Why no cross platform online gaming?

[parapaul]

As per title really... Why (for example) can't I go online to play BFBC2 on my PS3, and play against 360 owners?

Sod's law says the MP games I have, my PS3 friends don't but the XBox owners do

[funkyol]

parapaul said:

As per title really... Why (for example) can't I go online to play BFBC2 on my PS3, and play against 360 owners?

Sod's law says the MP games I have, my PS3 friends don't but the XBox owners do

Because the different systems use different protocols to run the games.

Microsoft have dedicated servers for the xbox 360 - xbox Live, hence the £40 a year fee for the priveledge of playing online.

Whilst the PS3 has the PSN, it's not xbox live and isn't anywhere near as good as the xbox platform in terms of features, functionality and speed.

Similarly, playing online is no longer about your team, their team, features such as showing friends who are online, voice chat etc, are all platform dependent.

However. Have you seen OnLive? http://www.online.com

Things may well be about to change. Significantly.

[The_Cheeseman]

There was a game out a couple of years ago that let 360 and PC gamers play against each other... was called Shadowrun.

[mackie1]

It's just not in anyones interest to do so. Why go to the trouble when the alternative is someone buying the game specifically for your platform.

There's no real technical reason why it couldn't work apart from needing a gateway between PSN and XBL etc and keeping client versions in sync across platforms with different QA requirements. I'd imagine a cross platform game will use pretty much the same protocol for the game mechanics on each platform but with integration into PSN/XBL/Steam etc depending on the implementation.

[Gun]

Can you imagine the slating that would go on, it would be amazing with all the fayboys laying into each other. I for one would love to see cross-platform online games.

[WeirdNeville]

Particularly Xbox Vs PS3 - The hardware is basically the same (so no accusations of KB + mouse is better than joypad, or whatever) and as the games are developed in one phase and then ported across I really can't see it being that hard to do.

HOWEVER - There is a massive vested interest from both Microsoft and Sony NOT to let it happen. They both use the online gaming network as a way of approaching critical mass in a market. Once everyone at school/work has one format, no-one is going to buy the other as it won't let them play with their friends online. So it benefits the company to keep the networks seperate and try and hammer the opposition with marketing.

[Daston]

The_Cheeseman said:

There was a game out a couple of years ago that let 360 and PC gamers play against each other... was called Shadowrun.

yep and it was shocking on the PC as it was slowed down so PC owners didnt get an advantage in frame rate etc.

Although the guys who made that are making Mechwarrior again and they did say they are looking into full cross platform gaming for both PC, PS3 and 360

[Daston]

funkyol said:

parapaul said:

As per title really... Why (for example) can't I go online to play BFBC2 on my PS3, and play against 360 owners?

Sod's law says the MP games I have, my PS3 friends don't but the XBox owners do

Because the different systems use different protocols to run the games.

Microsoft have dedicated servers for the xbox 360 - xbox Live, hence the £40 a year fee for the priveledge of playing online.

Whilst the PS3 has the PSN, it's not xbox live and isn't anywhere near as good as the xbox platform in terms of features, functionality and speed.

Similarly, playing online is no longer about your team, their team, features such as showing friends who are online, voice chat etc, are all platform dependent.

However. Have you seen OnLive? http://www.online.com

Things may well be about to change. Significantly.

Thats also bks just because you pay for it dosnt mean thats paying for dedicated servers! I can sit on Battlefield, Counterstrike or any other PC game online and have dedicated servers for free. What it is about is MS being rip off merchants and everyone happy to pay the price.

[paul26982]

Daston said:

funkyol said:

parapaul said:

As per title really... Why (for example) can't I go online to play BFBC2 on my PS3, and play against 360 owners?

Sod's law says the MP games I have, my PS3 friends don't but the XBox owners do

Because the different systems use different protocols to run the games.

Microsoft have dedicated servers for the xbox 360 - xbox Live, hence the £40 a year fee for the priveledge of playing online.

Whilst the PS3 has the PSN, it's not xbox live and isn't anywhere near as good as the xbox platform in terms of features, functionality and speed.

Similarly, playing online is no longer about your team, their team, features such as showing friends who are online, voice chat etc, are all platform dependent.

However. Have you seen OnLive? http://www.online.com

Things may well be about to change. Significantly.

Thats also bks just because you pay for it dosnt mean thats paying for dedicated servers! I can sit on Battlefield, Counterstrike or any other PC game online and have dedicated servers for free. What it is about is MS being rip off merchants and everyone happy to pay the price.

agree, he must be a fanboy, also how is live better than psn ,both have strenghts and weeknesess

[mat.parr]

cannot play fps games on consoles!!!

[WeirdNeville]

mat.parr said:

cannot play fps games on consoles!!!

What? You can't?
I manage fairly well, as do many, many others. The joypad isn't a disadvantage so long as everyones using it. Likewise, analogue movement is an advantage...

[Featherz]

PSN only strength is its free, its an inferior service, with a bad layout, i am happy to pay for xbox live because the service is brilliant.

[Oakey]

Daston said:

funkyol said:

parapaul said:

As per title really... Why (for example) can't I go online to play BFBC2 on my PS3, and play against 360 owners?

Sod's law says the MP games I have, my PS3 friends don't but the XBox owners do

Because the different systems use different protocols to run the games.

Microsoft have dedicated servers for the xbox 360 - xbox Live, hence the £40 a year fee for the priveledge of playing online.

Whilst the PS3 has the PSN, it's not xbox live and isn't anywhere near as good as the xbox platform in terms of features, functionality and speed.

Similarly, playing online is no longer about your team, their team, features such as showing friends who are online, voice chat etc, are all platform dependent.

However. Have you seen OnLive? http://www.online.com

Things may well be about to change. Significantly.

Thats also bks just because you pay for it dosnt mean thats paying for dedicated servers! I can sit on Battlefield, Counterstrike or any other PC game online and have dedicated servers for free. What it is about is MS being rip off merchants and everyone happy to pay the price.

I'm glad someone said it. Microsoft have 'dedicated' servers in the sense that you're paying for a glorified Messenger service. They're a middleman and it's unecessary. Why do I need to pay them a monthly fee to join a game my mate up the road is hosting?

I'm a 360 owner but I don't play on Live out of principle, the way MS want to make people pay for every tiny little thing is pathetic. Case in point, developers being forced to sell their DLC even if they want to give it away FOC just so MS get a cut.