Xfire is "complementary" to Sony's PNP service

ill stick with my xbox live thanks

Every platform has its achilles heel, I suppose.
It is interesting, though, that Sony will have the SAME ONE two generations in a row: I am thoroughly unconvinced that they have their act together at all in the online arena.

i LOVE xfire, if my PS3 tracks my gamehours and lets me see them and my friends online like it does for PC i think i will cry tears of joy

Is there a way to get Xfire to jump on tips earlier?

I submitted this tip minutes after the press release went online...

I just assumed you guys didn't think it would be good news..

Do I have to put something special in the Subject line?

"Every platform has its achilles heel, I suppose.
It is interesting, though, that Sony will have the SAME ONE two generations in a row: I am thoroughly unconvinced that they have their act together at all in the online arena."

PS3's utter lack of online services will be a dealbreaker for many in this generation. Last generation, xbox came out AFTER PS2, so it was understood that their online component was not comparable. However, Sony has had years to investigate and invest in a solid online component to their game platform. Sadly, they not only dropped the ball, they chose not to even compete.

le sigh.

"ill stick with my xbox live thanks"

ditto.

I hate to once again go on with the sony hate, but their online seems to be very unorganized.

I actually thought x-fires was dead, I mean ageia doesn't even bundle it with it physx drivers anymore. $ony really needs to pull their head out on this whole online thing, it's a rather large deal breaker for many gamers.

Xbox live and online play is overated and its a money making scheme and people get sucked right in. Where was the time that we buy "FULL" games without contents taken out? People are OK with paying lot more money through online marketplace for contents they wouldve gotten for free previous gen yet they bitch about the console price. Online play is cool but it shouldnt be so much a focus that deters from the game itself. I rather play a "full" game before getting online and play it with other people.

Xbox Live and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection FTW!

Xbox live is the xbox360 for me, I can't imagine gaming without my friends throughout the world. Shase, you seem to have Live confused with Microtransactions, I Love live but have never purchased any extra's of any sort for any game.

Besides, often I will go staright to online play before I even touch the single player game. I'm competetive though, perhaps if you aren't up to it, then gaming vs your peers isn't for you.

I suck at all forms of online play, so it isn't really a big deal for me. I get my butt handed to me regularly on Battle.net; the last time I played unreal online it wasn't even fun I was so outclassed.

Basically, I don't have the time to get good enough at a game to hold my own with 15 yr olds who have all night and most of the day to do just that.

The Single player experience is much more important to me.

Edit: I meant Is there a way to get *Joystiq (not Xfire) to jump on tips earlier.

What I don't understand is why Sony doesn't try to buid some steam showing their on-line component. Why wait, any chance to quell some of the doubts should be a goal for them at this point.

I have my own suspisions about this, but I think that this should a valid question for anyone who is looking to purchase the PS3 for its on-line component.

#6"Online play is cool but it shouldnt be so much a focus that deters from the game itself. I rather play a "full" game before getting online and play it with other people."

Good luck with that. Sony's planning on charging for things that should be included with every game. e.i. damaged car models in Gran Toourismo. What else? You buy a disc which has a single leve on it and you pay for every add on? Cars? Check. More than 1 track? Costs extra. That is where sony is heading with microtransations. Not a pretty picture eh?

So this will end up like the PSP online capabilities. I will not be pleased.

#9. Live's matchmaking service takes skill into account in many (if not all) titles... I seem to have a good match every game I get into. (Except the All-Inners in Texas Holdem) :)

Oh yay! You can "chat" with PS3 users and how will they respond? I mean I use the keyboard more then my headset on xfire and the "calls" don't really have that great of quality. So it looks like, unless Sony gives out free keyboards with the PS3, this is completely useless, yay!

Methane47: It just depends on when we get to it. We've got a bunch of new writers, all juggling different schedules. In this case, I was gonna run this last night, found some other, more interesting things, and delayed it until I had some time.

"Xbox live and online play is overated"

Online play is overrated? You Sony fanboys are really grasping at straws now.

online play overated?

besides co-op online is the thing that got me to buy an xbox and then an xbox 360. even if its just to play some madden or halo with my brother in another state or some 0ld college buddies. yes its bigger than most think and a vital part of any console this gen. more so than hd gaming in my opinion. being able to chat across games or what ever with my family and friends alone makes it worth the 50 bucks i pay a year.

live, love it.

