RSSResistance 2 beta pushes PS3's online qualities
By Tim Conneally | Published September 10, 2008, 12:39 PM
Sony's PlayStation Network, while considerably less mature than Microsoft's Xbox Live, especially in terms of software support, will soon grow with the release of banner online titles for the Christmas season.
For annual subscribers to Qore, the PlayStation online magazine, and North American customers who pre-ordered Resistance 2 from retailer GameStop, a beta of the online FPS has begun. The title is the sequel to the popular PS3 first person shooter Resistance: Fall of Man.
While technically not a public beta yet, the PlayStation blog reports that "premier access" can be gained at any time by subscribing to Qore or pre-ordering the title. In October, however, the widespread (read: free) public beta will begin.
Interested users can apply for the public beta on the Resistance 2 beta site. The only stipulations are that the user must have an active PlayStation3 Network Account (which is free) and be over 18 years of age. Naturally, playing the beta also requires a connected PS3.
Promising eight-player co-op mode, and a competitive multiplayer mode with up to 60 participants, Resistance 2 will be exclusively on the PS3. The current gold standard for online shooters is the cross-platform Call of Duty 4, which managed to quickly offset the popularity of 360-exclusive Halo 3.
Sony is pressing forward with its online play catalog, and highlighted what it hopes to be its future superiority in the field at E3 this year with early demos of MAG (Massive Action Game) which promises an unprecedented 256 maximum simultaneous players.
If you think that online gaming is going to be free forever, you'd better think twice. Its what they do to suck you in...
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|Hopefully I get a beta invite... that would be awesome.
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|Don't get defiant, but I think you meant definitely.
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|Free online play is defiantly the biggest draw for me. Its the one thing that kept me on PC games for so long. But now that PS3 is finally catching up to the concept of multiplayer ONLINE gaming, AND its free to connect to your friends via IP or whatever, thats a huge selling point for me... Indeed PC games are already dead because of the lack of free to play multiplayer titles anymore. It seems the PC world is hung up on subscriptions, which tend to be like crack cocaine for those that play them. which means new PC titles are rarely successful as its really really hard to pull a PC gamer into a new MMO style title and give up all the paid for progress they made on an existing game.
Personally I think the entire PC gaming market will hit a head next year. it will either completly fail and thats the end of PC based gaming. Or it will have an industry revolution as the Wii did for consoles (possibly with VR or tactile interfacing). As I just can not see a industry being able to release new titles every year with a subscription for each and people being able to maintain them all in order to play online. (indeed offline single player content is almost nonexistent anymore)
Sony is defiantly doing this smart in that they have the best machine, with the best online service, and the largest collection of titles available (with backwards compatibility for PS2 games). AND its a bluray player. How much better can you get? Its defiantly the definition of a home entertainment system.
Wii may have revolutionized the controller concept and got people off their lazy butts doing something. But Sony has the titles and network to make multiplayer what it should be for consoles. And I hear Sony is working on a 3d system as well, so I would imagine it will not be long for them either.
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|As I just can not see a industry being able to release new titles every year with a subscription for each and people being able to maintain them all in order to play online. (indeed offline single player content is almost nonexistent anymore)
I could be wrong but i'm about 90% sure i read somewhere that Sony left the door open for developers to charge a subscription.(being too lazy to look it up right now)
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|Fairly sure that is inaccurate.
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|Found where i read it.
http://www.betanews.com/...at_Xbox_Live/1161363103
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|"Free online play is defiantly the biggest draw for me. Its the one thing that kept me on PC games for so long."
That's one of the biggest reasons I still play Guild Wars as opposed to World of Warcraft.
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|That is an article before the PS3 even released. While it's true that a developer probably could charge a monthly fee on the PS3, all of the MMO titles discussed so far have alluded to the fact that they will have purchasable content inside the game instead of a monthly fee.
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|all of the MMO titles discussed so far have alluded to the fact that they will have purchasable content inside the game instead of a monthly fee.
Thats because the PS3 online gaming user base isn't large enough but once that changes and i'm sure it will I could see developers wanting a cash cow like WOW of the PC gaming world.
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|I stand corrected. Thank you for the info!
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