What is Digg?95 Comments
- Obsydian, on 10/12/2007, -11/+75So wait a second. Let me get this straight. You can background download, but only in the XMB, because there isn't enough memory in the system to allow me to play a game and download something in the background? I thought this was a high-tech piece of hardware Sony was selling?
- mavranos, on 10/12/2007, -9/+46It took a while for the 360 to get the background downloading right too. So while, yeah it a sucky patched answer, its better than nothing.
I just want the PS3 to hurry up and get a online system that will compare with XBL.
Competition is good and it we will all benefit from Sony and MS trying to outdo each other on this front. - somesthetic, on 10/12/2007, -15/+51baby steps.
- Evari, on 10/12/2007, -3/+38scstraus: xbox live silver (free) users have background downloading aswell
- Ignignokt01, on 10/12/2007, -6/+40Wait, if you can only "background download" at the cross media bar, can it legitimately be called "background downloading"?
- Namarrgon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+33Not so. If you load up a game *and start playing online*, then it pauses your download, so as not to create lag.
You can certainly play single-player on most games while downloading in the background. - silverwolfe, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20Talk about being a negative nancy. You should be hoping they give XBL a run for its money, otherwise MS will get as lax as Sony is now. You gotta have some competition or development just plateaus. Look what WWII did for the nuclear age!
- jacksons98, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17Actually I wouldn't even care about background downloading if I could just set it to download what I wanted at a certain time. For example: Set it so that at 2:00am the PS3 would download the Motorstorm demo.
-Either way I'm happy so far with Sony's response from PS3 users, they do seem to be making an effort to listen and fix the issues. - cloudless, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14Sony called PS2 a Super Computer.
- Jaymoon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12@Namarrgon
There are some games that are just plain retarded (hint hint Saints Row), where as soon as you pop the disc in, it pauses the downloading, regardless of if you are playing single player or online. - SSCrow, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12I can't even imagine what XBL will be like when Sony gets it up to the current level of XBL.
IPTV should be fairly awesome.
Still don't care for browsing the web on my X360, but maybe if thats what people want. - henrythehorse, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Sounds good to me. All of these firmware upgrades are small stepping stones to something spectacular. The service is free so how do some people justify complaining about it? It is because they're Xbox 360 owners that won't buy any other console and deep down they're unsatisfied for paying for a service that should be free, which is available on the PS3.
- Yashar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Mirror:
http://www.innerbits.com.nyud.net:8080/blog/2007/02/27/ps3-online-background-downloading-the-sony-way/ - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Come see the most EXTREEEEEEEEEEEME Fanboy on Fanboy action! Two Fanboys battle it out 'till there's nothing left but two bloody corpses! All you can eat weiner dogs for five bucks! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!
- EtherGnat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9mavranos: "I just want the PS3 to hurry up and get a online system that will compare with XBL."
GawtMilk: "Microsoft has to ***** stop charging for XBL. Come on, it's the twenty first century!"
I hate monthly fees as much as the next guy, but sometimes you get what you pay for. The fee gives Microsoft more incentive and resources to run a top notch service. It allows them to run a centralized service which benefits gamers by providing consistency and developers by freeing them from the burden of running servers. It allows Microsoft to put more pressure on developers to provide compelling online gameplay. I think Virtua Tennis 3--which doesn't even offer online gameplay for the PS3--is a sign of things to come.
Personally I'd like to see the two models combined:
1. Offer basic matchmaking for free
2. Offer premium services like advanced matchmaking, tournaments, and achievements available for a fee
3. Offer a lifetime subscription fee for those that don't like monthly fees - staticneuron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@cloudless
They are trying so it means they do care. If they didn't care they wouldn't even try. What kind of messed up logic are you trying to put across? - alx242, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I have read others report on this issue as well but they have stated that nobody knows for sure as of yet how the background downloading will be implemented...People should really wait for proper releases before stating how things work...:/
In any case it would be a step up from the current way of handling the downloading...and well, everybody knows Sony will continue to improve the system...
Proper report:
http://www.psu.com/node/7699 - silverwolfe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I never said I wasn't giving MS their due credit, but the competition between them and Sony is helping to push them along, online or not. They need to make the Xbox 360 all around bigger and badder, with more features and functions that gamers will appreciate so that they can knock Sony out of the races. That no complacency came from MS wanting to win this horse race.
MS is getting a good head start with all the big Sony PR blunders and with software and hardware problems. - Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9@ scstraus
If you are really worried about Xbox Live costing $50 a YEAR (less than a dollar a week) then do a quick Craigslist or Ebay search. I found some guy willing to sell me a year subscription card for $20. That works out to be $1.60 a month for me.
