I choose Xbox Live over PSN for reasons that you don't necesarily find on a feature list powerpoint presentation. I like it for reasons that most people take for granted.

Overall, what I like isn't something that can be experienced after playing a few games. I started to notice the difference over time. The little conveniences add up, showing just how well it's all put together.

As I played both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network more and more, I noticed a noticeable divide between the ways both systems are set up. Xbox Live is just more conducive to forming a community than PSN is. There are more opportunities to communicate, more opportunities to play with each other and more attention given to community members on Xbox Live.

MS recognizes that subscribers are more than just a group of people that play online. XBL is the means by which those members stay cohesive and active. XBL is how that random group of folks becomes a community, by allowing them to meet up with other people in ways that make sense. The end result is a much less random experience if you take advantage of what's there:

• Cross-game invites - In my eyes, more important than cross-game chat. This isn't a simple text message either. No matter what you and your friends are doing on the console (playing different games, watching a movie, listening to music, whatever), I can send an invite. All a friend needs to do is open my message and click accept and he'll be pulled right into my session.
• Party system - Up to 8 friends can party up and launch into games together, again, no matter whateveryone is doing. Or you can stay in separate games and just chat. Much like the Halo 3 party system, but at the OS level.
• Community staff - They are both visible and accessible. From Major Nelson's news and shows, Trixie's organization of girl gamers, StepTo's policy enforcement to the community developer and ambassador programs. Their response to the MW2 javelin glitch is a prime example. Although the onus of the responsiblity was solely on the shoulders of Infinity Ward, MS went above and beyond by actively seeking out the exploiters and suspending them. StepTo made public statement almost immediately. Sony's response was from a nameless rep with flat statement that they don't plan on doing anything. One is an example of service. The other is the absence of service.
• Community events - This isn't just the themed game nights on the Community Calendar. It's the Game With Fame, gaming with devs and my personal fave, Community PlayDate where I can game with people from a featured fan site. These events are easily seen, even if I'm not looking for it. Which brings me to....
• Better integration of features - Each feature is fleshed out and thought was it put into how one part affects another. This isn't the scattershot, half implemented approach we see from Sony. We need only look at achievements/trophies, integration with Xbox.com and Playstation.com, and the difference in their chatpad designs as good examples of this.

Granted, MS really screwed up with the hardware and they're stuggling with the pricing of content like Games on Demand, but Xbox Live... they totally got right. PS3 graphics and disc storage be damned. If I had to choose all over again, I'd still pick the Xbox 360 mostly because of their implementation of Xbox Live.

VoodooHak

PSN does have cross game invite, and for community Staff you need to visit the PlayStation Blog.

Here's games on top of my head.

Stalker (with 2009 mod)

Stalker Clear Sky

Crysis

Crysis Warhead

Cryostasis

Far Cry 2

Left 4 Dead 2.

Arma II

Batman AA

Empire Total War (If you think of the scale of the game)

Dirt 2

World in Conflict

Not to mention that with the right mods HL2 (2004) looks better than UC2. I don't get what's so special about UC2, it just looks so mundane, and people here are treating it as the greatest accomplishment in gaming. Im sure it's the best the console has to offer but i see some people comparing it to Crysis and i just laugh out loud.

Look at it this way. There are tens and tens of millions of PC gamers out there and they all know about graphics more than you do. Do you think they would spent a 1000$ for a gaming PC if something like the PS3 can have better graphics?

I know that I'm not convincing anyone most people here are major fanboys, but hey at least that's off my chest.

Revan_911

Lol if you think L4D 2 looks better then Uncharted 2 your clearly blind.

[QUOTE="IDeadlyReconI"]

From what I've played of the Beta it's a solid 9. I would be surprised if it got any thing lower then a 8 after seeing the success of BF2.

Majordutch201

Have you played BF2? I am a frequent BF2 player and like the squad aspect of it, gave 2142 a shot but went back to BF2, I wanted to ask is MAG similar to BF2 but on a larger scale? I enjoy working in squads, i'm usually the guy that switches to whatever job is required, medic special ops assault whatever.

From what I've played of the Beta it's a solid 9. I would be surprised if it got any thing lower then a 8 after seeing the success of BF2.

XBL and PSN are even. The only needed feature XBL has over PSN is cross game chat. They both offer small features that the other does not. PSN has PS Home, Comics, Web Browser and so on. XBL offers Voice messages, the ability to change your name for $12, Game Room, the ability to delete your achievements and so on. They also share features such as Custom soundtracks, friends list, cross game invite, online gaming, in-box/outbox, Trophies/Achievements, block list, Instant messengers, facebook, and so on.

