushing for all media content to be available for distribution over PlayStation HUB, such as music and movies, thus opening up a powerful iTunes-like distribution network for Sony.

The article also states that PlayStation 3 is currently scheduled to launch in September. Looks to me the console war is starting to heat up! - Ed.

[sylv3rblade]

hmm... PS3 HUB = XBOX live? I wonder what other features or content will be made available. XBOX Live content is hard to match as it is.

[Einhanderkiller]

Playstation HUB has a lot to live up to.

The iTMS-esque store won't be easy.

[Master Penguin]

This sucks. One of the reason is used to brag about my ps2 to friends is that i played online for free and they had to pay for xbox LIVE. :(

O wel, i guess il have to wait for Nintendo and see what they do.

[MeTaLsIck]

In my honest opinion, I think Sony will try and fail miserably. Although they have a good idea, Xbox has set a rather high standard and Sony has a reputation of falling flat on their face in new console/idea production.

[Ha-In]

hehe. Nintendo Revolution, X-Box 360, and PlayStation 3… All of them have innovations, especially Nintendo Revolution. Sadly, Nintendo Revolution has lower resolution HDTV output. One big factor in determining the sucess of a console is the number of games available for it. Generally, X-Box 360 will be geared towards the American population.

[CrazyMuffin]

Yup, the guy who created LIVE jumped ship and is working for Sony now. So its basically stealing LIVE and adding to it.

You take one thing that was successful with the competition and copy the shit out of it, which in truth is always good since it gives a great idea more reason. It'll work as long as their game titles take full advantage of the online capabilities.

I love the Playstation gaming platform, and always have.

But Sony's DRM is ****ing evil.

We're talking about shit that will erase half the CD if you try to import songs from a Sony CD, or stuff like making the original MP3 completely useless after it's downloaded to any other portable MP3 players, etc etc.

So who gives a shit about that? Not to mention the fact Sony is a mostly a hardware developer, while Microsoft is a mostly software developer. Microsoft will always be better for online gaming on console systems than Sony. It's just basics.

[Einhanderkiller]

Hey, we're talking about Playstation HUB here, not that DRM fiasco. :D

Originally Posted by CrazyMuffin

Microsoft will always be better for online gaming on console systems than Sony. It's just basics.

You can't be too sure on that...
Sony seems to be trying pretty hard to get a centralized online multiplayer hub running, and they do have a few more months to complete it, so it could (not saying that it will), in some ways, surpass Xbox Live.