MAG developer lights touchpaper, runs away...

[Jason]

In a recent interview at the launch party for MAG, Zipper Interactive's Ben Jones made a pretty bold statement that will no doubt trigger yet another console war on a thousand internet forums (not this one though... *pointed look*).
Here's a small excerpt of the article, which is available in full here (http://www.gamerzines.com/ps3/previews/mag-interview-ben-jones.html).

GZ: Obviously you're owned by Sony now, but there are people out there who would perhaps consider Xbox Live as the more mature network of the two - it's been around for longer, it's slightly more established...

BJ: That's funny, because I actually consider Xbox Live the more juvenile of the two.

GZ: Why do you think that?

BJ: Just because of the things that are being said over Xbox Live.

GZ: By the users themselves you mean?

BJ: Yeah, but you know, each service has its own posse.

GZ: That's a fair point though. So you think a PlayStation audience is more suited to a game like MAG?

BJ: Yeah, I think the PlayStation audience definitely fits more to our game. As we saw in the beta we've got an audience that's willing to communicate and willing to organise and structure, and help other people to play the game. That's the most remarkable thing that I saw in the beta - random people helping other players along to try and familiarise themselves with this really cool experience.

Now, I can't speak 100% accurately as I've never played Xbox Live, but certainly from the stories I hear from Xbox gamers, it would seem that Mr Jones has a point. Of course, the PS3 has its share of idiots too, just as Xbox Live has some excellent players whom we'd welcome here with open arms. However, the point is a controversial one, and certain to ignite a few heated debates around the web.

[CemeteryGates]

To be very blunt, I think anyone who would consider that to be negative has their head up their ass.
As much as I love my 360... it takes 30 minutes of any shooter on Xbox Live to realize that it has an ever-growing overwhelming amount of idiots and 13-year-old camping trolls.

Now, I haven't played online on the PS3 yet, but so I can't speak for the PSN, but I don't imagine it's as bad.

[MyNameDidntFit]

360 sucks. PS3 is win.




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[Jason]

Eh, the 360 has it's plus points - it's a hell of a lot cheaper, as well as apparently being about a hundred times easier to code for. Plus they don't have the issues with sloppy ports that the PS3 seems to have (apparently Bayonetta's framerate is appalling on PS3).

Unfortunately, in my eyes, the downsides are bigger. For starters you never know when your console might brick itself, eat your discs or just refuse to close the disc tray, and from what seems to be a growing number of people, Xbox Live is quite simply, infested with idiots.

[Knighto]

Come on guys, we're not turning into a bunch of fanboys here, are we?

[Jason]

Haha, not at all - I think there's a line between having a preference and an opinion and becoming a fanboy. In my eyes, a fanboy would be someone who would go out of their way to bring up reasons why their platform/game/whatever of choice is so much better than their rival, looking for excuses to start the argument at any moment.

I certainly don't want to stop people having opinions, as opinions make debates, and debates are the lifeblood of forums, but when it starts to derail unrelated threads, that's when it becomes fanboyism, and that's when we start kicking some arse. :p

[MyNameDidntFit]

Indeed. What I said, were it not sarcasm (evident in the [now recoloured by Jason] >.>'s), would be fanboyism. But having an opinion doesn't make for a fanboy.

Personally, I haven't had any experience with the 360 other than a little bit of Halo 3 with my ex, so I don't really have any basis for an opinion on it.

I'd like to see what sort of experience Mr Jones has had with the 360 and, by extension, Live. At current I think his statement is somewhat snide and a little uncalled for, but that would change dramatically if his 360 experience is similar to my own.

[Konrad]

I don't own either. But as a potential buyer, I'm strongly leaning towards the PS3 for several reasons.

Free Multiplayer is the biggest one. I don't want to pay for basic online functionality. I acknowledge the fact that Live! is better than whatever Sony calls their online, and that you get what you pay for - but I don't want to pay anything. The machine and games are expensive enough as it is.

Blu-Ray. It won, I was personally looting for HD-DVD but oh well. I hardly watch movies in the first places so I'm not going to spend money on a stand-alone player, this would fill the gap nicely in case I need it.

And finally, Sony's support. I own the original X-Box, I got it maybe a year after release and it was the biggest thing to happen in my life since we got broadband, I would mention an x-box to my parents but never really expected it because it was so expensive. When I got it for Christmas I used it quite a bit, especially for casual get-togethers and rentals and it largely overtook my PC. However the second Microsoft released the 360, my X-Box became obsolete. I didn't realize this at first until I wanted to buy Spider-Man 3 and realized it was released for EVERYTHING but the X-Box. Turns out Microsoft stopped supporting the original after the 360 rolled out, and I was stuck replaying my old games.

On the contrary, the PS2 owners are still getting new releases from time to time. (Or were last time I checked). I expect Microsoft to do the same when their new console comes out.


There are many upsides to the X-Box of course. Like Jason said, it seems like X-Box releases are more solid, perhaps due to the ease of coding. And the PS3 constantly suffers from inferior ports. The controller is also a bother for me, as I much prefer the x-box controller to the ps2/3 one. I even bought one for my PC for those bad console ports. And of course, a lower price tag.

If I were forced to buy a console right now I would go with the PS3, for the value if nothing else.

In the end though, I think ill just stick with my PC. I just bought about $350-400 worth of upgrades, so I'm not abandoning this machine any time soon.

[nilihanth]

To be fair, the "juvenile" statement about Xbox Live is at least partially true if only by statistical truth. There are significantly more users on XBL therefore making the "juvenile" piece of the pie inherently larger than that same pie made by Sony's PSN.

Other than that I have no sound opinion of XBL since I haven't played on it. You also have to consider the fact that certain games also bring out the idiots and infantiles in their own right. I noticed a crap-ton of campers when I played the MAG beta and I never really heard much team-centric voice chatter either. Granted, when MAG becomes more mature itself I'd be willing to bet that the players that stick around for the long haul will be more team-centric in their playing since they seemed to have made the game to garner that style of play anyway.