Issues with online console gaming for the Xbox and the PS2.

[stewy_gt]

Xbox

1) You have to pay a fee of $50 for the first year, and a possible monthly fee thereafter.

2) Game developers might charge you to play on top of the XBL fee.

3) XBL is broadband only.

4) You pay via credit card. (Not sure if its only by credit card). Maybe a debit card can be used.

5) All online games will be run on one server. God help us if the server goes down. lol. Its possible.

6) Preparations for broadband online gaming may be costly, unless you have already established a network in your home.

PS2

1) You have to buy the Broadband adapter to play online.

2) You have to sign up with different publishers. (read the fine print)

3) Games are on different servers, hence the online features will change from game to game.

4) Broadband gamers might suffer from gamers using a 56K connection. Whether its by slowing down the game (lag) or gamers being disconnected.

5) Files will take longer to download using a 56K modem, + you can't use the internet while playing the game: i.e., unless you have broadband.

6) Preparations for broadband online gaming may be costly, unless you have already established a network in your home.

7) Monthly fees are left to the discretion of the publishers.

8) Some games require the HDD (FFXI) and some games are broadband only (Socom: USNS)

9) Costly peripherals. Broadband adapter, HDD, memory card.

10) 56K modem gamers will have some difficulties when it comes to hosting games.

11) If you don't have the HDD, you'll need a memory card. Maybe more than one, since you'll have to save your different accounts for individual online games. Also, you'll need space to save your game when playing offline. Its an indirect way of saying it just makes sense to spend the rumored $80 for the HDD. i.e., when you can find one (becomes available). It hard finding the broadband adapter itself.

/* Well that's it for now.:) */

[TOMMY_TROJAN]

2) Game developers might charge you to play on top of the XBL fee.
Is this true? i thought that it was the same price to play all of the games. Now what is true is that you might have to pay more to get "premium content". that varies from game to game, though.

[Filthy Superman]

Originally posted by stewy_gt
Xbox

1) You have to pay a fee of $50 for the first year, and a possible monthly fee thereafter.

Everything costs money. It's a fair price. You want free.. play on XBconnect.

2) Game developers might charge you to play on top of the XBL fee.

This is incorrect. All games will be free to play. Some developers may have premium content available to download for a price, but all games are free to play.

3) XBL is broadband only.

And how is this bad? 56K was not designed for online gaming of this magnitude. It's just like a racetrack.. it isn't the owners fault your p.o.s. isn't fast enough.

4) You pay via credit card. (Not sure if its only by credit card). Maybe a debit card can be used.

Debit or check card is fine as long as it's endorsed by Visa/MC/AE/Discover This is as much for your safety as it is for MS's ease of processing.

5) All online games will be run on one server. God help us if the server goes down. lol. Its possible.

False. Most online games will have partial hosting on the server with a straight peer to peer connection for transmitting the packets. Microsoft is a worldwide leader in it's industry and thier servers will be as reliable as Cisco or IBM's are. Servers go down, microsoft servers don't go down unless there is a serious problem in the world.

6) Preparations for broadband online gaming may be costly, unless you have already established a network in your home.

So what. It's not Microsoft's responsibility to get you hooked up with broadband. Just because you buy a new car doesn't mean the sales people are obligated to drive it for you every day from then on.


PS2

1) You have to buy the Broadband adapter to play online.

Incorrect. You can also purchase a 56 adapter as well.

2) You have to sign up with different publishers. (read the fine print)

This is correct. You'll need an account with each publisher in order to play thier games. This means a different logon, and a different credit card charge for each game. Unless the publisher releases a game with free online play.

3) Games are on different servers, hence the online features will change from game to game.

4) Broadband gamers might suffer from gamers using a 56K connection. Whether its by slowing down the game (lag) or gamers being disconnected.

5) Files will take longer to download using a 56K modem, + you can't use the internet while playing the game: i.e., unless you have broadband.

This is not only incorrect but technically ignorant. With a router or hub you'll be able to use the internet on as many devices your router/hub supports. You'll just be splitting your bandwidth and slowing yourself down substantially.

6) Preparations for broadband online gaming may be costly, unless you have already established a network in your home.

7) Monthly fees are left to the discretion of the publishers.

8) Some games require the HDD (FFXI) and some games are broadband only (Socom: USNS)

9) Costly peripherals. Broadband adapter, HDD, memory card.

10) 56K modem gamers will have some difficulties when it comes to hosting games.

