The battle ensues: New Xbox Live Vs PS3 Home
By Dave Parrack
This generation has seen a new battleground for the console wars: the online community offerings. Up to now, few would argue that the Xbox 360 has ruled the roost, with Xbox Live offering a brilliant and user-friendly place for gamers to congregate. But the battle lines are now being redrawn as the all-new Xbox Live attempts to go up against Home on the PS3.
The Tokyo Game Show has brought few surprises, but some interesting announcements, nonetheless. In terms of the new online offerings from both companies, Sony confirmed that its long-awaited Playstation Home service, exclusive to the PS3, will be here by the end of the year; while Microsoft announced details of its New Xbox Live ‘Experience’ - coming to a 360 near you on November 19th.
Home has been a long time coming and there are still mixed views over whether it will actually live up to the hype built over the past three years. It’s still not quite here, currently stuck in private beta, but a full, open beta has been promised before the end of 2009.
Home will allow PS3 owners to create an avatar and decorate their own apartment. They will then be able to live out a virtual life, online, in a kind of Second Life way. Community will be the order of the day, with meeting new people, chatting, hanging out together and generally cohabiting being the main bulk of the experience.
Other features will include a virtual cinema, showing movies, stores by companies such as EA, Rockstar, and Sega, and of course the chance to play against other gamers online for free.
The New Xbox Live ‘Experience’ demonstrates a whole new way of thinking by Microsoft. According to an interesting look at the new online playground by CNET, the Experience is mostly about the new avatars, which themselves are just a rip off of Wii Miis.
Another new feature will be ‘Parties’, a new way of interacting with friends and keeping track of who’s playing what. But apart from that, there doesn’t look to be too much to get excited about. And to be honest, I can see many Xbox Live veterans not being happy at the changes, clearly intended to appeal to the more casual end of the gaming spectrum.
I can see both services having difficulties for a few months, with Xbox 360 owners struggling to adapt to the changes while PS3 owners will have to come to grips with the complete change of pace on their network. In the end though, despite all the difficulties, delays and disappointments in getting Home here, I think it’ll prove to be the ultimate winner.
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Tips N4G
October 9th, 2008
Oh Yeah Dave like Avtars on the PS3 are not Rip Offs of the Mii’s as well.
October 9th, 2008
As for the the update I’ll stay num on the subject for now until it drops but I would welcome some organization with the arcade and finding things. Going through the list in the downloaded games list is a pain. There is so much content.
October 10th, 2008
HOME will bring a lot of new PS3 owners. Is going to be addictive.
October 10th, 2008
End of ‘09? I thought it was this year.
Ah well, home should be good when it finally gets here
October 10th, 2008
Exactly CAD, but remember, Sony does nothing wrong in some people’s eyes.
October 10th, 2008
This further supports the argument that Microsoft are catching up with the PS3 why would they release a service to apparently compete (thats hard to see, Home and the New xbox is like comparing chalk and cheese because theyre totally different) with Home, even though Home has been announced ages ago. They just Don’t have any imagination Microsoft. Their slogan should be “Me too”
October 10th, 2008
hey cad remember home was announced at gdc before wii miis wre
October 10th, 2008
@ bourne, so trophies (a blatant rip off of achievements), in game xmb (rip off of 360), chat pad (rip off of 360) are all original ideas by Sony? If anything, Sony is trying to play catch up, not the other way around.
You PS3 boys amuse me.
October 10th, 2008
Hairy, whoa no-one said that those ideas were original. Its just what with Microsoft not only ripping off hardware, they also enjoy stealing exclusives s their devs cant be arsed to create anything original or fun.
Microsoft have enjoyed spoils from:
1. PS Home
2. Tekken 6
3. Wii avatars
4. Final Fantasy
5. Posssible blu-ray
October 10th, 2008
Bourne really stop trying. Bottom Line is when 360 droped everything was in place. PS3 with every update becomes a 360. Instead of coming up with something new they mirror the 360. Business teaches you that if you want to become sucessful, mimic a sucessful Idea. Harry you forgot to mention Wireless controllers, Movie Downloads, arcade, demos, Videos, Online game play, Hard Drive and rumble. Then you get these stupid people saying 360 copies Sony. God where are your brains.
