Preview Of Sony's Online Network, actually pretty impressive if u ask me... Options

[thax]

Yup real currency is only good for the consumer and not the company. So I as a consumer think its a realy good idea.

Maybe if you are in the states, but other countries that game price will fluctuate on a daily basis. If all prices are fixed in each countries currency then the developer needs to price for each region, and when currencies change in value, people will create fake accounts to buy the game in the region with the lowest price depending on the exchange rates.

If I have a balance, what currency is it stored in? US Dollars?

Storing value and pricing using real money is a stupid idea for a system that is intended to be global in nature.

[Pheidias]

I'm not sure if they are gonna be pricing differently for every currency (that would suck) or just do a simple converting each morning. I don't care if the pricing says 8.775 or 9.

[KAGE360]

there is another plus point to XBL over Sony's attempt.

say game X comes out for Ps3, its got fantastic online and gets played to death for 6months.... then tails off. Within 2/3 months of tailing off the servers previously dedicated to game X would be given over to game Y.

on XBL you can always play any of the games, any time regardless of how low the demand for the game is.

paid services definitely have their benefits.

all but EA's crap games, recently they shut off online gameplay to quite a few games.

doesnt microsoft manage data flow through their servers even though were the one's hosting the game? i thought this was meant to optimize online gameplay. depending on the company wouldnt this mean that LIVE would have smoother online play more often?

Also while the online gameplay is free, i read that they are charging for EVERYTHING else including around $1 for a demo. IMHO this is more expensive then LIVE. if i was charged for everything that i download off the marketplace then i would be paying much more then $50 a year.

[thax]

I'm not sure if they are gonna be pricing differently for every currency (that would suck) or just do a simple converting each morning. I don't care if the pricing says 8.775 or 9.

What is the base currency going to be then? The Yen, the US Dollar or the Euro? If the pricing is dynamically adjusted in each country, then your current balance would also be displayed using using that same base currency. This would mean that your current balance would change on a daily basis. If you use each countries own currency as the base currency for current balance then it wouldn't make sense to use a different currency as the base currency for sales because your purchasing power would change on a daily basis. At this point you might as well just store everything in US dollars, The Euro or the Yen, at least it would be a single currency.

[silentbob343]

Yeah, 4.17 a month is soooooo pricey for what you get

Some people need to stop looking for reasons to justify not getting Live, its embarassing.

or stop looking for reasons to bash Sony and pan the PS3 before it has been released.

This post has been edited by silentbob343: Oct 16 2006, 08:22 AM

[Deftech]

or stop looking for reasons to bash Sony and pan the PS3 before it has been released.

Nice try but that won't work. I dont need to bash sony as far as their online plans, they are doing that for themselves thank you. And I certainly dont need to Look for Reasons, just check any website every hour of every day and its out there, the truth is out there.

I cant wait to see everyone bitching after a few months or years when they see what FREE gets them.

Buy one less damn fast food burger a month, just one, and you just paid for xbox live. Gee thats a steep amount, how fuggin dare them charge so much!

Enjoy your overgrown PSP

[Pheidias]

Nice try but that won't work. I dont need to bash sony as far as their online plans, they are doing that for themselves thank you. And I certainly dont need to Look for Reasons, just check any website every hour of every day and its out there, the truth is out there.

I cant wait to see everyone bitching after a few months or years when they see what FREE gets them.

Buy one less damn fast food burger a month, just one, and you just paid for xbox live. Gee thats a steep amount, how fuggin dare them charge so much!

Enjoy your overgrown PSP

[twistedsymphony]

What is the base currency going to be then? The Yen, the US Dollar or the Euro? If the pricing is dynamically adjusted in each country, then your current balance would also be displayed using using that same base currency. This would mean that your current balance would change on a daily basis. If you use each countries own currency as the base currency for current balance then it wouldn't make sense to use a different currency as the base currency for sales because your purchasing power would change on a daily basis. At this point you might as well just store everything in US dollars, The Euro or the Yen, at least it would be a single currency.

