Xbox Live Vs Sony Home - Unbiased but the truth :S Everything is Sourced

After spending some time yesterday doing my usual on the internet, I came across several posts indicating why the Playstation 3 will trump the Xbox 360 in terms of its online experience in the near future (Sony Home). By no means is this suppose to be a flaming thread between fanboy's (it will clearly turn into one) but to state some facts as to what unique qualities the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 bring to the table for now and in the future.

Now before I even begin let's be clear about one thing, both consoles are amazing pieces of technology in their own right. I have both, I play both, I like specific things about each, and I hate specific things about each. This thread is going to be based on online functionality and nothing else, so if you're going to be ranting about Blu Ray or RROD etc please go somewhere else.

Microsoft is by far the kings of software development in the world today. Whether you're talking business software, operating systems, server applications, or .net utilities they have been the main source of software development in the information age.

Being the most recent company to break into the console gaming market it is fairly obvious to see what niche they felt they could bring to the table. MS didn't have the games, didn't have the development resources, and didn't have the brand that both Sony and Nintendo had when they entered the market; but what they did have is an online infrastructure far exceeding both of their counterparts combined. (http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2007/07/27/ - the last paragraph)

This was the dawn of Xbox Live and as it stands today, is the pinnacle of online gaming for console users. Fast forward about 5 years and over $1 billion dollars of investment and you get to where Xbox Live is today.

It's fairly easy to see what makes the Xbox Live service superior to the PSN service as of today. Integration, achievements, content etc, all signify MS's dominance in the world of online gaming for consoles. Regardless of these facts let's focus on the future for a second. What is Microsoft planning to do to further grow its online product?

The best way to view the future is to look at what MS is investing in the past:

•· Microsoft invests undisclosed amount in for technologies that allow people to not just play video games against each other online, but to join the game as a spectator from anywhere in the world. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/mar06/03-065000PatentPR.mspx

•· Purchased $5 billion in AT&T securities "to accelerate the deployment of next-generation broadband and Internet services to millions of American homes." Under the agreement, AT&T plans to use Microsoft's TV software platform in advanced set-top devices.

•· Microsoft acquired this provider of services for digital television. This includes the Microsoft TV platform. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2000/0327softbrowse.html

•· Microsoft invests $240 million in facebookhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/technology/24cnd-facebook.html?ei=5088&en=c27e6c86844c7723&ex=1350964800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1205513787-cv1HuQT4/luFqQ5oV6/4xQ

•· Microsoft is developing a new app to allow hobbyists to build their very own playable titles for Xbox Live. The program, called XNA Game Studio Express, will cost $99 a year, and will be available for Windows XP and Vista. http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/14/microsoft-planning-youtube-for-games/

•· Microsoft's pickup of Multimap and Big Fish games' purchase of Thinglefin -- account for $50 million, while the remaining $375 million was investments in the 13 other companies on the list. Microsoft plans to use UK-based Multimap online mapping service to develop an online environment. http://www.worldsinmotion.biz/2008/01/virtual_worlds_companies_score.php

•· MS invests in BT Vision technologies to combine Xbox Live with watching TV http://blog.itvt.com/2008/01/21/bt-vision-iptv-service-integrated-with-microsoft-xbox-360/

So what does all of this mean?

It's very clear to me what each console manufacturer brings to the table. Sony offers a solid base of proven IP's and Blu Ray, Nintendo offers innovate game play and Microsoft offers state-of-the-art online play.

Just as it is unlikely that MS will ever boast the as many solid franchises as Sony, it is unlikely that Sony will ever provide as good as an online service as Microsoft. I will agree that Sony has made some huge strides with Home and with the continuous updates to the PSN network. However, there is no way that I can believe that they will ever be on the same level as Microsoft. This is what MS does, and has been doing since they were founded in 1975.

Home is definitely needed for Sony but I think gamers are expecting too much from it. It will not bring Sony online rep to the level of MS but will provide a base for them to build off of just as Xbox Live had to do last gen.

When I view console gaming and its direction it is clear that it is online. Moving forward I expect to see some big things from MS as they further define online console gaming. Without a doubt they have been the driver for console online gaming and I don't see this changing any time soon.

