PSX5Central
Playstation/Gaming Discussions => PS3 Discussion => Topic started by: MAKAVELIUK on August 31, 2002, 03:21:11 AM
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Sony delays online games
Caitlin Fitzsimmons
AUGUST 30, 2002 SONY has delayed the local introduction of its online game service as it strives to find a workable business model.
The video game giant introduced its online service in North America earlier this week, but will not announce its plans for the PAL territories, including Australia, until October.
The service, which allows PlayStation 2 owners to play multi-player games over the internet, will compete with Microsoft\'s Xbox Live service for Xbox owners.
While Sony is offering the service for both dial-up and broadband customers in North America, it has committed to a broadband-only model in the PAL territories.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia managing director Michael Ephraim said the introduction of the service was not delayed for technical problems, but to find a better solution for Sony, its business partners and its customers.
The PAL territories included dozens of different countries with different levels of broadband and PS2 penetration.
"Australia has a fairly high uptake of broadband," Mr Ephraim said. "It\'s not leading the pack, but it\'s not at the bottom of the pack. My opinion is that Australia will be one of the territories connected earlier in the piece."
Mr Ephraim said Australia had particular challenges with its large and sparsely populated land mass and the prevalence of volume-based pricing plans.
"The perception is that broadband costs are high and online gaming is data intensive," he said. "We\'re in discussions with different ISPs about a time-based charge and a different billing structure to make it more appealing to consumers."
Mr Ephraim said Sony would spurn the centralised approach taken by Microsoft with Xbox Live.
He ruled out an exclusive relationship with a single ISP or peer-to-peer gaming, but said there were many details yet to be determined.
For example, the company had not decided whether to run the infrastructure or allow ISPs to host the games on their own server farms - and whether there would be dedicated servers for Australia or not.
"We do not anticipate just one service choice for consumers under one name," Mr Ephraim said. "There will be many service choices and the business model of Sony will be very open."
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe planned to charge a "modest" subscription fee for the service, but Mr Ephraim was not certain whether that would be levied in Australia.
"Every country is looking at the cost factor based on local broadband costs and the local culture of what people are willing to pay," he said. "You have to give a service that\'s affordable and it\'s an issue we\'re still working through (in Australia)."
It would be "nice" to be first to market but it was important to make sure the offer "made sense" for consumers and partners.
He promised more details in October.
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5001271%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
I thought it was 56k & BB and free well thats no online for me thank you Sony you bastards:mad:
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Shameful. Sony laughs at PAL territories. The games are twice as expensive as USA ones, the games are pathetic conversions for PAL systems, they\'re always late, and now:
No dial-up for PAL owners
Pay for online services
We don\'t know when the service will begin
What\'s happening here? Europe is getting angry when Sony announces these news :(
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Bleh... we\'re taking it in the manhole yet again.
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if this is what sony r planning to do, then they\'d be better off not releasing the NA in europe or any other pal territories.
and if this turns out to be true then sony can go fuk themselves, i\'ve given them enough of my money as it is and i dont plan on giving them more anytime soon.
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I\'m with Tyrant... I\'ve enough with the high games\' price, so I won\'t get online paying for the service. Sony will fail in Europe if ask for money.
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Adan, dont be a dumb ass.
Games do not cost twice as much in PAL territories. Exchange rates equal game prices out.
IE - US games are RRP $49.95, AUS games are RRP $89.99 (most anyway. The current ER equals it out.
Don\'t have a bitch, its not SONY\'s fault that countries like Spain, France and Greece can\'t get their act together and introduce better Broadband services.
56k is way to friggen slow to play online properly. Broadband penatration in AUS is at about 8% out of all Internet users.
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If its true (I want to hear it from SCEE not some no-name Australian guy from a not very known Australian mag) then I say **** it.
Im not going online. I REFUSE to pay a fee.. I ALREADY PAYED FOR THE FRICKIN GAME IN THE STORE.
