I found this blog written by Will Hazell on my travels, thought it should be reposted for prosperity..

http://www.bebo.com/BlogView.jsp?Mem...

The Decline of PS3-Online 31/05/09

Yes I know that looks awfully pesimistic and defeatist, but I've been mulling this over for a whilst now. As a mod, you get to see a graph showing your views since the groups start. We've been going downhill at a terrific rate for many months. For example, May last year we had 12 000 views. May this year, we've had 5000. So why is this? I've listed out the reasons for this, i'd like to see if you agree.

The Original 4
You probably see them cropping up every now again; but Willie, Alan, Rollz and Jay were the real daddies of PS3-Online. Each brought something to the table, whether it being Jay's incredible sense of "the funny" (the reason I kept coming back in the first place), Willie's organising of events and general coolness, Rollz's blog blitz and tech know how or Alan's skin creating and "controversial" views on things. It was a system that worked, so when the original 4 backed out and let the new team take over (of which I was the first) things were damaged.

The decline of Bebo it self
March 13th 2008, AOL bought bebo for �417 million. Most of the bebo community didn't notice the transition, but eventually the affects become apparent. Seriously, bebo is now pretty awful. I don't have access to any infomation regarding active bebo accounts, but I guess that they are declining. All of my friends now use facebook as their primary social networking site, and I can only assume this is the same for most people. PS3-Online's greatest strength was being based on bebo, people often came on here whilst doing their daily beboing. With facebook taking over, a great many members now have no reason to come here and bebo has become a great weakness.

The Winter of Discontent
Well, to be honest. It is more the "Summer and Winter of discontent" but that doesn't sound so catchy. Over the summer of '08 mods left, came back, and left again. It was a rather turbulent time, and was in this time that I appeared to lend my hand. I was totally phyced to become a mod and did my very best. Little did I know, that instead of working alongside the original 4 - I ended up taking over their jobs. As the year wore on, a great black cloud appeared over the site. Arguments were started, mothers were insulted and rattles were thrown out of prams. This went on for a LONG time, and I didn't really help things - often joining in the fray my self. This has damaged the site an incredible amount, many members were lost in the storm and never returned.

Me
In a way I'm a taller, better looking and less ambitious version of Hitler. For a good whilst, I used to block everything in sight. If i didn't like you, you would be blocked. Even if you weren't, I probably acted like an arragant twat. For that I apologise!

"Other" Groups
Well, one in particular. It's affect hasn't been too adverse, but they managed to create lot's off ill feelings. With ill feelings coming arguments and with arguments come a reduction of members.

Bebo Mobile being charged

I remeber at one point, everyone on PS3-Online was using bebo mobile. A good many members are from ireland, and as ireland's communications are comparable to the yogurt pot and string I used when I was 6, many used their mobiles. For whatever reason, bebo mobile has now become a privilige to those willing to fork out. As a result many members are cut off from us, and convosations have become duller as a result.

Loss of community
Warhawk probably doesn't mean a lot to the newer members. But for a long time, it was the life blood of PS3-Online. Everyone played it, there were jeep races and triatholons. As time went on people lost interest in it and newer members were oblivious to it. The loss of this 1 binding factor has hurt PS3-Online because there is no longer 1 convosation sta

Earlier we reported that we can confirm that the Killzone 3 multiplayer beta is indeed real, however we couldn't confirm the beta would be public. We have more proof that Guerrilla may be in preparation of announcing a Killzone 3 public beta. As you know Killzone 3 will have it's multiplayer details revealed very soon at Gamescom, this may be the preliminary step to announcing the beta. A PlayStation Network service, Killzone 2 Community Website, has the Killzone 3 beta website listed under it's service. This pretty much confirms that there will be indeed some sort of public beta announcement soon, considering everyone that had access to the Killzone 2 multiplayer beta (which started: 10/08/0 can view the Killzone 3 beta listing themselves. There is also a Killzone 3 beta website that allows you to log-in with your PlayStation Network ID, however, you cannot access the contents of the webpage just yet and your PSN ID is claimed to be invalid.

http://bit.ly/akWk4o

Gamescom is just around the corner, and many people felt that Sony’s E3 2010 Conference lacked a few things. Hopefully Sony can bring the heat this time at Gamescom just like they did last year with the official unveiling of the Slim model PS3.

Sony is known to spread out it’s guns throughout different events in a year. With many games and hardware being announced months after huge showings such as E3. One of these events where big things are known to happen is in Gamescom in Cologne. Here are the top 5 things that would make us go insane if they were to be unveiled.

5. Killzone 3 Multiplayer

Although this is probably something we might see anyway, K3 multiplayer is something everyone has been clamouring for. We don’t know what to expect which is why we need to see it. K2 had the most surprisingly well done MP and K3 is probably going to blow us away even more. We’ve seen the pictures of the beta and we can only expect to see something regarding the MP very soon. In a recent interview one of the games designers said referring to MP that it will be everything fans want and more. We can only just imagine what that means and if it’s in the form of a trailer at Gamescom consider us satisfied.

4. Resistance 3 Announcement

Resistance 2 was a very good game despite the criticism of how much it had changed from the original. Insomniac has been teasing the announcement of the next installment in the series but no one knows for certain. We’ve seen the billboard and we’ve seen the newsletter regarding the company’s next game, but could it be R3 or maybe it could be the new multiplatform game they’ve partnered with EA for. Only Gamescom could hold the answer.

3.Last Guardian Info

One of the most impressive unveils at E3 of 2009 was a game known as The Last Guardian, a game from the creators of the Shadow of the Colossus series and Ico. The games are known for their breathtaking art direction and their different approach on video games. To make things even better we were shown a beautiful trailer alongside it. This year at E3 2010 we expected an update on the game but instead we got nothing, not even an indication that the game was still in development. Let’s hope that we can see something regarding the game at this years Gamescom.

2. Cross Game Chat

Although this is out of the blue, we just can’t seem to stop hoping for this one feature. Last year at Gamescom Sony announced a firmware update that was quite hefty introducing dynamic themes, user bars, a whats new section, and finally avatar support. Could we see another huge firmware update at this years Gamescom as well containing the highly regarded and asked for Cross Game Chat feature? Sony has said it’s in the works, but when will it be ready?

1. PSP 2

The PSP2 is in production, Sony knows it and we know it. We just need to know when it’s going to be fully unveiled. Last year Sony unveiled the PSP Go and it has since been regarded as a failure and met with huge criticism for it’s HDD only approach. The PSP2 on the other hand could blow us away the way the new 3DS did from Nintendo. Could it possibly have another analogue stick? Graphics as good as the PS2? Next generation online functionality, built in phone support, etc? We can only imagine what this could be, with the slow and steady decline of the PSP as a viable platform, Sony needs to make sure the PSP2 continues the legacy of the brand. Maybe we might finally see it at Gamescom this year, and going by Sony’s track record they aren’t afraid to showcase new hardware, just look at last years Gamescom when they finally unveiled the Slim PS3 and the coveted $299 price tag.

Only time will tell….

http://bit.ly/dAKyBP