We're no longer playing catch up with Xbox Live say Sony

News - PSN comes of age

Talking to Industry Gamers, SCEA's Director of PSN Operations, Eric Lempel has stated that the service is no longer playing catch up with Xbox Live.

"I don't think there's a lot of 'catch up' (with XBL) any more. In some cases, I think we've got more, and we've got some other things they don't have," he said in the aforementioned interview.

"In terms of strengths, of course we're still free, and we're giving you a lot for free. It's not just free online gaming, but we've got PlayStation Home, which is a massive community and application that's totally free to use.

"I think there's a lot we're doing that in some cases they're not doing, and I don't see a lot of things they're doing that we're not," he continued.

Lempel also went on to say that to adopt the Apple App Store route for distributing PSP games would "degrade the experience you get from a PSP."

He added, "Because (iPhone) is not a gaming-centric device, I think a user picks it up and says, 'This is kind of dumb, but I don't care because I know this device wasn't intended for games'. we dont want to see a bunch of little things that don't quite make sense or provide a good experience because I think that takes away from what the device is intended for."

Fair enough.

Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz