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PSN has a grief feature.

That's pretty cool. :)

I never noticed that back when...then again I got pretty upset when Sony removed me from the G.A.P. without ever sending me my welcome kit, and the reason why was because I questioned an older members posting about something weird. I wasn't rude, didn't curse...just pointed out that something was odd in what they'd stated. After that I just used it for occasional Blu-Rays. I don't even really do that anymore since I picked up my Sony Blu-Ray 3D Home Theater system...now it just sits there looking lonely most of the time :(

xbox live is a necessity if you want to own an xbox and use it for anything at all. Since my gold sub expired, I haven't even turned my xbox on, and until I have the spare $15 for another month it'll stay off.

That's just how xbox is.

Funny, I can play ME3, GoW and all my other games without gold. Still I have gold because it's cheap and I want to mp sometimes.

Interesting article I think that MS should offer more for their Gold subscribers. To be honest, the only reason I keep my Gold sub is to play online, I don't find myself using the other features. Maybe I should start.

It seems MS has done a rather good job at convincing people that the Gold service is something they should pay for. I bought it twice when it was offered to me on the Dash for $2 and I hardly used it.

The PS+ service is very good value for money.

Thinking about it though. I've never paid the RRP for it. I've always taken up the offers on the dashboard or when they have codes for a discounted price on online retailers. I don't feel so bad then. :p

I don't have either Plus or Gold anymore. I tend to only use a few features of the consoles nowadays (gaming, browser, streaming) which is why i've found it difficult to justify paying for Gold since my sub expired last year. Especially as i only used it for online gaming and as I tend to only play MP a handful of times a year i'm quite happy with the free offerings i can get on the PS3. If MS has a middle tier for people who only want to play online then i think i would be more interested.

Next Gen consoles are coming soon. It took Sony all that time to get something that is slightly better than Live.

And MS just let them, when they too could have been upgrading their service to be a better value, which I think is the actual overall point of the article. MS has a very good service with Live, which I am actually a Live founder (even though I forget my password for DirtyLarry and I think I lost the name which is a whole other story) and have had it since the first XBox, but more and more it is starting to look like you get less and less for the money.

Again, I think that is the point of it all, not to say which is ultimately the better service, as I said in my first post I really do not think you can even compare the two as they are pretty fundamentally different, but to say maybe MS needs to start offering some more.

Then again if I was MS, and people eat Live up like candy, I doubt I would offer more either.

My own biggest gripe with Live was requiring it for MP gaming. That just seems wrong to me. Some people are on hard times and cannot buy a lot of games. I know a few. They buy a game like Battlefield 3, are really looking forward to it, and they are stuck playing the SP because they also cannot afford Live. A younger cousin in my family faces that exact dillema.

My only problem with PSN is it seems like they cap my download speed to roughly 75-80% of what my connection speed is - and it's been like that since I've owned a PS3 when my connection was a lot slower. I even have NAT 1 set up on the PS3 and still have the problem. For instance, last month, it took me 50 minutes to download the same demo on PS3 that took around 35 minutes on Xbox Live. I haven't downloaded enough on my Vita to see if it is the same way, but the PSP had an equally slow download speed for me.

Otherwise, it basically comes down that I have a couple friends with a PS3, but far more with an Xbox, so it usually gets picked as the console I buy games for. Does Plus even have a party system yet or was that scrapped/still in planning? It's probably the best feature of Xbox live for my friends and I, and we've really been spoiled by it.

My own biggest gripe with Live was requiring it for MP gaming. That just seems wrong to me. Some people are on hard times and cannot buy a lot of games. I know a few. They buy a game like Battlefield 3, are really looking forward to it, and they are stuck playing the SP because they also cannot afford Live. A younger cousin in my family faces that exact dillema.

If they can afford a 360, Battlefield 3, and a constant Internet connection times can't be that tough. But I wish multiplayer games where free to play over xbox silver, and I wish that PSN+ gave you some other option with the games it gives you if you stop paying for + instead of not being able to play them again.

Also PSN need to do something about the speeds, I don't connect mine to the net for this reason. System and game updates are a joke compared to Microsoft infostructure.

Next Gen consoles are coming soon. It took Sony all that time to get something that is slightly better than Live.

