Neowin discusses "The present & future of Sony PSN/Home"


Sony PSN  

39 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you currently rate PSN?

    • Exceptional
      2
    • Great
      5
    • Good
      13
    • Average
      11
    • Poor
      8
  2. 2. How long have you used PSN for?

    • Long period of time (1yr +)
      14
    • Decent period of time (6m to a year)
      13
    • Short period of time (1m-6m)
      12
  3. 3. How do you rate PSNs future?

    • Promising
      28
    • Decent
      7
    • Bleak
      4


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Part of my Neowin Gamers Hangout Discusses series.

This series aims to jump into fiercely opinionated gaming topics, and open them up for the floor! If you have any good ideas, go ahead and post them! (format your topic similarly to mine to keep consistency!) It's our idea for the GH, not just mine (Y)

Ok this is an honest question/topic for all the PS3 gamers on NW, myself included as I'll be kicking things off.

I want to start up some discussions on NW over the next few days/weeks discussing where we want our respected gaming companies/platforms/industry to go.

I aim to tackle the most opinionated topics in the gaming world just now, and you may ask why im doing it? Well it makes for fun and good discussions, plus it also allows good conversation writers to flourish - The idiots and disrespectful stand out like a sore thumb and im sure will be dealt with quickly, as I suspect this series of topics to be heavily watched by mods.

I'm trying to breathe some more unique life into these forums, news posts are great, but topics the community creates and feeds into can be the most satisfying (Y)

One word answers in topics like this don't tend to go a long way. Take time to express your feelings and gain respect amongst your forum users!

It's not for arguing between rival companies/bashing companies, but more for talking about what YOU like in each, and what YOU would want to see in each. Share your experiences with us, frustrating or pleasant!

Don't try to make other people's minds up, everyone has a unique contribution to add to this topic. Feel free to ask why people feel the way they do, but understand some people can be quite emotionally attached to their opinions. For those in that position, understand others are just questioning your stance, not attacking you in anyway (Y)

In taking part in this topic you're going to hit different opinions, keep things respectful, im sure you don't like having mud thrown at you for feeling different, so don't throw mud at others!

Let's roll...

My votes were Good/Decent Period of time/Promising

I'll kick things off then as simply as I can.

The below impressions are valid as of 02/04/2008.

They will be updated/changed as Live evolves.

Audioboxer's PSN Usability/Design/Features/Performance Impressions

So, I've used PSN since August 2007 now.

The XMB is slick, and easy to navigate. It looks good, and has a user friendliness to match. The store is currently not that "attached" to the PS3 itself, being a web based interface, but that is going to change as we know. Right now though it definitely is a minus.

Navigating the store itself just now is a bit messy, mostly due to the slow loading speeds.

Speeds on PSN are generally good for me, although it does get fairly slow at peak times from my experience. Sometimes downloading firmware updates can be a bit slow.

Playing games online has been hitch free for me, popular titles on the PS3 even have dedicated servers - Warhawk for example.

PSN is currently waiting on In-Game XMB, it's big brother Home, Achievements and other features though...

5/10 Usability/Design/Features - XMB is great, I love it - Sleek and easy to navigate. The store needs an overhaul, and is getting one, but until then it's a weak point. It suffices and it does its job, it's not broken - It could just be a lot better. Home/In-game XMB is also completely missing for things such as game launching/friend contacting/game invitations at this moment in time. No Home is also a weak point. Achievements are also missing.

8/10 Performance - Downloading content can be a bit slow at times for me, but playing games online is perfect. Dedicated servers are a HUGE bonus and compensate for slower downloading/navigating on PSN (Y)

Audioboxer's Looking at Content

PSN was pretty bare when I first starting using it. Since then it's increased in content, but it's still not got a ton of content. Since im in Europe, I get hit pretty badly with delays on PSN content/demos.

We have game demos, ps1 classics and the original PSN titles.

Sony have the idea of offering full games right in my book. With an easily upgradable hard drive (by yourself), downloading PSN titles at hundreds of mb's/gb's is no problem at all.

I'd like to see movies offered at somepoint.

Being able to make your own themes, and themes offered by Sony for free is a plus over competition.

7/10 Content - The outline for content is (Y) I love seeing the unique titles on PSN, PS1 classics are great and we get demos - We just need to see more of each, and in a more timely manner in Europe please! Movies/TV Shows would be nice eventually as well.

Audioboxer's Looking at the Future

What would I like most for PSN?

What most people want, Home & In-game XMB.

Both are coming though, which is good. It's not a case of me wanting something that's only a possibility, I am getting my requests this year!

As I said earlier the addition of movies/tv shows would be nice and even PS2 classics eventually! (Software BC).

Achievements in games would be nice as well, and they are confirmed coming.

Store overhaul as well, and it's coming.

