Did the PlayStation 3 play 'catch up' with the Xbox 360?
(Image credit : 9e3k.com)
It may be safe to say that Sony had ambitious plans with the
PlayStation 3 in 2006. Priced at $599, this was supposed to be the ‘next-gen’
high-definition upgrade to the PlayStation 2. However, in its first few years,
the Cell-powered black beauty had to endure quite a few growing pains. Most of
those growing pains were healed by following suit of rival Microsoft’s strategy
with the Xbox 360.
When Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005 as the
successor to their original Xbox, it wanted to dominate your living room. It
wanted to be the ultimate entertainment device from games to films. Combined
with Windows Media Center, it would stream films from your computer as well use
commercial DVDs via the built-in player. What it did best was Xbox Live.
Xbox Live was their premium service to access multiplayer
gaming. Silver subscription was a one-month free trial that would convert to
Gold for $50 a year. It offered dedicated servers, party chat and great
connections. It was one of the best online services of its time and is still evolving today.
In order to compete with Microsoft, Sony decided to make
their online services, the PlayStation Network, (PSN) free for all owners of a PS3.
That was a value-addition to an already inflated price of a console that at the
time had not fully utilized its potential. The system worked but the Japanese
electronics giant felt that it needed its own premium service to compete with
Xbox Live. Hence the PlayStation Plus subscription service was announced in
June 2010, and offered a host of new value-added features for subscribers.
The first was the Instant Game Collection that allowed
subscribers to ‘rent’ free games for the life of subscription every month.
Currently two games are allotted for the PS3 every month. The service received
positive reviews from fans. Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and other services
would eventually make their debut on the PS3 as they had done on Xbox 360. Xbox 360 also does offer free games via their 'Games with Gold' program.
PS3 supported DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)
streaming similar to the Windows Media Center by Microsoft. At the same time,
software like PS3 Media Server and Tversity allowed any file format to be
streamed onto the console.
When the PlayStation 4 was announced last year, Sony stated
that PS Plus would be compulsory for online features and the Instant Game
Collection would be expanded for it as it was for the PlayStation Vita handheld
console. Online services are still free for the PS3 but by offering a premium
service similar to Xbox Live, Sony learned that consumers value such services
if marketed properly.
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