Sony Launches Life with Playstation

Sony’s out with an interesting PS3 offering today. The Folding@Home download has been updated and rebranded as Life with Playstation. In addition to crunching away on molecular proteins, the add-on now presents current worldwide news (Google) and weather (Weather Channel) accompanied by music (bring your own). But I don’t really want to talk about the new features…

While I’ve played on the PS3 a decent amount, this is the first time I’ve lived with it. And Sony’s launch of Life with Playstation emphasizes the console’s UI issues. Microsoft, known for computer software, has done a much better job implementing the 10′ interface with the Xbox 360 than Sony, known for consumer electronics devices, has with the PS3.

When interacting with the PS3, I frequently feel like a PC is attached to the plasma – too much text, fonts are too small, poor use of screen real estate, too many download and installation screens, crash messaging, etc. I captured maybe only half of the screens below (unreadable from the couch) it took to get this app installed. Shouldn’t it really download and install automatically, perhaps even silently?

11 thoughts on “Sony Launches Life with Playstation”

  1. I seen this on the PS blog this morning. I think Ill download it tonight. A few things you forgot… The controllers don’t charge in standby, Downloads stop in standby, and system downloads take to long.

    I have yet to download anything from the video store. So I can’t compare it with the 360. But the PS3 does make a nice Blu-Ray player and does have a few nice exclusive games :).

  2. I suspected, but wasn’t positive about the controller not charging in standby. Dang. But thanks for the confirmation. I also noticed the slow downloads, but can live with them as long as online play is efficient – and it seemed to work just fine with CoD4. (SOCOM beta is another story… being pre-release, I won’t ding them on it.)

    When in-game or in-movie, it’s fine – but the XMB interface leaves a lot to be desired as it’s currently implemented.

  3. What drives me around the bend is how every time I turn on the damn PS3 I have to go through another excruciatingly painful, multistep, wait and wait update. Most of the decent games I played also must first be installed.

    None of this happens on the 360. When an update is required on the 360, it just does it and a few minutes later I’m ready to go. I’ve never had to “INSTALL” a game on the 360. I’ve never had to click on “I accept” buttons EVERY DAMN TIME I do an update. I’ve never had to reboot the 360. It just rebooted itself if it needed to.

    While I enjoyed a few of the exclusive games I’ve played on the PS3 (Drake’s Fortune is the best so far), I’ll choose the 360 every time if its a cross-platform game.

    …Dale

  4. I keep my laptop on my coffee table, and use that to charge my controller. I do wish the downloads would continue in standby mode (or at least an option to continue) then turn to the current standby when it’s completed.
    The other wish I had was an automatic shutoff after x minutes after a BD or DVD movie has finished. That way, if I fall asleep, it’s not running all night.

    I’ve not had any issues with Burnout online while downloads are running. If you haven’t looked at Burnout Paradise, I suggest you take a look at that game.

  5. Oh, I definitely played Burnout Paradise (on Xbox) – Sling was a sponsor. :)

    Dale, I played Drake’s Fortune until those demon zombie things showed up. Awesome animations, good control – well-balanced game play for a non-pro. Maybe I’ll get back into it.

  6. Dave,

    Just shoot from the hip (w/o aiming) and they go down pretty quick. Drake’s Fortune is a great game, albiet a short one. I completed my first run through with 50 of the 60 treasures found in ~11 hours.

  7. I wasn’t a fan of the zombies either. I wrote a review of that game that I sent to my friends last December. I will, at some point, put it up on The Daleisphere. But what I liked most about it was the Hollywood-style character development. I really liked the lead character and the woman side kick. They seemed like real people. I much prefer women characters that are like real-world cute women vs. the over-the-top stereo-type that is Laura Croft and so many other video game vixens.

    …Dale

  8. I must be too used to PCs but I didn’t really mind PS3 quirks (owned 360 since Gears of War came out). I do wish they had background downloads though…

  9. Yeah, I finished this AM. Didn’t realize how close I was to the end when I dropped it and when I left off last night. I agree with Dale – the story-telling in this one was also good. Now I got to figure out what to play until some of the new games show up.

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