Hier een berichtje (staat op een andere site) van IGN insider over PS2 Online vs XBOX-Live PS2 Online vs. Xbox Live The console services go to Head-to-Head on IGN. October 15, 2002 - In 1999, the console revolution known as "online" began its infancy with the narrowband Dreamcast experience and to a lesser extent, its broadband counterpart. Now - this year - the grand ideal has finally matured alongside technology into something truly exciting. Living rooms across the country will soon be united in ways that your grandparents had never imagined. There is no denying its appeal - online console gaming is here! As you are no doubt aware, the current leaders of this online race are industry juggernauts Sony and Microsoft. Both the PS2 and Xbox now provide a pre-packaged service, special offers, online titles, and promises for the future. We know that the laundry list of these various options and features can be somewhat overwhelming to digest in one serving, thus your friends at IGN have once again come to the rescue with this important story. Prepare to listen in on our PS2 and Xbox staff as they go head-to-head, debating the merits of each system and its respective online plan. Whether you're a platform loyalist making the decision to move online, or a multi-console owner looking for the best of the bunch, we hope that this no-holds-barred analysis will both entertain and educate as you head into the online arena this fall. Turn the Page for more The Package The PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor package is, for the most part, just that. For $40, you get the hardware and a startup disc. Said disc, however, has some fun stuff, including demo movies and a playable version of Frequency, and of course, you can send away for the free copy of Twisted Metal. To get the voice communication headset, however, you have to buy it as part of the $60 SOCOM package. If you don't have an ISP, the startup process includes pointers to about half a dozen different service packages. The Connection Quality The setup procedure is cake. We were online via our broadband connection in a couple of minutes. Modem users may take more time with the registration process, but we haven't heard anything about setup difficulties from that quarter. The quality of the online gameplay experience on PS2 has the potential to vary considerably, however, because every publisher will be setting up separate server arrangements for every game. Some companies will have it together, while some others, unfortunately, may not. And then there are still others, like Eidos, that will simply give up halfway through in the face of the effort and expense. So far, our experience has been mostly favorable. Sony's games, like SOCOM, GameDay, Frequency, and Twisted Metal have all run just fine, and Sierra's Tribes was quite smooth as well. However, early experience with EA's Madden has been a little less impressive, with lag and crashes intruding on gameplay. The fact of the matter is that we won't really know what things are like until the service becomes available to the public. On the one hand, the network code and server arrangements may not be finished yet. On the other hand, there's a world of difference between a limited beta test and thousands of gamers hammering on the servers. Microsoft's system does have the advantage of keeping all of those servers under one roof, though, with one authority handling quality control. It also has the (dis?)advantage of being broadband-only. That's a two-edged sword, because it limits the number of users who can play, but it also ensures a better experience for those who do get online. Broadband is the future either way, though -- Sony's support for 56K users at this point could best be described as half-hearted. Tribes and Twisted Metal are extremely limited when played with a modem, and SOCOM is of course for broadband users only. If half the present online lineup is more or less forbidden to 56K users, what will next fall's be like?
