The PS3 might be the target of countless criticism, but lets look at some good things

[IchI]

Slight subscription charge... which according to Ichi is £49 a year (I don't know the UK price, just USD). So paying £100 per year just to be able to use a Lobby system is cheap... well I guess you're quite a generous man.

You obviously have never owned an Xbox Live subscription. I wasn't sure on the price so I over estimated. I looked it up on gameplay and here is the exact price:

Xbox Live 12 Month Gold Membership Card + 1000 FREE Live Points Card
Gameplay: £36.99
Street price: £39.99

Also its not just a lobby system, nearly every single game is Xbox Live active these days. To gain access to scores, replays and rankings you don't need to pay any subscription. To download demos and play you games online it costs you XX:XX. No point in argueing. You have seem to have never experianced the system so please.

 

[Warbie]

Agreed, it's so much more than a lobby system.

I don't have as much free time these days - even 10 minutes spent looking for a site or demo is precious time wasted. With Live I can queue up demos, vids and arcade games in seconds, all while happily playing with friends and chatting over comms. No need to pay for a vent or TS server, no hassle finding each other, no time spent looking for patches. I'm so accustomed to the hassle free bubble of Xbox Live that I even begrudge the 10 seconds it takes to choose a destination path when downloading/installing on the pc. That reminds me, installing, it seems so archaic. I want to put the game in and be playing in seconds!

The best part is, it all works perfectly. Send each other pictures or silly voice messages, become caught up in an impromptu session that involves a wide variety of games in a single sitting, all while downloading stuff to play/look at later or while you sleep. It's online gaming made efficient - more fun squeezed into less time - and the best thing about the 360.

I'd like the PS3 to have an online service that can match this, but have serious doubts (imo Live has finally bettered the pc in this area). Maybe the PS4?

 

[AiM]

You obviously have never owned an Xbox Live subscription. I wasn't sure on the price so I over estimated. I looked it up on gameplay and here is the exact price:

Xbox Live 12 Month Gold Membership Card + 1000 FREE Live Points Card
Gameplay: £36.99
Street price: £39.99

Also its not just a lobby system, nearly every single game is Xbox Live active these days. To gain access to scores, replays and rankings you don't need to pay any subscription. To download demos and play you games online it costs you XX:XX. No point in argueing. You have seem to have never experianced the system so please.

Please what? No shit man, I've never owned a xbox subscription and never claimed to, that's why I used your price since I figured you'd have an idea considering you own the damn thing.

But whatever, at the end of the day, if you're satisfied with paying them a monthly subscription to play games online then there's no problem. Myself, I just can't justify into paying for that.

 

[Warbie]

It's a small yearly subscription - it cost me more to rent a TS server to chat with mates.

 

[3ssence]

It's a small yearly subscription - it cost me more to rent a TS server to chat with mates.

Yup, or if you're in clan it costs more to contribute to the upkeep of the clan server than it does for a live subscription.

 

[jverne]

dude!! wtf is with people that say "i've got an 360, and will buy the PS3 and Wii as soon as they are released". who the hell is financing you?

don't you have better things to spend on, what the hell do you even do with 3 consoles???

 

[AiM]

dude!! wtf is with people that say "i've got an 360, and will buy the PS3 and Wii as soon as they are released". who the hell is financing you?

don't you have better things to spend on, what the hell do you even do with 3 consoles???

I partially agree in that I don't see the point in owning a 360 and a PS3, but the owning either one + a Wii makes the most sense. But hey, some people have money to burn (who might've worked hard for it), and if they want to own all three then there's nothing stopping them.

Hell if I had a money I wouldn't mind owning all three, but then again there's quite a few other things I'd like to get over 3 game consoles as well.

 

[Warbie]

Cheaper to buy all 3 consoles than upgrade my pc - now that really is a money sink.

 

[Gorgon]

http://www.engadget.com/videos/PS3_preview/ubterface_QVGA.mov
http://www.engadget.com/videos/PS3_preview/interface.mov
http://www.engadget.com/videos/PS3_preview/interface.avi