AfterDawn: Tech news

Sony unveils PS3 online service, launch titles

Written by Ben Reid @ 21 Oct 2006 7:50 User comments (56)

Sony unveils PS3 online service, launch titles Sony Computer Entertainment has unveiled details of the PlayStation 3s online service and also the list of 21 games to be available at launch.
Avid gamers have been waiting for months for Sony to release details of its online system, which will be called the PlayStation Network and give PS3 owners the opportunity challenge other gamers, chat, download extras, store images, video, or music and browse the net using the custom built version of the Opera browser included in the PlayStation 3. Sony's offering will differ from rival Microsoft's Xbox Live service in that it will be free to use, although users will have to pay for downloadable games and other extras.

The navigation system for the PlayStation Network is based on that of Sony's handheld gaming gadget, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), which includes a "Friends" area in which users manage online gameplay, as well as access to any images, music or movies stored on the device.

PS3 owners will be able to buy downloadable games, extras for games, movies and music via the Sony PlayStation store. Downloadable games are expected to cost around $15 (£8).



Meanwhile Sony also revealed the list of 21 titles that will be available for the PS3 when it launches. The games, which are expected to cost around $59.99 (£32) are:

  • Resistance: Fall of Man
  • NBA 07
  • Genji: Days of the Blade
  • Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII
  • Call of Duty 3
  • Fight Night Round 3
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
  • F.E.A.R
  • Full Auto 2: Battlelines
  • Madden NFL 07
  • Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
  • NBA 2K7
  • Need For Speed Carbon
  • NHL 2K7
  • Ridge Racer 7
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
  • Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
  • Tony Hawk's Project 8
  • Untold Legends Dark Kingdom

  • Additionally, the owners of the first 500,000 consoles sold in North America will also receive a free Blu-ray copy of the Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby movie.

    Source:
    BBC

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    56 user comments

    121.10.2006 08:41

    Notice anything about these titles? Oh wait, they're going to appear on other systems.

    221.10.2006 08:42
    DamonDash
    Inactive

    Hopefully this will shutup the Sony hater's.

    321.10.2006 08:49

    Nice, Free online service, download games for $15 seems a bit reasonable, 360 offers free demos, download movies and trailers (360 offers). Well, well, well.....maybe Xbox Live will come down to it's knees and bow to the PS3. PS3 will rule the console wars!!!

    421.10.2006 08:59
    DamonDash
    Inactive

    Quote:
    Notice anything about these titles? Oh wait, they're going to appear on other systems.
    If you going to bring this up a least know what your talking about...lol your wrong! Resistance: Fall of Man Genji: Days of the Blade Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII Call of Duty 3 Full Auto 2: Battlelines Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire Ridge Racer 7 Untold Legends Dark Kingdom Thats 8 out of 21 games that will be for PS3 only little less than half.Also Sony going to make Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion look alot better than 360 did it & not all that long load time bs.

    521.10.2006 09:03

    Most people getting the PS3 are playing RPGs and action RPGs anyway (cough finalfantasy cough). I know the trend is moving towards mmorpg and online play/connectiveity but i think the impact this PS3 network will have is overrated/hyped. $15 is a lot to pay for an old game just for download (you have to come up with the hard copy yourself?) and im certainly not interested. Ditto for demos and most extras. In the end, its all about the games. And see as how there are more RPG console gamers than fps (FPS goers can also go to pc), it seems inevitable that PS3 will dominate again and the Wii will take a few steps ahead.

    621.10.2006 09:19
    hughjars
    Inactive

    Is it true that the PS3 HD Gran Turismo costs approx $1000 to buy everything (all the cars & tracks etc) for?

    (on top of the, already excessive, $100 price?)

    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 21 Oct 2006 @ 9:20

    721.10.2006 09:22
    gogochar
    Inactive

    I've now turned from being against Sony into once again, undecided.

    821.10.2006 09:43

    same, gogochar, games like Call of Duty 3, Fight Night, Need For Speed Carbon, Ridge Racer 7 and Rainbow Six really interest me.

    921.10.2006 09:55
    DamonDash
    Inactive

    Quote:
    Is it true that the PS3 HD Gran Turismo costs approx $1000 to buy everything (all the cars & tracks etc) for?
    No true,You can pay from the cars you want if you didnt invest time in the game to unlock cars.So if you want some of the proto type cars & your not going to invest the time to unlock them then you can pay for them.


    http://www.ebgames.com...
    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 22 Oct 2006 @ 7:46

    1021.10.2006 10:29

    good, good, good. it shoul be almost double that by the time we(in PAL land) get it. hdgt, i got the impression that it was the classic cars that you could pay for, the others still needed to be unlocked

    1121.10.2006 11:01
    mark5hs
    Inactive

    I thought full auto 2 got canceled...

