PSN boss Eic Lempel says PSN is no longer playing catch-up with Xbox Live
Sony has ruled out a PS3 games-on-demand service for the PlayStation Network, leaving Microsoft with a clear run on trialling the ins and outs of a potentially retail-free future for software.
“[A games-on-demand service] is not something we have planned, just because the size of the games is massive,” PSN director at SCEA Eric Lempel told IndustryGamers.
“With Blu-ray we can put up to 50GB on a dual-layer disc, while Xbox 360 is still on a 9GB media. So technically it's possible, but I think the issue would be ‘do you want to download 40 gigs and keep that on your hard drive?’. I think there's great opportunity there in the future, and it's something we'll always look at, but for the time being it's not a direction we're going in.”
The claims come despite the fact that Sony has been one of the pioneers of the console digital distribution movement, with a number of titles (such as Ratchet & Clank, Warhawk and Pain) seeing simultaneous release on both PSN and Blu-ray. Publishers such as Ubisoft already offer full-game PSP downloads on the service.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lempel added that he thinks PSN is now on-par with Microsoft’s Xbox Live network.
“I don't think there's a lot of catch up with XBL anymore,” he told IndustryGamers. “In some cases, I think we've got more, and we've got some other things they don't have.
“In terms of strengths, of course we're still free, and we're giving you a lot for free. It's not just free online gaming, but we've got PlayStation Home, which is a massive community and application that's totally free to use.
“I think there's a lot we're doing that in some cases they're not doing, and I don't see a lot of things they're doing that we're not.”
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PSN has certainly evolved considerably since its inception alongside the launch of PS3 in late 2006. Many of its key additions – such as Trophies, cross-game invites and in-game XMB – have appeared as a direct result of the innovations championed by Microsoft’s network.
Comments
Apart from...
no games on demand? Apart from the last Burnout title, all the PSone originals and PSP games?
Yeah, but
I think they're probably referring to full PS3 out on Blu-Ray games. The downloads they offer at the moment aren't generally that large with a couple of exceptions (I don't know how big GT5P is as I've got it on disc).
maybe
add skype, friends party chat system, in game music and id say your better than xbox live but now, i dont think thats a totally true statement, the browser is great but quite fiddley and i know its down to developers to add in game music as its already been done, but it should be mandatory and part of the design kit for ps3 titles.
not the whole truth
Cross game invites? In game XMB? Trophies?
i like PSN, but i have an issue with all of the above: i was not aware there were cross game invites, and i've certainly never used them. well done guys!
what can you actually do on the in-game XMB? Txt a friend and...... if ever i try to do anything like look at a photo, go online or change anything like the sound options, i have to stop everything else. so it's basically shit. OK?
Trophies. sod the trophies, seriously. if they gave you credits to use towards anything in the PS Store that would be some incentive, in fact that would be a huge incentive, but other than that i really don't care about trophies and very few people really do. it's just an attempt to keep up with Xbox, and a fairly pointless one in all honesty. if they had committed that time to getting voice chat sorted i would be happier. in fact, we all would be happier.
all in all, i do prefer PSN to LIVE, despite my critisisms. and although Home is fairly lame ATM i do play poker on there (when i can get a freakin game!) and i believe it has huge potential. so sort out voice chat. ok?
one thing i have to say is they are totally right about digital games for full price. once they are maxing out the BRs then i'd never be able to DL every game i want, where as i can have a small shelf that keeps them tidy and uncorrupted. also if your HDD or hardware f***s up, you haven't lost everything. and you can also get some money back on discs by trading them back in.
small games for the PSP n shtuff? Great! MGS4? not on a 60bg HDD.
alot of people disagree
just check n4g and read the story there, not many people agree that psn is as good as it should be or on par with xbox live,
Hmm...
I haven't played with PSN on the PS3 too much, But what i have seen when I have is that PSN has made great improvements i.e. trophies, XMB, more user friendly etc.
Personally I still don't think it quite matches XBL. It's not far behind don't get me wrong, but it's not quite there yet. I'd say it would catch up within the next year or so cause its inevitable, But with Microsoft announcing a handful of new features for this autumn i.e HD movie streaming, Last FM, Sky (or Canal+ for France) it puts them in a good position.
I'd really like to see Sony challenge Microsoft and vice versa, let them push each other with ideas & features for their networks, all in all better for the customer.
bollox
PSN is ok, but xbox live owns PSN where it matters. I won both machines and to be honest i was shocked to see PSN didnt have cross game chat, cross game invites, personal chat, voice blocking in games(muting yes but after each round in WaW..lol) giving demos and silly pointless apps is not what most gamers want. We want the chat sorting so its from within the systems dashboard and not in each game. Same as invites. Basically all communications from within the dashboard like on live. If the boss of PSN can dare to write this then i really worry. If they feel they are on par with xboxlive then i worry about how they see us the community and what we really want. Id be happy if they stopped upping demos and pointless apps and concentrated on the chat features. Sort it out sony PSN is a real let down from someone like me who is used to the power of live.
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