The PS2's online service was just completely half-assed. A total afterthought. It was free...and I still didn't use it. With the PS3, Sony seems to have a better grasp on things, but it's still in the works. They allow each game company to handle the online features of their games (much like on the PS2), it's not a unified system like Xbox Live....which is why it's free. Either way....Sony has a gigantic hill to climb if they ever hope to be on par with Live, feature-to-feature.