I notice that fanboys like to point fingers at each others online console ervices, but they never look at ways to improve their own. So I decided to make a list of areas where both services can benfefit from and changes that I would like to see. It hurts you from a consumer point-of-view if you pretend that you have the "best" online service available because you stop demanding improvements and you just accept whatever is thrown at you.
Please be aware that this list is just MY OWN OPINION and these are changes that I would like to see. If you disagree please feel free to say so, but don't attack me ok. Also I have used both services extensively so I know what I'm talking about (I notice that fanboys have only used one service and lie about both). So here we go
Xbox Live:
1: Drop the fee to play online COMPLETELY and allow silver accounts (oh I'm sorry, I mean "FREE" accounts) to access the multiplayer part of their game that they paid full price for. There is NO REASON for MS to charge for online play, there are NO SERVERS (gameplay wise) and the games just use your internet as bandwith. let Gold account be an option and let it be used for likebonus stuff like exclusive demo's, market discounts etc. If all the other serices offer free online that are even better in some cases (Steam) than why do they charge? Just to milk people that's why.
2: Let the dashboard ACTUALLY be customisable. You can't really have much customisation due to those huge squares that block the view even with the new update. I say let allow people to have multiple options of menu's rather than just one type of boxes. I would actually like to see my background without obstructions.
3: No more ads! Why would there be ads on something I'm paying for? MS is making a HUGE profit off of these ads alone and that should be more than enough to cover any "charge" in the 1st place. It's an online service NOT a cable company cable has offsets to pay for. Xbox Live does not. And these are not game ads either these are ads from deodarant to facial products and fast-food. It's kinda annoying
4: Get rid of the ranking reputationsystem for other players. Now I know this makes sense in theory, guy/girl online is really helpful in game so you rate them high for others to notice, or conversly guy/girl is jerk so you rate them low so others know to avoid. But in practice it's abused, so if you are really good at a game and you win the match the other players are jealous and angry so they rate you down for no reason. And jerks often have high ratings due to friends just rating them event higher.
5: Dedicated servers for exclusive games. If PS3 can offer up dedi's, than surly can Xbox Live. You would think that the online fee and ads alone would be going towards this, but it's not. And it ends up just being more milkage for nothing. Come on let's have a 40-60 player match on Xbox Live for once.
Playstation Network:
1: Faster system updates. This actually has to do with the fact that Sony's main headquarters is located in Japan so the updates are actually downloaded from there. And those of us who live elswhere have to wait longer while MS headquarters are located in Washington. This is only of system updates however as my game updates are just as quick as Live's.
2: Universal join/cross invites. On Live it's quite easy to join somebody elses game you just press the middle button and go to friends and press "join". On PSN you have to send the invite to friend or ask other player to invite you. It's not that big of an issue but the setup does vary form game to game however, so on game A you just press the select button and press X to invite friend. But on game B it could be going to menu and sending invite, it needs to be more universal.
3: Add in ability to "hide" from certain friends online. Let's say I have a friend who I like to play game A with, but I don't like to play game B with. Well let me "hide" from that friend so I appear offline to them, it's not that I don't like my friend, it's just that they take game Btoo seriously and can ruin other peoples fun.
4: Make reporting cheaters/offensive players easier. On the PSN only some games have an option to report cheaters/offensive players (I'll call them "bad"), but not so on others. Often you will have to fill out a complaint form on Sony's main website and without notification of any action being taken. "Bad" players arn't very common but they do happen and it's a shame that Sony hasn't offered up any way as to improve this feature and make it universal.
5: Party Chat. And by Party Chat I mean Party VOICE chat and not text party chats (seriously what is this high school? I'm an adult not a kid). I don't understand why this would be so hard to implement into PSN, but apparently it is. I think that this isa feature that has been asked for quite-some time. And I'm NOT talking about cross-game-chat, that is a feature that I deem as useless and I seriously doubt that anyone actually uses it, despite what fanboys say. What I'm talking about is just a universal way to have a party voice chat in a game together instead of texting, that's all.
Other than this list everything else is the same, they both get the same amount of lag (anyone that says otherwise is a liar) and they both have friends lists that show you who is playing what, both have acheivements/trophfies (and virtually ALL ps3 games have trophies, only the 1st gen ones don't), both have markets/stores etc.. I know there are some other differences like MS points for market and cross chat (Live) and Web browser/DLC sharing(PSN). But those features I don't care about.
Again this is just MY OPINION so if you don't like it, hey it's your God-given right to express your opinion. But don't bash me just because you disagree with something, instead discuss it like an adult.
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