Although Sony,s Online Network has yet to be launched, Microsoft,s director of technical strategy, Andre Vrignaud, is already claiming that the PlayStation network is broken.
One of the criticisms leveled at the Playstation network by Vrignaud has to do with registering a separate “Sony ID” for the network, while having to also register new ones for online games. He explained his annoyance to GameDaily, "When PS3 owners first use the system’s online functionality they’ll be asked to create a ‘Sony ID.’ Even though I already have a ‘Sony ID’, I may have to create a new ‘Resistance ID’ to play. And then start thinking about just how broken the experience is when you try to invite someone to a game. Do you send it via the Resistance UI? What screen name do I send it to? If I want to add you to my ‘Sony ID’ friends list, do I need to send you an in-game message to ask you what your real ‘Sony ID’ name is? What about game invites? How does that work across even just these two IDs?"
He also pointed to the problem of a lack of standardization for an online interface with Sony,s upcoming network. "You think that’s bad? Now let’s open up a few more games from different publishers. Each of these publishers had to make a choice of what online interface to use…so now we have five potential networks with different namespaces, and an inherent lack of ability to communicate (chatting, voice, invites, finding friends, etc.) between them, and even across to just the ‘Sony ID’ namespace. This is very likely as most publishers use different developers – so even across a single publisher, you may find fragmented communities."
While Vrignaud,s observations may or may not be true, it is an indication that Microsoft is intensifying its rhetoric against Sony as the PS3,s launch date approaches closer. No rebuttal has come from Sony regarding Vrignaud,s remarks.