Do not get me wrong, Sony has the games for 2008. However, what exactly are YOU specifically looking for with a game? For me its simple, I love multiplayer gaming. I am not one of those guys that can play a game for 60-70 hours, I get bored, I have priorities and I have other things that are more important to me. But during my spare time, a quick COD4 team deathmatch or GeOW match gives me my fill.

In all honesty my PS3 is rarely used though I anticipate that will change at some point this year. What I do no is regardless of what people say, MS will always have the best online capabilities and the games to exploit those abilities.

I look forward to your comments.

Can't really compare Live and Home, they're not the same thing.Nagidar

Ontop of that it's way too long and no ones going to read it :?

[QUOTE="Nagidar"]Can't really compare Live and Home, they're not the same thing.f50p90

Ontop of that it's way too long and no ones going to read it :?

What? I didn't make a new account... :?

EDIT: Gotcha, you meant the TC.

[QUOTE="Nagidar"]Can't really compare Live and Home, they're not the same thing.f50p90

Ontop of that it's way too long and no ones going to read it :?

[QUOTE="f50p90"]

[QUOTE="Nagidar"]Can't really compare Live and Home, they're not the same thing.cecx

Ontop of that it's way too long and no ones going to read it :?

Agreed, but you still can't compare Home and Live directly with eachother, which is what the TC is talking about. Home is a Virtual "lobby" that runs through PSN, if you want to compare anything, compare XBL to PSN.

[QUOTE="Nagidar"]Can't really compare Live and Home, they're not the same thing.f50p90

Ontop of that it's way too long and no ones going to read it :?

maybe you should read it, it actually makes sense.

Can't really compare Live and Home, they're not the same thing.Nagidar

Agreed.

microsoft is an evil companydeadmeat59

So basically, XBL > PSN > Home

microsoft is an evil companydeadmeat59

And the original post focuses entirely on M$ instead of both equally.

Live and Home are two different things> I dont even think SONY is trying to compete with live with this thing. They trying to do their own thing. black_awpN1

2 different things? Is Sony not investing a wack of money in Home so they can compete with Live? Secondally, why is it that Sony Fanboys around the world continually state that Home will destory Live?

Isn't Home Sony's answer for Live? Being a PS3 owner that is the way I look at it and though different in there presentations, do they not have the exact same purpose? Integrated online gaming.

let me tell you something, gamespot has some of the best forums, with many topics that people are very interested in reading, it doesn't help when you make a post bigger than the state of texas when I could be reading about why ea sucks or whatever else. so here's a tip, if you're gonna write a novel on this board, atleast have the courtesy to provide a summary. absolutely ridiculous.-theCHUD-

Do you have that short an attention span, that you can't make it all the way to the end of the post? How sad.

*VOMITS*

U have a good arguement tthere but you left out plenty of things from the ps3 side.

Dedicated servers- I dont think the 360 has this (correct me if it does) but i know that games like warhawk and resistance are completly lag free on ranked matches thanks to the dedicated servers.

Home Integration- You might have read an article on this. Where in warhawk you and your team can plan out a strategy in Home before going into warhawk. Something really cool that will really make communication essential.

Avatar, House, your own music in your house -Its always cool to meet people with yyour interests online and play a quick game of rainbow six or whatever. All the things i mentioned makes meeting these people unique. (Though i do recommend getting real life friends first. :LOL:)

There you have it. Everything you mentioned was about what MS has done. But you didnt mention that ps3 has similar features as well.

And you also didnt mention that a lot of those things pc users have been doing for awhile.

[QUOTE="deadmeat59"]microsoft is an evil companySynthetic_NinJI

MS is the head evil in the Grand Lodge of all evilness.

If you look at the history of how Japan became a leader in quality products you will see they will take a product and take it apart basically and find any flaws they can then find a way of correcting these flaws. Then they also very resourceful in keeping quality up and practically having no waste in producing products because they have absolutely no natural resources all there raw material has to be imported.

As for HOME and the way the Japanese people have done things in the past they have basically taken various software products and broke them down and tried to find the best features they can find and build there software from the ground up using the best parts they can find in a number of various software's.