PS: I bet you have a WoW subscription. - topbravo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6you sir are a bag of douche.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Well then there's the Microsoft justification, like "our service is better because you pay for it to be that way". That's a horrible way of looking at it. If Sony's strategy is sound and the PS3's online capabilities match or exceed Microsoft's, I forsee alot of Microsoft fanboys throwing their 6th or 7th X360 at the wall. Personally I think if a console advertises that you can play it online, you shouldn't be taxed to take advantage of that regardless of "how great" it is. It's like paying extra for backwards compatibility.
- KenDigg, on 10/12/2007, -8/+13Background downloads are nice, and pretty much the standard set by Microsoft. I hope Sony does their best to catch up in this instance. Right now, however, I would prefer resumable downloads over background downloading.
- jojo87, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11Online gameplay is last generation not next generation ;)
- jacksons98, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@djruden You might be doing more with your computer, but if it was cheaper than the PS3 the one thing you aren't doing is playing games.
- djruden, on 10/12/2007, -10/+15Didn't they call the PS3 a computer?
My computer multitasks. And I can play games while downloading. I download more than 1 thing at a time. I can bittorrent and game. I can do so much more with my PC than a ps3 can do.
Funny that my computer does more than the ps3 and it was cheaper too. PS3 sux... - wideawakewesley, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11Sounds like they'll never be able to implement true background downloading based on that write-up, but we shall see.
- TheNetMaster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I don't get it - The PS3 article from the interview with Phil Harrison just says you can multitask while background downloading. The Inner bits blog is the one that says that its limited and posted the link to support their claim, but the link doesn't prove anything they've said.........
Am I missing something here??? - alx242, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Its just a nice feature...I wouldn't mind browsing youtube on my TV and watching some videos.
- Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7You get what you pay for with Sony's "free" service.
You also know what you get for their online service? Cancellation of the online portion of games at ANY time of their choosing. Just under a year after it's been released Metal Gear Solid 3's online servers are shutting down. It's too bad, too, because that was the one PS2 game that I regularly played online.
At least if I want to play a friend some 5 year old Xbox game over Xbox Live we won't ever have to worry about that. - Obsydian, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11There was no competition for XBL up until this, and there was no complacency on Microsoft's part to improve XBL. Microsoft has always been improving XBL because they know how good they can make it. Give credit where credit is due.
(as an example if you need one, look at the clan support they added to XBL 3.0, around the time Rainbow Six 3 launched.) - alx242, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It is still a rumor but according to it it would halt the downloading if you started a game.
You can't compare it to you computer since you haven't got a fixed spec for how much memory each computer has, they only restrict it to minimum requirement. On the PS3 every console has a fixed amount of memory and thus a developer can expect the amount of resources they can use. That is the beauty of a console that a developer can make use of each and every bit of resources since they should all be in place when they deliver the game. If Sony allows the developers to use all the resources they have to free these when a game is launched or you could end up with resource allocation problem. On the 360 Microsoft has told developers to not use all the resources so to allow such things as background downloading during the games...of course this means that the games can't use every resource available but seeing as they have quite a large chunk of ram that isn't such a big problem...I still believe this would be solvable on the PS3 since not every resources is used up by the games there either (from what I can gather)... - DarkJC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Until Nintendo releases a Wii game that supports online play, as far as I'm concerned, no, they don't have online play.
- krische, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Hmm, I wonder if it can still background download if I'm watching a Blu-Ray movie. That wouldn't so bad then. Could watch a movie while downloading a demo or something.
- Robbothehood, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I really hope Nintendo can invest some of their growing capital into their online, they are so far behind it's insulting for Sony and Microsoft to even have them in the same discussion. I really hope Nintendo is working towards Live!, within the next year at the very least the first steps need to be taken, and they need to be large steps. They're making so much money anyway right? I want a strong online service when Smash Bros. comes out. Sorry don't let me divert attention from the topic, but not many other topics where this can be placed with any degree of relevance.
- coptimus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Folks...please understand that XBL has NOTHING to do with whether or not background downloading is possible. Those of you complaining about paying for XBL need to understand that PROPER background downloading is also available to Silver users.
There are only two things that make background downloading possible. Firmware and Hardware. It's that simple. Could Sony make this happen...Certainly. The processing power is there. Could the process be threaded in such a way that it doesn't interfere with a running game...I'm thinking yes...to a degree. - apoc06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3downloads for me are fine and actually pretty quick. on par with xboxlive downloads actually. maybe its your service.
@ jackson98:
honestly, i would prefer to have resumable downloads as well. i would like to be able to stop downloading and be able to free that bandwidth sometimes. also, i would like the ability to turn my console off and resume the download in the background the next time i restart. - cloudless, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9Background downloading is so last generation! PS3 has 4D foreground uploading for your cash!
- Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ jackson
You do realize that Xbox Live implements an P2P system for games over Live, right? That means if I put a game in and go online I don't have to worry about some server shutting down. All I have to worry about is if I'm hosting the game or if GamerX from Norway is hosting it.