October 10th, 2008
This list is so funny:
Wireless controllers - obvious for this generation. existed on pc before
Movie Downloads - couldn’t care less but maybe ok
arcade - you mean the smaller games, also pretty obvious when one enters a timeframe where everything is connected by the web
demos - were around since way before the xbox
Videos - see arcade
Online game play - see arcade, video
Hard Drive - well even if Sony stole this idea (which is oh-so-original) at least they did it right and everyone has one and can easily switch it. It is a real hard drive.
rumble has been there for ages - also since before the xbox…
I’m not saying that Sony invented those things but neither did Microsofts XboX… Each and every console ’steals’ from somewhere thus enabling progress. It’s fine the way it is…
October 10th, 2008
CAD, wtf? How is Home copying Microsoft? Microsoft have just churned out a pathetic attempt to Copy Home and thrown it out before Home making Xbots like you think Sony is actually Copying Microsoft, when actually its the other way around.
October 10th, 2008
The question this thread (not the silly comment sniping) raises is a good one. In light of where the economy is headed, which console is positioned to take advantage? With “free” online service you might say Sony, but with console price drops you might say MS. I think if Sony were to drop their console pricing (ignore X360 Arcade, what a rip-off!) somewhat, they would set themselves up for more success.
October 10th, 2008
wow can’t wait for home, ow wait… ITS GONA SUCK BALLS! just as all those online community thing do! just guys pretending to be girls and guys falling for it
ps-gay-home … and microsoft rips off thing but so do nintendo and sony. trophies ring a bell? don’t get me started boy!
October 10th, 2008
sony and wii added online play to their console? That’s a pure rip off of xbox live. And Mii are avatar? That’s a pure rip off of discussion forum. And sony created home ala Second Life? Pure rip off too!!!
October 10th, 2008
Its pretty obvious Microsoft did a revamp of Live because they know PS home will be huge… I must admit though, Microshit did do a fantastic job of retaining their customers. After all, they did make a machine with the highest failure rate of anything ever man made. The online service called Live that they charge for sucks ass. Live outages, accounts being hacked, 50 bucks a year and shitty customer service to name a few. How do you really trust a company that made Vista, what a joke! And if you are one of the millions who think your xbox is the best, you must really, seriously be an idiot.
October 10th, 2008
The Xbox experience is more of an ascetic change to the dash board and changes to the way gamers can meet up for online playing. – Not bad at all.
Home essentially will be a virtual community. Radically changing the way gamers meet up to play. No longer will you stair at a text menu lobby, but you can actually meet in a virtual area with your friends before a match. The most exciting things about Home, is the potential for online events. Imagine virtually walking through Sony Tokyo game show event next year. Stopping by the booths to watch previews, play demos and watch interviews with the designers. That to me is the future!
October 10th, 2008
I have to disagree with you, with the new xbox experience you can party up with your freinds and change from doing an activity to another in a very smooth way, Home just looks better because of the novelty of having a virtual world but what matters at the end are the features, for example you can watch with your party the same movie or video and that feature was cutted out from home, to party up on the new xbox experience you just have to send and invite and there you go but in home it seems like you will have to walk your avatar to wherever the guy you want to find is, booting a game directly from home take quite a few loading time but on the new xbox experience it only will take the push of a couple of buttons and loads a lil bit faster.
and microsoft didn`t exactly ripped off miis, think about this: is not like nintendo invented the basic concept of a virtual avatar in the first place
October 10th, 2008
amen liquid
bob and jandler must be on crack cocaine.
October 10th, 2008
Bourne
Let me show you how much of an idiot you are. Please point out to me where I said Home is copying Microsoft.
October 10th, 2008
“Ps3 with every update becomes a 360″ which implies it.
October 10th, 2008
Barnabee Jones
You said:
“Imagine virtually walking through Sony Tokyo game show event next year. Stopping by the booths to watch previews, play demos and watch interviews with the designers. That to me is the future!”
So I guess that also includes other shows as well. But where are the details on that because I have never heard that before. It sounds impossible because your basically saying that their creating a virtual world for TGS. I would like to see that materialize. Is it really any different then trying a demo or watching videos of previews like I did last night when I sat down and watched all the trailers and events that happened last night at TGS on my 360. Most games displayed have limitations and blocks to certain areas so do you really think that could be rebroadcast over PSN via Home. Sounds like bullshit to me.
October 10th, 2008
Bourne, This is true. BUT, where did I say Home was copying Microsoft. I didn’t say that. You put words in my mouth. Everyone knows that Home and 360 Avtars come from the Mii on the Nintendo Platform. Idiot!
October 10th, 2008
What’s your argument then if i proved my point? OK i shouldn’t put words in your mouth but if my interpretation was correct then what’s your point.
October 10th, 2008
CAD,
Only a fanboy could draw anything more than the merest of similarities between Home and Miis.
