You're Not Just a Gamer

Feature from Matt - Thursday, 23 December 2010 @ 7:58pm

A lot of news has been coming out lately about the current generation adding new and exciting features to their consoles. Many of these have had something interesting in common – they haven't had the faintest thing to do with video games.

Recently Sony announced the addition of movie rentals and purchases through its video service. Microsoft announced the addition of Foxtel subscription directly through the Xbox 360 interface. Netflix. iView. Play TV. Consoles are increasingly selling themselves more and more on the differences between themselves and their competitors APART from games.

Sony's new marketing slogan is "It Only Does Everything", and their current poster art advertises MP3, Movies, Internet, Bluray, etc. Without even mentioning games.

Generally when you compare consoles in some fancy table or discussion you take into account outright performance differences, graphical capability, back catalog, upcoming exclusives, and so-on. But what happens when you ignore the things that make the console a gaming platform, and just look at it as some sort of multimedia system?

First, some overviews.

The Wii
By far the underdog, the Wii will almost not be mentioned here. It's not capable of HD, and contains very little support for any sort of music, movies, etc. It doesn't even support DVDs. The Wii in some areas does support a version of Netflix, but if it wasn't for that there would be no need to mention it at all in this article. Still, they may not have anything to offer here, but they aren't claiming they do.

The Xbox 360
Netflix is irrelevant to Australia, thanks to complete lack of support here, so the other features of the system have to stand on their own. The 360 does have support for DVD playback, and does a natty job of it. It also has built-in support for Media Centre PCs, setting them up quickly and easily. Hard drive sizes aren't huge, though, with few options for upgrading. It also now supports Foxtel.

The PS3
The Playstation 3's harddrive is easily (relatively) upgradeable, meaning it can always be king of space. The add-on hardware of Play TV make it a solid PVR system and the presence of a Bluray drive makes the PS3 a solid entry in the “except for games” category. It also offers some unique attractions, such as Vidzone, which may well see it take the lead.

Looking at things in more detail it's the execution that really needs discussion.

Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 have small laptop drives as their primary storage, but how these have been implemented is a striking difference between them. The PS3's internal drive is a standard drive, and can be replaced with a fairly minimal effort. The PS3's replacement does NOT void your warranty and there's instructions in the manual. The Xbox 360 drive can also be replaced, and in fact is much easier to replace, simply clipping on and off. You'd think this would be a win to the 360 on this one, but it's far from that.

The Xbox 360's hard drives are relatively small, and so expensive they should come with jellybeans and a hooker. The largest drive is 250 gig, and that retails for $200. By contrast a PS3 would take any hard drive from a PC hardware store. 250 gig can be had for $80, with a 640gig drive available for $150. 500 gig drives are a sweet spot at only $90. That's twice the space for half the price.

Winner

PS3, but not by as much as it should be. See, all of the above is true, but Sony don't advertise it at all. No one knows about this amazing feature of the PS3. All they'd need to do is put on the box “120 gig, upgradeable to 500 gig” or something like that and they'd have an unassailable point of difference in the market.

This one is again pretty much a clean sweep for the PS3. The PlayTV peripheral costs about $160 and adds full digital set top box functionality plus video recording to the Playstation 3's XMB interface. The system works surprisingly well, and uses the PS3's internal hard disk drive as its storage medium and works with the console's bluetooth remote.

Just recently an interview with Mark Green of Sony Cambridge Studios showed that there's a PlayTV 2 on the way, with rumours suggesting integration of Facebook and Freeview HD.

Technically Microsoft's console also offers some degree of PVR support, if paired up with a TV tuner equipped desktop PC running Windows Media Centre, but essentially that's like saying I can be a stealthy assassin in feudal Japan if I'm teamed up with a Ninja. I think we all know that he's the one doing all the wetwork, I'll just be hiding in a corner, probably burning myself with a smoke bomb.

Winner
PS3, and actually without reservation on this one. They've done it well and should be commended for it.

By “media” I specifically refer to a disk of some kind, which should pretty much answer this. Given the options are the PS3's Bluray technology or the now defunct HD-DVD the PS3 obviously has the edge here.

Further discussion is necessary though. It's easy to dismiss this section. A lot of people are pointing at the death of the disk, with digital downloads being the way of the future. There's a place for this view: America.

Here in Australia the cost and inconvenience of digital downloads is simply prohibitive. For now and for the forseeable future disks of some kind are here to stay.

Winner

This is a clear win to the PS3. Bluray are becoming increasingly popular. The waters are a little muddied as Bluray players become cheaper.

Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 allow you to download movies. The Xbox's interface is easily found by going to Media and then Zune Store. The PS3's interface is a bit harder to find. You have to go to the store, then you have to go up the top to the tiny hidden button that says "Movies" (it defaults to their games interface). It's also available in the Movies column of the XMB, logically.

Both of these systems, PlayStation Store and Xbox 360 are abyssmal. The ranges are very limited, and what you actually get for what you pay is a bit on the vague side, as well as inconsistent. Some things are available in HD and SD, some are are only one or the other. Some only available to buy, and some to rent. Or both. Or, in many cases, neither.

Using the recent Inception as an example, the PS3 has it for monies - $33 for the HD version, and it's available in SD or HD, and also in SD + HD as a pack for a special price. Wait... why? What on earth am I going to do with the SD versio... forget it. The SD is $25 to buy. Screw renting. I'm too rich to rent.

Sony complicate things hugely by essentially having two different movie stores. One is for movies, one is for film. A more idiotic separation could only be made by grouping them by smell. The "film" store is more about foreign and art films than the big blockbusters. Its critical failure is a lack of content, and until that is fixed it will get no more discussion than this.

The Xbox 360 is more complicated due to the need to exchange M$ to AU$, but it's 1520 points, which translates to (seriously, give me an hour and half here, basic math is not a gift I possess) about $25. That's for the SD version. There's no HD version available to buy.

How this compares to actually buying the thing from a store is fairly harsh. For a start you actually CAN buy a HD version Bluray. So eat that, Zune store. Secondly, I bought Inception as a pack - I bought the Bluray for $36, and it included the Bluray, the DVD and a bonus Digital version for my iPhone.

I can use any of the above on a range of devices, in most cases with no limitations. I can rip the DVD (or Bluray) to play on another device, or play the DVD on my laptop on the road. I can lend the Bluray or the DVD to a friend overnight. I could even sell it second hand.

Most importantly, I actually own something. A physical thing. When formats change in 10 years, and licenses expire, or technology becomes irrelevant I still have something. Maybe an outdated something, but still useable. In 10 years will my license on the PlayStation Store still be valid? Can I re-download my movie? In 5 years will I be able to get my purchased Scott Pilgrim vs the World off the Zune store? Can I consolidate my store purchases into a universal collection of some kind? Can I watch my purchases on any other device?

I wouldn't bet on it.

Ultimately the cost of the digital copies should reflect its real world value. The reduced utility of these downloads, and the lack of either physical possession or transferrable rights should correspond to a lower price. But it doesn't. It's often more expensive.

Winner
Major copyright holders, fucking over consumers and encouraging piracy, thus devaluing their own intellectual properties. In a less cynical vein, Sony probably have a better store, with more titles available. But they both suck.

Both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 have remote peripherals available, which are or are not in with the console depending on what bundles you end up with. These peripherals are a requirement when using the systems as any sort of multimedia device, but are otherwise relatively unremarkable. The PS3 remote is looks like a coffin, a startlingly bulky and sedate affair. The Xbox 360 remote is by contrast trying to look significantly more dramatic. It just looks lumpy, in much the way a turd looks lumpy.

The biggest difference between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 in terms of their remotes is that the PS3 uses Bluetooth and the 360 sticks with the more traditional RF.

There's a major advantage to the Xbox in this. While Bluetooth is sexy and all the PS3 is utterly unsupported by any sort of universal remote. Among the most popular remotes are Logitech's Harmony range, and those not only fully support the Xbox 360 but there's a dedicated 360 model that makes sure every feature of the 360 is at your fingertips.

PS3... not so much. You CAN support the PS3 with the Harmony remotes, but an add-on is required. The price for this (assuming you can find it)? Sixty buckeroos. While I like the idea of automating my stuff and having it all handled from one remote the idea of spending $60 to get my $50 remote to work with the PS3 is remarkably unappealing.

While I'm on the subject, the PS3's remote is stupidly large. It's like the same size as my coffee table. Why do I need all of those buttons anyway? I'd like to see Sony release a smaller version with minimal buttons. But maybe that's just me. Maybe you like your remotes to be the size of your freaking head? Who am I to judge.

Winner

Xbox 360. By a lot.

Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 can act as hubs for your music. They both can store your music locally, or on a media server, and act relatively similarly if you do so. The PS3 has a particularly dodgy interface for doing so, though. I've written about the PS3's music (and other) interfaces previously, and I stand by that. If you want to listen to music the PS3 is... able. Barely able. The Xbox 360's interface for that is not really dissimilar. For all the systems state that they're capable music players it's really kind of an afterthought from an interface point of view.

