Make the switch?

[zombielifecoach]

Alright. Let me preface this with a few details to explain my question. I consider myself a relatively avid gamer. In the thread between casual and hardcore, if there is such a thing. But do to the fact that I am not a fan of my common man, I have stayed away from online/multi-player gaming completely. I own a 360 and a PS3, and my turn-ons are 3rd person action/adventure, RPG, and FPS(the latter I'm am just recently getting into). I detest sports and racers. My few(two) friends are constantly telling me about the nirvana-like joys of Xboxlive, when not abusing me for buying a PS3(sorry but I will forever go to my PS first-guess that makes me a fan boy). So I'm looking for input from gamers who have been in my situation. Those of you who have tried multi-player and never looked back, also those who made the move and ran away screaming. Also if I could get some feedback on Xboxlive versus the PSN, it would be appreciated. Since I appear to be the only guy I know who owns the the PS3. I realize that I COULD just try it and see how I like it, but I'm putting my faith in the masses. Thanks for any feedback that anyone can give.

 

[shadow skill]

Frankly for the multiplatform games the experience with respect to how the games play is exactly the same. It's the 360 interface that happens to be better for online. This has nothing to do with Xbox Live as a service. Further more Resistance, Warhawk and UT3 (Granted that is a multiplatform game.) all use dedicated servers something that can't be said for high profile 360 exclusives for the most part if at all.

 

[WingedFortress]

My xbox 360 wouldnt make much sense to me without live. I dont know how they've done it, but on those bad day's when the internet is out, gaming loses a bit of its fun. Needless to say, Im hooked.

Something should be said about this. If your enjoying yourself without paying for a yearly subscription, I wouldnt argue against that logic, and encourage you to keep doing so.

But the fact that you've got a ps3, means you can try online gaming without paying(to the best of my knowledge) for the service. That seems like a natural progression to me, and I'd at least encourage you to see if those 40 person resistance matches are as good as I imagine them to be.

I think most people can agree that xbox live is the best online service offered through the consoles. In partner with your dashboard, it never makes you work too hard to do the things you want, and it's given enough attention by folks at microsoft to never make you feel forgotten, or that you somehow bought a useless service. It's biggest fault is obviously it's price tag, and I'm sure if you nit-picked, you may find something else to complain about as well. PS3 has grown alot though by the sounds of it. It doesnt seem to be too far behind microsoft on alot of levels, and if I owned a one, I would definitely be using the online features.
I hope any of these blathering opinions help.

 

[GoddessTio]

Well, I have all 3 and while I have a Live subscription I really only use it to play with my friend on Kingdom Under Fire or Team Fortress... It can be fun to share a game with people, but I don't like to play with strangers.
I think some of that might have to do with the fact that I'm a girl, and sometimes I get teased on XBL if I try and play Halo or CoD4, so it gets old pretty quick and saps some of the fun out of it.

 

[stompy]

From what I hear, Xbox Live is a lot more developed (a lot more services), compared to PSN, but in respect to gaming, they're pretty much equal. But I think, so don't quote me on it, but there are lot more people on Xbox Live then PSN, so you'll have more players to verse, but the majority of the people will be, in the words of Yahtzee, "a bunch of hooting dick-holes".

But, as Thunderhorse said, you have the opportunity to try out PSN for free, as well as that free month of Xbox Live. Really, it comes down to preference.

 

[Shamtee]

it really isn't the console/pc that makes the difference online its really the game itself.
You'll met quite a lot of people on line, some you'll become good friend with and play most of the time with them... but then again you have to put up with the other online with or without a mic/sound (woot for text ¬_¬).
Little whinning kid
prevy-stalker type or his opposite the sexist (if you a women).
The racist
The wanna be gansta
The angry gamer aka foul mouth twat

oh also forgot my brothers fav from battlefield - stupid idiot that run right in front of your bullet where you've been firing a stream that everyone can see, dies the reports you for Team killing so you get booted.

 

[ingsoc]

The problem with online gaming is that it has ruined many a game. Halo 2, Halo 2.5, and COD 4 to name a few. These games are far too short. It appears that game developers are trying to maximize profits by shortening game length and expanding online play, which for the most part is garbage. Not only are you paying more for less, but with the 360, you have to pay for the service. The PS3 really makes sense here. Who wants to pay money to be forced to interact with a bunch of "hooting dickholes?" Not me. At least on the PC there are far fewer of these heathens, and it is free. Either way, online gaming is ruining the whole experience. I will not even consider paying full price for a game that is less than ten hours in length and for me to pay for that it really has to be something special. Crysis anyone?

 

[WingedFortress]

Are we calling halo 3 halo 2.5 now? Wasnt halo 2 just halo 1.5? By your logic, you ought to be calling it halo 2.

EDIT: or do you mean PC?

 

[OneHP]

If you're having problems with the "hooting dickholes" then you could simply turn voice chat off, it's much harder to pick them out when you can't hear the idiots.

 

[mitsoxfan]

Online gaming is like going to a pool hall.

There's always going to be the losers that are really good, who laugh at you when you miss an easy shot. The drunk annoying people who you'd like to punch, but you know that's considered assault, and the people who are there just to blow the balls off the table in the hopes of hitting someone in the ass and are only there just to piss other people off.

Occasionally you meet a couple of people who you don't mind sharing a few games with, but you have to weed through the masses to find them. And all too often they have somewhere to go only minutes into a decent game.

If you can tolerate that sort of madness and enjoy it, good for you. But you won't know until you try. But I find the less you play, the less likely you are to go back and play. It's sort of something you need to stick with until you have enough buddies to ensure you can have a decent time more often than not.

If you like 3rd person RPG/Action/Adventure, you're probably going to be less inclined to want to play online, unless you want to play a MMORPG, which has it's own incredible annoying habits. If you like FPS, and by FPS I mean COD, and I mean REALLY like it, then online is probably you best bet anyway. Story mode in games like COD is great and all, but the meat of the game is teaming up with other people.

To be honest, I hate online games, but I found Warhawk to be pretty addictive. COD I could do without, but I'm really hoping that games like 'Little Big Planet' and some of the other co-op games coming out for PS3 and 360 sort of redefine online gaming. Make it more of a 'it's in everyones best interest to have fun' atmosphere than a 'I'm a l33t fragger' atmosphere.

Of course, I could have summed up that entire post into:

'You won't know what you like until you try it'