Microsoft had a little bit of a lead-in though with LIVE on Xbox. I have no doubt PSN/LIVE will be neck and neck on next-gen.

One of the other things that just ****ed me off about Gold is the damn ads and its getting worse and worse. So, I'm paying for MP, I'm paying to stream from other places where I already pay a sub, AND I'm being bombed with ads? Not cool.

At least Xbox live wasn't compromised numerous times exposing millions of users confidential data. That's a little more important to me than giving me a bunch of "free" games that I wouldn't play anyway.

If they can afford a 360, Battlefield 3, and a constant Internet connection times can't be that tough. But I wish multiplayer games where free to play over xbox silver, and I wish that PSN+ gave you some other option with the games it gives you if you stop paying for + instead of not being able to play them again.

Also PSN need to do something about the speeds, I don't connect mine to the net for this reason. System and game updates are a joke compared to Microsoft infostructure.

Although I did read my post back and I said "buy, " actually Battlefield 3 was a Christmas present from myself and my wife. I was just using it as a real example, as it can indeed happen, even if you think otherwise, I did not think someone would actually have the nerve to question some people hit hard times economically. In fact it was the first new game they owned since last Christmas, other then that, all they can ever get are used games from trade ins. And the 360 was a Christmas present from all of the family 2 years prior to that. So yeah, times can be that tough for some people, but way to pass judgement on someone else's situation without knowing anything about it. Like do you even know that his father lost his job on December 10th, 2 weeks before Christmas? No, you do not.

So 67.2 million (Xbox) vs 63.9 million (PS3) worldwide would be considered equal?

(Figures as of March 2012)

I guess I just considered almost $700,000,000 difference in hardware sales alone to be quite a difference. Also factor in that Xbox has the highest attach rate (titles sold per console) in the industry. So I still state that Xbox is far ahead of the PS3 when it comes to the online gaming aspect...and people do care about security & reliability.

Are you forgetting something??? Xbox released 1 year earlier than PS3... so yes they sell equally.

Infact the difference was higher before and PS3 has caught up to just 3 million now.

Also, don't forget the high failure rate of xbox at initial stage. people bought new one just because old one died.

ive been a PSN+ user for just over a year now. The 1st year i only paid $35 b/c there was some Amazon sale. This year, i used a gift card so i got the service for free. Overall, i think it's worth $35, but not $50. Some would argue that the 'free' games make it worth the cost, but i dont agree. most of the offerings, imo, are not interesting. I'll never play:

  • Bloodrayne Betrayal
  • Outland
  • Ratchet & Clank All 4 One
  • Space Marine
  • Saints Row 2
  • Renegade Ops
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
  • Choplifter
  • Sideway
  • Just Cause 2*
  • Gotham City Impostors*
  • Hard Corps Uprising*
  • Zombie Apocalypse*
  • Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown*
  • (Borderlands will be added in September)

It's just that these games arent interesting to me. Sure, others will play the hell out of them, but they arent for me. Now, other games have been offered, and I've liked them. I especially like the Plus features such as Cloud storage, Beta access and Auto-updates. Those are great features.

As for Xbox Gold, ive never seen the value. $60 a year for features that i should get for free? no thanks.

My only problem with PSN is it seems like they cap my download speed to roughly 75-80% of what my connection speed is - and it's been like that since I've owned a PS3 when my connection was a lot slower. I even have NAT 1 set up on the PS3 and still have the problem. For instance, last month, it took me 50 minutes to download the same demo on PS3 that took around 35 minutes on Xbox Live. I haven't downloaded enough on my Vita to see if it is the same way, but the PSP had an equally slow download speed for me.

unfortunately Vita's wireless speed isnt very good. The "internet connection test" only ever hits 8-10Mbits on my 30Mbit connection. Downloading big games will take hours.

My only problem with PSN is it seems like they cap my download speed to roughly 75-80% of what my connection speed is - and it's been like that since I've owned a PS3 when my connection was a lot slower. I even have NAT 1 set up on the PS3 and still have the problem. For instance, last month, it took me 50 minutes to download the same demo on PS3 that took around 35 minutes on Xbox Live. I haven't downloaded enough on my Vita to see if it is the same way, but the PSP had an equally slow download speed for me.

