The field's set to go on fire as Sony's PlayStation Network is gearing up to go head to head with Microsoft's Xbox Live. Right now XBL has the upper hand, featuring online gaming as well as downloadable videos and movies, but Sony is preparing to take out the proverbial ace up its sleeve. Jack Tretton, SCEA President and CEO, recently discussed future plans for the PSN.
While he won't comment on the specifics, he does give a general idea of Sony's plans for the PSN. For one thing, it'll directly challenge XBL by not implementing a monthly fee for its services:
"We're very committed to online gaming and downloadable content via the PlayStation Network, but we're going about it in a very unique way in that we're not charging a monthly fee."
Square Enix launches Final Fantasy X 25th anniversary site, revealing new Nomura art, books, music releases, and merchandise.
Look I know VIII has its issues and all that but how on earth can the do big anniversary events with new artwork and merchandise for VII, IX and X yet VIII got sweet f*** all.
They could have given it something during its 25th anniversary yet all it got was a single Happy Anniversary post on their social media.
they should know that we are OG fans of VIII as it sold truckload as well. not as much as VII or X. I personally didn't like IX but X and VI are my personal fav.
Shadow Hearts 2 covenant is another game I love. I hope one day someone can make remake, I would be delighted
Final Fantasy VIII is great and you are always the first to defend it in the comments
A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.
Underrated comment. I used to hate that game so much that any time my siblings asked me to play it, I just picked Hom and shut myself down mid-match.
15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.
Why did Sony push Shuhei Yoshida out of his role leading PlayStation's first-party games? He'd overseen some huge successes. Well, apparently, he didn't listen.
Yeah I can see that for sure. Shuhei Yoshida should have been in charge not Jim Ryan.
It should be free highway for him now.. but Sony are too stupid to see this, especially that moron Hulst
Wtf why all that anger. PlayStation is dominating on every level. Besides I think there is a little more to hiring a CEO than just who is available. Its not like its a athlete your team wants to buy.
S2Killinit
live service failures, chasing trends, closing studios. yes dominating
Sony is Dominating because competition is not existing. Compared to previous gens this is the poorest in terms of software offerings.
Last gen we got Uncharted 4 Lost Legacy and TLOU2 from ND alone.
This is so far a remasters gen, with no competition to lift up the quality
..."PlayStation is dominating on every level"....
...Really???
PlayStation are soon heading into a new generation in the not to distant future. They currently have the worst customer satisfaction they've ever sustained as a company. The company is heading for a huge crash while at the same time they'll need to be planning how they are going to try and win back that favour and the build up to their new releases.
Yes financially they're winning but they're going to have to ride out this complete public corporate disaster. No one has faith in the company or the product anymore. They've damaged their public image so much this generation. Greed can kill anyone.
He would've done the same thing and fire Jim Ryan and Shuhei would be the villain. Why?
Because Elite creates the narrative and distraction for gamers, users and citizens.
More confirmation that Jim Ryan is the culprit for what has happened to Sony. Hulst needs to go too. What sucks is that a lot of the good top heads at Sony are no longer there. I wish that guys that were forced out prematurely by Dumbo Jimbo like Shuhei and Layden came back.
Yep. Yoshida was responsible for bringing one of the best games of this generation to playstation (Stellar Blade). He is an actual gamer and is in touch with what gamers want (creative, fun games, not GaaS and agenda pushing). He also seems like a genuinely nice guy if you watch some interviews. Of course they got rid of him.
Makes you wonder if MS even thought about hiring him after Phil and Sarah were leaving. He certainly couldn't make their situation any worse.
All the gamer/consumer lead heads are gone across PS and Xbox. shuhei gone phil's gone (questionable) but gone. The future of gaming is somewhat uncertain across the board.
some more Sony lies this time around. Though, I do hope they crank it up a level and give XBL a damn good thrashing to keep the competition healthy and online gaming cheaper and better..
The thing I've always thought when it comes to the online side, is that paying for it, pretty much guarantees a good service. Like the old saying "nothing good comes free". This was certainly the case with the PS2 online service, which even the most ardent Sony fan would not defend. It was piss poor, but free. Now Sony are trying to redress the balance by throwing the PS3 online service into the mix. But the thing is, if it degrades and is found to be lacking in comparison to XBL, what recompense can a Sony player ask? It's free!
If XBL started to suck, the company would see lawsuits, of that I have no doubt. And before anyone states no one can sue a console developer, Sony had to pay out a lawsuit in the previous generation, the first of it's kind.
I simply think that if it's free, Sony can make it as poor as they want. By charging, MS have to make it of a high standard. And thus far, they have. Thats how I justify paying for it every year.
PSN RIGHT NOW:
-Better, original psn games that take advantage of the console hardware
-PSone games
-Up to 32 player games with NO lag
-Demos
-Game item downloads
-Trailers
-Voice chat
-FULL size retail games available on PSN
PSN UPCOMING:
-Home
-Home Game Integration (Like Gran Turismo 5 provides)
-Movies
-Music
-TV shows
-Achievements
-User generated content (LittleBigPlanet)
-Probably gonna work on unified friends list
AND ALL FOR FREE
Since Xbox Live uses peer to peer networking, you get lag in games. And none of the big name titles on 360 are doing 32 player online (Yet another similarity of Halo 3 to its predecesor).
PSN, while free, has a SOLID online game experience. Little to no lag, up to 32 players, updates....
I'd like to see why people think paying $50 for Xbox Live is good value for money in the coming months. Considering it will offer less than PSN.
Xbox gamers should thank sony, maybe one day MS will make Xbox Live free (and none of that silver membership crap). Because they'll start realising you'll get absolutley no value for money compared to psn. But MS will just take your money while they still can. That's the microsoft way
Who really cares, the ps3 is a flop. The best online service will continue to be Live.
the pos3 is a flop it was delayed and has no exclusives and is to expensive also the psn is sh**
things for free are always crap the most expensive thins are the best things around.