vervolg The Games Sony is starting out with a pretty well rounded lineup. The major sports are covered, with football and basketball titles on the way from both Sega and EA. Tribes and SOCOM are both there to supply the popular PC-style team-based action experience. Twisted Metal offers a more console-oriented action game, and Frequency is an oddball alternative. Auto Modellista covers the racing genre along with ATV Offroad Fury 2, and also holds the possibility of some interesting community features. And since there has to be the usual collection of silly party games, there's My Street. After that, things get a little foggy. There's at least one online RPG on the way, Everquest Online Adventures, but we haven't seen a whole lot that interests us from that quarter yet -- current screenshots do not, as they say, do much to show off the power of PlayStation 2. The game fans are really after is Final Fantasy XI, but with rumor swirling around SCEA's unwillingness to market the PS2 hard drive in the states, it's possible that we may not see FFXI over here, or at least not in a form that much resembles its Japanese incarnation. The only other vaguely confirmed online games beyond this year would be Resident Evil Online, which is just a title and a trailer movie right now, and Star Wars Galaxies, about whose potential graphical performance we have some very deep misgivings. Hey, here's a funny one. Square hinted at bringing FFXI to multiple platforms. If it came to Xbox, localization would be a lead-pipe cinch... An online version of Gran Turismo has been hinted at for some time, but that might not see the light of day until 2004. The same goes for many of Sony's other tentatively-titled announcements -- a possible Ace Combat game, Armored Core Sigma Project, Resident Evil Online, and so on. They may be very impressive, but we'll wait to be impressed until they're more than just names. Turn the Page for more Xbox Live: The Specs The Package Xbox Live brings you a solid package for a mere $50. For those big bills, you get a year's worth of Xbox Live service (not broadband service), the Voice Communicator usable with all Xbox Live games, and an Xbox Live disc that will open up Live on your Xbox hard drive. The start-up disc allows you to sign up for the service and will include several games, which have yet to be announced. The Xbox comes with a built-in Ethernet port, but you'll have to have your own DSL service already active in your house. Just plug your Ethernet cable into the back of your Xbox and you're ready to go. Your year's worth of service includes your own unique gamertag (which the online community will use to identify you), the ability to download new game content onto your hard drive, and the use of a buddy list and matchmaking system so you can find the right friends and strangers to play with online. The Connection Quality Rather than letting developers worry about hosting games and figuring out how best to create an interactive community, Microsoft took the initiative and made online developer as easy as possible for third-party companies. Microsoft uses dedicated servers to help keep games latency-free and have set a standard for what must be in every Xbox Live game. Every game makes use of a person's unique gamertag, offers matchmaking abilities, and features the Voice Communicator. Microsoft's approach is to make sure that there's no question that the online experience is good. The game itself may be poor, but because every online games follows the same rules and guidelines, the Xbox Live experience will remain the same across all Live games. Requiring broadband ensures that there won't be horrible spots of lag. It also makes certain that every gamer will be on a relatively equal level. There's no need to worry about narrowband users trying to play with broadband users. All Xbox Live gamers will be using as fast a connection as possible, because nothing kills online faster than lag. With the matchmaking system, you can not only find users in specific areas or with a certain level of Live experience, but also see who would offer the best latency-free experience for a Live game. There are no visible pings to worry about with Xbox Live. All of this is handled on the down-low, and Xbox Live will show you who has equal connection speed. You can choose others with better or worse connections, but that is at your own risk.
vervolg The Games The quality of games for Xbox Live, like the Xbox library itself, is a mixture of ambitious original titles and a few tried and true favorites. Unreal Championship has stood atop of the heap of online Xbox games for quite some time now and come launch on November 15, I don't suspect this will change. The list of launch titles will do plenty to make users comfortable with all of the wonderful applications of the Voice Communicator. Barking out strategies to teammates in Unreal Championship and Ghost Recon is automatic. Talking trash in MechAssault, NBA 2K3, NFL 2K3 and NFL Fever 2003 will really give that headset a workout. And Whacked -- well, there's one in every family, and this is ours. Looking into the future, though, the promise of updated classics like Time Splitters 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 should be enough to keep the front running, franchise-loving game fans satisfied. Midtown Madness 3 and Rainbow Six: Ravens Shield should bring in a few of the more