    1221.10.2006 11:19

    i thought you have to pay for them and there was no unlocking possible. like paying was the only way.

    1321.10.2006 12:30

    the question on every persons mind: "will it be just as easy to play backup games online as it was on the ps2?" lets see sony answer that one!

    1421.10.2006 12:31

    Quote:
    which will be called the PlayStation Network and give PS3 owners the opportunity challenge other gamers, chat, download extras, store images, video, or music and browse the net using the custom built version of the Opera browser included in the PlayStation 3.
    Hmmm... this sounds sweet to me. Genji: Days of the Blade COD 3 Full Auto 2: Battlelines Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Need 4 Speed Carbon Ridge Racer 7 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Cool, these sounds good. I'll be sure to grab one (PS3) when it's available. I'm a GAMEINFORMER subscriber and Polyphony Digital is in process of releasing Gran Turismo HD, not only that but GT5 is definitely on the way. I guess afterall, the new PS3 is reasonable indeed, regardless of price or games.

    1521.10.2006 12:42
    DamonDash
    Inactive

    Quote:
    the question on every persons mind: "will it be just as easy to play backup games online as it was on the ps2?"
    Knowing Sony & i love them i dont think its going to be as hard as Microsoft.Microsoft does give hackers alot of problems but i dont think Sony make a very big issue of it because they are number1 but if that change you will see them take a very hard stand on this issue.

    1621.10.2006 13:30

    Free huh ! they already have a free service and that includes the others that provide free sony console gaming online like EA etc ,and for that you get more lag than an ol lady in a walker,unless they go centralised servers it'll be the same shite laggy asses on a more expensive console we'll certainly know soon enough

    1721.10.2006 14:36

    It wouldnt be worth it to make BD backups yet alone work out going online with them, not for like another 3-5 years. Sony will put alot of effort to stop the system being cracked as they lose out on so much money per console the only way to make it back is with software(game)sales. Look at 1 year to crack, 2 years for Bluray writers to be affordable, and maybe another year for online to be cracked. Does look like a very good lineup of games for release alot of those appeal to me. Damn i wish the net browsing would work with dialup, im really hating the phone companys right now who wont redo the phonelines out at my house so i can get BB and do some online gaming.

    1821.10.2006 15:02
    tjgp32
    Inactive

    *edit by Jannejt*

    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 22 Oct 2006 @ 2:29

    1921.10.2006 15:10
    hughjars
    Inactive

    Quote:
    No true,You can pay from the cars you want if you didnt invest time in the game to unlock cars.So if you want some of the proto type cars & your not going to invest the time to unlock them then you can pay for them.
    - Sorry but I just don't believe this.

    The net is awash with comment about this game and the 'costs' range from $650 - $1000.

    Quote:
    Gran Turismo HD: Classic, the one without the cars, will be online-focused. So far it has been reported that the player will start off with no cars or courses and have to buy them online. With 750 cars available at between $0.50 and $1.00 USD a piece, as well as 50 tracks to be purchased for $1.50 to $4.50 each, that brings us to a grand total between $426.50 and $975 to get all the content.

    http://www.virtualreality.ca/archives/Gr...1000-009670.php

    Quote:
    .http://www.ebgames.com...
    - .....and the point of this link is?

    This is just a blank advertisment for a coming game from a games shop, it doesn't say much - except for the usual cooing from people who look forward to the "awesome" (aren't they always!? pppffffhhhhhh) game.
    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 22 Oct 2006 @ 7:48

    2021.10.2006 15:14

    Resistance: Fall of Man For all you sony haters (and no i am not a fanboy i already have a 360 which i camped out and got at launch even though it its my 3rd one cuz its a POS)this game Resistance:FoM will be one of the great first person shooters so pleeease stop all this bs about sony only being good for rpgs which they still are. Plus the $15 games u can transfer those from ur ps3 to up to 5 other ones with one purchase and also use remote play to play these game not only on the ps3 but the psp when hooked up with the ps3. As for the back ups dont you guys still have ur ps2???

    2121.10.2006 15:34
    hughjars
    Inactive

    This is not about 'hating' anything or body.

    It's about debate, asking questions and putting another side of the story to some of the ridiculous fawning and slanted comments that appear here all too often.

