I was originally disinterested in this game, but I just played a bunch of Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection on a lengthy plane ride and now NEED to get into some serious online fighting with this game.  However, I remember Jeff saying how broken the online was when the game came out.  So is it playable at all now, or is it still busted??

Well they have patched it for the ps3. Here's what the patch did:

Improved input response: improvement of the game’s responsiveness to button / command inputs
Selectable search priorities for ranked matches: players will be able to set search priorities for opponents in ranked matches based on comparable rank or connection quality as well as location
Optimized data transmission between fighters and spectators: fight data will be optimized in order to reduce the bandwidth load on the host’s console
Signal strength bars: the signal strength bar will reflect connection quality more accurately
Chance to cancel match: players will be able to cancel the match before it begins once the opponent’s signal strength has been displayed on ranked matches.

[Impressions]

So how does the online mode hold up now?

Having played over 15 matches since the patch has gone live, there is definitely a huge improvement to the netcode. We’re not sure what Namco did, but whatever it was, it worked.

copy and pasted from ps3attitude.com

I have also tested it online, and it's better now than before.

"

Well they have patched it for the ps3. Here's what the patch did:

Improved input response: improvement of the game’s responsiveness to button / command inputs
Selectable search priorities for ranked matches: players will be able to set search priorities for opponents in ranked matches based on comparable rank or connection quality as well as location
Optimized data transmission between fighters and spectators: fight data will be optimized in order to reduce the bandwidth load on the host’s console
Signal strength bars: the signal strength bar will reflect connection quality more accurately
Chance to cancel match: players will be able to cancel the match before it begins once the opponent’s signal strength has been displayed on ranked matches.

[Impressions]

So how does the online mode hold up now?

Having played over 15 matches since the patch has gone live, there is definitely a huge improvement to the netcode. We’re not sure what Namco did, but whatever it was, it worked.

copy and pasted from ps3attitude.com

I have also tested it online, and it's better now than before.

"

The patch is out on both versions. I got the ps3 version since I think the D-pad is better on ps3 and I don't want to waste my money on an arcade stick :/ The graphics and gameplay is the same on both versions.