@13
They explained that the GTHD "1 track version" will have the cost of game and case- me thinks 20$. and if you buy the tracks/cars to your liking you can save money or pay for the delux version with tracks and cars in it. I am not a racing fan but its a decent deal.

@8

There are games where i like to play online- DDR, Counterstrike, etc. My point is that the developers should make the game great single player before great multiplayer/online because the majority of the gamers play the single player first not multiplayer.

shase

and my first week of gears of war will be beating the game on the hardest setting with my boy from canada on the co-op online. its the same game just ur buddie takes the palce for Dom.

Many games have great single player and killer multiplayer. Like saints row.

But like i said its more than playing online. I have 20 family and friends on my friends list. while we play 2 seperate games either online or offline we can voice chat. a function we have yet to verify will be in sony's online solution. that alone makes it worth while. we cna both be playign the single player and enjoying it together thru chat. Like in saints row when me and my boy were playing we were trelling each other cool things like go get drunk its sweet stuff like that. enjoying the experience together.

online is about connecting friends. not just beating other players. thats a part of it u donlt see and i am sorry u don't but that alone is what makes the 360 live so much better than the old xbox live.

like microsoft says. its about the rings. games, friendds, lifestyle.

thats why the 360 comes with a head set. and silver mebers can voice chat so no neeed to pay for it. its bigger than gaming online. if u have no experienced it u will not understand

Wouldn't it be PSNP? PlayStation (PLAYSTATION) 3 = PS3, PlayStation Portable = PSP, PlayStation Network Platform = PSNP. They're really stretching to keep with the 3 character motif there. Cripes, just name it PSN or something. Or PSL (PlayStation Live) *snicker*

PNP or PnP in other non gaming scenes refers to "Party N Play", in reference to Doing Meth and having sex.

Is everyone using the jump to conclusions mat here?

You do have a single account for regular gaming, your "playstation online" account. I am not certain if subscription-based gaming (MMOs) have other accounts or not.

Why are people so sure Sony's system sucks if they haven't seen it?

Lefty:
Saints Row's online is awful. I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm a little down on the single player game now too, since I finally 100% it, then tried to play the final mission (the one you usually die on otherwise) and the game LOCKS UP EVERYTIME when you try to start the mission.

No game that rewards you for 100%ing it with a huge bug crash gets a great rating from me.

http://console.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MjE2NjMsLCxoY29uc29sZSwsLDE=

Very lame.

There's no sign of a headset on the PS3. No jack on the controller. I would expect you use Bluetooth headsets. I really doubt whether this feature will be done on day 1 though. I agree that the voice chat feature of Live 360 is very nice. Sony has to match it quickly.

Steve2

i have no issues with the online.
i have completed the game with no lockup at the end. sorry top hear bout that. no bigge u donlt get an achievment or anything. just a cut scene thats crappy, like nothing happens realy u blow up thats it, and u get credits lol.

and i was using siants row as an example cause its the game i am playing now. best online game so far for the 360 is cod2 hands down i think till gears fo war.

what i was trying to get across is its more than just playing with ur friends. its the connecting with them 360 live does. the cross game voice chat is the best feature period

Live Anywhere?

I honestly dont see the big deal about Online games, despite me playing the BIGGEST online game at the moment: WoW. I can see where it is fun that you can chat with your friends online and stuff but in all honesty, my RL friend don't game. Im the only 'video game freak', as they ve labeled me, so i don't really care about the 'online with friends' aspect.

Also multiplayer is fun but it's not a deal breaker for me. Which seems to go for A LOT of people. Most people just want to be immersed in the game, not chatting with a friend, to me that takes out the immersion. If your playing a FPS then that adds to it but for about 90% of the time When i play a game (be it on 360 or PS3, tho im pro-sony) i just want to get 'lost' in it's world and chatting it up takes me out of it, could be just me.

