Sony's Partnership with Xfire Introduces an Alternative to Xbox Live

Although Microsoft's Xbox Live first surfaced in 2002, it was only recently that the service got its well deserved recognition and proved its commercial effectiveness. The service still has no competition at all since Sony never quite managed to promote a dedicated online program for its console games. With this October's release of PS3, we are about to see a power shift between the two giants. If you were wondering exactly how Sony is planning on gaining back XBL's four year advantage, hints of collaboration with Xfire might just point in the right direction.

For a fact, Sony has been in talks with Xfire about including some of their technology in their PS3 launch title Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. This deal is completely independent from the existing PlayStation Network Platform, being designed specifically for this game. It appears testing of the Xfire client for PS3 is already underway since the exclusive PS3 title is shown in the supported software list on the Xfire PC client initialization file. Friend tracker, server browser, in-game messaging while playing - complete with voice chat, file and patch downloads, along with profile automatic stats are just a few among the implements Xfire already provides their customers with.

Months ago, Sony's Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi indicated that PS3's online service would likely be free. For future plans, Sony might very well avoid the problems Microsoft had to deal with for the last four years in the console space by incorporating Xfire into their own PlayStation Network Platform. A deal for online console gaming would be highly beneficial for both parties, enabling Sony to counter the major incentive for buying an Xbox that XBL provides, along with Xfire extending its reach into the huge console gaming market. The two companies offered no further comments, although neither of them denied the prospect of a future deal.