Microsoft, Sony Compared in XBL, PSN Numbers

...and could the responses please come from people who actually use both services regularly rather than 'mine is better !!!one111two!' blind jingoism...

I use both. I believe that XBL is the better service and for me, it is definitely faster. I have to say tho, that I haven't used PSN as much as XBL, but the whole XBL is much smoother and better designed. I would be interested in those PSN #'s as well to see how many people are ACTUALLY using it. The better one gets, the better it is for us because then in turn, the other will get better as well.

i wont be surprised if the psn outmatches the xbox live. its free, so if you have a ps3, why the hell wont you use it?

but lemme say who's happier? psn or live? i definitely say its live because of the monthly subscription fee.

oh, and i too would like to compare the quality of service from both. free = terrible service? monthly subscription = HQ service?

it would suck if psn has the better service lol.

"In the mean time, which do you think offers a better service?"

Obviously a conversation starter. I have and use both; XBL performs lags from time to time, but not nearly as much as PSN, and XBL has a much nicer interface. You have to pay for XBL, so if $50 per year is too expensive (the price of 1 new game) then you'll want to use PSN. Enough said.

I will take free any day along with a Blue Ray player, a user upgradable hard drive, built in WiFi and so on.

PSN bcz its free
XBOX Live not bcz i banned from it!

PSN bcz its free
XBOX Live not bcz i banned from it!

I paid 27.99 for my last 1 year XBL card. There are some on buy.com right now for $35. So no one should be quoting the $50 figure. That's only if you're stupid and gave msft your CC number.

Sony are comparing their free PSN with Microsofts paid for Gold memebrship. Surely a better comparison would be PSN subscriber numbers against ALL Xbox Live subscribers (Gold and the free Silver membership).

I have a 360, PS3 and a Wii... I prefer XBox Live personally but thats jsut a personal preference.

Ehh...Seems pretty obvious that PSN would have more subscribers. Not only is it free. But the PSP and the PS3 both use the service. Two devices to one...

I never understood why people pay for something that is ENTIRELY FREE on a PC. It should be free on the 360. End of story.

The problem with PSN is that it's up to the developers to create the online experience. Some games are just fine, others blow.

And Home isn't for me. I know some people dig it but I was out the second I had to wait in a virtual line.

Definetly prefer XBL but you pay for what you get right?

i don't play much online... only street fighter 4. I would use xbox live maybe if I didn't have a ps3, and I played it all day. But i'm not going to pay a monthlee fee if I will not use it much.

I do not use either one.

I play Xbox online, and PSN online and this is how i see it.

The playstation store is superiour to any of the marketplace components of Xbox Live. Not only are prices shown in real money which helps to decide how much something is actually worth but the look, feel and responsiveness of the UI is much better and easier to use.
Content purchased from PSN also has the least restricitve licencing on those products, wheras XBL licencing is restrictive beyond logical reason.
If Sony would only ship the console with a headset there would be little or no diffrence with the friends/chat systems of the 2 consoles, from what i have used however there isnt much diffrence between the two, just that you have to buy a headset for the PS3.
As for online, well it really depends on what your friends have. If all your friends have got Xbox, and you just play with randomers on your PS3, ofcourse you will enjoy your Xbox more. But to be frank the differnces are minute if any, i got some friends on Xbox, we have good fun, and ditto for the ps3.
Once you get over your Sony/Microsft fanboyisms and realise all you really want to do is play kickass games you quickly realise it makes sod all differnece wether your on XBL or PSN. The biggest difference is the cost.

I used to use both XBL and PSN, but when the NXE came out I pretty much quit using my 360.
I love the XMB on the PSN. I am used to it from back when I first got my PSP and Sony has stuck with it and it is easy to find the things you are looking for. On the NXE it is so cluttered with ads it ridiculous. It takes time to load each menu because it has to pull down all the pictures. Its like they made it for people who aren't old enough to read. And so many menus and things are hidden so the casual user can't find them. I end up Googling where things are located in the NXE and not to my surprise many other are looking for the same things.
As far as paying for service goes. I don't play on XBL anymore. It was just never worth it. Today this day I still cannot see a difference in how games play online on PSN compared to XBL. I am able to talk to people on both systems (which I generally just end up muting) and I can play against people on both systems. If I am missing something then it doesn't really matter to me.

I only have teh PS3, but the PSN works well for me. What more could you ask for?

I dislike consoles in general. Give me my PC and I'll have fun. a console and I'm lost.

I don't really care which is better, I just want some cross platform play for my FPS games, or any game for that matter. Then we can solve the great debate over sticks vs. mouse and keyboard. I like gaming on my computer because of the better graphics and M&K. My buddies like there consoles, but even if we play the same games, we cant play together. Especially MW2, where it all uses the same stupid IW.net anyway. If I gotta play online like a consoler, I might as well get to play against some.

