PS3's Networking Matching to be Free

[Razer]

from www.1up.com


Sony has been emphasizing a differentiation from Microsoft's Xbox Live approach with Playstation 3, but what exactly they meant by offering free basic online services has remained unclear every since they announced the feature.
PC Impress Watch's interview with Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi seems to clarify the situation a bit. "You can't charge money for network matching and other basic services. These things are just taken for granted on the PC," said the outspoken PlayStation leader.

The gist seems to be offering online matchmaking for free, but charging for additional content in the same vein as Microsoft. This hardly answers all our questions, though -- does this mean we'll finally have universal friends lists, or are we slogging through each game individually again? What are "other basic services?"

At least the Tokyo Game Show's only a few months off; hopefully we'll hear more specifics then, but we fully expect (and look forward to) more back-and-forth public relations between Sony and Microsoft on the issue until then.



I'm sure Sony will understandably slip in some way to charge tho due to the reported high loss-per-system cost they have to eat.