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Sony to face off against Xbox Live

By Justin Mann

On January 31, 2006, 7:19 PM

We often hear the term “[product] killer” used in reference to some new device recently released or to be released, but are often dissapointed, so I'm going to avoid using that term here. That aside, Sony is very confident that their challenge to Microsoft's Xbox Live service will be more than just an equal. Apparently they are planning a service that not only will offer what Live offers, but many other interesting features such as the possibility for extremely large games (think >32 players) and seamless interaction.

A decent online service is lacking for PS2 and possibly PSP, so even on a lesser scale it would still be welcomed. I'm looking forward to seeing what Sony has in store, though I doubt Xbox Live is in any trouble.

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  1. I'm certainly happy to see Sony attempting to battle XBOX live but I'll reserve any excitement until they deliver the goods. I'm still a little mad at how they ignored online gaming and let Microsoft come in and crush them with their online offering. Sony needs to innovate more instead of thinking they'll be king of the hill forever.
  2. Wow, go Sony. I wonder how they are thinking of making game play with that many players. If they can go through with this and make it good enough it might make the PS3 a real contender. It might also stir up more innovation or ideas from MS.
  3. The console wars shall continue...Xbox already has an extremely strong online section for their gaming. Taking the crown from Microsoft won't be easy. Sony is promising to bring the features that Xbox Live has, and to improve on it. Where Microsoft insisted that getting the Xbox 360 out before the PS3 was crucial to their success, it may infact be their downfall. By doing this, they've given Sony more time to improve their ideas, and a chance to steal Microsoft's ideas! Plus, the rush of getting a console out the door can lead to the overlooking of fatal mistakes that could result in mass recalls!As far as console wars go, as cool as the Xbox 360 is, I think that the new PS3 is going to take the gaming crown, online and off.
  4. I would love to see what sony would have to offer. After all Xbox Live is an extremely popular gaming community, tons online gamers. I'd like to see sony pull something off, maybe make there online service better than Xbox Live but I don't know about that. It would be good to see another company besides Microsoft to make a wide spread of gamers in an online gaming community.
  5. Ummm...you go Sony, but i think microsoft actually has a pretty good hold for the moment. And if they build on their base, they might just keep first place. But then again, the Ps3 is supposed to have 9 cores!!! now that definently has some potential. And large game play, everyone wants that, right? Of course, let's just hope they learned from microsofts mistake with inadequate cooling....And just wow, gaming is evolving to an incredible level!!! 32+ players....gosh...
  6. Well... from the looks of this I'll guess online gaming will not be free for the PS3 as it was for the PS2 (at least in the few game I played not sure how others were done). So my brief foray into console online gaming will come to a close, I'll stick with my PC. Of course you're talking to someone who still plays Tribes 2 (and will as long as servers are up for it). And hey it supports 128 players on a server. As for it taking over XBox Live!, I won't hold my breath. I never owned an XBox, but I am aware of the market for XBox Live!. The community is almost as important a factor as the technology is. Even if the technology is better, many people will stay with the people they know.
  7. ummm sounds interesting but xbox live and nintendo wi-fi are giants right now they will need some great features other then 32 player matches to wow some xbox folks lets see what develops in E3 ore in techspot
  8. I'm not really a fan of Xbox Live or PS2 online or anything like that. I rather just have a group of friends network the systems together in the same house because that's how I've always done it but it will be interesting to se ewhat the come up with.

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