Otherwise, it basically comes down that I have a couple friends with a PS3, but far more with an Xbox, so it usually gets picked as the console I buy games for. Does Plus even have a party system yet or was that scrapped/still in planning? It's probably the best feature of Xbox live for my friends and I, and we've really been spoiled by it.

You may have made a typo, but NAT 2 is what is required on the PS3 to show all the ports PSN will use for traffic are going to correctly open.

Don't forget that some of these gold features are not avalaible outside of USA. Anyway last time i checked. I cancelled my subscription 1 year and an half ago and back then i did not have access to evertyhing USA had. Might have changed since then tough.

Having a family and being in my mid 30ies it's harder and harder for me to justify paying to play games online after i already paid for the game itself. I bought MoP and will probably seldomly play it for 2-3 months mainly to see old friends again (my account is curently closed). But that probably will be the last online game i pay to play.

I simply can't justify paying for the console, internet access, the actual games and then the online part of the games. Specially since to this day no game provided me a cheaters/exploit free environment. Halo has always been full of cheaters.

  • Like 2

well xbox live vs psn + what do i use?? u may ask i love xbox live and the psn network is crap allways was allways will be.

what do u get with live that psn network doesnt give u well lets check

1.live decated servers for the game your playing psn network doesnt do that

2.live get content that psn user dont

3.well psn users get free old games wgaf

4.the only thing ps3 is good for is u can borrow ur friends games and play them xbox cant

ill take live over psn+ anyday ohh yea last but not lease ps3 hacked xbox ever ding ding ding

i declare live the best and if u look right live 39 for a year on specail ever month just look at the flyers u get at home with all the specials

i never see psn on specail because its sucks... my 2 cents

well xbox live vs psn + what do i use?? u may ask i love xbox live and the psn network is crap allways was allways will be.

what do u get with live that psn network doesnt give u well lets check

1.live decated servers for the game your playing psn network doesnt do that

2.live get content that psn user dont

3.well psn users get free old games wgaf

4.the only thing ps3 is good for is u can borrow ur friends games and play them xbox cant

ill take live over psn+ anyday ohh yea last but not lease ps3 hacked xbox ever ding ding ding

i declare live the best and if u look right live 39 for a year on specail ever month just look at the flyers u get at home with all the specials

i never see psn on specail because its sucks... my 2 cents

That is not true. In fact, the majority if not all PS3 1st party titles run on dedicated servers.

One of the oldest PS3 MP titles (it might even of been the 1st Sony game), Warhawk, famously used clusters of PS3s for their dedicated severs and even let the gamers run their own dedicated servers from their own PS3.

1.jpg

http://www.gamingnex...FullNews&I=5386

You may have made a typo, but NAT 2 is what is required on the PS3 to show all the ports PSN will use for traffic are going to correctly open.

