Microsoft Asserts Sony's Online Network 'Busted'
Microsoft employee Andre Vrignaud, who works for the Game Tech Group, claims that Sony's PlayStation network is "busted" and offers a "broken" user experience. He believes that a number of companies are trying to position themselves to become the sole provider of an online solution for the PS3.
Andre Vrignaud, Microsoft's director of technical strategy for Xbox Live, wrote on his Ozymandias blog about a lawsuit that Xfire has brought against Gamespy. Apparently Xfire believes that GameSpy Comrade's "Buddy Sync" feature, which seeks out friends lists from other programs like Xfire and AIM, is infringing on its copyrights. What does this have to do with the PlayStation Network? Well, Vrignaud notes that "this suit highlights how busted Sony's PS3 online network is, and how companies are fighting to position themselves to take advantage of this financially."
When PS3 owners first use the system's online functionality they'll be asked to create a "Sony ID," but Vrignaud points out that you will likely need separate IDs or friends lists depending on the game. Talking about the upcoming game Resistance: Fall of Man, he said, "Even though I already have a 'Sony ID', I may have to create a new 'Resistance ID' to play. And then start thinking about just how broken the experience is when you try to invite someone to a game. Do you send it via the Resistance UI? What screenname do I send it to? If I want to add you to my 'Sony ID' friends list, do I need to send you an in-game message to ask you what your real 'Sony ID' name is? What about game invites? How does that work across even just these two IDs?"
He continued, "You think that's bad? Now let's open up a few more games from different publishers. Each of these publishers had to make a choice of what online interface to use - again, because Sony's online network just isn't ready. So they'll choose between writing their own (as did Insomniac for Resistance), or perhaps licensing Xfire, or GameSpy, or Quazal, or Demonware. So now we have five potential networks with different namespaces, and an inherent lack of ability to communicate (chatting, voice, invites, finding friends, etc.) between them, and even across to just the 'Sony ID' namespace. Think we're done? Nope... what happens if each publisher doesn't stick with the same online solution for all of their games? This is very likely as most publishers use different developers - so even across a single publisher, you may find fragmented communities."
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