Maybe it’s because I’m British, and we traditionally love an underdog, or maybe it’s somehing else – but I just have to say; I love the PSN (PlayStation Network). And it’s not because it’s free, although it certainly helps. It’s not because it’s the most popular console based online service by any stretch of the imagination – it’s just different.
I think the best way to describe the difference is to analogise Xbox Live and PSN as going on holiday.
Xbox Live is your holiday to America, where you go and stay with an old friend. Everyone speaks English (a lot), and it’s like slipping into an old pair of slippers, you reminisce about the 80s with your friends and generally have a good time. It’s nice. They have a different currency, but it’s not too different to your normal one anyway, and your friends are nearby and easy to contact. It gets a bit rowdy, and you run into the occasional arsehole, but hey, you can live with that.
Pixeljunk Eden: A million times more fun than this screenshot makes it look
PSN is your once-in-a-lifetime holiday to Japan. You get there, and everything is difficult and confusing. But once you are there, despite the initial problems, you have a whale of a time, and it’s an experience you never forget. The people are either silent or very polite. (My analogy goes slightly wrong with the money, because the PSN uses your local currency, in my case Great British Pounds, not PlayStation Points or some such nonsense)
But it’s the stores that really vary. Xbox Live Marketplace is again like America – it’s big, brash, colourful and there is a massive amount of choice, including a lot of crap you’d never willingly spend money on – but a lot that you would. And just like Hollywood, they sell a pile of rehashed versions of old ideas at very modern prices.
But the PSN isn’t like that. If Xbox Live is “Game” on the high street, then PSN is your small local independent shop, and that is it’s charm, the weird, the wonderful – the quintesentially Japanese – games on the PSN that really make it shine. Games like Flow, Pixeljunk Eden and Calling All Cars are fantastic examples of PSN content. Pixeljunk Eden has frankly astonished me. (I’d like to discuss it more here but I feel a proper review is in order – but anyway, just buy it)
You can see my house from here!
I’ve just moved house, into a wonderful new area, with a lovely marina outside my window, and a local pub just across the canal. Why do I mention this, apart from the obvious boasting? It’s to illustrate a point, which is that it costs more for two pints of Carling at my new local than it does to buy any of the aforementioned PSN games, which were all £5 or less. Xbox Live knocks out pixel-perfect copies of games from 1984 for a fair bit more than that.
I’ve absolutely nothing against Xbox Live, in fact I play most of my online games on it, but I find myself checking the PSN store every single Thursday to see what’s new, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I bothered to look at the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Who knows, if by some chance the PSN starts overtaking Xbox Live, maybe my over-developed sense of Britishness will leave me cheering on Xbox Live as the new underdog?
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August 2nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Dude, PSN has a fair amount of rehashed crap as well. Rampage 2? Rampart? Lemmings? Sure XBLA has more of it, but at the same there’s plenty of original quality content coming out as well.
Check out Braid next week for an excellent example of original games on XBLA, it looks amazing!
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I suppose that’s true, but at least the rehashed crap on PSN is more reasonably priced!
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I’m really looking forward to Braid, AND Bionic Commando Rearmed! And I haven’t even had a chance to play this weeks demo of Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2. To top it off, I have to say I love my “rehashed crap” by Midway and Capcom on XBLA and consider it money well spent.
So maybe it should be a case of ignoring that which doesn’t appeal to you, and embracing that which does.
In that spirit, does PSN have more good stuff than XBLA? Or is it likely to in the future?
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
PSN does have some good looking stuff coming up, Fat Princess is looking really fun and Flower looks interesting as well.
There’s plenty on both services that’s looking really good in the future, and I think the added competition from PSN can only be a good thing for XBLA going forward .
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Wait until you all get to try HOME, it’s in a different class.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I wouldn’t hold your breath when it comes to Home, many have and many have lost their lives in the process.
I still don’t see the point in Home, it all looks very Second Life, so I’m not sure why someone like me would even care about it? I want to play games, not hang with my e-friends in a virtual space and show them my cool trophy cabinet and Sony Bravia TV collection.
It seems that even Sony don’t quite know what they’re aiming for with Home, part of the reason it’s taking so long to come out.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Home isn’t out because it is not finished. End of story.
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
End of story? Nah, there’s been numerous delays because Sony weren’t sure where they were going with Home. They’ve had to rethink their original vision because it just wasn’t streamlined enough.
I was glad to see at E3 that even Sony realise how bored we are of hearing about Home, their quick 30 second trailer in the press conference said it all.