open-minded PC heads who would want to check out how the words online and console can peacefully coexist. And then there are the big guns. In fact, we're talking Guns of the Navarone when it comes to Star Wars Galaxies, Deus Ex 2, Project Gotham Racing 2 and Counter-Strike, not to mention a few other, as yet unrevealed, powerhouse titles that will be making smashing debuts on Xbox Live. Plus, you know Microsoft is dangling the carrot of funding and support in front of every other underground development studio out there to make Xbox Live games. Oh, and I suppose nobody here has heard of Halo 2. The words "bad" and "ass" will come together in ways we never even thought of once Bungie brings this one out next year. Follow this line of thinking. There will be 200 Xbox games available by the end of 2002, a year and six weeks after the system's launch. Microsoft intends to continue to grow the Xbox's library at that rate into 2003 and beyond. Microsoft Game Studios chief Ed Fries has said they'd like to have a 60/40 balance of Xbox Live games to non-Xbox Live games. There's some math in there somewhere that will tell you there's a crapload of Xbox games on the way, but we only know about 25-30 of them. It's all about the promise of the future. Turn the Page for more Xbox Live vs PS2 Online: The Roundtable David Smith, IGN PS2: Okay, so I'm supposed to talk about how Xbox Live is going to suck, and you're supposed to talk about how PS2 online gaming is going to suck. That's right, right? Well, at this point, PS2 online is going to have an excellent debut. There's a lot of buzz for games like SOCOM and Twisted Metal, and there's some good stuff backing those up, like Auto Modellista. If the servers don't all go splat at once or something catastrophic like that, I figure it'll all go well. But what about next year? There are all of three online games announced beyond 2002, and the recent failure of Eidos' attempt to get TimeSplitters 2 online doesn't speak so well of Sony's third-party support in this matter. We all expected EA and Sega to be able to get online, but if smaller companies can't, we're not going to see the kind of breadth of online gameplay that PC users presently enjoy. So here's a tack to start things off with -- does Microsoft have games coming next year to keep people interested in Xbox Live, or will the initial wave have to carry things until the next holiday season? Hilary Goldstein, IGN Xbox: Microsoft definitely has the better system. I've played Xbox Live a few times, and there's no latency thanks to the dedicated servers and required broadband access. The games right off the bat are better than SOCOM, which I think everyone has renamed SNORECOM, or Twisted Metal Black, which was great last year when it first came out. Xbox Live gives you some cross-platform stuff like NBA 2K3 and NFL 2K3, but you also get some fine exclusive games like Unreal Championship and MechAssault. MechAssault is the real deal. A lightning-fast action game in mechs that is incredibly fun to play. But beyond the online offerings, Xbox owners gain a lot more from being online. Downloadable content is going to be bigger than people think. Every online game we've heard of will have downloadable content the day of launch. New maps and weapons for Unreal, roster updates and even new hairstyles and shoes for NBA 2K3, maps, weapons, and new mechs for MechAssault, and on and on. With a big fat 8-gig hard drive, Xbox gamers will be able to store a lot of goodies on their hard drives -- even entire games downloaded off the net. I'm not sure how the community works on PS2, because, as far as I know, there isn't one. But for Xbox, you will get to have a buddy list, sort of like AIM, and it will tell you when your buddy is online. Even if he's not playing an online game, as long as the broadband connector is hooked up, he'll be recognized. Then if his buddy is playing say, MechAssault, it will actually tell him he's there and ask if he wants to join in. Because really, who wants to play with a bunch of unknown jerks online? And that's another good thing. You get one identity. One name that is yours and only yours. And that's how folks will know you. Knowing how our message boards work, I imagine that a great Unreal player will become spoken of and known throughout the community. Pretty cool stuff. For $50 you get a year's service, the communicator (which developers are required to use for Xbox Live games), and at least one pack-in game that has not yet been announced. Revolt has been cancelled, by the way, because Microsoft wants to include something worthwhile to play. A pretty good deal for only $50. As for the future, there are three or four MMORPG's planned for next year and about 50-60% of all games in development for 2003 will include online functionality. Xbox was designed from the start as an online gaming system. That's why it has the hard drive, and that's why it has the broadband adapter built in. That's why it's going to be the best online system around. PS2 was never intended to go online, and I think that's clear from the design. But there was pressure, first from Sega and now from Microsoft, for gaming consoles to go online. Sony's plan (if you call it that) seems flawed and weak and would probably do okay if there weren't a superior set-up around called Xbox Live. Sony wins the console war, but Microsoft will definitely win the online battle.