    2221.10.2006 15:41

    is it still true that these ps3 games will only work on the first ps3 console that u run it on. meaning that u cant bring a game to your friends house and run it on thier system. heard this awhile ago, wondering if its true or not

    2321.10.2006 15:45

    1.15 a pop for "extras" and add ons to games is lame but its not NEW,you'd think a 50-70$ game would be complete.... -------------- 2.Demos,patches,Multi player,MP statistic view/shareing ,updates are FREE ,bascily its like Xbx live Gold minus some of the extras all for FREE. Heres a thought go the extra mile and give out more free things but limit the amount of demos and extras you can download in a day/month 800MB a day or 6GB a month is not a bad way to keep network costs down ..like they dont do it alway *L* -------------- 3.Anyone who says and these PS3 games are not exclusive dosent know that half of all 360 and Xbx games are PC games or at the least muti system games... ---------------- 4.We all should bash the publishers poor attempt at selling a game thru "add ons" heres a new and innovative thought...MAKE THE GAMES COMPLETE TO START WITH YOU WILL SELL MORE OF THEM! arse hole trying to patch there bloody ships by forceing gamers to buy add ons to make a game "whole"......they cant even finish and beta test current games.... ------------------ 5.Another thought join together with other MMO companies and run a 5-15 a month service that has 5 or 10 MMO games on it limit each game to 5 hours a day or 100 hours a month playtime at least DO something about time not used....15 a month on a game you play an hour or 4 every other day is a rip off.......its like paying 25 a month to IGN for downloads of free demos and stuff.... MMOs are to costly they need to be handled better roll over unused time and bandwidth is something that needs to be done,50cets a day = 15 a month or 30 days unused time rolls over into the next month I am even willing for them to havle it to 25 at least that way anyone that plays for 20 or 30 hours a month will get 2 or 3 months out of 15$

    2421.10.2006 18:46

    I wouldn't be surprised that it may more than a year before PS3 is cracked. Maybe 2 or more years. Even if you can crack it how many programs will be able to run on Cell Processor anyway. I still think that PS3 will have huge hitting graphical problems during its launch.

    2521.10.2006 18:48
    minkathe
    Inactive

    *edit by Jannejt*

    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 22 Oct 2006 @ 2:29

    2621.10.2006 19:23

    Yes its FREE, but its the exact same as the PS2, its up to each game maker to include there online services its no where near as interegated as the 360. A browser is the worst idea in history, a browser on a console that has a permanent hard drive? Ridding your PS3 of a virus would be a hell of a job.

    2721.10.2006 19:49

    Quote:
    If you going to bring this up a least know what your talking about...lol your wrong! Resistance: Fall of Man Genji: Days of the Blade Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII Call of Duty 3 Full Auto 2: Battlelines Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire Ridge Racer 7 Untold Legends Dark Kingdom Thats 8 out of 21 games that will be for PS3 only little less than half.
    If you are going to try and argue with someone at least know what you are talking about. Call of Duty 3 is coming out on both 360 AND Wii, Blazing angels is already out for 360 and will also arrive on Wii.

    2821.10.2006 20:15

    sorry i meant to say: the question on everybodys mind: "will it be just as easy to play DOWNLOADED games online as it was on the ps2" you know, when you have to patch a cleared number into the iso. i dont think its going to be long before ps3 is cracked wide open. sony is asian you know they have love for the bootleggers. if they never sold another game ever again they would still make hand over fist on hardware. microsoft is sooooooo greedy. i mean what kinda system makes you buy a controler to watch dvds when the hardware already suports it (and they wonder why people hate them). sony makes copying jsut hard enough to deter all the non-technical types. they know making it hard just pisses the smart people off.

    2921.10.2006 21:34

    @AIM2Shame
    because the PS3 is so code for it would take a bloody long time for that kind of info to get into the wrong hands, but yes i never thought of that a game console with a virus damn that would suck. Sony would just release patches via online to fix them though.

    @tjgp32 & minkathe
    better remove that spam crap out of your posts before you get banned.

    Sony is Japanese, but i highly doubt they have "love for bootleggers" the fact that they lose so much money per console they would be hoping to get money back from game sales.

    3021.10.2006 22:29

    *sigh*
    I hate Sony haters.........
    -------------------
    Let me say it again....the PS3 will have a community setup like LIVE and will have statistics and other things that will rival live.

    Demos,patchs,updates will all be free they will even have a small selection of free extras but most of the extras that come free with the 50$ live package you will have to pay for since the PS3 service is mostly a FREE service.

