Sony's Online Service for PS3 Revealed

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Sony's online service for PS3 revealed

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061015-7991.html

It has long been known that Sony planned to release an online service similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live for their next-gen console, the PlayStation 3. However, the details of this service have remained extremely sketchy until now. With only a few weeks left to go before the planned North American and Japanese launch of the PS3, the veil of secrecy has finally been lifted. In a report from inside Sony's UK headquarters in London, the online service was finally revealed.

The user interface for the service will look and feel familiar to owners of Sony's other gaming device: the PlayStation Portable. The same menu structure is present, with the horizontal strip of icons revealing further menu options vertically. In fact, many of the icons are identical, with a couple of additions. The User Profiles button allows users to create one or more online profiles that will keep track of game accomplishments and other data, and the Friends button displays the gamer's friend status, much like the profiles in Xbox Live.

The PS3 will come with a built-in web browser similar to the on one the PSP. Unlike the Wii's optional Opera browser, it will be offered for free (Nintendo is giving away the Wii browser for a limited time only). The other free aspect is the service itself: unlike Xbox Live, there will be no charge to connect to the PS3's online network, use matchmaking services, use voice chat, or play multiplayer games (with the exception of MMORPGs and other games where additional charges may apply).

The other difference between Sony's online service and Xbox Live is that there will be no system of "points" that gamers can exchange for games and rewards. Instead, every reward on the PS3 online service will be directly purchasable online for a posted fee. The player transfers their cash into an account Sony calls the "Wallet," and all purchases made online are taken out of the Wallet directly, using a web-based "shopping cart" interface. This includes not only rewards (such as new cars and tracks in the new Gran Turismo games) but also game demos and may even include digital music from services such as Sony Connect.

Comparisons with Microsoft's Xbox Live are inevitable, but how the two services truly stack up to each other will have to wait until the PS3 has been available for a few months and all the kinks worked out of the system. Sony is taking a bit of a different approach from Microsoft by offering the service for free and hoping to make up the difference from online transactions of game and music content. Whether this will put pressure on Microsoft to make Xbox Live services free remains to be seen, but it looks as though the battle for next-gen console supremacy will be just as heated online as it is shaping up to be on store shelves.