Sony's Answer to Xbox Live Revealed

[FantasyGhost]

Sony's Answer to Xbox Live Revealed (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153547)

How does Sony intend to compete with Xbox Live? Here's how.
by Luke Smith, 09/12/2006

Microsoft's Xbox Live has existed since 2002. How will Sony, who has never had a dedicated and successful online program in the console space -- the PS2's online was a total free for all -- compete with Microsoft's nearly four-year lead in the online console gaming service sphere?

They'll use Xfire (http://www.xfire.com), that's how.

By incorporating an existing service into their own PlayStation Network Platform (PNP), Sony hopes to circumvent existing problems in the console space that Microsoft has had to sort out and in using Xfire -- a company with an established messaging, matchmaking and gaming client -- Sony hopes to narrow the four-year gap in online gaming services that Microsoft currently enjoys (Xfire has been around since 2002).

In a transcript (http://media.seekingalpha.com/article/15318) of Viacom's Q2 earning's report conference call a deal between Sony and Xfire was revealed:

"Importantly, Xfire just signed a deal with Sony to create a version of their platform for the new PS3, which will now enable Xfire to extend its reach further into the huge console gaming market."

Although Sony and Xfire offered no further comments or details about the PS3 and Xfire connection, neither company would deny it. Testing of the Xfire client for PS3 appears to already be underway, with PS3-exclusive launch title Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom appearing in the supported software list on the PC Xfire client's .ini file.

Months ago, Sony's Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi indicated that PS3's online service (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060612-7040.html) would likely be free:

"We don't charge for the basic functions of the network like matching services. Things like that are taken for granted on a PC, aren't they? There's the feeling of why a game console gets to charge for a service that's normal on a PC. So, we just made the basic services available, and based our business on the contents."

How will Xfire function on PS3? Details are sparse, but it's a safe bet that the features offered on Xfire's PC implementation will carry over to the PS3 version of the software.

Friend Tracker
Like Xbox Live allows users to manage their Friend's lists, Xfire also allows users to track friends, seeing what they are playing and what they have been playing (and for how long).

One-Click Join
Similar to how Xbox Live allows users to click on their name and 'Join' the game if it's available, Xfire lets users do the same thing. If a friend is playing a game you want to, there's no need to input your IP address or server information, Xfire takes care of it for you. Safe to assume that the PS3 implementation of Xfire will only be the touch of a button (an 'X' perhaps) away from joining users from your Friend Tracker.

Server Browser
This feature allows users to see the variety of servers available for different games. The most useful part here, is the ability to sort between favorite maps, or your friend's favorite maps and gametypes. Will we be able to sort out Resistance: Fall of Man gametypes based on which servers are hosting our favorite map?

Xfire In-Game (IM While You Play) with Voice Chat
Obviously, in-game IM would be a bit more utilitarian on a PC, where all users have a keyboard, but Xfire's PS3 implementation may see use of a keyboard (the open-ended online platform is ripe for MMO development). Without a keyboard, Xfire and PS3 will provide a way of their own to communicate with users (perhaps entering letters via the controller like on Xbox Live). In addition to text communication, Xfire supports voice chat -- expect a version of voice chat to be included in whatever PS3 plans for online.

File & Patch Downloads
When there's an update for a game on Xbox Live, Microsoft automatically detects it when the game is booted up and prompts users to snag the download. Optional downloads (like marketplace transactions) are shown on the marketplace, will Xfire's file/patch download systems be a gateway to whatever form of marketplace Sony conjures up?

Profiles with Automatic Stats
Xfire exports an .xml feed of your stats (what games you play, how long you play them for) -- just like Xbox Live. Via the official site: "They're (the stats) on your profile and Miniprofile, which can be embedded anywhere on the web."

In addition to partnering with a software client that could potentially offer much of the functionality of Xbox Live, Sony's Xfire-powered PNP also serves as a second coup -- it strikes at the unified front Microsoft hopes to create with its Live Anywhere initiative. That program, the synergizing of Xbox Live and PC gamers, is something Sony could replicate if the PS3's version of Xfire interacts with the PC version of the program. But, will the games play together? And if PS3 and PC gamers can play together and Xbox 360 and PC gamers can play together, does cross platform gaming become even more of a reality?

