In a recent survey carried out by Japanese Giants Sony, alot of questions were asked with regards to online play…and they sounded alot like carbon copies of Xbox Live features.
Microsoft’s Xbox Live service has been a huge success since it was founded on the original Xbox, and with the 360 taking even more advantage of the great service, it appears that Sony are getting slightly rattled.
Not too long ago, Sony insisted that the PS2 publisher-run online play was by far the greater, however, the recent survey questions confirm that there might be a few slighty scared PS3 developers.
For example, from the 33 questions, there were 11 asking questions about Online functionality that were copies of Live:
A single identity and password for all online games?
Global Lobbies allowing you to play against anyone in the world?
Game Lobbies should be language based. (English, French, German etc)
Headset support in all online games?
A QWERTY keyboard as standard for messaging.
Friend List allowing you to see online/offline status?
Friend List allowing you to see what game your friends are playing?
Private Messaging across games?
A feedback rating allowing you to choose who you play against?
The ability to download music, game demos and other content?
Service should feature a Global Ranking system for each game.
Obviously, just because these questions were asked, it doesn’t mean that they will definitely be in the PS3, or that they will be carbon copies – but it does show that Microsoft have really impressed with their Live Functions, and Sony have recognized that they may need to take a few ideas out of the 360’s books!
