Yes, I know this is a horribly naive question. I'm sorry!

I really don't understand anything about the differences between PS3/XBox 360/Wii online capabilities (have only recently got myself a sensibly stable broadband).

Could some kind soul please explain what the different consoles do in terms of online/how they differ?

I have trawled around a bit, and all I find is broad generalities like 'full online service' which don't mean anything to me.

Much thanks.

Xbox Live is by far the best. Server quality is slightly better, and Xbox Marketplace is better than PS Store.

On the other hand, PSN is free. It's not bad at all, it's a very good online service. For what you pay (nothing), you get a well-stocked store, and mostly very stable servers. If you were to compare them in terms of quality/price, PSN would win (obviously)

Wii Online... no comment. I don't know anything about it except that it's free and is not as good as Live/PSN.

I agree with everything that Kantor Said, but to add onto that:

Xbox Live: Since all users have a headset, you get alot of rude people online. The same can be said about PS3, but not everyone has a headset there.

PSN: You have to pay for the majority of additional content in the store (Sorry Kantor, but the way you said it implies that with PSN the store stuff is free). One major issue I have with PSN is that not enough users play it, so whilst I could pick up alot of 360 games and play them online and find people, with PS3 that's not always the case. That'll change in time though.

Wii Online: Is garbage. Not enough games support it, and of the ones that do, the lag is horrible. Where as Sony made an attempt at making a online experience that was competitive to the Xbox (and succeed for the most part), Nintendo really just tacked it on.

The fact that Nintendo wants to protect children (which is definitely a good thing) it makes the experience pretty frustrating for the adult Wii owners. If parents could just manage what their children play and do, I'm sure the Wii would have given online a fair go. Sadly, it hasn't. Forget about Wii online.

Actually, I take that back. Forget about multiplayer online, love Virtual Console.

Xbox Live has M$ dedicated servers, which is what you are paying for, Sony relies on the publisher to provide the server. This should mean less lag, but I have only played 2 games on Live, and they both suffered from lag. The quality of the service does vary from game to game. The dedicated servers mean that in Call of Duty you can check your friends stats when they are offline, but I do not feel the extra price is worth it

As for XBLM and PSN, Marketplace has more content, though I do feel the PSN is better laid out

Thanks for responding so quickly, guys.

Unfortunately I really am as ill-informed as I sound. So, beyond the subjective bits I don't understand what you are saying.

Like - there's a marketplace in one and there's a store in another. What are these things?

And - there's a headset, so you can talk/listen to people - but how do you find them? Do you just turn on your whatever-it-is and all these people are just there, or do you have to log on to something, and how do you know who is who and all that sort of stuff.

I know it is a lot to ask - but where do I start if I don't understand any of it?

Alright I'll talk about xbox live cause that's the one I know. First off, the marketplace and the store are the same thing. I believe it's called store on the playstation and marketplace on the xbox. Once connected to the xbox live you can go to the "marketplace" (store) section if you want to buy videos, games, etc.

Mics are only used when youre playing games online. Likewise that is where you find people too. You can add people that you find in games to your friends list and communicate to them outside of the game.

There is no massive list of who is online at any point in time. The only ppl you can meet are through games.

Sorry for double post. I probably haven'y explained what I am looking for.

What would help is explaining-by-comparing. As in, when you are communicating with people is it like a telephone where you have to contact someone specifically, or like a radio where you are broadcasting to a group of people, or like a forum where you go to a specific place and there are people there?

Outside of games it's like a telephone. You iniciate communication with someone else (this is far better on 360 due to being able to talk to friends no matter what you or they are playing).

During games you generally hear everyone who's in the same match as you. If it's team based you'll just communicate within your team.

Then there's Home, that just complicates things on that front.

Does Live really have dedicated servers (aside from the ones for downloading stuff)? I was left with the impression that it was p2p.