If you want some really interesting information of how Japan learned to become a leader in technology you should do some indepth research on an American industialist, Dr. Charles Deming that tied to get American companies to use his formula of quality control and they would never listen but he took this knowledge to Japan and the people ate it up like crazy and put this formula to use in just about everything they did. This was shortly after WWII.

[QUOTE="Synthetic_NinJI"]

[QUOTE="deadmeat59"]microsoft is an evil companyHoobinator

MS is the head evil in the Grand Lodge of all evilness.

:|

Yeah, they are right up their with communism and the taliban :roll:

If you look at the history of how Japan became a leader in quality products you will see they will take a product and take it apart basically and find any flaws they can then find a way of correcting these flaws. Then they also very resourceful in keeping quality up and practically having no waste in producing products because they have absolutely no natural resources all there raw material has to be imported.

As for HOME and the way the Japanese people have done things in the past they have basically taken various software products and broke them down and tried to find the best features they can find and build there software from the ground up using the best parts they can find in a number of various software's.

If you want some really interesting information of how Japan learned to become a leader in technology you should do some indepth research on an American industialist, Dr. Charles Deming that tied to get American companies to use his formula of quality control and they would never listen but he took this knowledge to Japan and the people ate it up like crazy and put this formula to use in just about everything they did. This was shortly after WWII.

jimm895

ah yeah well. in the west we like money. everyone should follow our example :P

If you look at the history of how Japan became a leader in quality products you will see they will take a product and take it apart basically and find any flaws they can then find a way of correcting these flaws. Then they also very resourceful in keeping quality up and practically having no waste in producing products because they have absolutely no natural resources all there raw material has to be imported.

As for HOME and the way the Japanese people have done things in the past they have basically taken various software products and broke them down and tried to find the best features they can find and build there software from the ground up using the best parts they can find in a number of various software's.

If you want some really interesting information of how Japan learned to become a leader in technology you should do some indepth research on an American industialist, Dr. Charles Deming that tied to get American companies to use his formula of quality control and they would never listen but he took this knowledge to Japan and the people ate it up like crazy and put this formula to use in just about everything they did. This was shortly after WWII.

jimm895

ah yeah well. in the west we like money. everyone should follow our example :P

[QUOTE="jimm895"]

If you look at the history of how Japan became a leader in quality products you will see they will take a product and take it apart basically and find any flaws they can then find a way of correcting these flaws. Then they also very resourceful in keeping quality up and practically having no waste in producing products because they have absolutely no natural resources all there raw material has to be imported.

As for HOME and the way the Japanese people have done things in the past they have basically taken various software products and broke them down and tried to find the best features they can find and build there software from the ground up using the best parts they can find in a number of various software's.

If you want some really interesting information of how Japan learned to become a leader in technology you should do some indepth research on an American industialist, Dr. Charles Deming that tied to get American companies to use his formula of quality control and they would never listen but he took this knowledge to Japan and the people ate it up like crazy and put this formula to use in just about everything they did. This was shortly after WWII.

crunchUK

ah yeah well. in the west we like money. everyone should follow our example :P

Sure they should look at where our economy is now. Maybe if we would learn to follow the eastern world we would have a much better economy. I'm not anti American but then if we look at how the rest of the world's economy is doing maybe we could learn something.

So basically, XBL > PSN > Home

ReverseCycology

ahh the revenge of the fanboy. lets just wait for home to judge it shall we.

[QUOTE="Hoobinator"][QUOTE="Synthetic_NinJI"]

[QUOTE="deadmeat59"]microsoft is an evil companySynthetic_NinJI

MS is the head evil in the Grand Lodge of all evilness.

:|

Yeah, they are right up their with communism and the taliban :roll:

communism isnt evil...and ms isnt evil. its a corporation, which obviously means impersonal, driven to profit...etc.

[QUOTE="ReverseCycology"]

So basically, XBL > PSN > Home

p2rus

ahh the revenge of the fanboy. lets just wait for home to judge it shall we.

Not really. Home is a gimmick tbh, I honestly think they should just focus on making PSN the equivalent of XBL.