-Arvis
October 10th, 2008
If everyone agrees that these companies use each others ideas, why are we still arguing about who copied who. Half the statements you guys are making aren’t even true. (hey that rhymes)
October 10th, 2008
why the fuck would i have a difficult time with psn when HOME comes out? JESUS CHRIST….ITS A COOL PROGAM YOU CAN DOWLOAD……ITS NOT A NEW WAY OF TURNING YOUR PS3 ON…..DAVE PARRACK IS A COMPLETE DUMBASS
October 10th, 2008
Why is it so hard for you to believe that MS may have copied some ideas from Sony.
Home forced MS’s hand into redesigning the Live interface. Do you really believe avatars (which they say were influenced by WOW..cough..cough..bullshit), or playing from the HDD to improve performance, or the file sharing with avatars would exist if it wasn’t a direct result of answering something that Sony was doing. The scary thing is that if Home gets delayed again , this NXE will be out before it.
At the same time, Im not saying that Sony hasn’t stolen ideas from MS.
trophies. straight up ripoff. I do however like the 3D trophies coming in home a lot better than both trophies, and achievements.
HDD in every console in the original Xbox was a great idea. Too bad MS dropped the ball on that one for the 360. Especially since it looks like NXE will require a HDD.
Central online structure. Great idea. MS proved that’s what people want and Sony has no choice but to come out with something similar to compete.
Please…lets not get into messages, and voice chat. That was around way before the Xbox.
In game XMB….hardly a copy. That just seems like evolution when they finally got the memory problems fixed with each firmware upgrade.
Oh.. and btw. ‘Lips’ would not exist if not for ‘Singstar.’
‘Scene It’ also would still be a dvd only game if not for ‘Buzz.’
I’m still under the impression that Live needs to do a couple of more things to make itself better.
If they’re going to charge people $50 a year…the least they could do is have dedicated server, rather than p2p…..don’t you agree?
What about some customization. Psn has themes made by people that you could DL of the net. Something similar on Live would be nice…..right?
Ut3 is better on the ps3 since I have over 100 maps not available on the 360 verison.
Makes me wonder how Far Cry 2 will be on the 360, since the console versions are supposed to come with a level editor/creator for MP maps. Something a hell of a lot for powerful than Forge.
I had more to say….but its time to go home.
October 10th, 2008
CAD: - You are right. That has never been confirmed. From what Sony has described so far, they are planning to stage events similar to the scenario I described. Maybe I am building that up in my head too much, but it is possible. And you are right, it is no different than experiencing content from a menu in a way, but in a way it also adds more depth to the experience.
October 10th, 2008
HAHA my god, you Sony boys crack me up. MS does not need to copy Home, because Home is going to be a failure. What teenage/grown man would want to go and chat and meet other grown men and see their ‘pad’? You may as well invite them to your gingerbread house, father goose. It will have a lot of people using it for the first 3 months, but after that, it will be a ghost town. Want to know why? Because 95% of PS3 owners bought it to play games, not walk around in a virtual world picking up other dudes.
The NXE is not trying to compete with Home, it’s merely enhancing the already excellent service that Xbox Live has become. There is no risk of failure there.
October 10th, 2008
oh and phranctoast, Xbox live has the ability to use both p2p and dedicated servers, as EA hosts a lot of their games on their servers for example. PS3 does not have the ability to do p2p.
October 10th, 2008
“PS3 does not have the ability to do p2p.”
really….. you could have fooled me. I know for a fact that it does.
What I’, saying is…..MS should host servers for the fucking money you pay.
Maybe you should at least google search things before you say such stupid shit.
Your arguments continue to be petty. And not The good kind (ala Tom).
October 10th, 2008
“What teenage/grown man would want to go and chat and meet other grown men and see their ‘pad’”
possibly social people? Unlike xbots who want to sit at home play COD4 all day and lead a boring unsocial life.
October 10th, 2008
Harry, PS3 uses p2p on metal gear solid downloads, get facts straight
October 10th, 2008
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26354393
for you harry.
October 10th, 2008
What the fucker ever happened to firing up vent/ts and saying ‘hey who wants a game’ and there you go done
Consoles need to allow you to easily run & admin your own servers and voice apps
Would be awesome.
October 10th, 2008
Well, when a man is right 99% of the time, he’s allowed to be wrong 1% of the time, that was my 1%.
And Tom Petty sucks, he’d done nothing worthy this decade.
Bourne, if I wanted to be social, I would go outside and hang out with my real friends, not in my room walking around a virtual town making virtual friends. Good luck finding your e-lifepartner.
October 10th, 2008
YEAH!!! I got my ps3…
People gimme your PSN IDs… I got MGS 4 and GTA 4 and Assassins…
Gonna get Fifa 09 and Socom Confrontation…
YEAH SOCOM!!!!
