Now I’m not going to craft an argument over pricing, available features, DLC Support, media integration or any of that stuff.  That’s for another time, probably each topic in its own post.  This is simply about those services and what matters most: the online gameplay and community.

As a quick disclaimer, I own a PS3 and play online rather frequently (I will forever curse Infinity Ward for creating the addiction that is the MW2 reward system).  My Xbox LIVE experiences come from party matches on my roommate’s 360 and from watching him play occasionally.

Of course, littered in with my opinions are my challenges to PS3 gamers.  Accept them and let’s help make PSN a better place to play.

Now let’s do this.

LIVE wins.

 In my opinion, PSN can’t even compare to LIVE in terms of online gameplay.  Of course, this is for a variety of causes, but I’m not looking at causes; I’m looking at the effects.

The Opinion: PSN has no community.  At all.  Let’s take MW2 for example.  In any given match, there’s a maximum of 3, maybe 4 people with headsets connected.  Even in the MAG Beta, where communication is much more important there were barely and voices to be heard.  There’s just nothing going on in these matches.  I’ll admit I’m partly to blame for this.  I refuse to connect my Bluetooth headset to talk to anyone I don’t know because I despise what I’m going to hear in response.  Sadly, my experience with gamers with headsets is pretty bad.  From the pointless insults to the foul language to the absolute degradation of players who perform not-quite-so-admirably, there’s very little enjoyment to be had by hooking up a headset.  Yes, this is a huge problem on LIVE as well, but there are also more jovial and accepting gamers on LIVE using headsets, simply because there are more people talking.  It’s a matter of proportion.

The Challenge: CONNECT THAT HEADSET! Don’t fear the vulgar crap you’ll undoubtedly hear.  Don’t take yourself or others too seriously in a game.  It is, after all, just a game.  When you start being ultra-competitive and slinging insults left and right, you forget that and end up not having fun in the process.  Be a good player, not by racking up the highest kill count, but by playing the game with an enthusiastic and cheerful attitude.  INTERACT with the players and you’ll find that gaming can be a much more exciting affair.

The Opinion: PSN has too few players.  For a free service, that strikes me as rather odd.  There are 38 million PSN accounts registered worldwide, compared to 20 million LIVE players.  Granted PSN’s free structure allows for family members to have separate account and single players to have multiple accounts, leading to the discrepancy in subscription and console sale numbers, as well as PSP accounts.  20 million of 21 million PS3 owners have a PSN account.  Sure in huge games like MW2 this lack of players doesn’t show, as too many people play this game regularly.  It’s the smaller titles that show this critical lack of players the most.  Example: the recent Aliens vs. Predator demo.  My roommate and I both downloaded this demo on our respective consoles (while marveling at the 500MB discrepancy in download size) and booted it up.  The 360 jumped into a full 8 person match almost immediately.

I was waiting for half an hour.  To play a match with 5 people.  When I got my friends to play, we partied up and played a 3 player match.  We were a 3 player party.  Are you telling me that out of 20 million members on the planet, we were the only ones playing?

That’s PATHETIC.

Next demo: Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  The beta was well played on the PS3, probably because it was exclusive, well-hyped and closed.  The demo comes out and my roommate and I go through the same routine: he gets a full match; I’m dropped into a 3v2 match.

Fantastic.  Especially in the huge Battlefield maps.  Especially while on defense and the only way to win is to kill the opposing players 75 times.

The Challenge: PLAY GAMES. Yes I understand these are simply demos and the experience is likely to change once the game hits full release.  But clearly LIVE members take better advantage of what’s given to them.  PSN users, you’re given free demos to enjoy.  DO IT.  That is one of the marvels of this console generation; digital distribution.  Gone are the days of buying a game to discover it’s shovelware.  Download the demo first.  Gone are the days of envying PC players because they get to try out the newest title for free.  Download the demo.  Seriously, both the demos discussed are wonderful things to experience.  Aliens vs. Predator was great fun as each class (and terrifying as the Marine, but I digress.  Another post maybe…) and BF:BC2 is simply brilliant.  Don’t cheat yourself by ignoring this feature.

OVERALL CHALLENGE: PSN subscribers, take advantage of what’s given to you!  It’s all entirely free.  Play online, meet new people, try new demos, customize your PS3, watch game videos, there are so many options!  It’s almost a crime to be given this much and simply ignore it.

Now for a challenge to Sony

The Opinion: LIVE gets exclusive online privileges frequently, the latest example being the GTAIV episodes.  LIVE has a plethora of customization options, through avatars, gamer pics, bios, summaries, the list goes on.  PSN gets DLC late frequently (The Who’s Super Bowl Medley a recent example). PSN gives you a color option, generic avatars, avatars for games that ceased to be relevant some years ago, and a bio that few now where to find. Oh, you get a short blurb too, enough space for one short quote or to be a cycle of AC/DC song lyrics, as mine tends to be.  Sweet.  LIVE and the Xbox Blade systems are pretty efficient and user-friendly.  PSN is clunky, showing the side effects of being a ‘me-too’ addition.  The XMB is slow to load when accessing in game and community options are limited.  Sony needs to step up their presence in the online gaming realm and if that means charging a subscription price, so be it. 

The Challenge: We need cross game voice chat.  We need an accessible way to contact, invite and share with friends.  We need better PSN integration in video games (granted a developer’s issue, but something Sony can help streamline).  Don’t be afraid to emulate LIVE because it’s your competition, emulate it because it’s the best in the market.  Come on Sony, step up your game.

That’s about it for now.  I’m sure there’s plenty wrong with this post but it’s a good start I think.  Feedback, suggestions, questions, comments, opinions, criticisms and rebuttals are all welcome; toss ‘em at me!

I hope to both see and hear you all on PSN very soon.  Let’s make PSN worthwhile :D