PS Network

Sony definitely needs to spice up their PS Network. Sure, it is free, but it is still way behind what Microsoft is offering, especially in ease of use and convenience.

Last night (Friday) was a perfect example of how much enjoyment a solid online functionality and great community connectivity can bring. I set up a co-op game of GRAW with Powerpuff and my other friend, Avalon. Setting everything up was a snap. Inviting them to the game was as easy as hitting the guide button to access my friend's list and pressing X to invite them. I was able to access Powerpuff's gamercard and view his achievements to easily determine which co-op missions he was missing to get the co-op achievement. We played, we won, it was awesome!

Powerpuff had to go, so Avalon and I popped in Rainbow Six for some terrorist hunt action. We saw that great pop-up notice that our other friend AcidicSavior was online, so we invited him. Avalon invited another friend, and in about 2 minutes we had a full 4 person co-op game ready to go. Next thing I know, Powerpuff is back and wants to play. Since terrorist hunt is limited to 4 players, I switched it over to
Team-Sharpshooter and sent the invite. Then Avalon's friend invited another friend, someone else invited another friend and in about 5 minutes, our lobby was at its maximum of 14 players and we were ready for some 7 on 7 death matching.

Of course, my crappy DSL connection was not able to handle the bandwidth that was required to host such a large room and that first game was a lag-fest. But someone else was able to host, invites were easily sent again, and we had an absolute blast that night. It is so much more enjoyable to play in a lobby full of people you know (or at least, people that know people you know). You don't have to worry about
playing with cheap players, or cursing 12 year olds, or rascist assholes.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Microsoft did a fantastic job with the 360 and its entire online interface and ease of use. That aspect alone is enough to make me chose the 360 version of a game over its PS3 counterpart. There is ZERO chance of me deciding on picking up GRAW 2 for the PS3, even if it is technically superior to the 360 version (which I doubt), because I already have a bunch of friends just
waiting for that game to come out to play on Live.

The PS3 still has a long way to go in this regard.