As you can see, most of my requests are indeed coming - Sony has been getting better at listening to what we want :laugh:

So in order from me,

1. In-game XMB/Home (tied)

2. Store Overhaul

3. Achievements

4. Software BC

5. Movies/TV Shows to buy and own

I want to see a more from PSN than I do Live, it has more improving/establishing to do - However one plus, most of the things I want from PSN, are infact coming (Y)

Right now it's not as good a service, although it hold's it's own as it's free! and it does enough just now to keep people satisfied - But all eyes are on Sony to step up and offer Live a run for it's money (literally! heh) in 2008!

There we go, a start to the topic that should really last for an unlimited amount of time.

We'll constantly be discussing PSN as it evolves and changes happen.

I'll be chipping in a lot more as the topic kicks off. What I've said above is really just some food for thought about what to post in here to get the ball rolling!

So, what do you guys want to say about the underdog with promise that is PSN/Home?

ps. As you can see, I'm trying to avoid an X vs Y discussion, it's more about focusing on PSN/Home ONLY. Of course you have to draw examples from competition for some of your points, that's understandable :yes:

psps. Please don't ruin this topic guys, if you can't see what im trying to do, please don't bash me and ruin my efforts at creating a more compatible/discussion based community. It's not nice living in one section of fear of being eaten alive when you visit another, or being taken to the hounds when you post a genuinely respectful criticism/opinion.

pspsps. May be spelling mistakes/inconsistencies, I'll fix after I get some sleep :laugh:

Keep it worthwhile and clean (Y)

Edited by Audioboxer
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Unfortunately I don't have a PS3, but nevertheless there are a couple of things I'd love to see on the Playstation Network. First of all, it would have to be PS2 downloadable titles. Yes yes, I know it could draw parallels to XBOX Originals, but I couldn't care, I've been wanting this feature since PS1 titles were up for grabs (and possibly before). I realise this doesn't make business considering the PS2 is still around and making loads of money, but nevertheless, it's still a wish.

Something else I'd also really love is a user reviews guide. This may be best when Home comes around, but I still think it's a good idea. Letting people rate and review PS1/2/3 games and Blu-Ray movies would be a great way of letting gamers and movie buffs give feedback to the rest of the community on whats hot and whats not. This could also open up ties with sites like Kotaku, Joystiq and IGN where they could also display their reviews on Home and potentially give them new revenue, all the while Sony gets more people on Home. There are review sites all across the internet, so worrying about "scrutinising game developers" is hardly an issue, and none of the opinions wouldn't be reflective of Sony's opinion either.

Fantastic topic idea, Audioboxer, good stuff :)

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I imagine companies will set up a lot of areas within homes. Accessing IGN/GT/etc within Home would be a great addition. Hell, virtually any company can advertise there. Be it a car company, clothes, etc...

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I voted - Good / 1yr+ / Promising.

Sony have some good things going on, Im particularly looking forward to 'Home', a friend of mine is beta testing it, so Ive had a chance to play with it. I really like the mini game features, and the ability to make your own avatar etc, however, Sony really need to push third parties to incorporate Home into their games.

PSN and the store, while I agree that browsing could be quicker, it's not really that bad, hopefully once the store revamp hits, it'll improve things. I dont do a lot of online gaming, but when I have it certainly hasnt been too painful.

Wishlist, an ingame XMB as AB has said would be sweet.

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I done Great/Short Period of Time/Promising, I thought great because, I dont have any problems at all, and rarely buy games off of it anyway lol, and I never have any problems with lag etc in game.

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I think it's pretty poor, but I see hope. Outside of the XMB, I think everything else is kind of blah. None of it feels connected. It's like online is a step-child of the PS3. No in-game xmb/dashboard. The store is marginal. It just feels half complete.

They seem to be working on some a lot of upgrades so I see promise.

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http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2008/4/2-4

After receiving the official announcement regarding the PlayStation Store's impending redesign (details and screenshots here), one of the first questions asked was "will we still be able to access the PlayStation Store for other regions besides our own". With the new PlayStation Store moving to a native XMB application and away from a web-based system, many have questioned if Sony would take the opportunity to region lock the store. So we passed along the question.

The official answer, thankfully, is no. Our friendly SCEA rep "confirmed that no changes to the store will be made as part of this revamp relating to region locking". So like before, those users with multiple master accounts corresponding to different regions will indeed not be locked out of those PlayStation Stores.

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^

Good to know! (Y)

I'd be pretty peeved off if they made stores region locked! Wouldn't make sense in the grand scheme of things as every PS3 game is region free, therefore if you own a Japanese game, you're going to need access to the Japanese store for DLC!

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My experience with UT3 online hasn't been the greatest, since that's the only game I play online with the PS3 right now. It's really laggy, I'd be alright with everything else if they could just work out the lag, it's such a fun game

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