Why is XBLA significantly better than PSN?

[Onyx Oblivion]

Hmmm...pound for pound, i'd have to say XBL Arcade has more good downloadable games than the lineup I've seen and read about (but not played). You just don't hear much about the PSN downloadable games as you read about Geometry Wars and Braid. Although Flower looks mighty interesting.

 

[neostronghold]

I have to be honest, i've only played on live but even though it aint free you can still get a 360 and a good few years of live subscriptions for the same prise as a PS3, and if as you people say who have both, there is generally more good stuff on XBLA (apart from flower ) then i'd have to go for live. Also there are more people on live and I know a lot of my friends have 360s too so we can all make a party and chat whilst playing COD or whatever.
Oh yeah and then there's XNA which is a fantastic way for individuals to get into the industry. XBLA should be getting some fantastic indie games over the coming years.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Hmmm...pound for pound, i'd have to say XBL Arcade has more good downloadable games than the lineup I've seen and read about (but not played). You just don't hear much about the PSN downloadable games as you read about Geometry Wars and Braid. Although Flower looks mighty interesting.

Hear as much, no, but they match up relatively evenly (Super Stardust HD to Geometry Wars, by the way). Although I think the PsN has more weird games - things like FloW (or however its capitalised), The Last Guy, Pain, Elefunk, Pixeljunk Eden, Echochrome, and so on. Generally, with one or two exceptions, the XBLA games seem more straightfoward.

Hang on. I'm going to look up some PSN games, will edit post shortly.

DAMN YOU! YOU HAVE A RATCHET AND CLANK DOWNLOADABLE GAME!!!!
then again, we recently got The Maw...and we seem to get the Penny Arcade games sooner.
In the end, each has advantages and disadvantages.
I'm a social butterfly, so enjoy talking to people with the party system while I play a different game than them. Can you do that on PSN?

 

[MrGFunk]

Hmmm...pound for pound, i'd have to say XBL Arcade has more good downloadable games than the lineup I've seen and read about (but not played). You just don't hear much about the PSN downloadable games as you read about Geometry Wars and Braid. Although Flower looks mighty interesting.

Hear as much, no, but they match up relatively evenly (Super Stardust HD to Geometry Wars, by the way). Although I think the PsN has more weird games - things like FloW (or however its capitalised), The Last Guy, Pain, Elefunk, Pixeljunk Eden, Echochrome, and so on. Generally, with one or two exceptions, the XBLA games seem more straightfoward.

Good point.

All I hear is Braid from XBLA.

You've listed some excellent and varied games.

I will also add.
Linger in Shadows
LocoRoco Correchio
Super rub-a-dub

not to mention old school games.
These are all very different. It should be about the games.

With games like these I'm not sure XBLA is better.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Hmmm...pound for pound, i'd have to say XBL Arcade has more good downloadable games than the lineup I've seen and read about (but not played). You just don't hear much about the PSN downloadable games as you read about Geometry Wars and Braid. Although Flower looks mighty interesting.

Hear as much, no, but they match up relatively evenly (Super Stardust HD to Geometry Wars, by the way). Although I think the PsN has more weird games - things like FloW (or however its capitalised), The Last Guy, Pain, Elefunk, Pixeljunk Eden, Echochrome, and so on. Generally, with one or two exceptions, the XBLA games seem more straightfoward.

Hang on. I'm going to look up some PSN games, will edit post shortly.

DAMN YOU! YOU HAVE A RATCHET AND CLANK DOWNLOADABLE GAME!!!!

They made a bite sized game to give to the fans while they were making Resistance 2. Its a quarter of a game for a quarter of the price.

Still, when I get a PS3, I'm not going to get it for Resistance, Little Big Planet, or Killzone...I'm going to get R&C:Future as my first game. (I hold an intense dislike for the MGS series, so that is why I didn't mention it) Honestly, if it wasn't for the serious lack of RPGs on the PS3 (especially considering that the older PS consoles where the best place to go for RPGs), I'd have bought one a long time ago.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Did the PS3 get Castle Crashers?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Did the PS3 get Castle Crashers?

No, it was a Microsoft in-hpouse thing. We get Fat Princess instead.

according to Gamespot that's not out yet, but it also appears to be very different then Castle Crashers.

*EDIT*--> under the letter "C", XBLA has Castlevania:SOTN, an advance wars game in the form of Commanders: Attack of the Genos, and two very original games that come from board games, Carcassone and Catan...and Ticket To Ride...each service has good downloadable games, but it seems that none of them are console sellers, just nice bonuses on top.

