Xbox Live vs PSN

Aaron Greenberg, group manager of Xbox Live gives his insights into what makes Xbox Live so much different and so much better than the PSN during an interivew on 'Bonus Round'. User genereted content or lack thereof (fake E3 2006 promises anyone?) is also discussed as well as future developments for XNA that gives people the ability to create games without writing a single line of code.

During an interview Aaron Greenberg mentioned the three best things that Sony was doing with the PSN were,

1. Actually doing it.
2. Their store is good, not better than Xbox Live MarketPlace, just 'different'.
3. Original Playstation 1 games

Interesting he didn't mention anywhere that it was free, this was to him, Aaron replied it's 'not important' and that he didn't think it was 'free vs paid' because of Xbox Live silver users being very active on the network.

When pushed hard about the price for multiplayer Aaron said that the consumer satisfaction rate was high and most people thought it was great value. Looks like Xbox Live owners are just too happy to pay the $50 a year. He also went on to imply that Xbox Live multiplayer provides a more consistant feel throughout all games through a universal friends list and voice support in all games, unlike the PSN.

On the point of 'Games for Windows' Aaron says that they're trying to bring Xbox Live to the PC and that all developer resentment that may be aimed towards 'Games for Windows' is because of the standards being set to qualify such as fast loading and quick installs.

User genereted content is 'getting there', Aaron says that integrating Torque-X into XNA makes it very easy to create games and made a promise that as someone who has 'never written a line of code' that he was going to make a game on XNA.

Furthermore he adds that it is 'definitely possible' to have a scenario where a person makes a map for Halo 3 on the PC, submits it for consideration and if it is approved is ptu online to be shared.