vervolg David Smith, IGN PS2: "Yeah, well, everybody's going to buy ours anyway, so even if your game is better, you're doomed." And the kids actually do dig the SOCOM. Heaven knows why, but when we polled our readers about what online games they were interested in, it beat the nearest competition three to one. It even beat, "No, I'm not going to bother going online." Anyhow, I won't bother arguing that Microsoft won't offer a better service, because that kinda flies in the face of logic. Sorry, kids, Doug's out of the office, and my mind is unfortunately constrained by the bands of reason (most of the time). Here's the big question, though: will people bite? The startup price for the two services, after all, is about equal: $40 for a PS2 Network Adaptor, $50 for your first year of Xbox Live -- same difference. That extra $10 is made up by the cost of getting your headset along with SOCOM, after all. But in either case, will enough of an audience go to the trouble to hook up a broadband connection and get online? Sure, there's going to be a hardcore few following either service. But you should see some of the brain-damage cases I get in the mailbag every day -- they're going to be busy trying to figure out why a CAT-5 cable won't plug into their toaster. To my mind, that's going to be the obstacle to success for both services. Beating the competition will be a secondary concern, compared to educating the market. Aaron Boulding, IGN Xbox: I won't bother to repeat all of the virtues of Xbox Live that Hil mentioned, but I do agree that the biggest question is, "Will they buy it?" not, "Which service is better?" In a strange way, Sony and Microsoft are really going to be helping each other by competing at the same time in the online console market. The game-buying public that actually pays attention to such things will be convinced that there must be something to this whole online console phenomenon if these two titans are pounding them with the message that online is the future. On the other hand, the US economy is built on the stupidity of the masses (remember acid washed jeans?), but at this point, that stupidity has to be considered a liability. With IGN, you've got the premier source of videogame information at your fingertips, yet our readers, in theory the most savvy of savvy when it comes to games, still pepper me with questions about broadband and Xbox Live. Questions like "Can I still talk on the phone while playing Xbox Live?" and "Why can't I just play through AOL" are more common than Microsoft would want. Much of Microsoft's marketing plan for Xbox Live will be to show people how simple it is to get online with their Xbox. They seem committed to a three-step process of 1) Get an Xbox, 2) Get DSL, and Sign Up and Play, but those second and third steps are land mines of confusion waiting to happen. Condensing the whole process into a few simple steps is the key to the whole enchilada of online console gaming. Microsoft seems to have come closer to hitting this goal than Sony has. Microsoft has the pretty orange logo, a comprehensive program with a flashy name, and the damn thing actually works as advertised. They've done all they can do on their end. It's now up to the masses to stampede to their doorstep. I think that Sony, like Nintendo, designed their box with all kinds of potential functionality in mind, but now that they're actually having to pull some online gaming out of the PS2's innards, it's a different story. Buying all kinds of add-ons and expensive boxes that don't look like they do anything cool, might be too much for the public. However, Xbox Live should have kids sprinting out of stores already wearing their headsets like so many undersized bodyguards or Britney Spears backup dancers, because those are obviously so cool. Plus, I haven't heard any PS2 editor mention the Final Fantasy XI fiasco. That game is online only and will cost gamers a lot more than a $40 network adaptor. David Smith, IGN PS2: The Final Fantasy XI fiasco is a lot more interesting than that. The current rumor is that SCEA is seriously considering leaving the hard drive in Japan, which means that they couldn't even release FFXI in this country. Not without completely redesigning it, anyway. The funny part is that localization would be a snap if it were an Xbox game. Anyway, I think Aaron's right on there, and I like the point that Sony and Microsoft are almost working together in some ways. Selling online gaming isn't hard, but selling broadband access is pretty difficult. The relative hardware design is kind of interesting, too. Sony was talking about broadband when they announced the system, sure, but were they thinking about it when they designed it? I think Microsoft had just a little bit of a time advantage -- they were working on their system at a point when it was definitely clear what access technologies were going to be the future, whereas Sony was just at the tail end of the 56K era that spawned the Dreamcast. MS also has the advantage of having worked on online gaming before. Say what you want about the quality of the MSN Gaming Zone, it at least gave them some experience setting up stuff like this. The trademark of Sony's online efforts has been big promises and weak delivery. I get the impression that there have been some problems translating all the big ideas into workable realities. To get back to what I might be supposed to be talking about, regardless of all the misgivings above, I do think playing PS2 games online will eventually be worth the effort. SCEI's big list of online projects has some unbelievably exciting stuff -- Ace Combat online, an Armored Core with expanded online elements, cooperative Resident Evil online, Gran Turismo online, and, finally, an online Bomberman game that might get a decent number of players on board. Does Xbox Live have Bomberman? Does it? Does it?
