Microsoft Flattered By Xbox Live Copycats

[rabidrabbit]

MS has recently announced that they've 'opened' their Live infrastructure to allow more flexibility to developers. Which is to say that the old 'closed' model wasnt intrinsic to the service and its fundamental design. That said, i dont think you can use the idea that one being more or less 'open' than another as a determining factor in this discussion because it seems either platform can be as 'open' as it wants to be.

Of course they both can change the fundamentals, add and remove features... either platform can change, and will change.

So, now the "Live" is changing towards what the PS3 online will be.
Are Microsoft now "copying" Sony? Yes they are, as much as Sony has "copied" live.

Instead of "copying" I would say they both are reacting to market demands.
Being first, Microsoft established a minimum standard for the features, which the competitors must match and better.
Sony (and publishers) are providing the possibilities for a more flexible infrastructure, which the competitors must match or better.

 

[expletive]

Of course they both can change the fundamentals, add and remove features... either platform can change, and will change.

So, now the "Live" is changing towards what the PS3 online will be.
Are Microsoft now "copying" Sony? Yes they are, as much as Sony has "copied" live.

True, but in this case MS was probably reacting vendor feedback, rather than competition or consumers. It seems this abiltiy was always there for Live and it doesnt seem any more obvious to me that it was due to Sony as it was due to new functionality in XNA ( i belive both were announced at about the same time). I think people can make the argument that Sony copied MS (though i'm not) but to now say MS copied Sony just seems like quite a stretch to me. Once Live is free for multiplayer games, then you may be on to something.

Instead of "copying" I would say they both are reacting to market demands.
Being first, Microsoft established a minimum standard for the features, which the competitors must match and better.
Sony (and publishers) are providing the possibilities for a more flexible infrastructure, which the competitors must match or better.

Agreed with some of what youre saying here but I think we're a little short on info to really determine how flexible either infrastructure is today or was 3 months ago (in reality or on paper). For all we know, live could have been more 'open' in some respects than the Sony network but becuase Sony is calling it 'open' we assume it was more open than Live...

 

[pipo]

Thirdly, Sony's proposed plan has many more revenue streams than XBLive including media of all types.

MS has been dropping more then just hints on this subject before.

Expect a lot of stuff on the marketplace.

 

[expletive]

MS has been dropping more then just hints on this subject before.

Expect a lot of stuff on the marketplace.

Coupled with the comment from Scott Henson on how there will be a redesign to marketplace which would "make things easier to find" i agree with you here. Certainly lots more content would necessitate this.

 

[scooby_dooby]

MS has been dropping more then just hints on this subject before.

Expect a lot of stuff on the marketplace.

Ya, OXM had a rumour about a DirectTV blade coming, I'm really looking forward to see what they'll do. IIRC MS has also made a deal with a huge provider of video content (inluding Sony pictures!) the name escapes me...

 

[Qroach]

Also MS is opening a potal with MTV for music downloads and I'm sure that will occur over xbox live as well.

 

[NavNucST3]

Coupled with the comment from Scott Henson on how there will be a redesign to marketplace which would "make things easier to find" i agree with you here. Certainly lots more content would necessitate this.

This was my question regarding N and how they would handle their massive lists of downloadable games spanning decades.

 

[randycat99]

Microsoft complaining about "being copied" is the paramount of irony and hypocracy. Did everybody just forget where a great deal of featureset in their OS and in-house software came from for the past 2 decades or so? The list of "who they haven't copied" would be shorter than "who they have copied". They can complain all they want about being copied, but it is overwhelmingly just desserts for over 2 decades of their "innovation". Even then, this incursion would have to happen a thousand times over before MS could claim square and even with any industry they have ever shared with a competitor.

 

[Tap In]

Microsoft complaining about "being copied" .....

nobody said anything about "complaining"

“It’s certainly flattering to see that our competition rates aspects of Xbox 360 and Xbox Live so highly that they’re integrating these features into their own product,”

 

[randycat99]

Yes, "flattering" would be the politically correct way to term it.

 

[MasaC]

I'm sure Nintendo and Sega initially were "flattered" when Sony entered the console market back in the nineties.

 

[randycat99]

...and how lucky we would all feel still playing games on 64 MB ROM cartridges for $85 retail games to this very day?