[Edit] Sony Sizes Up Xbox Live
It's been a while since I've written about Sony... mostly because there hasn't been anything really of interest to write about. The corporate puppy has been thoroughly kicked, and it appears the consumer message is finally getting through.
Next-gen just put up an interview with Eric Lempel, the Director of Playstation Network operations. Lots of interesting quotes in here. They're not terribly surprising (at least to those who have been reading this blog for a while), but interesting nonetheless.
“Microsoft had a year jump on us for the launch and essentially we’re offering a lot of the same stuff. I don’t think there’s a big difference in exactly what we’re offering when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of what’s actually there for the consumer… We’re not charging money for our service. That’s a key differentiating factor.”
Obviously I'd disagree here. Right now Sony is trying to follow a "checkbox strategy." If you looked at a list of network features side-by-side, it's quite obvious Sony is trying to go down the list and check off missing items. Friends list? Check. Presence? Check. Online Marketplace? Check. What's not said here is that there's no integration among those features... I wrote about this a long time ago, but simply put, the online network wasn't even being designed when the console came together and there are fundamental holes in the experience that are either very difficult or impossible to fix.
More interesting is that you're beginning to see the cracks in the "free is better" mantra we've been hearing for the past five years. Believe me, I get that free is good... but you've all seen that you get what you pay for when it comes to an online service. As Next-gen says, however:
...that could be open to change in the future.
“Right now that’s our model. In time anything can change but right now we’re happy with it.”
I've got to swing over to NeoGAF later and see the tizzy that's spun up from this. The reality shoe is finally dropping. 
[Edit: added a link to the NeoGAF forum post - it's already started.]
There's also a quote highlighting the, shall we say, "inspired emulation" of Xbox Live features:
Lempel did concede that Sony was working to replicate a number of Xbox Live’s most successful features including cross-game invites, the ability to access the cross-media bar in-game, and an achievements system.
“I like how their marketplace is integrated directly into their user interface….Talking across games is fantastic. That definitely builds momentum for games and actually migrate users to other games and keeps you in touch with your gaming community.
Again, due to the lack of planning and huge amounts of memory the system UI takes, much of what he's talking about will be difficult to impossible to do well on the PS3. But it's good to hear some steps will be taken in this direction, and it lays the groundwork for a better online framework next generation. I'm not kidding when I say I really want the PS3 experience to be better. I'm a gamer, too, and I know there will be some first-party games out of Sony that I can only play on the PS3... and I'd like to not suffer while doing so. More importantly, you can never understate the importance of competition to driving this industry forward.
Finally, an Achievements clone is coming... most of folks here have known the likelihood of this for a long time, but it's good to hear a commitment:
“We’re working on an achievements system... I can’t say if it’s definitely tied to a gamerscore or something like Xbox does but that is an important feature.
I'll be curious to see if there's any innovation here. Not a snide remark, just honestly curious if there will be more than a "here's a 3D trophy instead of a bitmap" achievement. Time will tell!