Duċk;2617510
To be fair, I'd pay $50 a year for XBL after using PSN. The XBL Marketplace and its constant flood of Arcade games, trailers, demos, and other things are worth the $50 alone... they're things that are sorely missed on the PS3.
Please list all the content available on XBL in March of 2003
(more than year after the Xbox was launched, and four months after XBL was launched)?
How about a list of all the content available on XBL in March of 2006
(three years after XBL launch, and four months after the XB360 launch)?
PSN is only four months old and already available in over 50 countries
(if Wikipedia is correct, XBL is currently available in only 37 countries).
PSN already has over 125 different downloadable content, including:
- 10 Games +some additional ADD-ON game packages
- 15 Game Demos
- Over three hours of trailers, clips, and behind the scenes videos, most of which are available in 1080p
The PS Stores are very easy to navigate through, and they always place the most recently added files on the very first page. Now that there is background downloading as well as the ability to download multiple files, even from multiple accounts accessing files from different regional PS Stores, I'd say the PSN is in fact quite impressive... especially considering its only been four months for crying out loud.
At this rate, and with Home coming online in the near future, I’d say PSN is not only an excellent feature as it stands right now, but looks to be developing at a much more rapid pace than XBL ever did.
I will agree though with others that XBL should be free for what you get compared to what PSN offers today, and how quickly PSN is developing and growing.
- Audio and videophiles are the only ones who are really grasping for the high-end stuff, as most people neither care about or understand what most of it means, and what it does. Beyond that, they would have to buy plenty of new equipment to take full-advantage of the PS3, and I don't know many people who are doing it...
You are certainly entitles to that opinion, however I think you'll find many people would not agree with it. Judging by sales of HDTV's over the last ten years and that the market for these expensive consoles is not exactly filled with your low brow consumer using low definition displays.
I realize some are, but I seriously doubt most of them are, and in fact I strongly suspect the opposite is true, given the relative high cost and high performance of the consoles and games. These factors would attract more customers who not only have the means for high quality displays, but who also appreciate what they have to offer. Otherwise, one might as well stick with older consoles that work just fine on lesser quality displays, and at a fraction of the cost of a next gen console.
- High-Capacity games doesn't seem like a deal-maker to me. Yes, there are limits to the current DVDs used by the 360, and it has been driven-home time and time again... But why are so many studios jumping ship to the 360 if there is so much more room to use on the PS3?
Easy. There is a 10 million user base to sell to... and even if they are given seriously trimmed versions of the game on XB360, they'll be just as good as what they are currently getting, so they'll buy them. If I was a game developer I'd be doing the exact same thing. Trim down a game, repackage it for XB360, and pocket the profits.
As far as capacity, anyone familiar with Moore's Law, how it’s effect carrys over to multiple industries, including gaming, and who follows or researches the game industry in regards to the size of the games, and the average storage capacity being used over the last ten years, knows that some developers are already needing more capacity than DVD can hold, and the numbers are only going to grow - especially if they want to model games in 1080p.. and at 60fps!
I'm sorry, but the XB360 not supporting games on a high capacity disc format is the same as if the PS2 and Xbox only supported games on CD-ROM.
- On the subject of HDMI, I'm not certain. I think whats important there is that Microsoft is including it with the 360, it isn't something you have to buy later like you do with the PS3...
HDMI cable costs less than $1 per foot. Personally, I would prefer to buy my own, so I know the quality, and get the length I want.
If you want to cry fowl, ask MS why they charge so much for their HDDs and other accessories. If you tried to build a premium XB360 to match as closely to a PS3 as possible, you’d have to spend several hundred dollars more.
- WiFi isn't a feature that I can see many people going crazy about either. Simply put, I don't trust WiFi to carry a bandwidth necessary for online gaming at the best-rates, beyond that, it being a 'safe' idea for data transfer as well. Microsoft has noted that most of their user-base uses Ethernet connections (myself included), so why have a feature that most of the users won't take advantage of? My friend has brought his Wii over to my house numerous times, and the WiFi on that drives me insane. The connection is never constant, and you have to buy some outrageous add-on to get it to work with my Ethernet port...
I never use my Ethernet, except for the one desktop that is in my office where the cable modem sits. In five years I can count the WiFi drops on just one hand
(my internet service has dropped, but that has nothing to do with WiFi, but just problems from my ISP).
As for transfer speeds, the PS3 WiFi adapter can transmit up to 54Gbps... that's more than ten times faster than most broadband connections. Thus the only limiting factors are the person's internet connection and the traffic on the servers where you are downloading from, which effects Ethernet as well. It's a non issue.
- I think Duck summed-up the online issue pretty well. Sony's setup is decent-ish, but it isn't nearly as good as that of XBL. Microsoft hit the spot with marketplace, and the speed and simplicity of it is outstanding. Granted, HOME may be an interesting addition to the PS3 to move a few more units, but again, I don't know many people who buy a PS3 just for the free online gaming... But for $50 a year, I don't see that as an outrageous price. I used to spend more than that a month at the local arcade...
(see my response to Duck's comments)
- Additional features? What? SD card slots? PSP connectivity?
Yes, yes, and more. Support for 7 wireless controllers, SACD, XMB, Bluetooth, four USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet port, support for Linux, Ubuntu, Fedora Core 5, Gentoo, Debian, Yellow Dog, and other OS, among other things.
In addition, for those that want to help medical research, PS3's are now part of
Stanford's F@H Project... and are absolutely
outperforming every PC that is participating.
...I was at Target the other day and I found it rather funny to see how many PS3s were sitting on the shelves. I have yet to be able to locate a Wii anywhere near me, and 360s are indeed selling well enough, but there are usually a few around wherever you go these days (well, it has been out a while...)...
if we are to believe you, what does that mean any way? A product that is selling briskly and being restocked regularly will be on the shelves. A product that doesn't sell at all, and is not being restocked, may not have any on the shelf. In other words, without that stores actual sales figures, making a snap judgment on just your observations offers no meaning what so ever.
Maybe you didn't
read the news, but despite the much higher cost of the PS3 in Europe compared to Japan and the US, more PS3's sold in two days than XB360 sold in over a month following its launch.... yeah, they sure are sitting on shelves getting dusty from all the lack of demand.
Look, I get it. Apparently you don't care much about high def, high fidelity, and/or high capacity movies and games. I know Duck has made it clear he is happy with his 27" non HDMI TV, and has said he wont likely be replacing it for the next five years. However, judging by the sales of HDTVs over the last ten years, and sales of PS3's over the last four months, clearly many people do.
), and Debian? I doubt it's officially supported either.