No thank you, PC gaming for me :(
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I\'m with Adan, Fastson and Tyrant, they\'re really taking the piss this time. The exchange rate doesnt equal it out for us Racer, we are paying £39.99 - £44.99 for new games (from stores that is, net companies sell for less) That works out at around $60 - 70 US. Its an absoloute joke!!!! I wont go into conversions, or release delays.......
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Originally posted by ##RaCeR##
56k is way to friggen slow to play online properly. Broadband penatration in AUS is at about 8% out of all Internet users.
and how many of those 8% own a ps2 MAYBE 1%~ 16000, so basically sony is doing what MS is doing and isolating a large part of the market in PAL reigons. only difference is MS is offering something better.
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Originally posted by ##RaCeR##
Adan, dont be a dumb ass.
Games do not cost twice as much in PAL territories. Exchange rates equal game prices out.
IE - US games are RRP $49.95, AUS games are RRP $89.99 (most anyway. The current ER equals it out.
Example:
FFX USA= 39$
FFX Europe = 69€
$=€
Don\'t have a bitch, its not SONY\'s fault that countries like Spain, France and Greece can\'t get their act together and introduce better Broadband services.
Europe has good services of ADSL, who said it hasn\'t? Take note of this file, it\'s the number of ADSLs\' subscribers in the world till 1st Jan 2002. And it\'s a pitty it isn\'t more updated cause this years is a bomb over here of adsl services. EU should be over USA in number of ADSL lines. But take a look of the file.
Total US: 4,351,000
Total EUROPE: 4,192,000
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Me takes PAL adapter and flushes it down toilet!
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Its funny cause all the xbox owners were saying sony would screw us over it. Europe gets phuked on everything.
________
PROBLEMS WITH AVANDIA (http://www.classactionsettlements.org/lawsuit/avandia/)
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It\'s good to be the king.
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as much as I hate to say it - there\'s a reason for this. Sony isn\'t doing this to "phuk" us Europeans over - just think about it, why would they do something like this? Microsofts going online with Xbox Live in November, so I suspect Sony has a damn good reason for doing this.
As for paying a fee - I hope Sony isn\'t serious about this - because if they are - then... well... **** them... :(
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I don´t get you... most folks pay for Online Games on PC ! So what ? If the Game is fun: I´ll pay...
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Originally posted by THE EYE
I don´t get you... most folks pay for Online Games on PC ! So what ? If the Game is fun: I´ll pay...
i think its coz the fact that in the US they dont have to pay for online gaming, and because of that alot of people (including me) feel that sony have fuX0red around with us (PAL teritories) enough.
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Just a shot in the dark here, but wouldn\'t gaming over 56k be completely unplayable for someone like Australlia trying to connect to someone in Europe? I\'d imagine the ping for somone in Australlia would be horrible, given the distance between the two.
But I do agree that it\'s bull you should have to pay for it when NA gets it for free. They\'re going to fail with their online plan in PAL countries...
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okay now, why don\'t we wait for it to be official first, rather than getting all upset about something that might not even be true. ;)
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^^agree
Let me ask you all this. If it was something like $50US a year, whatever that my convert to in your countries, would you pay it?
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I won\'t pay a € for playing online when in other territories it\'s completely free of charge: I won\'t pay other users\' costs.
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first of seven\'s got a point, buit until it has been stated otherwise i\'m still pissed.
Originally posted by nataku
Let me ask you all this. If it was something like $50US a year, whatever that my convert to in your countries, would you pay it?
nataku if it was $50USD a year i would gladly pay, but thats never the case with sony.
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*coff* *coff*
we ARE over looking one important thing
they could just do a USB 56kmodem for us Dial-upers
that way the Official BB adapter can be used for JUST BB
or we could just wait till October and hope Sony don\'t have their heads up their @ss like Microflops do.
anyway i find this Strange as YESTERDAY
Sony had a Rather Massive ONLine public Play testing in Glasgow
it was Rather Busy so i couden\'t get a Shot myself :(
So it looks like Public intrest in our "beloved" PAL Region could be HIGH with Joe Public which could mean they ditch this BB only Stuuuuupiiidddd Plan.