 

[MrGFunk]

I will also add.
Linger in Shadows
LocoRoco Correchio
Super rub-a-dub

not to mention old school games.
These are all very different. It should be about the games.

With games like these I'm not sure XBLA is better.

Those three really stretch the boundaries of hat is a game though. The first two are widely regarded as interactive screensavers (quite good screensavers, but not fitting into the typical ideal of a game) and the third is called crap.

I'll give Linger in Shadows is short but it was wierd and cheap - i've certainly come back to it a few times.
LocoRoco was also cheap and is a lot longer than a screensaver.
Super rub-a-dub was fun enough and again was cheap.

 

[tiredinnuendo]

Cons of Live:

- Price
- MS Points
- Additional youngsters

Cons of PSN:

- Regular lag and matchmaking difficulty in freshly released titles
- Wireless connection is ill-advised (but available straight out of the box)
- Frequent downloads which cannot be pushed to background
- Long update times
- Incomplete DLC roster
- Network model not built with this generation's reliance on multiplayer in mind

- J

Actually, I believe they've run the two against each other with the Resident Evil 5 Demo - apprently XBL is faster in download and less laggy in playing with a wired connection, but the PsN is faster on downloads and has less lag over the wireless connection. Just some food for thought.

While it goes without saying that your personal mileage may vary, that has not been the case with me. I have both systems hooked to the same router, using the same cables (CAT6) funneled through the same ISP. Download speeds on Live are markedly faster. Lag is hit and miss, naturally, but I see it far more on PSN than Live, for what that's worth. I'm certain that, generally speaking, PSN must handle online at least decently.

It occurs to me that this "argument" is a lot like the red ring thing. All PS3 owners "know" that every 360 that was ever made bricks weekly. All 360 owners "know" that PSN is slow and laggy all the time on every game.

- J

 

[KDR_11k]

If we're really talking about the downloadable games instead of the online services I feel the Wii needs to be mentioned, it does have quite a strong downloadable game lineup. The lack of storage space is annoying but it does have a lot of stuff to fill it with.

World of Goo
Lost Winds
Toki Tori (often forgotten but a great game since it's a puzzle that actually requires you to think instead of guessing what item X will do in situation Y or just randomly using everything that you can find and automatically winning that way (looking at you, Maw!))
Onslaught
Alien Crush Returns
My Aquarium (people count "interactive screensavers" for other consoles so why not, it's a bestseller in all territories)
Bomberman Blast (I think some BM games are available on other systems too?)
Tetris Party
Art Style series: Orbient, Cubello, Rotohex
Helix
MaBoShi's Arcade
Space Invaders Get Even
SBCG4AP (not entirely exclusive)


Yeah, that's the WiiWare-World list of games that got at least 8/10 sorted by rating with a bit of personal filtering (mostly against puzzle games) applied. I'm not entirely sure what criteria were used to decide which games to list for the other download services, may not be entirely fair.

 

[coldfrog]

Hear as much, no, but they match up relatively evenly (Super Stardust HD to Geometry Wars, by the way). Although I think the PsN has more weird games - things like FloW (or however its capitalised), The Last Guy, Pain, Elefunk, Pixeljunk Eden, Echochrome, and so on. Generally, with one or two exceptions, the XBLA games seem more straightfoward.

Though there were more, yours had the most games quoted so I'm picking on you.

To hell with any other game that exists. XBLA has Rez... IN HD!!!
Rez!
HD!
It's Rez!

Ahem. Anyway, I've found that there are a few more games on the Xbox homebrew area I want, and this being mainly because they've been out longer. I don't know if the PS3's homebrewing was available when it first came out, though I didn't get either system on launch, but my guess is Xbox existing longer means it had more chance to accumulate good games. Then again, good is always my opinion.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

To hell with any other game that exists. XBLA has Rez... IN HD!!!
Rez!
HD!
It's Rez!

I forgot to mention that. Its not the "best game evarz" but it is still hot stuff.

 

[KDR_11k]

Eh, I had Rez on the PS2, didn't like it. HD doesn't matter because the consoles are plugged into a secondary TV that barely does SD (blurry as hell), not the HDTV (which is for watching TV).

 

[Tryzon]

If one were to ask about how I felt, I'd say that while they both have their plusses and their minusses, PSN is free, and therefore infinitely better value. An online service which I've never had trouble with, even on my questionable network setup, and doesn't take away a single penny from my precious games money? Wins over a similar concept that costs a significant chunk a year. I consider the case closed for me.