    For the most part this trumps live in almost every way.
    -----------

    are there any lunix virus like the mac virus there might be some out their but thier are tricks to make the browser read only,I mean this is no different than the MS HD system I jsut hope they have a better format tool because unlike the MS setup this is more a OS than a console GUI

    3122.10.2006 02:15
    Ludikhris
    Inactive

    The HDD is not permanent.... its upgradeable so no doubt also formattable. I think having a browser is somewhat useless, but whatever, somebody will use it. Your comment about a decentralized system is unfounded. I read on this stuff constantly and they have never cited that it will be up to individual compnys to handle servers. In fact they have worded things so it sounds more against that. Essentially they have a system much like XBL just a different system of pay, which is cool by me. What? MS can say "a customer should get options" unless it comes to what content you want online? Come on guys, don't try to set a double standard now. Ludikhris

    3222.10.2006 02:24

    Ludikhris MS says that untill that set the HD in stone(meanign you can stick a 200GB HD (with slight aleration) in it but it will stil format and use 20GB) and monthly/yearly pay schemes where you have to still pay for "extras". I wonder if MS will even blink when PS3 goes online,its setup is alot better and theres no reason that live cant make a free version of itself to match it and the pay version will just have more extras.

    3322.10.2006 06:03
    closatssl
    Inactive

    Does anyone know how high will the price be on the PS3, let's say if I would bid on it on EBAY. Will they be asking over $2,000 for it on EBAY or will it be higher since Sony is only releasing a few? And how soon will I be able to walk into lets say Circuit City and purchase one at regular price???

    3422.10.2006 10:02

    only idiots buy from ebay, so prove us wrong. camp or get it after xmas, dont waist your money. another 3 months and there will be so much more you can get with it..

    3522.10.2006 11:10

    anubis66 I wouldn't say that ebay is better than walmart when it comes to deals and ebay had a better selection of stuff,however it becomes more tricky when you try and get your money back between fully reading a page Ebays protection setup and paypals protection setup its not so bad,but when it comes to new tech or the new consoles they do get flooded with arses who don't care and sell the box the system came in for a grand.

    3622.10.2006 12:16
    GaMeZrUlE
    Inactive

    Sweeeeeeeeeeet the only bad part is tekken needs to go online

    3722.10.2006 17:18
    DamonDash
    Inactive

    First off Gran Turismo HD is only i repeat only a upscale version off Gran Turismo 4.They are not going to charge you 50.00 bucks for a games not have any Cars online.This is commonsense.Gran Truismo 5 is due out late next year so i hope this clean up some of this idiot stuff being said that the game going to cost hundred dollars or etc etc..... http://ps3.gamespy.com/playstation-3/gran-turismo-5/

    3822.10.2006 17:24

    i heard it will take over 700 bucks to fully pay for everything offered. the basic game with few cars and tracks should be 10 bucks.

    3922.10.2006 21:46
    Ludikhris
    Inactive

    Zippy.... are you saying 360s HDD is not upgradeable? Cause I was talking about PS3 (Mr Ken said it would be upgradeable, I didnt pull it out of my butt, though I imagine its Sony HDD upgrade only) If you were talking about the PS3, then who cares what MS says? Suddenly they have some sort of inside perspective on the PS3? Ken has actually repeatedly said that the PS3s HDD will be NECESSARY to upgrade in the future for many users as 60gb is not even enough. Ludikhris

    4022.10.2006 21:50
    Ludikhris
    Inactive

    and Microsoft will cringe when both Wii and PS3 release. Come on. They are direct competitors, to say they won't blink is completely wrong, and you know that. "Our major competitors are releasing their products. Do we really care?" Come on, give Microsoft some credit. They are not as dumb as you think. They will definitly react much more than just slander.

    4122.10.2006 21:53

    Ludikhris unless MS changed their minds or their are mod kits out the 360s HD is stuck at 20GB no matter what you put in it,I think you can add on a USB HD for save game storage,not sure tho not instrested in the 360 that much. the PS3 HD is very upgradeable they didn't handicap it but the system itself is only halfy upgradeable they would have done better t make the low end cheaper and more upgradeable better to pay more for each add on than to pay 500 a once.

    4222.10.2006 21:54

    Ludikhris Wont blink=change their online service ,I thik MS will stick with what they have for a year or 2 then finally seeing the light they will change it then.

