XBL-esque 'PlayStation Network (PSNet)' details revealed?...

[Oda]

This comes from a supposed 'insider' on the Gamer Advisory Panel PlayStation message boards. Heed with a grain of salt as always.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The PSNet will have three packages:

· ~$5 Month to Month Fee, cancellable at any time.

· ~$50 Yearly Subscription.

· Pay-Per-Game, pricing varies per title.

"With Pay-Per-Game, you will have to pay a certain amount to play that specific game on the Network. The amount will be different for each game, depending on what features or capabilities it will have. Of course, once you pay to have that game on the Network, you will not have to pay for that game again. We still do not know if there will be any Limited Free/Trial Network time or downloads, like on X-Box Live.

When you purchase any type of PSNet account, all of your stats and videos will be uploaded into your personal online storage directory, which can be accessed from either Sony’s website or your PS3. When you turn on your Playstation 3 without any game inside, it will go to the System Menu."

In the System Menu, you can:

· Set the time and date, Time Zone, and Daylight Savings Time.

· View/edit what’s saved on your Hard Drive.

· View your systems' version specs.

· Create/Login to a Playstation Network account.

"Once you select to make a PSNet account, you will have to type in the account code that comes with the retail package, followed by your Credit Card and Personal Information. Afterwards, you only have to enter your account name and password, and you’re all set."

Once you log into your PSNet account from the system menu, you can:

· Edit/Check your Buddy List.

· Go Online. ("When you choose 'Go Online', you will be able to surf the web.")

· Look for new Downloadable Content.

· Upload Content to your online storage directory. ("As for transfering content to your online storage directory, you will be able to upload user-created levels, user-created modes, replays, ect.")

Buddy List features:

· See which of your friends are online.

· What game(s) they’re playing.

· What mode(s) and map(s) they’re playing in.

· What their clan/rank(s) are for the game(s) they're playing.

· Send them messages, typed or voice-recorded.

· Request a voice chat session (only if they’re available).

· Join their game.

· Invite them to your game.

· Mute/block individual gamers.

· Adjust voice masking options.

· Spectate. ("When you choose 'Spectate', you can watch your friend(s) play, even if they are on a different game, or a game that you don’t have.")

Downloadable Content options:

· Download Extras
-Here you can download extra features to your games (Note that additional fees may be required, unless you are using the Pay-Per-Game method of payment)

· Download Music/Videos
-Here you will be able to download music that you can play during your games or videos to watch on your PS3.

Other info:

"For sports games, there can be a different PSNet user for each player on your team. While playing on PSNet, you can set your PS3 to record what is happening in the game, and it will be uploaded into your personal directory. You will have limited space of how much video you can record, but you can purchase more. There will also be the ability for cooperative mode’s online with other users, and of course up to four people can play online from a single Playstation 3."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[creon100]

Since when does being on the vauled "Game Advisory Panel" actually get you access to any special information? I got the certificate of membership and everything and about the only thing I've gotten out of it is SOCOM III beta test.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I though some Sony spokesperson had already pointed out people 1) didn't like to give credit card numbers and 2) Didn't want to HAVE to pay for online. PS2 provides free online on some titles for those who want it, and some official or other said they still expect devs to worry about hosting and leave that to them to decided what's best for interface etc.

As for spectating, that'd need the player's game to be uploading video footage of them playing. That's codec overhead to compress 1+megapixel screens at 30 fps, uploading BW consumption interfering with online game (online gaming is ALWAYS short of BW, so why waste it with videos??), storage on servers, and distribution.

Sounds like bunk to me.

 

[Arun]

The spectate system alone makes it totally obvious it's FUD; [...] or a game that you don’t have [...] is the shocking part, because it makes no technical sense. As Shifty Geezer, that implies having to send a video of it, which would require more bandwidth than 99% connections have right now.

Uttar

 

[mckmas8808]

Yeah I don't know about this either. If 80% of this is true then it would be enough to compete against Xbox Live.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Weren't they building a network which combines PSP, PS2 and PS3, and overlaps?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

There's a network infrastructure in the works by accounts, which'll I guess cover content delivery and network gaming somehow. Something to rival Live! might not be out of the question, though to date Sony have tended to side with developers providing networking to their own idea of what it should be. This doesn't necessarily rule out the option of a common gateway interface.

