I'm sort of familiar with the features of the Launch PS3, but what
has changed in regards to the online service features?  What's
now free, that wasn't free, or remained the same?  What has
been made better?  What has really made it an excellent system?
And what really sucks about it now compared to launch, if anything?

it's basically the same and what makes it great is that it plays games.

The PS3 is all about the exclusive titles, which are the one thing that has gotten significantly better since launch. I have had little to no problems with the online service, and by that I mean connection issues or dropped games.   
Everything else is just preference based.  
 
Although, in the "con" department - the Blu-ray drive is seriously outdated. Since the launch of the PS3, Blu-ray read speeds and function have improved drastically. If you purchase a new Blu-ray player, you'll notice the load times for the menus and functions is much faster than the PS3's. 

Yo remember when Sony thought rumble was the past and sixaxis was the future... yeah they changed that.

It's, for all intents and purposes, always been like the way it is now. They tweaked the UI a couple times and added dynamic themes but there's not been much else in terms of features. They've never put anything that was previously free behind a pay wall. The only thing you have to pay for is the right to pay less for other things. Some would argue that taking out Other OS is what really sucks about it, but I really don't care and neither should you. 
 
Now that I've answered your questions, answer one of mine: Why do you always format your words like that?

Yo remember when Sony thought rumble was the past and sixaxis was the future... yeah they changed that.

@Lind_L_Taylor: They took out Linux or 'other OS' option. Other than that, multiplayer/online store access are still free. The online game library has definitely grown with lots of gems here and there. Main reason to buy one is PS3 exclusive games. Uncharted, God of War, Infamous, Resistance, Killzone, to name a few. These already have sequels, and each iteration of these franchises are all pretty good. PS3 is also one of the best quality Blu-ray players in the market with optional 24Hz cinematic output (if your TV has that capability) as well as built in Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu streaming services. Reason to NOT buy one: if you're poor and you need money for food and shelter.

I'm still to broke to afford one :(

Still lacks cross game chat and the Xbox Live party system. In-game XMB is horrible.
 
Trophy syncing is slow and a bit clunky, trophies aren't ntegrated into the system as well as the Xbox achievements are.
 
It's still a good console.

A lot has changed with the PS3 since it first launched, really. A bunch of different features have been nailed onto the XMB that originally weren't there and some features have been removed. Some of these additions have been a case of Sony playing catch-up with the 360's feature set, like the in-game XMB, and in some cases they're just not implemented as well (trophies and custom soundtrack support are good examples). Of course, other features are reportedly better - Netflix, for instance (I wouldn't know, being from Aus).

If you don't own multiple platforms you're not likely to really notice, though, and it's a case of "You get what you pay for" I suppose. I do wonder if the PS3's user experience would be much improved if Sony had have had a program like Playstation Plus from the outset. I wish Sony had had a bit more foresight when it came to the system's UI and online features, it feels to me like the XMB has held them back to some extent. I don't know if the system would allow for it, but I really do think the PS3 could do with a complete overhaul of its OS - keep the core structure of the XMB, sure, but I'd rather see all of the features that have been added over the years better implemented so that they feel less bolted-on.

The PS3's line-up of exclusives has gone from strength to strength over the last few years and looks like it'll be stronger than the 360's line-up for the foreseeable future as Microsoft decide to focus on first party kinect titles and hope that new a Halo, Gears and Forza, along with Kinect integration into 3rd party titles like Mass Effect and Ghost Recon will satiate the enthusiast audience. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Microsoft pushing Kinect games and attempting to capture the Wii's market, but there's a lot more they could be doing to keep their existing customers happy.

We've also finally been seeing some real parity between the quality of multiplatform games on the PS3 and 360 over the last 12 months, hell, Shadows of the Damned shows us that even UE3 titles can perform just as well on the PS3 as on the 360 (SotD actually appears to be marginally better on the PS3). So if you're choosing one system over the other right now the performance of multiplatform games isn't the factor it used to be.

At launch the Sixaxis didn't have any kind of force feedback, the Dual Shock 3 has rectified that, though outside of the d-pad (and to a lesser extend the face buttons) the controller is still arguably inferior to its 360 counterpart - this really comes down to a matter of preference, though.

Beyond all of that there have been a bunch of other changes of varying size since launch including wider support for different video codecs, a video editor, a photo app, Playstation Home, 3D support, Playstation Move etc. I'm sure if you were to list them all it would prove to be quite substantial.

I still have a preference for my 360 when it comes to online features, user experience (including things like patching), achievements and the controller. But the PS3 is certainly a system worth owning and a system worthy of being purchased as your one console of choice if it comes down to it.

@DetectiveSpecial said:

The PS3 is all about the exclusive titles, which are the one thing that has gotten significantly better since launch. I have had little to no problems with the online service, and by that I mean connection issues or dropped games. Everything else is just preference based. Although, in the "con" department - the Blu-ray drive is seriously outdated. Since the launch of the PS3, Blu-ray read speeds and function have improved drastically. If you purchase a new Blu-ray player, you'll notice the load times for the menus and functions is much faster than the PS3's.

I don't agree with that. I have 3 Blu-ray players in my household, the most recent being an LG (can't remember model number and I'm at work) but the PS3 is still the snappiest.

@kingzetta said:

it's basically the same and what makes it great is that it plays games.

but... ps3 has no gaems.

@kingzetta said:

it's basically the same and what makes it great is that it plays games.

but... ps3 has no gaems.

If you simply look up playstation 3 on wikipedia there is a full chart of every ps3 sku along with each models features.

They've removed legacy support of PS2 games, other OS installations, removed some USB ports, and introduced a $60/yr pay-for subscription service that doesn't really get you anything other than the ability to play some demos for an hour and automatic patch downloading (ooooh, so amazing). It still remains far less played than my 360, but played way more than my Wii (which I haven't even seen since I moved a year and a half ago and haven't played in three years).

It's better as a multimedia platform than a hardcore gaming device. PSN is still inferior to Xbox Live in terms of both connection quality and services. But in terms of the variety of multimedia features, it blows the Xbox 360 away.