Incorrect. There will be no difficulties as far as hosting them, with the exception of latency. Any game hosted by anyone even if they are using broadband will have latency depending on thier connection speed, upstream, and the number of nodes connecting to them. Which is why any pure peer to peer gaming is going to be slow. MS won't use pure peer to peer for any game. They'll have partially hosted games with a partial peer to peer connection which benefits everyone.

11) If you don't have the HDD, you'll need a memory card. Maybe more than one, since you'll have to save your different accounts for individual online games. Also, you'll need space to save your game when playing offline. Its an indirect way of saying it just makes sense to spend the rumored $80 for the HDD. i.e., when you can find one (becomes available). It hard finding the broadband adapter itself.

/* Well that's it for now.:) */

I'm not sure where you were going with most of this, as it's about 80% opinion and only about 40% correct in what isn't opinion.. however I don't think there's much of a choice to make here if you look at the differences. Also, this is a somewhat pointless thread alltogether. You can go to www.xbox.com and they have a fact based comparison sheet comparing all three companies proposed online plans.


Filthy

[Angell]

nice job dude.... the last two threads Ive been to you have made some really great posts (Filthy Superman)

[Genocide]

I dont think ALL games are free to play.

What about Star Wars Galaxies? Phantasy Star Online? $3.95 every 4 months to play it online.

[Snoopy7548]

also for the ps2, you have different accounts for each publisher. so thats like a different name/password for almost every game. and you have to enter your credit card number for every game you want to play. and also, aol users, have to pay a fee of 4.95 per month to play the ps2 online (if they have dialup)

[bluef0x]

5) All online games will be run on one server. God help us if the server goes down. lol. Its possible.
----

That's the funniest thing I've ever read. Yeah, I'm sure MS is just going to use one server for XBL :o Plus if you read... sega is converting it's DC servers to XBL servers for 2k3.

[DrUnKtAnK]

Originally posted by Gilgamesh999
Yup, the PS2 and AOL make a deal. Then AOL charges you.
What a mess sony has made.

And the funny thing is, the mess hasn't really started yet...:D

[Snoopy7548]

yea, microsoft is gonna have multiple servers. and even if one goes down, theyre gonna get it back up really fast. theyre probly gonna have a ton of system administrators, technicians, etc. theyre putting a ton of money into this thing, so i doubt theyre gonna only have 1 server.

[robphillips79]

Not all games are free to play on Xbox Live. MMORPG's for one will charge an additional fee.

[Jarvis]

Caitlin Fitzsimmons
AUGUST 30, 2002

SONY has delayed the local introduction of its online game service as it strives to find a workable business model.

The video game giant introduced its online service in North America earlier this week, but will not announce its plans for the PAL territories, including Australia, until October.

The service, which allows PlayStation 2 owners to play multi-player games over the internet, will compete with Microsoft's Xbox Live service for Xbox owners.

While Sony is offering the service for both dial-up and broadband customers in North America, it has committed to a broadband-only model in the PAL territories.

Sony Computer Entertainment Australia managing director Michael Ephraim said the introduction of the service was not delayed for technical problems, but to find a better solution for Sony, its business partners and its customers.

The PAL territories included dozens of different countries with different levels of broadband and PS2 penetration.

"Australia has a fairly high uptake of broadband," Mr Ephraim said. "It's not leading the pack, but it's not at the bottom of the pack. My opinion is that Australia will be one of the territories connected earlier in the piece."

Mr Ephraim said Australia had particular challenges with its large and sparsely populated land mass and the prevalence of volume-based pricing plans.

"The perception is that broadband costs are high and online gaming is data intensive," he said. "We're in discussions with different ISPs about a time-based charge and a different billing structure to make it more appealing to consumers."

Mr Ephraim said Sony would spurn the centralised approach taken by Microsoft with Xbox Live.

He ruled out an exclusive relationship with a single ISP or peer-to-peer gaming, but said there were many details yet to be determined.

For example, the company had not decided whether to run the infrastructure or allow ISPs to host the games on their own server farms - and whether there would be dedicated servers for Australia or not.

"We do not anticipate just one service choice for consumers under one name," Mr Ephraim said. "There will be many service choices and the business model of Sony will be very open."

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe planned to charge a "modest" subscription fee for the service, but Mr Ephraim was not certain whether that would be levied in Australia.

"Every country is looking at the cost factor based on local broadband costs and the local culture of what people are willing to pay," he said. "You have to give a service that's affordable and it's an issue we're still working through (in Australia)."

It would be "nice" to be first to market but it was important to make sure the offer "made sense" for consumers and partners.

He promised more details in October.


I smell confusion. Truth hurts sometimes guys.

Source (http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5001271%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html)

-Jarvis