PS2 Online - Hideous IMHO

[macosx]

Having been with with XBox live for ove ra year now I thought I'd get my aqua PS2 online for a slice of online in readiness for PAL GT4, FFX1 and Killzone.

What a difference from LIVE. The interface brought back the feeling of using the DC to get online, with a slow moving arrow icon drifting about the screen. A truly horrible registration process seemingly designed by to be the most difficult thing ever and a menu system in Central Station that is very slow, clunky and unbelievably hard to navigate. It just show how well and user friendly Microsoft have made LIVE.

[angel_fear]

Couldn't agree more. Although in my experience, I think the DC service was even more reliable than the PS2 one.

[markftmuk2]

Yes, the process is quite awkward, but you only do it once and you'll never have to visit the terrible central station disc again! Most of the games are terrible too mind, GT4 doesnt sound half as good as PGR2. Socom II is the only game that has me playing virtually every night.

[Papercut]

What a difference from LIVE. The interface brought back the feeling of using the DC to get online, with a slow moving arrow icon drifting about the screen.

Nah, it's generally worse than online DC games.

[Irons]

Yes it is, however the PlayOnline service you play Final Fantasy XI through is another story altogether and is a very good service IMHO.

Don't let central station put you off all the PS2 online games, although haven't said that the one time I tried to take Champions Of Norath online I failed miserably

[geekwiglasses]

although most games are ****e online on ps2, i thought splinter cell pt was actually really good.


when lagging it doesnt affect your abilities to break necks as a spy.
whereas the xbox version is unplayable with lag.

rainbow six 3 is one of the most appaulling online games i've played(on ps2)
not only are the levels a LOT smaller, there is only 6 playable at any one time

lol

[geekwiglasses]

centeral station is riddiculous its so slow its untrue!!

but once your registered you never have to log onto it again, and ubi.com and other servers are still pretty good.

[Oh! My Car!]

You can't get DC online anymore can you? Or are the PSO servers still up?

[Commander Marklar]

PSO has homebrew servers I think Q3A still works, dunno about anything else. I kinda wish there had been a better implementation of 'online' services though, almost like Xbox Live with its peer-to-peer hosting although that ultimately suffers because of the centralised traffic through Live.

[Valken]

Q3A works fine but last time I checked the master server list didn't work

You can still specify servers manually and the map pack is available from Sega.com so hosting DC quake games is easy enough.

Marklar, you're saying DC PSO has homebrew servers? Where do I find out more>?

[Commander Marklar]

http://pages.globetrotter.net/ctrep/ with more info. in the dcemulation boards and various google results.

[Razz]

If you want top quality Xbox Live beater online gaming on PS2 you're gonna have to import them on an original import console.

I'm enjoying FFXI, Monster Hunter, Everybody's Golf, Biohazard Outbreak and soon GT4.

I dont have a PAL PS2 so I can't comment on the state of Sony's service here in Europe, but I can assure you that in Japan atleast, Sony have got it right there. Any serious online gamer who imports should take my recommendation and import a PS2 with those said games.

[Zed]

The main problem with Sony's European online isnt just the interface of the NA setup, but the fact they restrict gamers to just playing in the European PAL terratories; this means fewer opponents, which in turn means too many online games die from lack of people. This isnt helped by the poor lobby systems many games have, i think only SOCOM 1/2 has a decent system of lobby/chat/friends lists, with potentially good online games suffering from shocking lobbies (Splinter Cell:PT and Champions of Norrath).

Really Sony need to make available a set of standard connection/lobby tools, so developers can basically just chuck a skin over the top, and get gamers meeting up. When the games (and gamers) are playing online its fine, just getting there is the problem. Not that Live isnt without issues - Tekki/SB 2 has problems, and then there's the hordes of annoying gamers "of tender years", especially from america, that can totally spoil playing online (yes generalisations abound there - so sue me).

Hopefully Sony will have learnt and pulled its finger out for games like Burnout 3, Star Wars: Battlefront and GT4, and this will trickle down to smaller games.

[Commander Marklar]

Same applies to Xbox Live too, you only need to look at the diversity of the lobbies -- from MechAssault, Crimson Skies through to PGR2 and Ghost Recon; they all differ.

Blame lies with all parties though, cocks.

[macosx]

I'm just hoping Razz that the games you mentioned make it across to PAL to make the online PS2 experience worthwhile