Home Gaming Why you Can’t have Cross Game Chat : Is a Major Publisher Holding Back The PS3?

Why you Can’t have Cross Game Chat : Is a Major Publisher Holding Back The PS3?

3 min read
39

PS3Chained

The internet rumour mill is in full swing, this time laced with more than just a little conspiracy; An anonymous N4G forum user by the name of Super_Secret – who claims to be an employee of Sony Japan – has divulged why you can’t have unified custom soundtracks, and by extension cross-game chat on your PS3.

Normally nobody really pays attention to random forum users, but Super_Secret was eerily correct when he leaked information on the PS3 slim back in June; He said the install other OS option would be missing, said the touch-sensitive buttons would be replaced by regular buttons and was also spot on regarding Hard Drive size.

In his latest forum rambling, Super_Secret has revealed just why you can’t have Cross-Game chat (a staple feature of the undeniably superior paid Xbox Live service) – and as a result has created an internet army of angry PS3 fans.

According to the cryptic internet ninja, a rather large corporation is responsible for you not having built-in cross-game chat. That same company is responsible for the lack of integrated custom soundtracks. If you recall in the preview video for firmware 2.4, custom soundtracks was working fine for 95%, but by the time 2.4 actually launched, that feature was missing. Of course, some games now support the feature, but it has to be coded in to the game.

Anyway, apparently one large publisher’s games fell in to that 5%, and didn’t want their games to look bad – so they requested the feature be dropped from Sony’s firmware update. Similar to that issue is the one of Cross-Game chat, a heavily requested feature. Apparently the same publisher has a hand in that feature not being implemented as some of their (apparently poorly coded) games won’t work with it – and they threatened to drop support for Sony’s console if it showed their games in a bad light.

While not naming the publisher directly, the poster did leave an encoded message divulging its identity. Needless to say, the message was decoded rather quickly :

” It’s not Activision. It’s not Ubisoft. It’s not Capcom. It’s not Insomniac. It’s not Konami. It’s not Take 2. It’s not Midway. It’s not Squaresoft. are wE All getting the picture yet? One point I want to reiterate – there’s a difference between the games that didn’t work with in-game XMB and the games that DID work with in-game XMB but DIDN’T work well with custom soundtracks, so stop picking out the ones that simply didn’t do in-game XMB. Also, it wasn’t just ONE game that caused this, either. Although one title does come to mind and it wasn’t even what you or I would call a “Big” game. I’ll give you a hint: HPatOofP. “

The internet quickly realised that the publisher in question was EA, and the hint alluded to “Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix” which resulted in a flurry of very, very angry PS3 fans bombarding the EA forums with questions, expressing their vitriol and threatening to boycott EA. This quickly devolved in to a forum war involving large quantities of the very worst in scat porn – which made me ashamed to be a gamer, and a human being.

Both Sony and EA have vehemently denied this, but isn’t that to be expected? While this all may seem a little far fetched, it’s not implausible for it to be true. You may remember that EA dropped support the Dreamcast, effectively sentencing it to death. They also threatened to boycott Microsoft’s original Xbox over Microsoft’s own line of sport games. Remember Links golf?

Original N4G thread here.

Last Updated: August 28, 2009

39 Comments

  1. easy

    August 28, 2009 at 12:09

    and now let the lahar of mudslinging begin… :whistle:

    Reply

  2. Q121

    August 28, 2009 at 12:18

    Why do we never have forum scat wars….. so unfair

    :pirate:

    Reply

  3. spl0it

    August 28, 2009 at 12:43

    Here Q, have some ascii

    _
    /) _
    _ / / (/
    /) ( Y)
    / / “” (Y )
    ( Y) _ “”
    “” (/ _
    /)
    (Y ) / /
    “” ( Y)
    “”

    Reply

  4. Ozzy

    August 28, 2009 at 13:06

    hardly suprising if it is EA. they have quite a shit reputation already. they love money & power like gabe newell loves creamy-poofs.