October 10th, 2008
I’m a PlayStation god.
darkwhitehair:
Congrats, I’m so happy for you PS3 is the best… SOCOM Rulez…
harry sachz:
Are you stealing ID just curious to know?
October 10th, 2008
@ Ivan I have no need to steal IDs, unlike yourself. I say whatever I need to say here without having to pose as someone else to do it.
October 10th, 2008
Quote: “Bourne, This is true. BUT, where did I say Home was copying Microsoft. I didn’t say that. You put words in my mouth. Everyone knows that Home and 360 Avtars come from the Mii on the Nintendo Platform. Idiot!”
Wasn’t Home announced before Nintendo Mii’s came into existence ??
October 10th, 2008
harry sachz:
I have no need hijack peoples name I’m too busy playing PS3.
Spideydog:
HOME=%100 Sony original nothing stolen.
October 10th, 2008
@Bourne
“Microsoft have enjoyed spoils from:
…
4. Final Fantasy”
Would you be happier if the FF series had stayed a Nintendo exclusive?
I don’t see why people get so worked up about it anyway; when was the last good FF game?
And, who knows, MS AND Sony might be ripping off things MUCH older than the Wii. Computer games with avatars you can change/create have been around for better than 10 years. It’s very possible MS’s idea came from something older than the Wii.
Amazing how people look at video games like nothing happened before 2005.
October 11th, 2008
I love arguing with you Harry. You make me feel like a fucking genius.
99% of the time. You apparently over look the other 98% of the time. LMAO
October 11th, 2008
@Matt…
hmmm..
maybe FF12..want to metacritic that one for me?
please…….
metacritic for me
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/finalfantasyxii?q=final%20fantasy
October 11th, 2008
Spideydog, correct, Home was announced back in 2005, whereas Mii avatars were back in 2006
October 11th, 2008
No phranctoast, you’re just blind in your own ways that you don’t consider my opinion, and in 99% of the cases, I am correct. Just because you don’t agree doesn’t change that fact.
Arguing with you is like arguing with a brick wall. Luckily there are people here such as SW, Arvis and Spideydog who are actually quite amicable and are not always on the attack, unlike yourself.
You know, this place had quite a good community going on until people like you decided to pipe up. Since then, we’ve lost quite a few good posters, or the regular posters just don’t post as much anymore. Guys like winner, who had to be the funniest fucking guy on this site, just aren’t around anymore and it’s because of people like you.
I know you’re probably going to respond to this with some sort of condescending remark, I don’t expect any less from you. It does not change the fact that people like you are driving others away from this site, which is a shame.
October 11th, 2008
Yo Harry
Winners online. He’s on my list. I’ve been asking you for your ID but you never give it.
October 11th, 2008
I’ll tell him that your looking for him. You getting Gears 2?
October 11th, 2008
@harry..
blind to my own ways huh. I believe I made some concessions before..I don’t believe you have ever. Most of your arguments are just angry with dumb points. I believe I’ve agree with some posters before if they were right. Other than CAD…I dont see the same from you!
You could exchange your name with mine in your post and it could be the same damn thing. Maybe you’re right and I’m on the attack a lot. Can you honestly say that you are not?
I could use LBP and Home as an example. You attack the potential users and at no time mention anything positive about it. Those two apps will change some of the ways things happen on consoles. But but…grown men conversing with grown men…uhhh…they must be fags….uh…go pay dress up…..uhhh…oh yeah…go decorate your house…sound familar? all real valid point there harry.*rolls eyes*
I could go back within a day and find positive stuff I’ve said about the 360 and its games. I can’t say the same with you with the PS3.
Oh yeah.. And Tom Petty really sucks…suuuuure.. good argument. what are you 15?
If this community is suffering its because douchebags are posting as other people which translates to lack of moderation and/or security.
I quite like it when someone post as me though. It means the person didn’t have the balls to confront me in the post and had to resort to that. More than likely because they knew I’d verbally skull fuck them in the argument.
October 12th, 2008
All of the above arguments are no better than rednecks arguing over Ford vs. Chevy. You all know its true
October 12th, 2008
@darkwhitehai
SOCOM FTW PSN: Dipchit02 add me and i will be more than happy to play with you this coming week with my awesome new headset
@maylon
lol yea we all know that Chevy is better than Ford
October 12th, 2008
“blind to my own ways huh. I believe I made some concessions before..I don’t believe you have ever.” - Read above, I did admit I was wrong about the p2p thing.
“Maybe you’re right and I’m on the attack a lot. Can you honestly say that you are not?” - No, I am not constantly on the attack. I actually have a laugh with some of the posters here.
