| forevercloud3000 said: P.S. @ siren The reason that XLive is becoming less and less justified is because PSN is becoming more and more like it. The only "feature" that anyone cares about that Live has and PSN doesn't is the one you described. Once PSN has that, and remains free, how will the price be justified? |
The problem here is the presumption that MS is standing still. They are not. NXE should show that. Anyone who has used the NXE alot will notice a few key things.
1) Microsoft keeps expanding it. Every month more and more features, applets, and options have been added seemlessly into the experience.
2) Content is seriously on the rise. Every week more and more videos, games, DLC, everything is appearing. Faster than before.
While Sony is trying to add just 2 player cross game chat, MS perfected 8 player cross game chat.
Sony adds Trophy support in some games, MS improves trophies. MS achievements autosync, Sony requires manual sync.
Sony has a few games with Custom Soundtracks, MS has all games with custom soundtracks.
One of the big problems that Sony has to deal with is that their system was not designed with some of this in mind. As a result, adding the features is proving to be a challenge at best, impossible at worst.
While Sony may be able to eventually add Cross Game Voice chat, they are going to have to burn a lot more precious reserved system resources than MS do. MS planned the support from launch and thus offloaded part of the audio system to the controllers so as to not take resources from the system itself.
Sony has added Trophies, but to autosync they would need to take more resources while in-game. To give an audiable alert like the 360 does, more resources.
Custom Soundtracks in all games is a no-go. At best Sony can have Custom Soundtrack support required in all future titles, but that has it's own problems. Old games lack the API Sony would have to create and add in order to support Custom Soundtracks being provided by the system. Even if new games required support of said API, Sony would have to reserve at least 8mb of RAM and some CPU to pull it off. If Sony is having trouble doing 2 person voice chat (arguably more valuable) or even realtime Trophy auto-sync (extremely low resource usage), how are they going to pull off Custom Soundtrack support?
One way I could see Sony eventually adding a lot of these features is doing something like MS did with the NXE. A complete OS re-write for the PS3. The downside here is that this would be an extremely expensive endevour that could take 9 - 18 months to pull off at best. Assuming they did pull it off, in order to cover the cost they would likely have to charge for the new OS either a one time fee, or a subscription model like Live. Either way, at that point, they would be charging.
In regards to the comment about at what point could I justify a PS3. Honestly, if the PS3 had launched at the same time as the 360 at the same price, I would have a PS3. The problem is that it didn't. As a result, the PS3 has to fight harder than the 360 for my money as I do not need it to play any of the Multiplatform games, I already have the 360 for that. Furthermore, I am now deeply connected to achievements and my Xbox Live community, as a result even if I buy a PS3 I will still likely acquire all Multiplatform games on the 360 (even if PS3 graphics are significantly better).
So, I need a few hit titles to really push me over the edge. The kind of stuff I can't get on the 360.
To get closer to what I can use to jusify a purchase, I look at the last generation. The PS2 was in the same position as the 360 is now in this regard. So how do you justify an Xbox purchase? I did mostly by the types of games I could get on the Xbox but not on the PS2. Due to the poorer analog sticks on the DualShock2 (sensitivity as well as placement), FPS just were not as enjoyable on the PS2. Thus if I wanted FPS on a console, Xbox was the best bet. Due to the triggers v shoulder buttons, the same could be said about Racing games for me. It was a lot more enjoyable to play using a trigger as apposed to either an on/off shoulder button or an analog stick for gas. This eventually led me to purchase an Xbox, but in the larger scope I still bought almost 4x as many titles on the PS2 as I did on the Xbox.
In regards to the PS3, there are games I want, but not quite enough yet. Had FFXIII remained exclusive, that alone would have sold me on a PS3. For me, Final Fantasy is a system seller. Beyond that, I am on the fence. The next big exclusive I really want to play on the PS3 that has not equivelent on the 360 in terms of gameplay is God of War III. With that title, I might just buy a PS3 if it is down to $300 or less. It is really hard to say. Since it is likely an 8 - 12 hour game, I might just borrow a friends PS3 for a weekend to beat it.
To guarentee a purchase of the PS3 for me, I would need to see at least 4 - 8 must have titles on the system. Not nice to have. Not "I would really like to try that" kind of games. More games like God of War III and VC. More PSN games that I could see myself playing for countless hours like Peggle, Geometry Wars, Assault Heroes, and N+.
I bought a 360 at $400. Why did I buy it? Games. To add some perspective, these are the games I purchased for the 360 in the first year.
Call of Duty 2, NFS Most Wanted, Amped3, Dead or Alive 4, SmashTV, Condemned, Project Gotham Racing, Perfect Dark Zero, Oblivion, Kameo, Uno, Frogger, Cloning Clyde, Prey, Galaga, Chromehounds, Dead Rising, Dynasty Warriors 5 Emprires, Lego Star Wars II, Samarai Warriors II, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Viva Pinata, Burnout Revenge, Wik Fable of Souls, Enchanted Arms, Outpost Kaloki X, Ninety-Nine Nights and Gears of War.
Yes I am a hardcore gamer, but there was definately a lot to like on the system in the first 12 months, most of which I could not get anywhere else. Not all of the games were must haves, but there was enough at launch with the likes of Kameo, PDZ, DoA4, CoD2, NFSMW, Dead Rising, and Burnout to satisfy me until JRPGs and more FPS titles hit.