NAT 1 is when the PS3 is hooked directly to the modem without any firewalls of any kind between them. It's "better" than NAT 2 in regards to that no ports are blocked. Regardless, I've run both NAT 1 & 2 but neither make any difference in my slowness on the PSN network.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
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    • I’m in need of a new chair and it sounds like the backrest cannot be locked? I also sat on a Herman miller and was devastated that it couldn’t be locked also, what is going on with chairs. I want to be able to lock the backrest into any position but not even the Herman’s do that
    • Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 Ergonomic Office Chair review: The Ikea of chairs by Steven Parker I've reviewed a few gaming chairs over the past three years or so and generally found them to score well in our reviews. SIHOO reached out asking if I was interested in taking a look at their flagship chair, the Doro C300 Pro V2. I never got the chance to check out its predecessor, but the V2 is described as an "Adaptive Ergonomic Chair." It became available to buy in April of this year. Let's get things rolling with a closer look at the specifications and features. Specifications Doro C300 Pro V2 Model Ergonomic Materials Mesh Back and Seat; Soft PU Coated Armrests Height adjustability 45.5 - 53 cm / 17.5" - 20.9" Seat (w+d) 52 x 43 - 47 cm / 20.5" x 16.9" - 18.5" (adjustable) Backrest 52 – 60 cm / 20.5" - 23.6" (adjustable) Lumbar support Mesh built-in (adjustable) Armrest adjustability 8D Bionic Armrests Rocking angle 105°, 120°, 135° (fixed) Neck support Mesh built-in (adjustable) Net weight 27.3 kg / 59.64 lbs Weight support 150 kg / 330 lbs Colors Black, White Warranty 5 years (upon registering) Price $499.99, $539.99 Introduction At first glance, it looks like a chair that in another life wants to be a Herman Miller; It certainly looks like my Aeron Remastered, but the Doro C300 Pro V2 has quite a few more features and costs quite a bit less. SIHOO says that it is made up of a "DynaCore" system that tracks your movement and synchronizes the headrest, backrest, lumbar support, and armrests as you shift, twist, or recline. They also say that the "SyncroFlex Backrest" molds to your spine, which kind of describes how the mesh fabric works in most ergonomic chairs, but anyway. Below are the meat and potatoes measurements for the chair. Here is the same tech sheet, but in inches. Durability I would be remiss to not talk about the various durability testing this chair underwent before coming to market, as this is claimed on the product page. First of all, the chair is BIFMA-, SGS-, and TÜV-certified. As for durability, the tests undergone were: 100,000 Castor cycles tested 120,000 Armrest cycles tested 120,000 Recline cycles tested 120,000 Gas lift cycles tested 60,000 Armrest durability cycles tested 120,000 Rotation cycles tested Nothing about weights testing, though. Now that's all disclosed, now onto my own personal findings. Assembly The Doro C300 Pro V2 came in two large boxes (1) (2), and everything was packed very well, protecting the different parts of the chair. In the box, there is a folded sheet that explains the 12 steps to assemble it; they are: Remove the bottom cover on the aluminum base; Insert the five legs into the aluminum base and use ten screws to fasten them; Insert the castors into the legs; Replace the bottom cover on the bottom of the aluminum base; Place the Class 4 Hydraulics gas cylinder into the aluminum base; Screw the bottom part of the arm rests, taking care of the orientation using two screws on each side; Use three torx screws to fasten the footrest to the bottom of the seat; Fasten the backrest to the seat using four torx bolts; Fasten the armrests to the backrest using four Torx bolts (two on each side), taking care to note the orientation; Place the chair onto the Class 4 Hydraulics gas cylinder; Insert the headrest into the top of the backrest; Use two torx screws to fasten the headrest to the backrest. There's also an online guide you can refer to. Carefully unpacking the two boxes took around 15 minutes because almost everything is wrapped in plastic and protective foam; the chair assembly itself took around an hour. I say in the above assembly steps to take note of the orientation, because it's not obvious which way around the bottom portion of the armrests go, and although there is an L and R on the bottom of the armrests, it also wasn't clear from the instructions which was actually left or right, facing the chair, or in the seated down orientation? Anyway, I ended up putting the bottom portions on the wrong sides, and after securing one of the armrests, I discovered that although it was on the correct side, the armrest base could rotate a full 360°, but not when bolted to the chair, so I had to remove it, rotate it, and then bolt it back on. Truly an Ikea experience! Also, to complicate things further, although all the parts are labeled from A to X (yes, that's 24 parts) unhelpfully, these letters do not appear on the parts themselves or the package with the bolts, screws, and washers. There's also a pair of protective gloves in the box, but I think they were made for much smaller hands than I have. Even my friend, who is 5.1, had difficulty putting them on. Once assembled, I needed to sit down. Anyway, as I said, it looks quite similar to my Herman Miller. And here is the back of it. If you look at the product page and on Amazon, it seems like a lot of thought has gone into the chair itself and what it's capable of, but there is no mention at all about the castors, and this is an area where I think the chair trips up quite quickly. I found it difficult to move the chair