can someone fill me in on the status of the PSN?

The biggest factor (now that games are coming out for the PS3) stopping me buying one is the PSN. How does it compare to LIVE recently?

I owned a PS3 at launch and basically sold it as soon as i could after realizing it was bad purchase for the time.

Now, after all the updates what is the network like? A more unified friends list? Cross-game invites? etc etc.

Thanks :)

not yet... Home beta is coming in november/december and will be 100% released next spring. That's gonna bring pretty much all of what Xbox live has... I think

Also update 2.0 is coming around november/december which is rumored to have some really good updates. (no idea myself what's in the update...)

If you have the money to get a PS3 again, by all means, get one. This holiday has a nice selection of games. Plus warhawk is going to be fixed within the next weeks, so the PS3 will have a really nice multiplayer game again.

not yet... Home beta is coming in november/december and will be 100% released next spring. That's gonna bring pretty much all of what Xbox live has... I think

Also update 2.0 is coming around november/december which is rumored to have some really good updates. (no idea myself what's in the update...)

If you have the money to get a PS3 again, by all means, get one. This holiday has a nice selection of games. Plus warhawk is going to be fixed within the next weeks, so the PS3 will have a really nice multiplayer game again.

Thanks :) The prices seem to continuelly crash so i think il wait and see what the new updates bring. I know its sounds fanboyish, I just cant play a PSN game and have PSN user features after being so used to XBL's features

I would consider buying a PS3 if they had really good online.

same. This thread is still open if anyone wants to give an indepth review for me :D

same. This thread is still open if anyone wants to give an indepth review for me :D

I'll do it. With the surplus of pointless posts we've had recently, we could use an intelligent one.:p

Gaming Online:
I don't often play games online, but, I do it often enough to know that as long as you have a stable and strong Internet connection, you won't have any problems playing your games online. A few people on other forums have complained about occasionally losing their connection at random times for no reason. That has never happened to me, but you should be aware nonetheless.

Online Store:
The PS store, while still not up to the level the XBLA is on, has vastly improved over the last couple months. Sony has been consistently updating the store with substanced updates, or, at least the American Store has. The Euro store is often treated like a red headed step child and frequently gets vastly inferior updates when compared with the American and Japanese stores. However, this can be fixed by simply setting up an American PS account.

PS Store Games:
The games currently in the PS Store are a mix of some of the crappiest downloadable games you'll ever play and some of the best downloadable games you'll ever play. Notable titles include;

Calling All Cars
Super Stardust HD
Everyday Shooter
Gripshift
Flow

Online Features:
The features department is a little bare bones. You have your basics like friends lists, chat rooms, IMs, and very simplistic user profiles, but not much else. These features will be expanded on in the near future and new ones will be added, however, as it stands now, the features of the PSN are slim.

Overall Rating:
7.5/10



Hoped that helped. :)

Another big thing coming to the PSN is Home, due out early next year. It's sort of like second life, you can meet up with friends, see trailers, play games, and visit each other's "homes" which is a virtual space that you can customize with furniture and couch, but the coolest part is you can upload your own pictures into virtual frames, stream videos into a virtual T.V. and listen to music from the user's PS3. Just hope they don't screw it up.

Just on a side note. The 80Gb is now $500. That might be an incentive to get a PS3 now...

Thanks guys for the info. Is it possible to invite a friend from another game? Im playing Motorstorm and i want to invite a friend playing Fifa for example and can I see what my friends are playing from any game a la LIVE?

Yeah the price point is definitely tempting at the moment. The 60gb is definetly looking like a possible purchase for me but i think il wait til after Christmas.

Thanks guys for the info. Is it possible to invite a friend from another game? Im playing Motorstorm and i want to invite a friend playing Fifa for example and can I see what my friends are playing from any game a la LIVE?

No, not yet, but soon. Those are all features that are very likely to be incorporated into the system with the 2.0 update (which is rumored to be released late this month, last I heard).

No, not yet, but soon. Those are all features that are very likely to be incorporated into the system with the 2.0 update (which is rumored to be released late this month, last I heard).

ok thanks - once something like that is included, or something close to that comes, then il likely get one.

I would consider buying a PS3 if they had really good online.

its got some good online games like warhawk and every week there is better stuff on the store shortly home and good eclusive games are comeing

not yet... Home beta is coming in november/december and will be 100% released next spring. That's gonna bring pretty much all of what Xbox live has... I think

No. People really need to get out of the mindset that Home=XBLive. It does not. I'm in the Home Beta but even before I was, I could've told you that Home is not like Xbox Live. PSN is like Xbox Live and a lot of what people consider Xbox Live will be implemented on the PS3 when Firmware 2.0 releases, not Home. Home will sit and run on top of Firmware 2.0. Home is a graphical interface to a social network. Home is not the answer to cross game invites, to unified friends list, to in-game XMB, etc. Those will all be implemented via firmware updates. Home is completely optional. Even though it's eventually going to get its own XMB entry, it will not be "required" for anything other than, well, being in the "Home" world... viewing trophies in your 3D trophy room, etc. I'm sure Sony will be rolling out some form of "Accomplishments" that will be viewable from a list via the XMB as well as the Trophy Room in home.

