Arstechnica Reviews the PS3

[quest55720]

The Xbox 360 didn't have many of those features at launch either.

The MS was the pioneer everyone else after is expected to match what they have done up till now. If sony would of offered a service like xbox live first then they would of gotten a free pass on some issues and MS would of been expected to match all those features when they launched. The pioneer always gets a chance to work out the kinks those who follow don't.

 

[Asher]

The Xbox 360 didn't have many of those features at launch either.

The thing is, the 360 had the basic features, such as scaling.

Its online service was very robust.

Sony has had 4 years to clone Xbox Live and from what it looks like, they started about 6 months ago. And came up way short.

BTW, the browser is described as "slow" as in, unresponsive and difficult UI.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

How in God's name did they screw up the no background downloading thing? That alone will stop me from EVER downloading anything from them. "Hey, lets make them all sit through a loading bar for 3 hours", great job Sony.

I think the problem here is that the whole GameOS has been ushered out without being properly finished to a version 1.0. We have the OS running in the background of all games, using up 64 MB of RAM, while doing next to nothing.

My guess is that from day 1, the intention was background tasks including downloading and messaging running on the GameOS that you can pop to and fro in game. They missed these for the deadline and are scrambling to put them in. I find it hard to believe that Sony totally ignored the functions people would want/expect when there's been XBLive! as a test-case for years providing information.

I hope so, the possibility and potential are certainly there. For now, it's power looking for a mission statement.

I like this summary. I think it's quite valid. Though I do think the mission statement is there, it just isn't presented in a convenient one-liner for people to pick up! People are hopeless at seeing potential - you have to present a full product for people to 'get it'. And at the moment, PS3 is mostly potential. It's set to provide an all-in-one solution, which was always the mission statement for the PlayStation platform. It has the simple games, the hardcore games, download games, epic games, media options and distribution, etc. If there was one machine you were to have for 'playing', the 'playstation' ought to cover it.

The problem is that's asking a lot of the system, and at the moment it's all 'just around the corner' but not ready it...as it hasn't been for a couple of console generations! Sony really need to fill in the blanks quick, as at the moment the system is only being compared to the alternatives, and not reviewed on it's own merits. If they do get the whole system running properly, there'll be a lot to commend to it.

 

[-tkf-]

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/ps3.ars

I´ll go read it, but first i will post what i think i will read, a negative article from the same people that posted a pro HD-DVD article.

C U later

First, you have to download a system update. That's right; out of the box the PS3 requires an update just to get online. Fun, isn't it? So that'll take a few minutes, after which you have to install the update. This is getting tedious. Then you're going to need an account, and if you don't have a USB keyboard laying around to help you set this up, you're in trouble. With a USB keyboard, it's a snap though, and I quickly set up an account.

Picky picky...

A lot of people have argued—and not without merit—that the main reason for the PS3's existence is simply to get Blu-ray into your home.

Pure bias, this guy only sees the Blu-Ray drive as a HiDef player.

Blu-ray playback on the PS3 is about what you would expect from a console which has an impossible-to-find remote control. If you've ever used the PS2's DVD playback software, you'll feel right at home. For the rest of us, the controls will take a while to get used to.

I wonder if people have problems getting used to other control schemes as well?

The PS3 doesn't have any grand ideas

Last i checked it had nothing but grand ideas..

Ohh well he didn´t disapiont..

 

[expletive]

Exactly. Funny enough, Sony seems to have more broken hardware (at least now?) than MS this time around...

But really, expecting Sony to produce OS and general software libraries at the same level of MS is like expecting MS to produce HDTVs (say, the Bravia X-series) at the same level Sony does.

Possible but it takes time.

I wonder though, since its software that sells hardware, rather than hardware selling hardware, maybe being a software company is the more valuable commodity?

 

[London Geezer]

I wonder though, since its software that sells hardware, rather than hardware selling hardware, maybe being a software company is the more valuable commodity?

Well it's certainly much, MUCH more profitable to be the software company!!

 

[patsu]

I think the problem here is that the whole GameOS has been ushered out without being properly finished to a version 1.0. We have the OS running in the background of all games, using up 64 MB of RAM, while doing next to nothing.