Obviously. It would take a game 3x as good lookingas Crysis to defeat the power of Cell. Add in the SUPER RSX and you have a bottomless pool of power to play with.

Evidence? Killzone and UC2 >>>PC games

Stats_

[QUOTE="carlisledavid79"][QUOTE="ermacness"] Why not? We've been waiting on it for 5 years. Its sad that the competition can get out 3 full games in the time it takes Polyphony to release one. Don't give me that BS about them working on "other projects" because with the massive budget and haul that the GT franchise has, them having hundreds of employees spread out across different IPs doesn't sound unreasonable. Heck, I would expect nothing less from a billion dollar franchise.

[QUOTE="ermacness"]

[QUOTE="Vadamee"]Based on the videos we've seen lately that looked worse than Forza 3, I hope GT5 isn't using all of PS3's powa!Vadamee

That's GT5's Physics demo. When you start the demo up it even says this has no affect on GT5's graphics on the finial product. Compare FM3 with GT5P they look exactly the same. Also the fact the demo was compressed to 200 MB.

[QUOTE="IDeadlyReconI"]

[QUOTE="ronvalencia"] CryEngine 3 says Hi.ronvalencia

From CryEngine3, Xbox 360 and PS3 is about the same.

Refer to http://www.crytek.com/fileadmin/user_upload/inside/presentations/2009/Light_Propagation_Volumes.pdf

Go to slide 28 and 29 for targeted scenes and benchmarks. As with any benchmark best practises, all platforms must run the same benchmarks. Actually, Xbox 360 is slightly faster i.e. complete frame time 30.3 ms vs 32.1 ms. Target render is 1280x720p @ ~30FPS. Unlike you, I posted actual benchmark numbers.

Comparing UC2 or Killzone2 against GoW is like comparing SPECINT vs DHRYSTONE benchmarks.The differences in art work would lead to subjective comparisons.

Your source link is http://www.develop-online.net/news/32590/PS3-technical-issues-hampered-Haze-development

There's nothing in Crytek UK's comments that states PS3 is better than Xbox 360. Are not going to see XBox 1/GC vs PS2 gaps in the generation.

1. Those Cryengine 3 Tech demos were to show people that the CryEngine can run on the consoles, and has no reflect on how Crysis 2 will look and run.


2. I wasn't comparing UC2 and KZ2 to GoW 3, because I can't since GoW 3 is not even out. I said X360 does not have a game that looks better then KZ2 & UC2. If your talking about Gears of War 2 I will gladly look up the benchmarks. Killzone 2's native resoultion is 1280 x 720 @ 30 FPS. Uncharted 2's Native resoultion is 1280 x 720 @ 30 FPS. Gears of War 2's Native Resoultion is 1280 x 720 @ 30 FPS. I couldn't find an accurate polygon count for any of the games. Even though they both have the same resoultion and fram rate. You can not compare them this way, since KZ2 and UC2 are not on the X360 and GeoW 2 is not on the PS3.


3. If Crytek found that PS3 and X360 were equal when it comes to grapical power they would not of said that. You have to keep in mind when this article was written Gears of War 2 and Killzone 2 were already out. I don't consider the PS3 running laps around the 360, but it is a tad more powerful. Like the Xbox was over the Gamecube. This is how I see it Xbox = PlayStation 3 GameCube = Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 = Wii. We all know Crysis 2 will be better on PC, but we have to wait and see how the 360 and PS3 versions go. The 360 version could look and run better or the PS3 version could look and run better or they could just both run equaly.

[QUOTE="iKINGBOBi"]

[QUOTE="MadVybz"]

And by 'many' I assume you mean the few created by Rare. :roll:

Look, buddy, just quit it....Fanboyism only proves that you are brand loyal to the extent where you will fall victim to any given gimmick.

And as stated before, Halo was never intended to max out the system.

ronvalencia

Im not being a fanboy, I'm actually a manticore. Its just lame that Lems can't admit PS3 is more graphically capable, so they make all these little excuses like "360 can if it wanted to". Do you have any idea how lame an excuse that is, and 360 is easier to develop for.

[QUOTE="carljohnson3456"][QUOTE="Racer850"]

That's what happens when i try to sign out.

Racer850

Are you trying to sign out of your Master Account which has your game data on it or trying to Sign out of PSN, because I'm able to sign out of PSN while being in a game.