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.

Microsoft and 'Live 3.0'

Sony is promising to deliver better than Xbox Live for free, though if it can just get as good as Xbox Live free it would be more than enough. Sony on top of free online is pushing the concept of 'Game 3.0', so far the reaction to it has been extremely possitive giving an 'empire strikes back' vibe to the console wars.

Microsoft is still back at its Xbox 1 days, charging for what is essentially the same service, making free the ability to purchase things or download what is usually free. It's time for Microsoft to get back into focusing on community interaction. Just how?

At the 2006 E3 Petere Moore made that damning quote "Some people do rubber ducks, some people do tattoos", could we extend this and expect this E3 Petere Moore to get up on stage and proclaim "Some people do rag dolls, some people do Spartans"? No, I'm not looking for a platformer in which you play a customizable Master Chief and go around creating levels to jump around in, I'm talking about a full featured map editor.

Give developers the ability to integrate map editors and other such goodies into their games as part of the XNA, make it so someone can create a map for Halo 3 on his/her PC and release it via Xbox Live as a free download.

The whole 'Game 3.0' concept Sony has come up with is entirely coincedential, Playstation Home was originally as part of the lobby for a Playstation 2 game and perhaps the only reason LittleBigPlanet is an exclusive for the Playstation 3 is because Sony has bought the Ageia PhysX license for all developers on the Playstation 3. If Sony's Game 3.0 concept goes unmatched then the PSN will definitely surpass Xbox Live in every way.