To answer the original poster's question in a different way than others, let's throw out the big difference between online implementations between Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network: user hosted matches. Currently, like the PS2 network infrastructure, all hosting is handled by third-party servers on PSN. This means a monetary investement in providing "player space" for each ad every online game on the PS3. Xbox Live is both a protocol and a set of features, allowing developers to use custom servers (like with Battlefield 2 and some others) or allow users to host their own matches. It is this difference that I think will spell a difference between cross-platform games implementing online.
I remember loading an online game for the PS2 one day and getting a message that servers were not available. It was an early game, I can't remember the title, but this is a problem that will always be faced on an unstructured network that relies on third parties rather than game owners to support online play. To this day you can still play every Xbox Live enabled game, including awful launch games like Whacked! No one else may be playing, but if you have a friend with the same game you are good to go. There is no case of a developer deciding a game is too old to bother servicing any longer.
For Virtua Tennis 3 you are talking a game that supports a maximum on four players. While servers could easily support loads and loads of "rooms", it is a game type better served by user-hosted rooms. Whether they admit it or not, it is this reason I believe SEGA didn't push to have online play on the PS3 version.
While not part of the original question, the issue has been raised and answered multiple times, but here it goes again: the official SEGA Press Release for the 360 version of Virtua Tennis 3 says the game targets 1080P as its resolution, it doesn't use the scaler to reach this resolution.
As to the latency issue brought up, there are currently two tennis-type games on the 360: Top Spin 2 and Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. I may not be a tennis fan but in due dilligence I have tested both games and have never had any lag.
In addition, SEGA is including a feature Microsoft promised but so far has only delivered in two games: Spectator Mode. Unlike shooters where you "spectate" a match while dead or waiting to spawn, this is an ad-hoc spectator system. Currently Project Gotham Racing 3 (through its PGTV) and Tabble Tennis (Table Tennis Network) offer this and Virtua Tennis 3 willbe thethird. You use a server browser to find a game you're interested in and can watch, meaning additional network traffic is being generated. Some even support voice chat with other spectators or with the players meaning even more traffic. Given theirinclusion of this feature SEGA must be confident in their network performance in VT3 over Xbox Live.
Ultimately I will always choose the 360 version of a multi-platform release because of Xbox Live's features. It's sad, though, that PS3 users don't at least get the option. It already bothers me that most PS3 games don't support voice chat (something most later PS2 online games did), and type chat is no substitute. I probably would play some more Full Auto 2 online if it didn't play like single player with smarter adversaries. I play online for the community far more than the challenge. Not everyone does of course, but as a feature I've used for four years it seems like a huge leap backward (and don't get me started on the whole re-link my Bluetooth headset every time issue). With Resistence handling voice fine (albeit with an odd mechanic) it's even more irritating when newer games like F1 are going to hit without voice.
The bottom line: SEGA says they got networking libraries late, I'm saying it's not practical in a non-peer-to-peer environment, as to why a PS3 game ships months after launch without online support.
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