You guys are missing the PSP which also offers direct access to PSN. With the PS3, PSP, and PSPgo these numbers do not come off as any surprise to me. I hit PSN once a week to check out recent releases and if there is something I want on the PSP I'll pop on through it. I also find it refreshing that I can access game servers for free. As an avid PC gamer, I will never pay for server access to an online multiplayer game.

I do use both fairly regularly (though it's been a few weeks on XBL due to the MAG release) and I would say that XBL beats PSN, though Sony is definitely trying to close the gap. Both give similar performance for online gaming, what gets me is how easy gaming with friends is on XBL. The PS3 doesn't really support joining up with friends, it all has to come from in the game. Plus there is no "party chat" feature so if you and a friend are just talking about what's been going on that day, the entire team is privy to the conversation. Also, the lack of this feature disables the ability to talk with anyone you aren't currently playing with. Plus you have to go through 3 menus to find a game invite in your inbox. with XBL as long as I can accept and join with two button presses no matter what I'm busy doing.
I enjoy both networks, but if I'm playing with other friends who own both systems, it's usually on XBL.

we're supposed to be comparing the networks, not the hardware. the 360 is my preferred system, but any body can see that hardware vs hardware the PS3 is better for exactly what you said: a blue ray drive and built in wi-fi for the same price as the 360.

Well, xbox live has a free version, too. The 23 million are gold accounts only. How many Silver are there?

It's easy to calculate the prices on the XBox online store. It's just the dollar price + 5%. Just like calculating sales tax. However, I do hear that Microsoft is ditching the points system for purchases, which would be a welcome move for me.

I don't know what you mean by easier to use, though. I messed with my friend's PS3 as well as the PSN store (I am a longtime PS fan and so I wanted to see what PS1 games they had available). I also wanted to check out some demos, since his library of games is very small right now. It certainly works, but the interface is hardly intuitive. It took me a little while getting used to the XBox interface as well but it still seems a bit more straightforward to me. On PS3, things are categorized haphazardly. They even have 2 different download systems that don't work together properly. If you are downloading something in the foreground, you can't push it to a background download without cancelling the download altogether. I was downloading a demo and after 50 minutes and about 80-90% of the download complete, I decided to skip waiting and do something else while it downloads in the background. On XBox 360 you can just back out and it does this for you. On PS3 it cancels it or restarts it from the beginning. That's a serious design flaw.

I have used both (my XBL gold just ran out...) but I like the PSN better. For me I almost nvr have any lag (same goes for XBL) but it is free which is the kicker. But I do not like Sony's numbers since the PSN is a little lop sided. I mean this because a lot of people (including myself) own both an American account and European accounts so that we can d/l and play stuff on their servers (I actually got mine since Sony gave me a heavy rain demo voucher a week early but could only be redeemed in the UK).

PS: There is a reason that MS has been using a point system compared to a dollar system. The reason is the same as why casinos use chips instead of dollar money. It is easier for the human mind to just say this many chips/points than it is to say 10 dollars.

Man oh man the Crapbox 360 fanboys are out in force. I am sure after they OK it with their mom first.

I find the playstation network great to use, it's easy to find things I want to download & quick to do. All the games I have with multiplayer work fine and such also.

Can't say I quite understand what you can possibly add to it that costs the extra money than xbox live does to be honest.

I'm not quite sure what the one guy was saying about downloads cancelling & restarting from the beginning, mine all just run in the background happily & don't stop or restart or anything unless I tell them to.

Only thing I find annoying is that the USA psn store is laid out a bit nicer, i'm not quite sure why the layours are different for eu & usa at all..

As far as lag goes, you have to be careful which part you're talking about. Most games are using a player's connection as the host - which means your lag has nothing to do with the service.

That said, XBL has been much more reliable in my experience in terms on downloading content and such. It also has a much broader selection of content.

As far as gaming experience goes, I still prefer XBL as the skill-level of your average opponent seems to be higher. Don't get me wrong, I know there's plenty of good PSN players, but I always go from decent at MW2 playing on XBL to amazing when on PSN. I'm not trying to flame, it's just that people who pay for something are much more likely to use it regularly, and the extra practice shows.

SONY could have taken those number out their asses

Think about it... Every PS3 owner has free access to the PSN... now how many of those people have multiple accounts? How many of those people have a PSP with an account on that [since, I recall, they did say they counted those too once upon a time]? What if someone bought a PS3, made an account, and sold the PS3? Their subscription STILL counts. They are obviously counting every single PSN account possible, even the unused ones. I can't believe I'm saying this, but MS is actually being fair in their numbers... and those are real numbers, if a person pays for their account, I feel that is a legit reason to include their account.

Now let's see what happens when SONY brings out that subscription based service.

Free service that lets me play games with other people online is WAY better then paid service that does anything else.