If you look at the history of how Japan became a leader in quality products you will see they will take a product and take it apart basically and find any flaws they can then find a way of correcting these flaws. Then they also very resourceful in keeping quality up and practically having no waste in producing products because they have absolutely no natural resources all there raw material has to be imported.

As for HOME and the way the Japanese people have done things in the past they have basically taken various software products and broke them down and tried to find the best features they can find and build there software from the ground up using the best parts they can find in a number of various software's.

If you want some really interesting information of how Japan learned to become a leader in technology you should do some indepth research on an American industialist, Dr. Charles Deming that tied to get American companies to use his formula of quality control and they would never listen but he took this knowledge to Japan and the people ate it up like crazy and put this formula to use in just about everything they did. This was shortly after WWII.

jimm895

I am an industrial engineer my friend, TPS, 6 Sigma, Lean Movement, 5S etc, believe me I understand this more then you. But what you do not understand is MS is a SOFTWARE company that makes INTERFACES. What exactly does Sony do? They make hardware sir.

[QUOTE="p2rus"][QUOTE="ReverseCycology"]

So basically, XBL > PSN > Home

thrones

ahh the revenge of the fanboy. lets just wait for home to judge it shall we.

Not really. Home is a gimmick tbh, I honestly think they should just focus on making PSN the equivalent of XBL.

isnt 2.4 going to work on ingame communication etc.

plus gta4 is going to support home. im slightly interested in seeing if this could take off across all titles. if it does at least itll be a little something extra to play with.

you failed when you compared home to live. i might aswell compare the sims to the internet :|superjim42

Dear god some of you people have some issues with reading

[QUOTE="Synthetic_NinJI"][QUOTE="Hoobinator"][QUOTE="Synthetic_NinJI"]

[QUOTE="deadmeat59"]microsoft is an evil companyp2rus

MS is the head evil in the Grand Lodge of all evilness.

:|

Yeah, they are right up their with communism and the taliban :roll:

communism isnt evil...and ms isnt evil. its a corporation, which obviously means impersonal, driven to profit...etc.

Corporations can have evil agendas and undertake evil actions to acheive those interests. A corporation is no more than the totality of its individuals and the interests which the elite within seek.

[QUOTE="jimm895"]

If you look at the history of how Japan became a leader in quality products you will see they will take a product and take it apart basically and find any flaws they can then find a way of correcting these flaws. Then they also very resourceful in keeping quality up and practically having no waste in producing products because they have absolutely no natural resources all there raw material has to be imported.

As for HOME and the way the Japanese people have done things in the past they have basically taken various software products and broke them down and tried to find the best features they can find and build there software from the ground up using the best parts they can find in a number of various software's.

If you want some really interesting information of how Japan learned to become a leader in technology you should do some indepth research on an American industialist, Dr. Charles Deming that tied to get American companies to use his formula of quality control and they would never listen but he took this knowledge to Japan and the people ate it up like crazy and put this formula to use in just about everything they did. This was shortly after WWII.

Fanatical1211

I am an industrial engineer my friend, TPS, 6 Sigma, Lean Movement, 5S etc, believe me I understand this more then you. But what you do not understand is MS is a SOFTWARE company that makes INTERFACES. What exactly does Sony do? They make hardware sir.

Maybe I worded this wrong but if we go back to the begining of the Honda motorcycle and what Honda motors is now it shows that the mind set of the Japanese people is always try to improve on everything they do. They started with a very quite and smooth running cycle that was cheaper to manufacture and could be sold cheaper than the American made Harley Davidson cycles (that is no longer owned by Harley Davidson but is owned by a forgein company now). And the way Japanese companies research things is different than most other places. They tend to try and find flaws in anything they do and find ways of improving on a product be it hardware, software, or any other consumer goods.

U have a good arguement tthere but you left out plenty of things from the ps3 side.

Dedicated servers- I dont think the 360 has this (correct me if it does) but i know that games like warhawk and resistance are completly lag free on ranked matches thanks to the dedicated servers.

Latin_Psycho

XBL does support dedicated servers. Its completely up to the developer, just like PSN. So Warhawk has dedicated servers on PSN, whereas COD4 doesnt. Frontlines has dedicated servers on XBL, whereas again, COD4 doesnt.