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sorry to Double Post but how Reliable is this source ?
because I just Found this Pearl o Wisdom on the Same site :rolleyes:
sorry but this site lost all Credibility with me when i read
Xbox promo narrows gap with PS2
Caitlin Fitzsimmons
AUGUST 29, 2002
THE Halo Combat Pack boosted sales of Microsoft\'s Xbox last week, but this week will prove the real test for the games newcomer\'s first promotional offer.
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Inform figures show retailers sold 4321 Xbox consoles last week, up from 1561 the previous week. Sales were helped by the popularity of the Halo Combat Pack, which bundles a free copy of Halo and the DVD pack with the Xbox console.
But Xbox sales still trailed the more established PlayStation 2 from Sony. Inform figures show retailers sold 5804 PS2 consoles last week, down from 7494 the previous week.
Inform research manager Phil Burnham said this was partly because the figures only included two days of the Halo Combat Pack. Inform collects sales data from Monday to Sunday, while the promotion did not hit stores until Saturday.
Another factor was that the bundle was in limited supply.
"From talking to retailers, a lot of them sold out straight away," Mr Burnham said. "It would be better if they\'d had more ... but as stock comes in we\'ll see them selling a lot this week."
One such retailer was Electronics Boutique, which sold out before the weekend because of heavy pre-ordering.
But Sony is not resting on its laurels - this week it launched a bundle offering the V8 Supercars Race Driver game with the PS2 for $459.
Inform charts show the V8 Supercars Race Driver game was the top-selling game last week, followed by Medal of Honor: Frontline and Grand Theft Auto 3 also for the PS2.
Mr Burnham said the bundles would make this week\'s figures - available next Thursday - stronger for both consoles.
Meanwhile, Nintendo\'s GameCube had "dropped right off the pace", selling just 575 units last week.
Mr Burnham noted that Nintendo was yet to push a promotional offer for the GameCube. The Japanese gaming giant has previously flagged it will treat the debut of Super Mario Sunshine in October as a second launch for the console.
So selling 2760 more units is "closeing the GAP" :rolleyes:
now there was me thinking to ACTUALLY CLose a Gap you have to consistently OUT SELL you competitors until ….. the Gap is Closed
who is this Caitlin Fitzsimmons.... Racers Brother or something ?
Come to think of it the more i read the First Article the more it Smells of BS.
like Adan Said BB saturation isn\'t even 8% in europe (its FAR less than that in the UK infact i think its LESS than 5% of the poulation has BB or Can get BB)
So whats the point in shooting your self in the foot when you can already go 56k in the Good old U.S Of A
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hmmm well this sucks....
I live in Australia and the suburb I live in has no broaband options for a gamer at all except ISDN which is not broadband and Satelite which has very bad ping times so lots of lag :(
I have no idea how they think it will survive with broadband only with the low uptake in Australia...
and for the people that do have broadband there is 3-5 gigabyte caps
If they think I am going to pay for a time based plan they are kidding them selves....
the easiest way would be to allow 56k aswell and just let isps host there own servers. It works well for PC games so why not PS2 games?
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Originally posted by ##RaCeR##
Adan, dont be a dumb ass.
Games do not cost twice as much in PAL territories. Exchange rates equal game prices out.
IE - US games are RRP $49.95, AUS games are RRP $89.99 (most anyway. The current ER equals it out.
Don\'t have a bitch, its not SONY\'s fault that countries like Spain, France and Greece can\'t get their act together and introduce better Broadband services.
56k is way to friggen slow to play online properly. Broadband penatration in AUS is at about 8% out of all Internet users.
dude thats cheap, here I pay 80 euros for one game! :mad:
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perhaps ooseven, they meant closing the gap of weekly sales?
Yes this (if true) would be screwing us over. I might end up importing from the US anyway, so it might not effect me. Either way I\'m willing to pay a small fee to play some of my online/oversees friends in various games.
Pity Fasty won\'t be one of them :(
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this sucks...... i dont have broad dand.........
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I import anyways so it doesnt bother me, playin Madden and Socom all da damn time.