vervolg Hilary Goldstein, IGN Xbox: I think that both of these big companies pushing for online will force the industry that way, whether consumers are ready for it or not. As much as I like to think that consumers dictate all industries (i.e. you don't buy something, they stop making it), in truth, I think the video game industry can easily dictate what the consumer will buy. No one wanted some of the crap that has come out in the past, but with Sony and Microsoft pushing for online and third party companies following their lead, the consumer won't have a choice. By the end of next year, there will be a large number of online games. They may not buy into it this year, but they probably won't have much choice next holiday season. It's sort of like DVDs. At some point you just have to stop promoting videos and make it seem like the only choice is the format you want to sell. We'll see a lot more about online this and that come this time next year. Sure, there will be choices for those who want to avoid online. Most online games won't go the Final Fantasy route and be online only. But both companies will promote online communities and the online game. And that's also probably the best way to attract some PC gamers to try out a console. I think both will be successful in terms of numbers, but I do think Sony's plan is nearsighted and flawed. From everything we've heard from Microsoft, it seems like this first year of Live is just a toe in the water to what we'll be seeing in 2004 and 2005. Microsoft is starting smart, though, by not having any RTS games or "thinking" games online this year. This year is all about shooters, basically -- something that appeals to a broader market. Next year, they will bring in some deeper games and apparently 3-4 MMORPGs, things that will require a very solid server. By the time the first MMORPG is out, they'll have had six months of consumer testing under their belt, and I'm sure the service will be strengthened to handle the demands of that genre by then. It will be interesting to see how many third party developers follow the online trend. I know that Microsoft is doing everything they can to encourage developers to at least have online functionality, if not head-to-head capabilities. David Smith, IGN PS2: I wouldn't call Sony's plan "nearsighted," really. It's disorganized, sure, and possibly an assortment of other pejoratives, but there's nothing exactly nearsighted about it. Whether third parties will jump onto the bandwagon is a good question. Sony is, of course, throwing a little more of the burden than it ought to on third party publishers, the result of which you can perhaps see in what happened to TimeSplitters 2. EA and Sega are doing alright, but nobody expected otherwise -- they can afford to run online servers. Your medium-sized to small companies are another matter entirely. Capcom is an odd case there, because it seems ready and willing to throw all kinds of games online. It already has three fighters online in Japan, with PS2 vs. Dreamcast functionality in Capcom Vs. SNK 2, and Auto Modellista and RE online are both apparently coming to the states. But has it announced anything for Xbox? Why isn't Tekki online, anyway? Hilary Goldstein, IGN Xbox: And there's the Xbox/PS2 difference: mid-sized companies can't afford to run servers. But on Xbox Live, they don't have to. And perhaps that will end up being Microsoft's biggest advantage. Tekki will be online in Japan. There may be a Tekki upgrade in the future, but I think they're worried about just getting the game to be as good as it can be for the time being. Aaron Boulding, IGN Xbox: I'd call Sony's online plan a step above Nintendo's, and any weight that it carries comes solely from the strength of the announced titles. Twisted Metal Black and Madden 2003 are much heavier names at this point in time than MechAssault and Unreal Championship on Xbox Live. But it's unwise to underestimate the power of the Voice Communicator, Xbox graphics, and top-to-bottom fun of some of these early Xbox Live games. I wish the list of launch titles was a bit stronger for Xbox Live, but I'll take Unreal Championship, MechAssault, and NFL 2K3 in my starting rotation with Midtown Madness 3, Star Wars Galaxies, and sweet, sweet NBA 2K3 a scant 3-4 months later. My own personal PS2 isn't going to be getting any online play this fall, even though I'll already have a little DSL hooked-up for Xbox Live. Give me Vice City and get out of my face. Hilary Goldstein, IGN Xbox: At E3, we had a feeling like the online titles for the Xbox Live launch would be as strong as you could imagine. Okay, so I'm not excited about Ghost Recon, but I'm sure it will please some. MechAssault, NFL 2K3, NBA 2K3, and Unreal Championship all live on November 15th? Honestly, that's