[eCK0]

Interesting, kind of a cop out really...

[JAGPANZER]

LOL great find FG, exactly what I expected...less even.

Kutaragi is being disingenuous in trying to infer that Sony won't charge
you for what a PC does for free...pfft free the dink says...as if.

IF your PC is set up as a server, then yeah you can host some games.
But you try and run a MOTO GP 06 room with all 16 personalized bikes
with complementing stats as well as voice link--your gaming experience
will sukk beyondo mondo; your best CPU equipped PC will stutter and
stammer through the whole damn game.

This is why serious gamers set up an independent dedicated server
to host their online blast fests: at least that's what my friends do.
Just running the server costs money. And the players in the respective
clans/teams are always sending money to help cover support fees.
Most of the debug and other maint he does basically for free.
Choosing to let the money build up for hardware upgrades as needed.

It's still the same clueless cap'n at the helm.
Just going by what Kutaragi is implying the biggest difference
between XBXLV and PSOnline will be that cheats will be possible on PSOnline.

Part of the reason MS maintains the XBX servers is to secure a cheat free
gaming zone; as well as maintain numerically accurate counts of people
using XBXLV at any given time--for marketing/sales analysis.
This results in XBXLV being able to accurately state how many users they have.

All Sony has been able to supply is a guess since they don't maintain
the servers for the majority of their present game offerings.
The present gaming houses respective servers can gather that data.
But I see no reason they would do Sony's sales research for free.
The fact that EA online had to abandon the idea of being Sony exclusively
is testimony to just how much their servers were pinged.

Xfire changes most of that. The only caveat here is that you have an actual
third party digging around your PS3's Hdd at the behest of SCE.

Cop out it is.

If you want something done right,
you got to do it yourself.

The funniest part is how SCE is using money to buy it
an interface that it should have had 5 years ago.

If I could only force feed all the Sony fanboys all the junk they called MS;
saying MS was using it's money to buy it's way into console gaming-----

Alas, the bitter realization that Sony is doing
what they claimed MS did will have to suffice.

Pathetic, even Nintendo's online presence is in house.

[born2phrag]

It just shows that Sony doesn't have much confidence in their own abilities to make an online service. I don't really blame them, they have no reason to believe in their service since PSOnline sucked monkey balls.

I just wonder how Sony are going to make this service free. If you have to pay someone out-house to make your online service, maintain their servers, ensure people aren't cheating; it won't be free (for Sony). Unless they want to be even more out of pocket than they already are/will be.

Oh well though, I guess since innovation isn't Sony's strong point, the announcment couldn't have surprised anyone could it?

[Random]

Excellent find FG!

I for one love XFire, I literally swear by it, this is a very good move by Sony, I only hope it works out. :)

[FantasyGhost]

It's not all XFire, sorry folks....

Sony has denied rumours that their whole online system will be based around Xfire, the company did admit that SOE's Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom will use the technology, but it may not be universally implimented.

While the company has admitted that one launch title - SOE's Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - will utilise Xfire, there are no current plans to use the Viacom-owned technology.

"We can confirm that Sony Online Entertainment is in talks with Viacom and Xfire for a single, specific PS3 game," said a spokesperson for Sony in a statement to 1Up.

"However, there are no announcements at this time regarding any discussions between SCEA, Viacom and Xfire," continued the statement."

The rumours stemmed from a transcript of an earnings report issued by Viacom which revealed, "Xfire just signed a deal with Sony to create a version of their platform for the new PS3, which will now enable Xfire to extend its reach further into the huge console gaming market."

Xfire is a PC application that allows players to send and receive instant messages, manage friends lists, voice chat and other social functions - features already available for Sony's rival Xbox 360, via Microsoft's Xbox Live service.
News Source: Gamesindustry.biz (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?:embarass: aid=19664)

[JAGPANZER]

Typical SCE behavior
Situation Normal: All Fouled Up

[born2phrag]

Well, that thin ray of hope surrounding PS3 online has faded away...

[JAGPANZER]

Not quite.
The only hope really fading was that
Sony knew what the hell they are doing.