My guess is that from day 1, the intention was background tasks including downloading and messaging running on the GameOS that you can pop to and fro in game. They missed these for the deadline and are scrambling to put them in. I find it hard to believe that Sony totally ignored the functions people would want/expect when there's been XBLive! as a test-case for years providing information.

Yap ! For point-by-point issues such as background downloading and scaling, I think they just missed the deadline.

Once the dust settles, their marketing department should take control of the situation and decide what and how to roll out the advanced features next.

 

[expletive]

Well it's certainly much, MUCH more profitable to be the software company!!

It would seem!

Jesus Christ you guys want Sony to have a console on day 1 with all the upgrades on Day 1.

Problem is mck, if they wanted to be compared to the 360 of 6 months ago, they should have launched 6 months ago. Its entirely fair for journalists and consumers to judge products based on their current capabilities. Sony absolutley should be able to fix a lot of these problems via updates but given the overall history of time to market with these things, when? What if its a year away? What if its longer?

I'm not the best one to speak on this becuase i didnt own a PSP for very long but IIRC, it took quite awhile for Sony to implement all the promised functions of the PSP?

 

[patsu]

I wonder though, since its software that sells hardware, rather than hardware selling hardware, maybe being a software company is the more valuable commodity?

The current ranking seems to be:
Automated service or media (i.e., content) > software licenses > hardware
[The hierarchy may not work in certain Asia segments because people like to pay for tangible things]

In the future, software may not be able to standalone (unless you're very specialized and good at it). According to Steve Ballmer in May 2006, MS wants to shift left to become a "media powerhouse". Sony is em... currently in both hardware and media, but they need to differentiate/beef up their offerings via software. So yeah software is still their next goldmine.

 

[Arctic Permafrost]

The thing is, the 360 had the basic features, such as scaling.

Its online service was very robust.

Sony has had 4 years to clone Xbox Live and from what it looks like, they started about 6 months ago. And came up way short.

BTW, the browser is described as "slow" as in, unresponsive and difficult UI.

1000% agreed. Moreover, Xbox 360 controllers are arguably the best of any current console (FPS anyone?), adding to that nice options for different screen formats, you can play your own music in every game, L and R triggers are cool for racing games...

I thought all of those features would be standarized in next gen consoles, but currently we only have one console with those characteristics since it launched a year ago.

 

[blakjedi]

The thing is, the 360 had the basic features, such as scaling.

Its online service was very robust.

Sony has had 4 years to clone Xbox Live and from what it looks like, they started about 6 months ago. And came up way short.

That about sums it up really. If 360 launched a year ago without certain features then got it right within that year while the Sony product hadn't launched... it would only make sense that Sony saw that and made sure they did not make the same mistake themselves. All this launch proves is that Sony may either be too arrogant, or conversely so uncoordinated that they literally do not pay attention to their competition... even when it would behoove them to.

 

[DJ12]

I wonder though, since its software that sells hardware, rather than hardware selling hardware, maybe being a software company is the more valuable commodity?

Software (as in games) sells hardware, but anyone that buys a 360 because it has a better OS than the PS3 is taking nerdiness to a new level and should seek help.

I didn't spend 5 minutes in total looking at the 360s dashboard in the 8 months I owned the console. In fact I couldn't think of something more boring to do with it if I tried.

 

[expletive]

Software (as in games) sells hardware, but anyone that buys a 360 because it has a better OS than the PS3 is taking nerdiness to a new level and should seek help.

I didn't spend 5 minutes in total looking at the 360s dashboard in the 8 months I owned the console. In fact I couldn't think of something more boring to do with it if I tried.

We're talking about the ability to deliver on requirements and deliver functionality in a timely manner - execution. We're not talking about the OS aesthetics or blades, we're talking about what those 'blades provide and why Sony wasnt able to deliver so much of what Xbox live and the 360 dashboard does with much more time to do it. I think the question here is why Sony couldnt deliver obvious functionality in all this time? Do they not think its important or is this going to be a continual struggle to get these types of things implemented for awhile?

They couldnt get background loading done with an additional 6 months, how does that affect your confidence that they can do a universal friends list, in game messaging, multiple voice chat channels, etc?

 

[mckmas8808]

I think this sums up the feleings I'm getting from all of the reviews combined, including actual users from other sites around the web who have played all the systems.