“I could go back within a day and find positive stuff I’ve said about the 360 and its games. I can’t say the same with you with the PS3.” - I have constantly stated how much I like Blu Ray.
“Oh yeah.. And Tom Petty really sucks…suuuuure.. good argument. what are you 15?” - So not liking Tom Petty determines my age now? I doubt many 15 year olds know who Tom Petty is. You didn’t think about that one when you typed it, huh?
“If this community is suffering its because douchebags are posting as other people which translates to lack of moderation and/or security.” - Blaming FERRO and DAVE PARRACK for not moderating their site is a cop out. They’re not employed to be babysitters. If someone wants to post using someone else’s nick, it’s pretty obvious within the content of said posts that it’s not the original poster.
“I quite like it when someone post as me though. It means the person didn’t have the balls to confront me in the post and had to resort to that. More than likely because they knew I’d verbally skull fuck them in the argument.” - And here lies the real problem. Your aggressive way of communicating has sucked the fun out of this once great community. Why do you feel the need to ’skull fuck’ anyone in an argument? Do you need an ego boost that badly?
@ CAD, cool, what’s your ID? I’ll add you. I’ll grab winner’s off you when I add you. And yep, definitely getting Gears 2. I am getting Fable 2 next week also, wanna go co-op and shoot my wife? Maybe we could gay it up. haha
October 12th, 2008
CAD and harry would you shut up over there ive read your most of your comments and the just dumb lame excusis on defending your dawm xbox. Im not hating on xbox but as far as i could remember, everyone has been saying, PS3 online sucks, and people would rather pay $60 a year just to play rather then play on the PSN. You guys have been saying for PSN to improve before its even worth playing it if it’s free and now the improvements comin and you fanboys can call it rip offs from the console. GET THIS STRAIGHT. HOME WAS ANOUNCED MUCH EALIER THE WII MIIS WERE EVEN THOUGHT OF, AND UPDATING PSN NETWORK TO HAVE FEATURES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY ON XBOX LIVE IS NOT A RIPP OF, IT SONYS WAY OF SAYING, “HEY WHERE NOT MICROSOFT SO WERE GOING TO SUPPORT FOR SYSTEM EVEN THOUGHT YOUR NOT GIVING US JACK(NO MONEY). XMB , ablity to play your own music while playing a game, no one can say thats bad and just because we can get it for free doesn’t mean its a ripp of.
October 12th, 2008
Gezzy = Ivan? Surely we don’t have two ’special’ people posting here.
October 12th, 2008
xbox live destroys all online game networks except pc (obvious). ps3 is just trying to get to xbox live’s level. by the way, what was sony doing for online gaming when it was the original xbox live vs the ps2 “online”???
October 12th, 2008
PSN rulez all
December 1st, 2008
I have no harsh words for any one ithink both systems are good they each have there strong points and weaknesses niether one will ever be perfect and face xbox fanboys and ps fanboys claim to hate the others system but deep down u must admit they both have badass game that everyone wishes they could play i wish they could settle there differences and just make one glorious system that plays all games and has ideas flowing in from sony and microsoft then everyone would be happy and could experience all there is to offer in gaming but people are to petty wouldnt it be cool if instead of having ms vs ms in a game and sony vs sony in a game you could have ms vs sony in a game that way fanboys could prove which one was the better game and it would bring more people together than push them away
December 1st, 2008
I have no harsh words for any one ithink both systems are good they each have there strong points and weaknesses niether one will ever be perfect and face xbox fanboys and ps fanboys claim to hate the others system but deep down u must admit they both have badass game that everyone wishes they could play i wish they could settle there differences and just make one glorious system that plays all games and has ideas flowing in from sony and microsoft then everyone would be happy and could experience all there is to offer in gaming but people are to petty wouldnt it be cool if instead of having ms vs ms in a game and sony vs sony in a game you could have ms vs sony in a game that way fanboys could prove which one was the better gamer and it would bring more people together than push them away
December 1st, 2008
Sysems ripping off systems xbox vs ps3.
this subject is stupid everyone just mentions poinless things that dont matter cause if you want to get technical heres a list.
1. xbox online sony takes it
2. josticks on controller xbox takes it
3. power button on abox controler sony takes it
4. avatar on ps3 xbox takes it
5. achievment on xbox sony takes it
5. disk tray on ps2 xbox takes it
these are just little stupid things that both systems use from one another but the key word is both they both do it i dnt care if your a fanboy you all know its true they both steal and not to mention computers and and gaming systems before the two were the first ones to come up with all of it. Apple ripped off xerox and microsoft ripped off apple so truthfully microsoft started ripping off companies before sony did so stop all the bitching.