Sega came up with an online service like almost 10 years ago.
MS brought XBXLV out just shy of 4 years ago.
Nintendo started up her DS servers a year and a half ago.
(Wii's portal will be ready on launch day)
Sony hasn't done a damn thing other than rest on their laurels.
For that there is really no excuse.

One thing just occurred to me.
The screenshots that SCE previewed us earlier this year giving us a peek
at the PS3 online dashboard WAS A TOTAL FAKE MOCK UP.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I am a gamer; I do the playing--I don't like being played.

Oh well at least whoever posted those dash links now know
they were chumped too.

Ahhh Sony; if their offering sounds too good to be, it probably isn't.

[Random]

Awww, just when I was getting my hopes up... :(

I've seen video footage of the PS3 dash, it looks exsactly like the PSP.

[Guruboy]

I don't really understand how someone posted an article saying PS3 online would be based off of XFire, and people bash Sony, and then Sony refutes it, and people bash Sony. Can someone explain this to me?

I think the reason that Sony might not be building their entire online service themselves is because they're a hardware company. Just an idea.

[FantasyGhost]

Tony Hawks doesn't have online gameplay on PS3 just because Sony hasn't revealed yet how the Online service will be. That's where we are at the moment, not even the developers know what to expect. There has been some online gameplay with Resistance though it was LAN based.

[Random]

Sony's online system has to be centralised for it to compete with XBox Live, XFire would have been a good place to start, unfotunately its not to be.

TBH Sony really need to reveal something about their online stratergy, its becoming uncomfortably close to the relase date and we still don't know anything, i'm beginning to wonder if Sony have any idea themselfs.

[JAGPANZER]

They don't.

Sony a just hardware company?
Tell that to 989 studios, Sony Motion Pictures, or BMG.

Excuses are for those who have need of them.

Video gaming is all about hardware AND software.
Without good software, it matters not how good the hardware is.
The Atari Jaguar had some mean internals, but it's T&J chipset
was such a bugbear to code for that developers actually used
the controller board CPU to do some of the rendering instead.
Resulting in a 64 bit machine that the developers were in effect
making blocky 16 bit games run on it.....sad and ugly to watch much less play.

MS understood this from Day 1.
This is why the XBX's have been as well designed and equipped as they are.
Future proof the PS3? What a worthless joke.
The SNES is future proofed by being a perfect machine in it's own right.
A friend of mine still plays his frequently in spite of having a console
collection rivalling mine or even Dip's.

Kinda like Kutaragi should have had Yoda chew him out.

Always Kutaragi's eyes were on the future, never on where he was.

Hence the hole in the original PS2's case mirrored the hole
in Kutaragi's overall strategy: something always lacking.

This is funny from my perspective as SCE for the longest stated that XBXLV
wasn't a significant threat nor did SCE consider online play a must have.

My how time changes perspectives, and thinking.

[FantasyGhost]

And now they confirm a little more:

INTERVIEW: Xfire for ‘Multiple’ PS3 Games (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3980&Itemid=2)
Xfire has confirmed that its online community platform will be used in the upcoming PS3 title, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom—the first of “multiple” PS3 games that will use the application. Full interview with Xfire CEO Mike Cassidy within…

For the uninitiated, Xfire software in its current form is a free PC download that features friends lists, instant messaging and other convenient community features for PC gaming. Xfire officially announced today that it is taking its first steps into the console gaming world via Sony’s PS3.

Xfire, which media giant Viacom acquired in April for $102 million, actually has two new PS3-related deals. One agreement is with Sony Online Entertainment, the developer of Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, which will integrate Xfire into its game. The other is a tools and middleware development and license agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment, which will have Xfire creating an SDK for developers that will allow for Xfire implementation for future PS3 games (see PS3 interface mockup below, provided by Xfire). The technology will allow PS3 and PC Xfire users to chat across their respective platforms.

Hints of PS3 implementation of Xfire surfaced earlier this year, when Viacom mentioned in passing a deal between Xfire and Sony regarding the PS3.

So what other PS3 games will incorporate Xfire, and why is Sony opting to outsource the development of certain community features for its upcoming PlayStation Network Platform? Next-Gen asks Xfire CEO Mike Cassidy.