 

[jvd]

seems like a sony fan took the best parts of live and then some thigns kk talked about (like cell storage) and made this up .

I would wait for sony to announce something before getting excited

 

[rabidrabbit]

$50 per year for online subscription, they may as well make it free.
$50 per year per console owner seems like small money to companies like Sony and MS, it's like you buying just one more game per year. Of course multiplied by billions it's more, but still...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

20 million consoles at $50 a year is a billion bucks a year. Certainly not small-fry!

 

[Titanio]

I highly doubt this is true.

But if talking about things we want, the integration with other media makes sense and I hope it happens. Sony has been inking deals with providers for PSP content, asides from their own large capability in that area..makes much more sense to also have that on PS3 e.g. downloading/streaming videos, news, music etc.

 

[jvd]

$50 per year for online subscription, they may as well make it free.
$50 per year per console owner seems like small money to companies like Sony and MS, it's like you buying just one more game per year. Of course multiplied by billions it's more, but still...

this is the current price of xbox live .


Anyway it equals hundreds of millions of dollars . That is why mmorpgs are not free

 

[rabidrabbit]

Yes, but I meant the basic "Live" service, not the individual game specific costs which come on top of the "Live"
That might as well be free.
But then again, MS does take a certain amount of sum from the game specific fees.

20 million consoles at $50 a year is a billion bucks a year. Certainly not small-fry!

For MS and Sony I think it is, especially if by making it free they can make it seem more attractive over the competitor and thus indirectly gain that $50 or likely more by selling more games that have a game specific online fee, or just selling some extra contents with seemingly small sums of money.
Even moreso, as it's very unlikely even half of the console owners would even be interested in putting their PS3 online, or even capable to.

 

[Arty]

Yeah I don't know about this either. If 80% of this is true then it would be enough to compete against Xbox Live.

That doesnt make sense.

Pay $50 for a year and pay extra to pay games ? pfft. (I know the rumor is really stupid)

 

[rabidrabbit]

That's it, to most people it just doesn't make sense.
But they'd be easily enough fooled to be made pay that sum or more indirectly, by offering them downloadable music, videos, cartoons, game content, mobile ringtones, online shops for physical things like dvd's games.......
that extra $50 a year per some millions of subscribing PS3 customers must then seem like a little money. Of course if all those billion console players would pay that $50 to one corporation, it would be significant

 

[a688]

Yeah I don't know about this either. If 80% of this is true then it would be enough to compete against Xbox Live.

That doesnt make sense.

Pay $50 for a year and pay extra to pay games ? pfft. (I know the rumor is really stupid)

Its pay to play a single game on the network because you don't have a subscription. Not pay to play a game AND have the subscription. Although I do echo the statement that it seems sombody grabbed the feature list from Live! and added some wishful "next-gen" thinking to it.

 

[nickguy94]

Well, I guess we might find out in a few hours if this guy is talking out of hit butt or not. I'm skeptical as you guys are, especially about the Spectator Mode, but it would be nice for the Playstation Network to have a lot of those features.

 

[Carl B]

that extra $50 a year per some millions of subscribing PS3 customers must then seem like a little money. Of course if all those billion console players would pay that $50 to one corporation, it would be significant

Uh... this is a play on Allard's comments I'm hoping, right?

 

[Carl B]

Well, I guess we might find out in a few hours if this guy is talking out of hit butt or not. I'm skeptical as you guys are, especially about the Spectator Mode, but it would be nice for the Playstation Network to have a lot of those features.

It could be true or it could be BS, but either way we may not find out today/tomorrow. I'd be surprised (though glad) if Sony went over their online strategy at the Sony Meeting.

 

[nickguy94]

It could be true or it could be BS, but either way we may not find out today/tomorrow. I'd be surprised (though glad) if Sony went over their online strategy at the Sony Meeting.[/quote]

Well, I don't really know how much of a chance their is that they're going to go over their plan for the Playstation Network, but even if they didn't go over it at the meeting, I would think that they would talk about it at the TGS at the latest. I mean hell, they haven't even let us developers know what they whole online strategy is, at least not our studio. But then again, from the very start we knew we weren't going to be doing a online-compatible game and Sony knows this, so maybe we're just out of the loop. I'm sure Sony's own developers know what's going on with the online plan. Hmm......maybe I should ask around...