Exactly my point...

If you don't use an arbitrary points system then you either
A. have prices that shift daily based changes in the money market or
B. have a disparity between regions where one ends up cheaper/more expensive then the other.

Localized money doesn't work well for a global economy.. you can't just do a conversion because conversion rates change daily.

[KAGE360]

Nice try but that won't work. I dont need to bash sony as far as their online plans, they are doing that for themselves thank you. And I certainly dont need to Look for Reasons, just check any website every hour of every day and its out there, the truth is out there.

I cant wait to see everyone bitching after a few months or years when they see what FREE gets them.

Buy one less damn fast food burger a month, just one, and you just paid for xbox live. Gee thats a steep amount, how fuggin dare them charge so much!

Enjoy your overgrown PSP

when microsoft is still losing money over LIVE even though they charge for their GOLD account, you know that we are getting services well beyond the money we pay.

This post has been edited by KAGE360: Oct 16 2006, 01:27 PM

[twistedsymphony]

Very nice read, nice to know that online gaming will be free, that has always bugged me with Xbox Live (never had it) because I just like to play Counter Strike Source on my PC for free online because I've already bought the game. ...

Yeah, 4.17 a month is soooooo pricey for what you get

Some people need to stop looking for reasons to justify not getting Live, its embarassing.

I'd have to agree with Deftech here. I didn't bother with XBL for the longest time. I had an Modded Xbox, and I thought it was stupid to have to pay any amount for online service. I played a few games online using my PC but not to often because it was a hassle.

I won a new Xbox in a Mt Dew contest and it came with 3 months free. Being that got an unmoded console and a free trial I decided it could hurt trying. I didn't even have any specific games that I wanted to play online.

After about 2 hours revisiting old games I hadn't played for months and tried them for the first time online (even games I wouldn't have thought about playing online) I realized that the measly $4 a month was well worth what MS offered. The servers are fast, you don't have to configure anything, and you have a singular identity across every game. Playing online was just as easy to do as playing offline.

I bought a 12 month kit the next day and never looked back...

bucko, I can see where you're coming from but Deftech is right, making excuses at this point is just embarrassing, hell even my GF has a XBL Gold account

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Oct 16 2006, 01:23 PM

[incognegro]

Ill be honest with you guys, I dont think the lack of a points system is as big a deal as you think it is. Everything has its good or bad points. Yes you all have done a good job at noticing the bad points but look on the bright side; This system removes all confusion in terms of where you money is going and how much money your spending. Im sure alot of us here can analyze how much money we are spending with points but the average gamer is not gonna do that if they don't have to. Sony is basically saying "you don't have to" and that will appeal to a certain audience but to the more educated (or less lazy), we say its flawed. Of course it is, nothing is perfect. I don't think its fair to knock sony for their system, its just different. To each's own , I guess.

[nickthegreat]

Also while the online gameplay is free, i read that they are charging for EVERYTHING else including around $1 for a demo.

'apparently' not true. kira politely called me a fuckwit when i mentioned id seen this reported - i think he posted a link to where it was refuted. but i couldn't be arsed with anything he had to say so i didn't look...........

[incognegro]

who is this kira dude?

[Pheidias]

If sony is smart they will let you decide for yourself wich currency to show and not force it down based on region or language. Then if say they are gonna use the $ as base for the pricing, those who want there own currency can choose to use that or we who want the unaltered original currency the pricing is set to will be able to do so. And to pay for extra content( demos etc) but not pay for built a in function in the game (online play) that you already paid for seems reasonable to me.

[twistedsymphony]

...but not pay for built a in function in the game (online play) that you already paid for seems reasonable to me.

You're not really paying for the only function, you're paying for the servers...

without servers to run the game you can't play online, servers are not free, nor are there costs included in the price of a game.