Next-Gen: First of all, a lot of gamers are wondering if this Xfire deal will extend beyond SOE and Dark Kingdom…

Mike Cassidy: There are two deals here, really. There’s one deal between us and SOE, and there’s one deal between us and Sony Computer Entertainment. The deal with SCE is a tools and middleware license that lets us basically build a plug-in for any PS3 game. Then we need to work with the publishers, and the publishers use that middleware to enable Xfire functionality in their games.

The deal with Sony Online is sort of the first deal we’re doing with a publisher. It just so happens that Sony Online has the same name as Sony Computer Entertainment. It could’ve been another publisher, but they’re two different deals.

So the jist of it is that the SOE deal is the first of other deals that will inevitably appear for PS3 games.

Correct.

As far as the Xfire SDK, is that available to any developers yet? Can you say who else has shown interest in utilizing Xfire?

There are multiple PS3 games that will have Xfire in them. Unfortunately, I can’t say which ones they are yet. … There are some other good titles that will have Xfire in them.

Aside from Xfire being so popular and increasingly established, why is Sony Computer Entertainment going outside to provide online community features for PS3 games?

Xfire is not replacing SCE’s PlayStation Network Platform at all. They have their own network platform that they will describe and roll out. What we’re doing is complementary. Sony itself was interested in working with us because we have such a large PC community and since so many PC gamers also play console games—I think for us, 74 percent of our 5 million users play console games too—they use it as a nice segue to reach into the gamers of the PC world who already have PC Xfire accounts.

…I think what we’re doing is providing some features and what they’re doing is providing some features that we don’t do at all. We don’t do paid digital downloads and we don’t do a lot of things like that. There are also some publishers that have no interest in the Xfire solution, which is fine. But there are some publishers that are like, “Great. We want to plug into the 5 million-user Xfire community.” We will work with Sony's PlayStation Network Platform…

Yes, but are you providing something that the PlayStation Network Platform alone doesn’t necessarily provide?

We’re providing the link to the Xfire community. Let’s say that someone started playing Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom when it launches in November. Everyone in the 5 million-user Xfire network will be able to see that person playing Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. That’s sort of different than what Sony’s PlayStation Network Platform is doing.

It’s also great for driving game sales. The number one way to drive game sales is if your friend’s playing a game. … More people see a bunch of people playing Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, and they say, “Wow, I want to check it out.” …

The other thing is chat. Linking into the Xfire network, players inside Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom will be able to chat with other Xfire users, so that’s kind of cool. Sometimes when you’re in a game, you kind of shut off. Your friend is like, “I tried to reach you last night," and you’re like, “Oh, I was playing World of Warcraft for three hours. Sorry man.” This way you can message right into the game and say “We’re going into this map here,” or “We’ve got a nice two-on-two game over here.”

How exactly is Xfire integrated into Dark Kingdom?

It’s sort of built into the game. So from inside the game, it’ll ask what your Xfire user name is, and you’ll type it in. Anytime you start playing Dark Kingdom, it’ll show up on your friend’s Xfire clients. From inside the game, if you do a text chat out, that text message will go out to your Xfire network, and it will come into the game too. If one of your Xfire friends is messaging you, it’ll come into the game, and reach you in-game.

More confirmation: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=20310

[JAGPANZER]

Too bad SCE isn't going to try and stay with one vision of an online
community. From the looks of it, SCE is turning to Xfire out of an immediate
need for a ready to go app for the PS3. When they get around to finally
doing their own application, the real question is

IF SCE hasn't declared chapter 11 by then, will they continue to support
Xfire in lieu of their as yet unseen/unmade crapola?

These guys couldn't hit water jumping out of a boat.

[Random]

Ok, so its defiently official now, the PS3 IS using Xfire? Yes?

w00t! XFire FTW! :grin:

[FantasyGhost]

Ok, so its defiently official now, the PS3 IS using Xfire? Yes?

w00t! XFire FTW! :grin:

Not for every online game. there are publishers interrested in this but others weren't, so it's still looking like they are all doing like the PS2 online system where every developer dicides what to use for online capabilities.

[Random]

Hmmm shame, I was hoping on a centralised system. :(

[JAGPANZER]

....haven't we all?




for like 6 years now?


MS and Nintendo can figure it out,
but SCE just can't grasp the concept or what?