Sony Considering Charging for PSN

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JofaMang

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A few months back there was an open discussion on the possibility of a paid premium service, and everything that is free now would remain free with the introduction of the premium services.

What could be included with a premium service? How about cross chat? Different tiers, with certain levels of DLC and betas being automaticly accessable per tier? Open video codecs? Included subscriptions to Qore? Region limitations might be available in a more-than-free service, such as the vidzone. There are a lot of shortcomings that can be addressed with a pay-for service, without infringing upon what is already free.

As an avid PS3 owner, I don't feel threatened by such a service, and would probably pay for it, should I personally deem it worthy of a period payment. It certainly would put a bit of tarnish on the PS3 fanboys attack of Xbox Live, but if Sony keeps games online play modes free, there wouldn't be much to worry about.
 

tayb

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[citation][nom]itadakimasu[/nom]100% true.I don't have any 360 games because I don't want to have to pay $15 a month or more to maybe or maybe not play online. I only play online once or twice a week, if that... but i still want to be able to if I want to.[/citation]

$15/month? Uh, it's $50 a year. That works out to a little over $4 a month. Even if you want us to believe the lie that you only play twice a week that works out to 50 cents each time you play. It helps if you don't just randomly pull numbers out of your ass to support your position.

And as an owner of both consoles there is no way in hell I'd pay Sony $50 a year for the PSN. I wouldn't pay $10 a year for that abortion of an online "service." My PS3 collects dust unless there is a single player exclusive such as Metal Gear Solid or God of War. If I want to play online I'm buying the 360 version without hesitation. They want to start charging they will have to match or exceed the quality of service offered by Xbox Live. Sony doesn't have the programming knowledge to compete.
 

w1zz4

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There are big difference between PSN and XBOX Live. The major diffence is the Multiplayer gaming plateform. Xbox Live have servers, which host the games and Xbox players connect to them. PSN don't have that... There is no game hosting thing, you host the game locally, on your PS3. It's not fair to make people pay to host their own game on their own hardware. In fact, it is bullshit, and sure if they start charging me to host my game locally on my ps3 on my hardware, they gonna need to deal with Quebec Sonsummer protection, you can't charge for a service that was advertised free before, unless you add services and ask people to pay only for new services and live the already existing services free...
 

badaxe2

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If they kept everything as is for free, and then decided to charge for "premium" services on top of that, then that would be as fair as possible. Subscriptions are the Devil the way they're designed though lol.
 

tayb

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[citation][nom]au071[/nom]I probably won't pay for it. I thought that was one of their big selling point v.s. Xbox 360...[/citation]

If I was trying to sell a PS3 I wouldn't even bring up the PSN. The selling point is blu-ray + wifi not the god awful PSN.
 

Vampyrbyte

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I have both the Xbox and PS3, I play CoD4 on the PS3 and MW2 on the xbox. In all honesty the only diffrence in the service i actually recive from Microsoft/Sony is that i paid Microsoft £40.
Other than that there is no diffrence from what i can tell. Yes the Xbox's voice chat system is far superior, but the Playstation Store is a far easier to use, and faster service than Xbox Live Marketplace.
So long as playing Online on the PS3 remains free i wont mind. Perhaps paying a subscription for access to Digital Comics, Mini's and maybe the PS1 and rumored PS2 back catalogue would be far better than buying each individual game. I'm unlikely to spend £5 on a 10 year old game i can run in an emulator anyway. But i might spend £20 or even £40 to have access to these for the duration of the subscription.

It would be nice if microsoft actually rewarded you for buying Live Gold. So far all ive got is a Lynx Twist Theme, and my brother badgering me to use my Xbox so he can play CoD Classic. Which really narks me about the Xbox. I have CoD Classic, but i cant let my brother play it wihtout playing on my profile. Annoying Much.
On my PSN i own a couple of PS1 classics, PSP games, and PS3 games. I can activate them on 5 consoles. Which is really nice. Don't think you can do this on Xbox, it threw a fit when i put my profile on my brothers 360. But if anyone knows a way to do this that would be grand ;)
 

maestintaolius

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[citation][nom]VampyrByte[/nom]I have both the Xbox and PS3, I play CoD4 on the PS3 and MW2 on the xbox. In all honesty the only diffrence in the service i actually recive from Microsoft/Sony is that i paid Microsoft £40.Other than that there is no diffrence from what i can tell. Yes the Xbox's voice chat system is far superior, but the Playstation Store is a far easier to use, and faster service than Xbox Live Marketplace.So long as playing Online on the PS3 remains free i wont mind. Perhaps paying a subscription for access to Digital Comics, Mini's and maybe the PS1 and rumored PS2 back catalogue would be far better than buying each individual game. I'm unlikely to spend £5 on a 10 year old game i can run in an emulator anyway. But i might spend £20 or even £40 to have access to these for the duration of the subscription.It would be nice if microsoft actually rewarded you for buying Live Gold. So far all ive got is a Lynx Twist Theme, and my brother badgering me to use my Xbox so he can play CoD Classic. Which really narks me about the Xbox. I have CoD Classic, but i cant let my brother play it wihtout playing on my profile. Annoying Much.On my PSN i own a couple of PS1 classics, PSP games, and PS3 games. I can activate them on 5 consoles. Which is really nice. Don't think you can do this on Xbox, it threw a fit when i put my profile on my brothers 360. But if anyone knows a way to do this that would be grand[/citation]
You can move your profile all you want, but the licenses for your downloaded games can only be moved once a year between consoles, without MS intervention, and can only be active on one console at a time. I recently purchased a new 360 arcade to replace my launch system pro(HDMI reasons). Moving everything was actually pretty easy.
 

Simple11

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I would stop playing PS3 online. We already pay for the internet, why pay for internet on a console? Next thing you know, online games that come out on the PC will be charged for internet...like wow.
 

Maxor127

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Well, if they want to offer some sort of premium service and keep the current service, that's fine. But if they go the Xbox Live route, they're going to kill one of the major compelling reasons to choose PS3 or 360.
 

Simple11

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I wouldn't go as far as switching consoles, I hate the xbox and I am sorry people use it. Even without the free online, PS3 still has rechargeable controllers, wifi, and blue ray. PSN > XBL because every kid gets a mic with XBL, and when I acutally got onto an XBox and play MW2 for 10 mins, all I heard were little kids spamming the mic constantly (and by kids, I mean everyone, all ages)
 

lhawang

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i would pay for it... but i think that if they just charge everybody then that would suck.. they should leave the online ps3 free but charge a premium for the people that want better online services like exlcusives etc.. ive played on both psn and xbox live and i have to say that xbox has better online experince.. this way everything remains the same for people that dont want to pay or dont have the money .. and also gives the more commitited gamers a better gaming exp.
 

xonda

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Sony is digging its own grave. With Asus and Dell launching nice gaming Notebooks (i.e. G73 with ATI 5870 mobile) with games distributed by Steam with "honest" price, Ill considering go back to PC business.
 
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If psn charges money, that'd be a big reason for me to never buy a PS3. I don't own one now but slightly have considered the idea mainly due to it having free online play. Xbox imho is passe.
 

Gin Fushicho

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You have got to be fucking kidding me , the free PSN is the only reason I play on the PS3 or even own one, so I can play games with my Best friend online , if they make it monthly fee I will fell VERY betrayed by sony.
 
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