That's the way Playstation has always been. It's never been one thing and one thing only. Sega always had Sonic, Nintendo has always had Mario, and Microsoft has and will always have Halo.

But Sony never had that one mascot. That one thing that idenitifies itself with the system. They do that on purpose. I like it like that because they are not trapped to focusing on one thing. But at the sametime that's their biggest achilles heel.

They are doing things like supporting the Stanford people with trying to cure cancer, to making high profile PS3 games, to making original downloadable titles, to making their first completly networked console, to supporting the PSP through the PS3, to supporting Blu-ray on the PS3, to supporting Linux on the PS3, to doing 400 million other things.

All of those things are nice and most people like at least one of those things. It just takes time to get all of that stuff running flawlessly.

 

[patsu]

That about sums it up really. If 360 launched a year ago without certain features then got it right within that year while the Sony product hadn't launched... it would only make sense that Sony saw that and made sure they did not make the same mistake themselves. All this launch proves is that Sony may either be too arrogant, or conversely so uncoordinated that they literally do not pay attention to their competition... even when it would behoove them to.

Agree in general, but just one subtle point. The current feedback are about slow Internet store and no background download. Both are browser/OS issues rather than online infrastructure issues (assuming the US testers were _not_ accessing Japanese Stores). They just need time to fix the software.

We're talking about the ability to deliver on requirements and deliver functionality in a timely manner - execution. We're not talking about the OS aesthetics or blades, we're talking about what those 'blades provide and why Sony wasnt able to deliver so much of what Xbox live and the 360 dashboard does with much more time to do it. I think the question here is why Sony couldnt deliver obvious functionality in all this time? Do they not think its important or is this going to be a continual struggle to get these types of things implemented for awhile?

They couldnt get background loading done with an additional 6 months, how does that affect your confidence that they can do a universal friends list, in game messaging, multiple voice chat channels, etc?

XBox 360 had the benefit of Windows OS to borrow code *and experienced teams* from, the same goes with their HD-DVD player. Sony has to start many of these OS/Blu-ray/Gaming Libraries and Tools effort on Cell from scratch (or from open source). Also there are more components in the GameOS to test the OS within the same time. So they must have spent a lot of time in testing too. Xbox 360 had the advantage of phasing things out in a longer timespan.


EDIT: Given the scope and timeframe, their technical folks actually did better than I thought. It's their marketing that I'm not satisfied with. And I think it's because the technical folks had such a hard time over last few months to pulling the "basic" things together. Now that it's in place, marketing can hopefully take over to run the show.

 

[assen]

I didn't spend 5 minutes in total looking at the 360s dashboard in the 8 months I owned the console. In fact I couldn't think of something more boring to do with it if I tried.

This proves it's good. That's the job of the OS, to get the job done and never get noticed. You start to notice it when it starts to become an obstruction to your work.

 

[blakjedi]

of course the PS3 with eight lightning fast processors and one dedicated to the OS could handle mutliple dl streams at the same time even while playing a game... if pentium IIs and celerons can do it...

When I was coming through college my grad chapter advisor always told my frat brothers dont fall victim to the seven P's:

Poor Prior Planning Produces Piss Poor Performance

 

[Maintank]

The Xbox 360 didn't have many of those features at launch either.

So what you are saying is Sony was dumb enough to copy a mistake?

 

[mckmas8808]

of course the PS3 with eight lightning fast processors and one dedicated to the OS could handle mutliple dl streams at the same time even while playing a game... if pentium IIs and celerons can do it...

When I was coming through college my grad chapter advisor always told my frat brothers dont fall victim to the seven P's:

Poor Prior Planning Produces Piss Poor Performance

Obviously Sony couldn't get it done in time. If they focused on active downloading, then they probably wouldn't have finished something else on the Playstation network.

 

[nelg]

They are doing things like supporting the Stanford people with trying to cure cancer, to making high profile PS3 games, to making original downloadable titles, to making their first completly networked console, to supporting the PSP through the PS3, to supporting Blu-ray on the PS3, to supporting Linux on the PS3, to doing 400 million other things.

You forgot about curing world hunger and poverty. You sound like the marketing department. If the side benefit of charity is really a concern, buy the 360, to enrich the Gates Foundation.