And let me tell you something ,

The only reason you found that huge bit of info boring, is probably due to the fact that you struggle to read a paragraph without falling asleep. I actually found it really interesting considering i want my console to be an online mainly console and i appreciate the effort that fanatical went through to get all this info out in this blog.

I'm not buying a PS3 not based on the fact that it's a "sony" and thats got to be the coolest option but the fact that i think the Xbox is a family orientated console. Its excellent for multi media, superb for online community access and i believe that fanatical is correct in saying the PS3's online system Home or whatever it is , is actually going to be quite Linear....dont get me wrong i love the Playstation as much as the next sony hugging freak but MS has this online war in the bag.

I wasn't impressed with the first xbox because of all the harddrive space you were give and the little amount you could utilise with it( unless it was modded, which mine wasn't i believe in paying the companies the money they make the games with ;).The Xbox 360 how ever is in a league of its own , it may not have  1 billion game's on it but the games it does have are mint and combine mint games with a mint Online system , and i'm sorry sony lovers but Xbox wins , great online play brings huge longivity to the games and it's made all the better by the friends you can play them with :).

Any way before i get fined for making some peoples brains melt for writing to many words i'll bring this to a close by saying thank you very much Fanatical, I'v chosen the Xbox 360 based on the amount of effort that has gone into making the Xbox 360 one of the greatest consoles every created, backed by a company (MS) that has the backround and the knowledge as well as the funds to make it so. And just in time for the Amazing update they just brought out ;) 

C ya  

it'sin the way you can connect to people tho ;) it makes all the difference my friend .

Everyone that owns a xbox360 with a gold membership and is NOT BIASED against it, knows that PSN will never rival XBL. End of story.AlexDemise

but at what price must it cost to keep XBL better?...don't get me wrong its a BIT better...but why the **** should i pay for a gold membership when i can play on PSN for free...god damn ppl aren't made of money you know...

If you look at the history of how Japan became a leader in quality products you will see they will take a product and take it apart basically and find any flaws they can then find a way of correcting these flaws. Then they also very resourceful in keeping quality up and practically having no waste in producing products because they have absolutely no natural resources all there raw material has to be imported.

As for HOME and the way the Japanese people have done things in the past they have basically taken various software products and broke them down and tried to find the best features they can find and build there software from the ground up using the best parts they can find in a number of various software's.

If you want some really interesting information of how Japan learned to become a leader in technology you should do some indepth research on an American industialist, Dr. Charles Deming that tied to get American companies to use his formula of quality control and they would never listen but he took this knowledge to Japan and the people ate it up like crazy and put this formula to use in just about everything they did. This was shortly after WWII.

jimm895

its kinda funny. i just said this to someonme else in a different thread. the japanese are like this. just look at Kojima "im dissapointed with how MGS4 turned out". then it pretty much recieves 10's accross all the most important gaming sites. i thinkt the psn in its current state was a rush job to release the console to the maarket within a certain timeframe. they couldn't delay any longer or they risked losing ALL their market to M$. but like you said the japanese are very weird about quality control. and we're deffinatly seeing this leak into the american industries these days.

Personally I thought the post was well researched and well thought out. Bit of a waste on System Wars but was a good read anyway.

One thing I'll add is this. I've always said that I think MS got it dead right with Xbox Live and Sony really missed the train with PSN (and is continuing to). and knowing Microsoft they will extend this gap over this gen but especially next gen.

The thing they need to watch is that they don't get in to diminishing returns. End of the day some people are happy with the bare bones of an online service which PSN is. Some people do not want or need all the extra bells and whistles that XBL is continuing to add. I mean there's only so much that is required to make a good online service then the rest is gravy.

XBL is almost there now (PSN is eons away, mainly on the community front) but they may end up with their 'unique selling point' nullified by going further than people want or need. Whereas specialising in hardware or fun gameplay it's pretty much never ending. So I think we'll see the online advantage diminished some what next gen. We'll just have to wait and see what they have up their sleeve to shock and surprise us. Just my 0.02