So to answer the original post, a lot of the sorely missing features are rumored to be included in firmware 2.0 and firmware 2.0 is rumored to be coming around the end of October/beginning of November. There are several indications we're getting a new firmware on or about then (Profile 1.1 support for Blu-ray playback, enhanced music playback support, EULA 2.0 taking effect October 31st, it's been a while since a firmware update, and we're up to 1.94 or something... leaving little room before 2.0 will be released, new model dropping in the US on Nov. 2, etc)

One of the most glaring ommisions in in-game XMB which should be resolved in this update... but any answer to that question right now is purely speculation.

Hope that helps answer your question (and clear up some misconceptions).

To reiterate, people need to NOT get their hopes up for Home as a magic cure-all to the PS3... I find that 90% of the people I see discussing it are completely misguided on what Home is and is trying to be. There is NOT a counter to it any other platform. And if it proves successful, you can bet there eventually will be.

To reiterate, people need to NOT get their hopes up for Home as a magic cure-all to the PS3... I find that 90% of the people I see discussing it are completely misguided on what Home is and is trying to be. There is NOT a counter to it any other platform. And if it proves successful, you can bet there eventually will be.

Here's my question, Mr. Rothbart, since you have access to the Home beta and think that it might actually be emulated down the road: What is the draw of Home?

I watched the E3 Sony keynote and the entire time I couldn't help but think, "This is the most retarded thing to be talking about and hyping so much." To me it just looks like a spinoff of the Sims, except they're gonna try and microtransaction the hell out of you for pointless little stupid stuff like clothes, art, and houses. You'll be able to walk around the "PS3 Community" and find all your friends and then wave at them with your user-created PS3 Sim. Sounds like a blast. Don't most people just want to go straight to playing a game with their friends (which should be taken care of with the next firmware update), not wave stupidly back and forth at each other in a virtual community? That's why I don't understand why this would appeal to anybody except for those mindless people who actually enjoy playing the Sims or wasting real money so that their virtual self can be badass. Am I wrong in my perceptions of this new-fangled Home thing?

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I just don't see the point of Home and why Sony/Sony fans think its going to be so great.

See today's rant. ;)

I'll give you a nutshell answer here though. You know how people really dig blogs and personal web pages? You can personalize your corner of the internet? That will be a small part of Home. From what I can gather (and I said this in my rant today, none of the info I'm divulging is from the beta) there will be some sort of Web presence to Home as well, but you will have your own little corner of the Web with a connection to your Home space.

The biggest thing I see immediately accessible to Home users is the ability to socialize in a game-type setting without necessarily being in a game.

Take this hypothetical situation: We all own PS3s, we all have Home accounts. I spring for a "Penthouse" apartment in home and can accommodate 32 people visiting at once... my apartment becomes the "hangout" for Sarcastic Gamer's community on the PS3. You can log in and see if Doc and Lono are discussing firing Dave, you can walk up to a Bravia TV on the wall (you know they're going to pimp Sony stuff as much as possible in home) and view a replay saved from the big match last night, you see Ala Douche and SupaSlick upstairs in the game room shooting some billars and tossing ideas for a collaborative article on the blog. Then someone shows up and says Kotaku just challenged us to a match of <insert new game here> in 10 minutes. We all commit to it and Poof! We leave to play the game right from my apartment... when the match is over, we all pop back to the apartment and find CaptainDDL checking out some of my music on the stereo and we fill him in on how we totally kicked Kotaku's ass in the game. I update the TV to include a video replay of the match.

You can see where this is going. The social aspect isn't so attractive when it's Joe Anonymous dancing and waving, but when you have a pre and post game socialization that's possible, it can really add to the "hanging out with the guys" aspect. Is this a sure thing? No way. Is it within the realm of possible? Absolutely.

There are a lot of common misconceptions about Home (which are addressed in my Rant today) but the biggest problem people are having is they have nothing (appropriate) to compare it to. It's not the Sims, it's not a game, it's not Second Life. And it's probably not going to launch anywhere near it's full potential.

There will be a 3D Trophy room and there will be themed areas for various games/companies/activities. Am I excited for Home to launch anyday now? Honestly, until they show me more and let us play with it, no... it's not something I'm anxious for. I'm much more anxious for some of the games I've been waiting a long time for (I'm hunting down Ratchet & Clank Future sometime this week), but Home is definitely a blip on my radar. I just keep remember how the PSP at launch compares to the PSP now, and (believe it or not), how the PS3 was at launch compared to even right now (not taking into account most people believe we're a week or two from a drastic upgrade in the form of firmware 2.0). Home will likely progress the same way... a LOT of people will probably say WTF?! when it launches, but they'll slowly, methodically, add to it and before you know it, it'll start to have more and more draw.

Sounds like it could have a lot of potential. Unfortunately, Sony has proven that they're not very good at fulfilling potential within a timely manner. I look forward to its release to see what it has to offer and see what people think about it and because I plan on finally giving in and picking up a PS3 shortly after the holidays (I really want a Blu-ray player).

Thank you for answering my question.

thanks for clearing things up and summarizing the PSN Rothbart. Il wait to see what 2.0 brings but to be honest I think il buy a PS3 after that regardless. I feel the 360 has run its course and the newly exciting games are going to come through on PS3 next year. Dont flame me, thats just my opinion. Its just hard to not get excited for many of the Ps3 games emerging :P.