in any direction. I asked a friend who came to visit me earlier this week to test my findings, and she said that the wheels were "no good," so it definitely isn't just me. I am 6'2 myself and a big guy, I work from home and gained a few pounds from mostly staying in and the hell away from other people. However, the Doro C300 Pro V2 is rated for up to 150kg (330lbs), which in my case is used well within its max rating. Ergonomics The number of adjustments you can make, right up to setting it in nap mode — which I haven't fully tested yet — is what you'd expect from a premium chair. Yes, you can go up and down (max 7.5 cm adjustment), rock back and forth (with tilt adjustment), and lock the chair between three stages of 105°, 120°, 135°, which is not quite as flat as the AndaSeat I tested at 160°. Some thought has also gone into the "8D" armrests, too, which are cushioned but quite firm; you'll only know it if you press hard into the PU-covered tops, which give about half a centimeter, but it's enough to ensure your skin won't get awkwardly stuck to it in warmer (or sweatier) conditions. It almost feels like plastic and is very easy to keep clean. However, the armrest positions move far too easily, and I am not sure what that "elbow" function is. Maybe it is good for a short person with short arms, anyway, I never used it and kept it flat at all times. There are eight levels of adjustment for the armrests, they are: backwards, forwards, swing left/right, height up and down, tilt, and 360° rotation, which can be handy for desk clearance. As I said, the armrest pads shift far too easily, which could give off an ergonomic vibe, but who wants the armrest sliding when you are shifting weight? The height adjustability does lock into place when lifting and adjusting. Comfort This is ultimately what it boils down to at the end of the day, right? Quite a lot of reviews praise the comfort of this chair, and I don't disagree that the mesh seating is quite comfortable. I am used to the material from my daily Herman Miller. However, the backrest cannot be locked into place, and this is actually a feature; as you shift or recline yourself on the chair, the backrest moves with your body. It took some getting used to. The lumbar gives ample support, but I would have preferred an adjustable one built into the seat base, as this causes the backrest to move up and down at will. Again, as with my previous chair review, this chair is also rated for tall people, but nowhere in the product documentation does it say how tall. Being 6'2 myself, I'm happy to say that the backrest is tall and wide enough, and thought has been given to being able to adjust the neck rest, but as others have mentioned in their reviews, people as tall as 6.2ft is about the limit for the neckrest. Conclusion What I didn't like The footrest is rated for 15kg (33 lbs), which to me seems a bit light, and after looking online, it seems like a chair footrest for adults must be at least twice that rating. In all honesty, they are just hollow metal tubes, so it is not recommended to let a kid sit on them. I also feel like it doesn't really go out far enough for my height, so that kind of puts the dampener on me being able to use it regularly. I'll just have to continue to use my subwoofer as a footrest! I do not like the armrests being able to shift around as easily as they can, and they are a little too forward-positioned in the chair to comfortably sit close to my desk, because even in the lowest height position, they don't allow me to go under the desk like is possible with my Herman Miller. I also feel like this chair could have been delivered partially constructed, especially the armrests on the seat, and why the aluminum base wasn't already pre-constructed (without the castors) is baffling, considering it would have fit in one of the two boxes that way. The instructions also need to be clearer. On the pamphlet, there's an A to X listing (which is also used in the steps), but none of the physical parts use this lettering system! What I did like I'll be honest, I haven't used it for very long, just one week, and seating comfort is subjective after all! Any spills wiped straight off it, the stitching, and the lines look great, not a fray to be seen or stitch out of place. It looks kind of cool, too. My favorite feature of these seats is the nap mode. While you're not lying completely flat, it leans far back enough to make you easily doze off after a heavy gaming or working session. Overall, this chair offers plenty of comfort features. The MSRP does vary quite a bit depending on the region, at £549.99 in the UK, and €580 in Europe, and $599 before tax in the U.S. However, shipping is free, which is a bonus for such a heavy item. Is it worth it, though? At three years' warranty, I think it's a decent deal. Another firm out of Germany sent me a free replacement hydraulic gas spring for a chair that failed after almost four years, so it was well outside its two-year warranty. My advice is to always try, as you might have the same luck I did. If I could fault it at all, it would be the constant shifting of the armrests and backrest. Where to buy Although the footrest variant normally costs $539.99, it has been discounted to $469.99 on the official website in Black or White. In fact, the non-footrest variant is only $40 cheaper. On Amazon, it currently costs more at $499.99 links below. Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 for $469.99 (official website) Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 for $499.99 at Amazon US SIHOO provided a free sample without any review or pre-approval. Good to know This Amazon link is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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