It's MUCH different than having to rely on Sony shutting down servers just because they want to. A lot of people (myself included) re-bought MGS3: Subsistence just for the online portion. It's too bad it lasted under a year. - Guard, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7@staticneuron
There has to be some restriction. What if the dev team used so much memory that the center button (idk what its called on the ps3, whatever brings up the menu to shut down or go back to the xmb) menu couldn't come up? Just because Sony might not say they're restricting memory doesn't mean the devs get access to all of it.
Anyways, I think Microsoft has had a large advantage in getting this area working and preparing for it through their OS development, specifically because of such things as BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service... aka Background downloading on windows). Sony just either didn't prepare for it, or has had difficulty in implementing the feature to the system. I would hate to have to leave my Xbox on to download demos and whatnot, I only download things while I'm playing a game generally. - PhoenixAvatar2, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10Are you on dial-up or something? Background downloading would render resumable downloads almost useless. The whole point of background downloading is that you don't have to pause or cancel the download in order to do something on your PS3, the only reason why I'd think you'd want to suspend the download is if you needed the bandwidth for something else in the house.
- supermanred, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Sony online - FREE.
Sony online - sucks ass. Cant instant message while watching dvds, or communicate with other players if they are in a different game (you have to call them on the phone from Canada to Russia, etc to ask them to put their dvd in LOL)
Xbox live - COSTS. I PAID.
Xbox live - FRIGGIN AWESOME. Cant wait until Windows Live merges with it, so all my PC games will be so convenient to play and share with my friends.
Pay the damn 4 bucks a month, a friggin coffee costs more nowadays and yet people still buy a 5 dollar coffee instead of getting the 50 cent one. - doggers, on 10/12/2007, -8/+10Is that the same Phil Harrison who said, and i quote:
" Talk to the people who run GameStop, talk to the people who run BestBuy, and they'll tell you that the demand is unprecedented and that they give us kudos for managing to keep a very sophisticated supply chain moving. "
He's full of factual information. - doggers, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6It doesn't sound like a software problem from that article.
It looks like Sony have slipped up with their architecture, if they can't spare the memory to do background downloading, things are looking bleak for the future. There's a lot of scope for things running in the background, much like on a pc, which the Xbox will be able to make use of, and Sony might have to do without.
It would be interesting to see what Sony do, whether they leave it to the seperate software developers to decide how much memory they can spare, or whether they will set an amount to be left free. Either way it'll be interesting to see how this will affect the games. - staticneuron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2notice this "if Sony has not put a restriction on devs that included this feature in mind. "
I didn't say that they put no restriction at all just that they did not have a specific amount for BG downloading so the didn't allocate a space for it. - jacksons98, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@nobi-wan Actually I didn't know that, I just assumed everyone did peer - peer. Good post nobi.
- Ignignokt01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Phil Harrison is like Tony Snow of the white house, its all PR. Don't trust what they say.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Nintendo has shown that they have no interest in competing with Sony or MS in any way. They have their niche and it's making money for them. No HD gaming, no online play, no high-def or even standard def video playing, no music selection, etc. and I doubt they even care. Kinda like how even though the DS Lite is wireless, they don't have a browser for it while the PSP does.*
*yes I know, before you foam at the mouth, there are 3rd party hacks that add a browser, the point being that Nintendo doesn't even offer it. - jacksons98, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@nobi-wan Microsoft can cancel games at anytime too, just because you are paying a fee doesn't mean they will support the game you like forever. If the game isn't popular it is probably going to disappear off the server list.
(Microsoft Live Terms of Use)
18. CHANGES TO THE SERVICE; OUR CANCELLATION OF THE SERVICE
We may change the Service or delete or discontinue features, games or other content at any time and for any reason. - Ignignokt01, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9I think you're being way too harsh, but I see your point. The thing is, Sony COULD put in the background downloading now, but like your old PC, it would lag everything else you're doing. Even as a rabid 360 fan, I'm sure Sony will get these minor things solved. I think its mainly a software problem.
- drunken0monkey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I think the console gaming market has been and still is changing... it used to be all about push a button and play a game (all hardware, very little reliance on software and user interface), and Sony was GREAT at making really cool hardware. Now you're looking at consoles that require a good user interface in order to take advantage of all their great features. The importance of hardware as compared to software is diminishing. Microsoft had a HUGE (and I can't stress this enough) head start in this area (what with years of software development for the PC market) so it's no wonder that XBL is so far ahead. Not to say that Sony can't or won't catch up, but they've always been a hardware first company (use raw power to solve problems instead of software solutions) and appear to have banked on the fact that this will continue (perhaps a mistake). To them this is a MAJOR paradigm shift (software vs. hard ward) that they may or may not adopt successfully. I personally couldn't care less about who 'wins' in the end as I don't think I'll be buying either system (have ps1, ps2, xbox and a bunch of stuff before those) due to the ongoing convergence of electronics and my age, but it's very interesting from a marketing perspective to see how this plays out.
Cheers! -
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