Sony charges publishers for PS3 bandwidth

[PurSuiT]

As of October 2008, Sony has been asking gaming publishers to pick up the tab. Dubbed the "PlayStation Network Bandwidth" fee, the rate Sony charges publishers amounts to 16 cents per Gigabyte. Free content, such as game demos, only rack up charges for the first 60 days they are available, but bandwidth costs for paid downloadable content are billed to the publisher essentially forever. Publishers seem unhappy with the added cost -- an unnamed source said "It’s a new thing we have to budget. It’s not cool. It sucks." Given this fee and Microsoft's attempts at making every high profile release exclusive to the Xbox 360, is it any surprise that gaming firms like Rockstar and Bethesda are content offering add-on content for their big releases only on Xbox Live?

 

http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/03/sony-charges-pu.html

[Gungen]

Didn't we already solve this problem? Sites like Fileplanet, fileshack, and etc have been ways to outsource patches, mods, and 'DLC' which are really just disguised mini-expansions for years now. This problem is a non-problem. The real problem is the PS3 and XBL networks are rittled with DRM that restricts an otherwise powerful piece of hardware to only using it's own software and forcing it to go through their internet filtered community. Don't we already pay for our internet access?

Edited March 23, 2009 by Gungen

[Nemesis]

You are correct Gungen, but U have to take one thing into account here... we are talking about Pursuit here & he doesn't much care for Sony, along with some others on this Forum, so news tidbits like this are always bound to show up here for bashing purposes

 

Don't worry Pursuit, we still like U

 

-- Nem

[PurSuiT]

I never find good news about Sony or the PS3. When you come across some make sure to post it!

[Gungen]

I'm just commenting on the point. I think BOTH the PS3 and XBL networks are garbage. I still prefer the PS3 as a system, but that may be biased as MS decided that altered hardware deserves a console ban from XBL...

[PurSuiT]

Nemesis has it 1/2 wrong, I am not a fan of consoles at all. I have only owned 1 ever in my life and that one is a OG xBox that is collecting dust now except when my nephews’ come over to my house, if I could see the number of hours that it has been powered on I bet it is less the 200, most of that was watching DVDs. As far as Sony charging for bandwidth, no big issue there, they need to do something before they go under and are replaced by "Cloud" gaming clients later this year. M$ will be making the servers that these “Clouds” run on so they will still be in the market, but I do not see Sony lasting much longer. Between the fad of Bluray and the collapse of the console market I believe they might be in trouble once most of the content moves to a downloadable / steaming format.

 

I also just like to raz nem!

 

FYI: if you are not up on "Cloud" Game Rendering.

 

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173413

 

"Imagine a world in which you can stream games directly onto your television or computer at 60 frames per second, with graphical settings at maximum. Well, OnLive is setting out to create that world, introducing a new service that could theoretically eliminate the need for high-end PCs and consoles altogether."

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/161852/onli...r_own_game.html

 

OnLive today said that it has developed the service over the past seven years and is ready to unveil it later tonight. It will consist of a small set-top box, about the size of a deck of cards, game controllers and the delivery service. The company promises that its customers will be able to play the “latest and most advanced games instantly, on any TV via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsole, or on almost any PC or Mac.”

 

The upside is that the huge upfront cost is gone. There was no information how much Onlive will cost, but the company said that it will be “available in a variety of different pricing packages and tiers, competitively priced to retail.” Consumers will not have to worry about upgrade cost anymore and since OnLive claims that games can be easily ported to the platform, there is the potential that many games will be available through the service. The platform is currently supported by Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive Software, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ, Epic Games, Eidos, Atari Interactive and Codemasters.

 

OnLive said that its technology is backed by over 100 patents and patents pending. Investors include Warner Bros., Autodesk and Maverick Capital.

 

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-41832-98.html

[Gungen]

Call me paranoid, but OnLive seems like it would be even more DRM-like than the console stuff. What happens when the OnLive networks are down? Do I not get to play games I've payed for? That seems to be the jist. This sounds kind of like what the Sega Channel used to be for the genesis, but there are no details on that.

 

How much bandwidth is this service going to suck up? I don't think it's worth 99% of my available down to steam a game just so I don't have to install it. Is installing games really that big of a deal? Plus, how do you mod steamed content? Probably can't, but I bet you can pay for stupid overpriced DLC from the company!

 

Stop destroying gaming!

Edited March 25, 2009 by Gungen

[PurSuiT]

I did not say it was a good idea from the prospective of a gaming enthusiast, but for the other 99% of the ppl that play games, which is the market that developers are after, this is how it is going to pan out to be. As far as being able to play games well the service is down, have you tried to hope on Left4Dead well Valve does updates daily at 7pm est? Do the PS3 or xBox Live networks never go down? As far as bandwidth, it is in those write ups as 5MB for 720p and 1.5MB for STD def, remember this is only first generation stuff here and OnLive is not the only ones working towards content that can be played on low-end hardware, just look at ID Software and their Quake Live Beta.