Anyhow if an online component is a dealbreaker for you then in all honesty, your NO gamer, you should just go to a chatroom or something. Before you bite my head off, remember, you buy the system to PLAY games, NOT get distracted by 'chatting' it up with your friend. Online should be a side bonus, not a primary drive to buy the system and PLAY games.

jojo29

like i stated befor. if u have never experienced it than u wouldn't know. And when u play co-op in a game like gears its huge. to experience that immersion with u good buddy or pal. and i have gotten to the point that i have friends who even thouhg i met them on live are as close to me as real life friends. we have spoken over the phone, sent each other pictures of pur families or new born children and with video chat can now see face to face every day.

ur a hold over of the last era of gaming and u even mentioning saying u have real world friends shows u miss it. These are guys and girls i have gamed with nigntly for years. And would never consider it diff than a friend we have offline. the connection we now have woth the iternet and voice and video chat allows us to make that friendship more real world and blur the lines that seperate it. Sure i have friends on my list i would not consider good friends but i have a core group that i would consider close friends and have never met them in person.

u don't have that connection so u wouldn't understand. Not to mention my brother who lives a thousand miles away and how we can connect every evening for some catch up chatting and gaming.

And about single player experience when ur both playing the same game and chatting its like ur boy comming over and playing that new game with you. you experience stuff together and gives u that next elvel of enjoyment as u laugh at soemthing funny or get scared shitless and ur boy is on the other end laughing at u only to experience the same thing 2 seconds later.

so in short its something u have never fully experienced be it ur situation or what ever. Many of us have and for us yes its a deal breaker specially in this day and age. obviously we are from 2 sepereate eras and we will view this much diff but the ones on here who weigh online heavily know exactly what i am talking bout. This is what ahs made live such a huge hit even if its just a bunch of friends playing uno on webcam. Hopefully one day u will see it and have thjose relationships with others from diff parts of the world like most of us on live had from that funny guy from london to my over worked buddy in canada. with out live gaming would never be the same for me and many others.

Lefty, you didn't complete the game.

Go back, get 100% on the game (in the percent completed field), and go back and try that mission again. Maybe you'll survive this time right? Maybe there's a different ending for getting 100%?

Yeah, there is, it locks up when you try to start the mission.

I'm not making it up, it happened to me, my friend (who had it first and I didn't believe him), and I posted a link to others who reported it.

LAME.

The online doesn't crash on me, but it's rarely any fun. It just isn't designed well. It feels like it was thrown in. The game is good enough to buy without the multiplayer added in, which is good, since the multiplayer doesn't add anything worth having.

Still not a great game, because of the lockup at 100% and the general crashiness in general. It's no fun having to walk over to my TV and open my cabinet to reboot my 360 every 2-3 hours.

Gamerx and number 7, why do you have to use l33t speak? "FTW!"???? Grow up you docile little sh!t.
At least have a valid point before you post. I mean "M$ pwned $ony"??? Its just sad, and I can feel my trigger finger getting itchy. I would play you online on my overpriced blu-ray player but your stupid remote control games console cant hack it. I hate microsoft's patronising games console just as much. Bring back Atari. Now, they would know how to do online play....

live is probably the best thing about the 360, its great fun checking up on other people and making new buddies during online play. the demo downloads are free and meant you didnt have to go to e3 to play the demos. its touches like that that really impressed me with live over the year, and its not too expensive either, and there is one core service without a multitude of 3rd party servers runing together. The only exception being phantasy star online and ff 11 where you have have an added charge.

i also heard that for some ps3 games it will use gamespy, so there are going to be multiple third party servers running their live network just like the old ps2 live system.

oh and whoever mentioned buying content, sony have already stated they are selling extras on the live system, such as buying tracks and cars in gt:hd and songs in singstar. The stuff for graw, or oblivion on xbox live, is extra to the game, made after to enhance and prolong it, by all rumours gt:hd is going to sell with very few cars and tracks and require purchase.

Live is the best thing about the 360, that and Halo are the only real reasons I would say it sold any Xboxes at all, otherwise It would have been a flop, whenever there was a discussion last gen, the only things xbox fanboys could mention about the xbox over the PS2 or Gamecube was gfx, halo and live, yet, althought the PS2 online wasn't developed, it still outnumbered the ppl playing on Live because it was free and cheap to buy at the shop, I got online for £15 and never suffered from lag issues, to this day I still play happily on PS2 online, and I didn't even need all this gamertag and friend list business, I have MSN for that. Halo was hyped and well, the PS2 had better games.