    4323.10.2006 03:15
    DamonDash
    Inactive

    The PS3 is upgradeable thats why it has a 10 year life span because Sony said that they was going to offer upgrades so they wont have to make a new system for a while & also that was the reason for Blu-ray a new format that early in it stages.They didnt sit around and wait like they did with the DVD drive.I have alot of respect for them going in a new direction and not follow the same path as someone else did.I also feel the same way about Nintendo for doing there own thing also & not repeat the past.

    4423.10.2006 04:01

    DamonDash Mmmm I think the main reason it has a 10 year life span is the BR itself ,the HD is nice but realistically undeed sicne it just stores demos,patchs and music and pics the moders will put the 100GB and bigger HDs to use running games off the HD as well as all forms of media sony will try and stop you from playing. MS just totally messed up on the 360 even thos its cheaper its not worth the money.

    4523.10.2006 05:32
    hughjars
    Inactive

    Sony has said it will use the "full scope of the law" to block the importing of PlayStation 3s (PS3) into Europe before its official release......

    "Therefore, we will utilise the full scope of the law to put a stop to any retailers who chose to do this."

    .....He pointed out that the Japanese or American PS3 models would not play older European-sold software for the first two PlayStations, would not play EU Blu-ray movies or DVDs, and would not be covered by a warranty.



    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6076354.stm

    - That's nice of them.
    I wonder if they'll actually take anyone to court over it or extort a settlement out of court like the film and music industry do nowadays?

    Don't be trying to get around the Blu-ray (or games) region coding with an import now, y'hear!?

    (and if you do get one anyway be careful what you get if you go online with it, crafty firmewares beware! :lol: )

    BTW - anyone heard the latest PS3 rumour (hinted at by Bloomberg's recent report on Blu-ray component shortages and Sony failing to hit production targets here - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=n...id=aUar.WY0i2aU )?

    The whisper is that the (already delayed) PS3 European launch in March isn't happening until May 2007 - if not a little later.

    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 23 Oct 2006 @ 7:20

    4623.10.2006 05:45

    correct me if im wrong is the online gaming becoming so big that in the future the will sell you an account to play online instead of games... hey I have an idea how about sony comes up with a consule for under $50.00 and all it plays are online games strip the guts out and make it broadband ready or wireless and you only pay for gameplay and it has no hdd or dvd just a stright up gamers machine..... this would keep anyone from coping the games and noone could mod the base unit.. just a thought and this way its cheap enough to hand a child and say go play heres you online game card to let you play ... its just a thought .. but maybe the cost of the units would come down and more people would want one and they could make their money on hosting the game not the units......

    4723.10.2006 08:47

    the minimum ten year life means only it will be in production that long. just like how the ps1 was disconinued awhile back for ps3 production. they dont mean that no new ps will come sooner.

    4823.10.2006 11:40

    hughjars its silly the PS3 is not completely region free and thus whatever hope they have to limit chipping killed dead to force the regioning of movies is assinie whos going to buy a 500+ system and not be able to play movies from your country complete morons.... mystic streaming or subscription gaming is still decades off the will lose half of thier sales if they do a online only setup. anubis66 duh to me the PS3 has the power and the disc/HD capacity to last at least 7 years then then add tweaks and overhauls of the system add another 2 or 3. Even if MS hacks together a Xbx 2 in 5 years there would be no reason why the PS3 would need to be replaced.

    4924.10.2006 08:31
    survey77
    Inactive

    sony just sued lik - sang out of buisness ... because it was buying systems at retail cost and then reselling them in different countries... which is bullshyt to sue for that. if i buy something with my own money ..i damn well should be able to sell it to whomever i want for whatever price i can get. fk sony.

    5024.10.2006 09:00

    survey77 its a tipcail corperate reaction,sue them to ddeath,they did it to bleem they are going to to it to importers soon the consumers will be sued for not being mindless slaves to the game/system....

    5124.10.2006 19:36
    sule8
    Inactive

    i spammed.

    i'm now immortalised here - http://sule8.justgotowned.com

    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 24 Oct 2006 @ 10:37

    5224.10.2006 19:43

    LOL stupid spammer, reported. They just dont give up do they.

    5324.10.2006 19:47
    survey77
    Inactive

    how the hell can someone tell me what i cant sell or sell to someone?

    5424.10.2006 19:51

    If your interested in advertising here then http://www.afterdawn.com/general/adprices.cfm otherwise its considered spam

    5524.10.2006 22:38

    spam emptied with the trash

    5625.10.2006 08:46

    who made that simple flash? lol. was he really worth it?

    This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 25 Oct 2006 @ 8:46

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