First I want to make it clear that, my post is not intended to turn this thread into Playstation vs XBox flamewar, we have enough of those already. But since people are asking for opinions, here's mine.
I partly agree with you on PSN, the layout of Playstation store is a mess, and the lack of cross-game voice chat is somewhat annoying.
However my complain ends there. The way PSN is now is perfect for
me, and overall as a free service, I am very satisfied with the results, let me explain:
- I understand that it might be a little different in different regions, but in the US, we do have regular demo updates in the PSN (yes Ratchet demo came out almost a month before the game did, not after)
- none-restrictive themes/wallpapers, especially after the release of theme editor/creator, there are tons of user-created themes online. Can't find one you like? make one.
- decent download speed off the PSN (average every 3 seconds per MB ~300kbps, around the same speed as downloading on my computer)
- I play games as an enjoyment not online showoff, point systems such as Achievements to me are meaningless and the lack of it on PSN makes no difference what so ever.
- items on PSN are very reasonably priced, games such as SuperStardust HD are very polished.
- free online gaming seals the deal for me, I do not have time to game 20 hours a week, if PSN costs money (even if it costs as little as $50/year like Live), I simply would not play online, period.
- Online game play (Motorstorm, Resistance, Warhawk, COD) are 99.98% lag free.
- especially Warhawk, it offers tons of
official dedicated servers, even though online gaming is free.
- Ads free!
The last 4 points are important to me. Now, I do agree Xbox Live is very well structured and organized service, but the pricing makes no sense to me. No matter how hard I try, I can not understand exactly what users are paying for:
- subscriptions are generating revenue.
- Ads in menu/marketplace are generating revenue.
- games, add-ons, and themes it sells are generating revenue.
- game servers (hosting) are provided (in a way, paid) by users
- peer to peer connections are paid by users on both ends (ISP)
- lack of official dedicated servers
As far as I can tell, the only thing Xbox Live is providing is establishing connections between users at a cost, yet why do people endlessly complain about the services PSN offers at absolutely $0 is far beyond me.
Once again, this is nothing more than my opinion and how each services appeal to me, just to prove that PSN's structure
does make senses to some people.
PSN ID: chilicoke
online games:
- Resistance
- Warhawk
- Motorstorm
- Dirt
- CoD4