    Reply

  5. Geoff

    August 28, 2009 at 13:11

    Hey! Watch it, Gabe Newell will eat you if you’re not careful! :devil:

    Reply

  6. Ozzy

    August 28, 2009 at 13:29

    he would eat his own foot if you put cream on it. :tongue:

    Reply

  7. Geoff

    August 28, 2009 at 14:19

    Haaaaaaaaahahahahaha 😆

    ah man, that just made my day.

    Reply

  8. Quagga

    August 28, 2009 at 15:03

    My god! “undeniably superior Xbox Live service”. There is PLENTY of evidence to argue or deny the superiority of one service over the other, and it is an on-going debate.

    In classic LazyGamer style, you have presumed that you can end YEARS of fanboy debate with your biased opinion by throwing in the word “undeniably” into your article, italicised for effect as well!

    Well, I deny it. Now what, Geoff?

    Reply

  9. StNick

    August 28, 2009 at 15:13

    It does seem a tad presumptuous of the author, but impartiality isn’t always common-place around these parts with xbox vs. ps3 matters.

    Reply

  10. Nick de Bruyne

    August 28, 2009 at 15:16

    Most international videogame journalists and websites have come to the same conclusion, not just the author of this post. Besides the fact that PSN is free, I can’t fully believe that PSN offers the better service.

    I don’t mean it in a war-starting way, but just as plain as what is in front of me. Cross game chats, party systems and more importantly the integration of those things into every game that is released, not to mention that XBLA require demos for all their games. The service is solid.

    Reply

  11. janrik

    August 28, 2009 at 15:23

    Clap Clap Clap Clap.

    Calm and to the point. Well done old chap. 😆

    Reply

  12. easy

    August 28, 2009 at 15:31

    “Cross game chats”

    lol… funny you should mention that… 😉

    Reply

  13. Geoff

    August 28, 2009 at 15:56

    Right now, I have to say that Xbox Live IS the better service. The PSN has made strides since it first launched, but still isn’t anywhere near the level of XBL.

    Man, there’s no winning for me. I get accused of being a PS3 fanboy in some articles, and an Xbot in others.

    Reply

  14. Ozzy

    August 28, 2009 at 16:01

    but live also have people like janprick. that on its own devalues the service entirely :whistle:

    Reply

  15. easy

    August 28, 2009 at 16:07

    but you supply a healthy dose gratuitous flesh!

    more than makes up for all your other ‘failings’ 😀

    Reply

  16. Boobs

    August 28, 2009 at 16:07

    And PSN has people like Ozzprick…

    Reply

  17. easy

    August 28, 2009 at 16:11

    and lazygamer comments have boobsprick…

    mmm that doesn’t sound too bad actually lol :angel: 😆

    Reply

  18. Geoff

    August 28, 2009 at 16:12

    At least the acknowledgment of my mammary fanboy status is unfaltering. :biggrin:

    Reply

  19. Nick

    August 28, 2009 at 16:19

    Heres the problem with your post Geoff.

    (1) You should have used the word arguably. Why you ask? Well you are a journalist meant to inform about the news not provide your own opinion. Previews and Reviews are another matter which obviously are opinion pieces meant to be informed by your opinions. If you want to sing the praises of Xbox live vs PSN or Wii’s online service then write an article and at least justify your reasons otherwise no one will take your articles seriously and just dismiss you as another fanboy gaming blogger pretending to be a games journalist.

    (2) Second problem is the fact that you are writing for South African gamers not for the rest of the world. You need to justify why you feel Xbox live is better for South Africans and frankly when it comes to South Africa MS made promises and then screwed us. Now we have to make accounts in other countries using a foreign residential address which is probably illegal, then still pay to play and finally we dont get access to mature content in some cases like the Gears of War 2 DLC fiasco. I would hardly call that a superior service for South Africans would you? Especially in light of the fact that even though we are a small gaming market, predominantly PC centric, Sony still had respect enough for us to give us our own store, in our own currency, which gets updated as soon as Europe does 99% of the time from day one.

