While Nintendo Wii owners may be used to (or conditioned) to the various blue-light tinged updates to their white-boxed consoles Channel line-up, PlayStation3 owners regularly have to settle for more professional (i.e. bland) firmware updates to play with any new digital toys the company throws their way. Perhaps its fitting to mention the two videogame systems within the same sentence, as Sony's recent singular update (Life with PlayStation) to the PS3 could probably learn a thing or two from features that Wii owners have been enjoying for quite some time.
Read on for the whole sordid tale!
While many have criticized Nintendo (and rightfully so) for the lackadaisical approach to online gaming, few could fault the company for their exceptional use of the Wii's various Channel updates to extend the WiFi-enabled content of the console. Last year Nintendo launched both their Weather and News Channels, partnering the company with the likes of The Weather Channel, NASA, and the Associated Press (AP) to provide free-of-charge news and weather updates from around the world via a cartoonish Globe that bore a striking resemblance to Google's own 3D version for PC users.
Life with PlayStation, also a free-to-use service for the PlayStation3 attempts something very similar, yet unlike Nintendo's offerings integrates both news and weather functions into one service, also mining much of the same content of its chief rival (The Weather Channel, NASA), substituting Google for the AP and adding EarthTV.com for live video feeds from around the world. Unfortunately, where the two differ most radically is the implementation, and given the substantial horsepower of the PS3 and its considerably 3D tech, its a shame that Life would end up feeling unfinished and clunky.
While the 3D Globe that manages the weather and news itself looks great, its essentially alone in the black sky of the universe. Unlike its whimsical and colorful counterpart, Sony's version leans more to the aesthetic of its HD-powered console, which is sure to please some but does little to attract a crowd. While content at this time is limited (although sure to expand as the service gains traction), news and weather updates are placed in sticky-note fashion, allowing users to navigate this incredibly detailed Globe and visit locales to check out weather updates and news-bites across the world. Using the dual analog sticks is a chore, but thankfully the Globe has the sticky-notes mapped (sequentially) to the d-pad, making choices a bit easier.
I wish I could speak more on how the information is presented, but right now many of the locales have yet to be included, and only a handful of select cities (mostly in the US) are enabled. As Life integrates both news and weather, you'll have to visit a specific location to see what's going on in that section of the world to read news headlines, which might strike some as cumbersome and a big more regional than fellow news junkies (like myself) care for. Aggregate news sources seem to work better, and separating the headlines via location is a strange choice, especially when the given provider is the king of collected headlines, Google.
Most frustrating is the service's reliance on the PlayStation3's horrible web browser to read and display the news items. I'm sorry Sony fans, but I've never been enamored with Sony's free browser, and its half-hearted implementation within the Life universe (many features have been removed) won't endear itself to many out there. The text is incredibly difficult to read, with zooming features non-existent and on smaller displays (even those of us with HDTV sets) its near impossible. I understand and accept the need for all things HD to represent a cool, binary look and feel (particularly within the videogame universe), but for text and information its wholly inappropriate.
While the given feature-set of Channels may have been implemented a bit clunky, a few of the included features hint at greatness. The ability to turn Life into a standard screensaver for the PS3 is inspired, as is the option to select musical tracks located on your PS3 (I couldn't get networked file-sharing to work with mine) to better personalize the experience. It certainly looks like Sony has plans to add extra and perhaps more complex Channels into the mix, which if better handled could really help show off the true power of the console and help make the service more attractive to the casual consumers.
As Life is installed via the much-touted and scientifically important Folding@home project run by Standford University, the 3D protein folding program is also integrated as a Channel within the program and can be accessed at any time. Its worth noting that participation in the Folding project seems mandatory if you're going to use the Life program, and while few would argue the humanitarian efforts of the study, some might question Sony's choice of tethering the PlayStation's features (and bandwidth) and I'm surprised the partnership isn't more pronounced on the official website.
So at this moment, I can't see Life getting much attention on my PlayStation3, although that could change in a blink if Sony manages to fix the most substantial issues and learns to integrate its many features more cohesively. Right now it seems the most significant achievement of the service is upping the number of consoles attached to the admiral work done by Standford University and its Folding project. Life still has quite a ways to go until it can match the functionally-superior and crowd-pleasing Channels from rival Nintendo, but the potential is certainly there for greater things.
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