all I need for the rest of this year. That communicator is the best part of Live, and no one knows it yet. It makes the experience that much better. Unless you have no personality (and we've seen some of those already), you'll be talking smack in no time. The voice masking is a bit weak, because some of the voices are indecipherable, but talking smack makes it like you are playing right next to your buddy, even though your buddy is on the other side of the country. I like the organization and unified requirements for Xbox Live. Even if the games aren't the best, *COUGHwhackedCOUGH*, the experience itself is meant to always be good. It won't make a good game bad, is what I'm saying. And that's important. David Smith, IGN PS2: I like the fact that we're not even talking about Nintendo, hardly. It's funny that you bring up the communicator, because I'm not excited about that aspect of online gaming at all. Hell, I'd just as soon the kids didn't even type to me, let alone talk to me. It's a fun idea to think about in concept, but in practice? When all those kids are sitting there, cussing at you? It'd be like reading your mailbag e-mail, except you can't just hit "delete." As for software launch lineups, I'd only give Microsoft a minor edge there. I think the advantages of Xbox Live are actually going to show more in the long run. Unreal Championship does about as much for me as any other PC-born FPS on a console, and it's even money as far as sports games are concerned. MechAssault is the one big game that Sony doesn't have an answer for, but it's stronger in the racing genre (in particular, Auto Modellista has some killer community stuff in the works), and where's your Freqency? No online DJ battles on XBox? What's up with that? Hilary Goldstein, IGN Xbox: Actually Microsoft has a solution for annoying kids. Anyone you don't like, you can basically mute them. So if you don't like what NakedGandalf_112 keeps yelling at you, just mute him. You won't have to hear him again. And that's not just for the current game. Should you see him on another game, he'll still be mute. Problem solved. David Smith, IGN PS2: So after, say, a week of play, how long's your mute list going to be? Hilary Goldstein, IGN Xbox: I probably won't even have one. I will probably talk more smack than any of them. I like to cuss and get rowdy when playing head-to-head. I promise that I will probably soil a few minds with some curse word-filled diatribe while playing Unreal. To each their own. But for me, the voice communicator is a great thing.
WOW HAHa Wow met hoofdletter W , wel vet om te zien wat Xbox live ons allemaal te bieden heeft . Alleen weet ik denk ik wel zeker dat het hier dan niet 50 euro gaat worden net als in us 50 dollars. Maar weet iemand wat meer over het internet-online gedeelte van de Ps2 ??? want dat hoort ook wel redelijk stabiel te zijn aangezien de ps2 de zogenaamde "Big BoSS"op dit moment is . Dus zal de Ps2 met iets zwaar kick-ass 8ig moeten komen want microsoft wil standaard blunders etc voorkomen want lets face it dit is microsoft's gebied internet , Dus tja ps2 zal dan zeker iets goeds moete hebbe
Als je naar de huidige prijsverhoudingen qua games kijkt, zal Xbox Live hier waarschijnlijk tussen de 60-70 euro gaan kosten..
Microsoft veegt de vloer aan tegen Sony op online gebied.. Is gewoon een regelrecht feit.. Sony moet echt met iets beters komen als je het zo bekijkt..
sony is zeker niet slecht als het gaat om online gaming hoor check hier en hier maar. Vooral Everquest is een goede online game maar ook Star Wars Galaxies gaat top worden. Maar Microsoft heeft wel meer ervaring op het gebied van internet en zal het dan ook wel winnen van Sony. Maar ik wilde alleen zeggen dat het niet zo is dat Sony niet weet wat online gaming is en dat ook zij hier ervaring mee hebben.
ik ben maar na de 4e post gestopt met lezen , maar tot dan toe zeer interresant Xbox Live kickt wel meer ass denk ik
Ja, SW: Galaxies wordt zeker wel wat, gelukkig komt die ook op de xbox... Microsoft heeft meer geld in Live gestoken dan in de Xbox zelf, dus het moet wel raar lopen als het niets wordt. En al kost het 70 euro, dat is nog niet zoveel als je naar de prijs/kwaliteitverhouding kijkt. MS komt vandaag met cijfers, ik maak wel ff een andere thread daarvoor en ik houd RTLZ (5) wel ff in de gaten...
Bedankt hoor Marco. (Hoe kom je eigenlijk aan al deze insider informatie, kun je straks niet reviews van alle grote spellen van IGN op het froum plaatsen, Unreal C, transworld S, etc)
Wat ik lullig vind bouwen ze in de xbox een ethernet controller moet je voor het internet gebeuren nog steeds meer dan voor ps2 verhaal betalen.
Ik zat net ff op xbox.com te kijken en zag daar het volgende: Wel lache!!! *) Gewoon ff de moeite nemen om het verhaal te lezen...