    Reply

  20. meatcake

    August 28, 2009 at 16:55

    And Boobs is a gender confused 17 year old. And yes I’m a meatcake. How about we all play some games now? :silly:

    Reply

  21. meatcake

    August 28, 2009 at 16:57

    You make an excellent points there…. well done.

    Reply

  22. meatcake

    August 28, 2009 at 16:58

    :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

    Reply

  23. Geoff

    August 28, 2009 at 17:22

    Thanks for a well thought out and level-headed response.

    You do make some very good points – and I agree that as South Africans we have been shafted by Microsoft.

    Live is still the better service though, primarily because of Microsoft’s decision to have the service fully integrated and unified into the system.

    This is evidenced by the fact that this particular post even exists – and it’s this post as a whole that people need to focus on, not the single parenthesised (Parenthesis, you see, is a digressionary departure from the main subject, often used to input a writer’s opinion, without that having an effect on the subject matter at hand) sentence proclaiming Xbox Live’s superiority.

    Reply

  24. StNick

    August 29, 2009 at 08:03

    The existence of this post is NOT evidence that Xbox is the better service. It is merely one checkmark for Xbox in a LONG list of pros and cons of the two systems.

    Perhaps XBL *is* the better service, but the point is, who are YOU to proclaim it as the “undeniably superior” service when there are plenty of arguments to the contrary?

    Reply

  25. Geoff

    August 29, 2009 at 08:37

    It was a parenthesised opinion. When voicing opinions I have the right to say whatever I like – just as you have the right to disagree.

    As far as playing multiplayer games with friends is concerned, XBL is the better service – it’s just so much more coherent.

    On the flip side, I think the PSN provides better and more unique downloadable titles, with XBLA mostly providing rehashes and remakes of things we’ve all played before.

    …but that’s the PSN Store – a digital shopfront as opposed to the service.

    Reply

  26. StNick

    August 29, 2009 at 08:51

    If you believe I have the right to disagree, then “undeniably” is probably not the best choice of words when voicing your opinion.

    Reply

  27. Geoff

    August 29, 2009 at 09:05

    Fair point, perhaps not the best choice of words. 🙂

    I actually quite enjoyed this dialogue, and hope to possibly have more with you in the future.

    Reply

  28. I don't care

    August 29, 2009 at 10:19

    If you have the right to disagree then he as the right to use the word “undeniably”. Or you could just write your own article.

    Reply

  29. SlippyMadFrog

    August 31, 2009 at 11:54

    How do you know when you are a fanboy? -> When you piss your pants over a small off-topic statement made in an article about something else entirely.

    Seriously guys, what does it matter if Geoff thinks XBL is better? Who gives a shit! Will this article have some sort of tangible impact on your gaming pleasure? -> No! so stfu with this childish crap.

    Reply

  30. kurtis

    October 3, 2010 at 10:53

    :ninja: i am a :ninja:

    Reply

  31. kurtis

    October 3, 2010 at 10:57

    :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :w00t: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: :alien: lol

    Reply

  32. kurtis

    October 3, 2010 at 13:20

    its a rainy day

    Reply

  33. kurtis

    October 3, 2010 at 13:28

    :face: :devil: :cheerful:

    Reply

  34. kurtis

    October 3, 2010 at 13:37

    :alien: :angel: :angry: :blink: :blush: :cheerful: 😎 :cwy: :devil: :dizzy: :ermm: :face: :getlost: :biggrin: :happy: :heart: :kissing: 😆 :ninja: :pinch: :pouty: 🙁 :shocked: :sick: :sideways: :silly: :sleeping: 🙂 :tongue: :unsure: :w00t: :wassat: :whistle: 😉 :wub: :pirate:

    Reply

  35. kurtis

    October 4, 2010 at 16:52

    :heart:

    Reply

  36. kurtis

    October 8, 2010 at 18:47

    its the next day

    Reply

  37. kurtis

    October 8, 2010 at 18:48

    and its friday :cheerful: :cheerful: :cheerful:

    Reply

  38. kurtis

    October 8, 2010 at 18:52

    :putnam:

    Reply

  39. kurtis

    October 18, 2010 at 19:36

    :za:

    Reply

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