This is why Sony were very quiet.

[cliffbo]

it was frustrating watching all those Sony fans getting despondent over the lack of information, and i have been saying for ages now that the reason is that they did not want their competitors to get wind of it and copy them:

Microsoft is hoping that Xbox Live will offer a richer and more sophisticated experience in the future. Among its XNA development tool announcements at GDC, it unveiled the Xbox Live Server platform, which will let developers: "create their own back-end servers to run alongside Xbox Live", which should allow more games to offer live playback as seen in PGR3's Gotham TV feature and Burnout: Revenge's Live Revenge. It should also speed the arrival of the first wave of MMOs on Xbox Live.
Microsoft reckons that opening up the Xbox Live Server Platform will provide: "developers and publishers with the tools and environments they need to create all-new online game experiences," which is good news for Xbox Live devotees. The technology also allows developers to tap into XML feeds, "to update things such as weather, rosters or other changing information". It will be a while before the techies get their teeth into the Xbox Live Server, and there is no suggestion that Microsoft will relinquish any of its control over Xbox Live, but the end result should be an even flashier online experience for Xbox 360 owners.

Microsoft also used GDC to unveil the first physical fruits of its XNA initiative, which it announced at last year's GDC and which aims to make it easier for developers to create cross-platform games. It showed a pre-release version of its XNA Studio middleware tools and technologies, which could prove much more popular among developers than was originally predicted, now that EA owns Criterion, and has bagged the Guildford company's Renderware middleware suite for its own use.

expect a lot of these announcements in the coming months. But Sony will have the upper hand because their machine is built from the ground up to incorporate this phillosophy.

[Crossbar]

it was frustrating watching all those Sony fans getting dispondent over the lack of information, and i have been saying for ages now that the reason is that they did not want their competitors to get wind of it and copy them:
.....
I say they didn't reveal anything earlier because the PS3 was not seriously planned to launch this spring with live-features anyhow.

[xbdestroya]

expect a lot of these announcements in the coming months. But Sony will have the upper hand because their machine is built from the ground up to incorporate this phillosophy.

I don't know, I kind of think Microsoft's announcement more or less brings Sony and MS back to parity on the online scen, with MS having an edge if anything because they do have the central service fleshed out as well to the extent they do. I guess we'll have to wait and see just how much freedom they grant third parties however in setting up their online systems before we take this announcement at straight face-value.

I think if Sony enjoys any sort of development edge at the moment, it's the allusions to a standard hard drive.

[cliffbo]

I don't know, I kind of think Microsoft's announcement more or less brings Sony and MS back to parity on the online scen, with MS having an edge if anything because they do have the central service fleshed out as well to the extent they do. I guess we'll have to wait and see just how much freedom they grant third parties however in setting up their online systems before we take this announcement at straight face-value.

I think if Sony enjoys any sort of development edge at the moment, it's the allusions to a standard hard drive.

as you know i'm not that up on tech but from what i know about open source, surely this will be a huge difference, especially if all Sony brands can talk directly to each other via wi-fi. i wait to be shot down in flames on this one lol