XBox Live vs. PS2 Online

[Lucid]

Played a few games at my friends house tonight on XBox Live and all I can say is... wow! I haven't played any games online for PS2 yet, and I wonder if it will compare the sheer quality, popularity, and number of games available that the X-Box has. Unreal Championship was pretty cool, but a little too fast paced to get a hang of the first night. But I played Mech-Assault and that game kicked ass! The network runs perfect, no lag, perfect voice communication, and really easy to use and play. The mute button on the headset is really handy as well.

I didn't have a chance to play any other games that he has on-line, anyone else played some? What do you think? I've always been a PS2 guy, but credit goes Microsoft for getting their act together quicker than Sony. I put together a nice little comparison between the two systems...

Kit info
xbox - $50 w/ two games & headset
PS2 - $40 w/ one game (probably will need to buy another memory card and headset so it's going to be much more than that)
Winner: xbox

Titles available for online play now
xbox - 14
PS2 - 6
Winner: xbox

Subscription info
xbox - Free for 1 year, after that $6-$8/month?
PS2 - Technically free, but you will have to pay the vendor for many games (i.e. Everquest will like $10 a month)
Winner: tie

Connection
xbox - broadband only
PS2 - broadband and dialup
Winner: tie

Network
xbox - run solely by microsoft
PS2 - Vendors left to fend for themselves
Winner: Only time will tell, seriously, both have pros and cons.

Main titles
xbox - Unreal Championship, MechAssault
PS2 - SOCOM, EverQuest, the Sims Online (future), Counter-Strike(future), and Star Wars Galaxies(future), mostlikely a future GTA online game, Final Fantasy, and all EA titles.
Winner: PS2

Overall: Toss up. Depends on the type of player you are. If you are a casual gamer who goes for the big titles, go for PS2. But if you want the best variety for an online experience while lacking the huge titles, go for XBox-live. It's basically comparing apples to oranges because of the completely different approaches they are taking. I really don't know who I think will win out because I could easily see both sides winning. Users will like XBox because of of the ease and straight up fee, but won't like it because of the titles on PS2. Vendors will like PS2 because of the flexibility for them, but will also dislike it because they have to do all the servers themselves. But, they can make much more money with PS2 than they can with XBox because companies like EA probably plan on charging a fee per month to play all their games. The Sims Online is going to probably make billions for EA between the PC and PS2, it makes no sense for them to go with companies like Microsoft. In the end you will have a wider variety of titles for XBox that are fun, but won't blow you away. But with the PS2, there is incentive for the vendors to be creative because they can charge for the service. It's a Dictatorship (XBox) vs. a Democracy (PS2) and both sides are going to have to try really hard to pull out a win and it should be a really fun battle to watch over the next 5 years.

Nintendo also has theirs out or soon to be out, but no one has really noticed. But with titles like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, the list goes on and on, if done right, it could be huge. Note - They are taking a PS2 Online approach.

[Lucid]

Well I just got a PS2 on-line from my roomates for xmas so I'm pretty excited to play it. I don't have any of the games that are supported on PS2O yet so I'll have to go buy some, although it does come with Twisted Metal Black On-line. First I'll have to go buy about 60 feet of Cat5 cable to hook it up considering it's halfway across the house and downstairs.

Anyone else get PS2O for xmas, or already have PS2O that wants to tell me about it? How easy it is to set up? Good games to get? Lag on broadband?

[lond2345]

wait, first you need to have a broadband modem? isnt that really expensive service?

count me out :(

[Lucid]

Nah, the modems are just as much as your typical 56k and the service is just a little bit more expensive. You just need a cable company that offers service. After renting the modem from my cable company for $12 a month, I wondered why the hell I was doing that cause I could buy one off of Ebay for $40 (Not they're down to the $30-$35 range I think). Then the monthly service is only $27.50 a month, which is only $7.50 more than the standard $20 dial-up service.

Maybe it's cheap in my area I dunno, but I think it's a no-brainer for cable vs. dial-up and why pay more for DSL when it's slower?

[cjschlos]

The xbox online is amazing....I only wish they had fifa online rather than just football for sports games at this point.

[Heywood Jablohmi]

Originally posted by cjschlos
The xbox online is amazing....I only wish they had fifa online rather than just football for sports games at this point.

Then you should buy a PS2 if you want to play FIFA online (soon).

I got burned once by buying the system that had superior graphics and all that at the time (N64), but it was like living at the North Pole and owning a cool convertible--in the 4 years I had the system, they came out with maybe 40 games for the freaking thing!!!! Who wants that?
I have played Ghost Recon over Xmas on BOTH the PS2 and Xbox (at the relatives), and the only thing the XBOX has over PS2 is that Xbox seems to spend more on televeision commercials for their games/system. Which actually works, as you know, dumb teens actually think there is a difference because the commericals present them that way.

[Keevo]

Here is XBOX's take on why XBOX Live is better than PS2 online:

http://www.xbox.com/LIVE/Xbox+Live+vs+PS2.htm

I just hooked up XBOX live at my house yesterday and am totally impressed. Its everything I was hoping for and more. It unreal how easy it is to talk to others and how clear it comes in (I only have Ghost Recon right now).