Winner
Meh.

Social networking is a major thing these days. The ubiquity of Twitter accounts for interpersonal communication and finding out shit you don't care about from people you barely know combines with Facebook's ability to get you invited to events you're not interested in by people you don't like. In another country.

Some people care about social network integration, but to be honest it's never going to be a big deal on a console. You can't really type, and people have PCs or iPhones for this sort of stuff. Still, let's take a better look. Just because.

The Xbox 360 offers Facebook through its live interface, mostly as a "bragging about achievements" type system. Twitter is also supported, and this is more about reading and keeping track than about your actual gaming accomplishments. The PS3 also has support for social networking, but it's extremely limited. You can allow sharing of your Trophies (TOTALLY NOT ACHIEVEMENTS) with Facebook, and it will annoy everyone when you get them. That's about the limit of it.

Winner

Xbox 360, but this isn't much of a trophy. I mean achievement.

Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 support ethernet wired networking out of the box. However, only the PS3 supports Wireless networking without an addon. To get wireless on the Xbox 360 you need to buy an additional bit of hardware. So you'd give this one to the PS3.

Actually no you wouldn't. You see, the PS3's internal wireless card is Wireless-G. The standard these days, and the speed of the Xbox 360's add-on component, is Wireless-N. N is significantly faster, has a longer range, and provides a more stable connection. All of these are benefits to online gaming. I don't want to overstate the benefit of the speed. People keeep doing that, but the fact is any wireless network is already orders of magnitude faster than your internet speed anyway. The improvement isn't in your speed to the internet but your speed within your house.

Specifically your speed and bandwidth to the media server that's streaming the HD movie that you're currently watching. If you're streaming HD content from a media server of any kind, the difference between N and G essentially comes down to whether the content is watchable. On a PS3... it just isn't.

So the win goes to Xbox 360, right?

Not really. You see, while you CAN get a wireless adaptor for the Xbox 360 the price is disgracefully high. A USB wireless-N adaptor for a PC from a store would set you back $40 - $60. As low as $30 if you looked around. Up to $70 if you really didn't care. Or went to Harvey Norman. An Xbox 360 Wireless N Network Adaptor (the only one that will work) will cost you a shockingly steep $149.95.

This price is outrageous, insulting, and frankly absurd.

There is hope, though. While it doesn't help current owners, the newish Xbox 360 slim units come with wireless built in and it's wireless N. Sony needs to catch up here, and should have had Wireless N since they launched their slim.

Winner
It's hard to call this one. I'd actually be inclined to say there's no winner, just two losers. Microsoft wins because they're at least doing it right now, despite their gouging before.

While covered above in the PVR section, broadcast television isn't the be-all and end-all of digital television. On the contrary, it's looking increasingly like the possibility of TV stations and content on demand are the way of the future for broadcasters. Sony support this in two ways. They have two "channels" in their TV section on the XMB. One is for the ABC's iView and one is for Seven's... um... 7Plus I think it is. Seven's option has been on again-off again.

There's no way to get around it. These are shit. The quality of the picture is vastly below what you'd get from just watching it on a TV, and the majority of content on there would be easier, faster, and better quality to torrent instead. Keeping quality to a point where they can be streamed reduces the video content to be basically useless.

Foxtel is more compelling. The quality is noticably better, and those who have it (I must confess I do not) say it works very well now that it's up and running. But the basic pack is missing a lot of content and for a reasonable selection of content you're paying around $40 a month.

Xbox Foxtel also goes through your internet, and WILL chew up your bandwidth (even on iiNet, who don't meter most xbox content), so unless you have tubes to spare you may find yourself having to avoid your stories because you haven't got the gigs.

It's actually pretty hard to make a conclusion, really. What works best for you depends on what you want it for. The systems were very much designed with different usage in mind. For example, the PS3 is more focussed on putting stuff on your own harddrive, whereas the Xbox almost requires you to be streaming from a media server.

To my money this is overall won by the PS3. The combination of PlayTV and Bluray are a solid and effective overall multimedia soluiton, even if a lot of its other features are godawful. Where the PS3 and Xbox 360 have similar features the implementation is often similar, and indeed, similarly bad.

There's room for improvement in both camps, though, and it will be interesting to see if either manufacturer really gets serious about optimising their non-gaming offerings. The hardware has vast potential, needing only the content and the software to really expand the usefulness of the machines beyond gaming and into a more "mainstream" living room necessity.