Sony Says Cross Game Chat on PS3 “Not Possible”
The #1 unequivocally most-requested feature for the PlayStation 3 has been cross game chat. Before the PS3 ever hit store shelves, Sony used it to demonstrate some of the features the PS3 was capable of. Turns out it’s not capable of cross game chat after all.
It’s been the PS3′s most glaring omission thus far, and the inclusion of cross game chat on the upcoming PlayStation Vita, only made the lack of cross game chat on the PS3 stick out like the most sore thumb ever.
Finally… after all this time. Sony has revealed that memory restrictions on the PS3 prevent cross game chat from ever being implemented into the PS3. During a recent interview with Eurogamer, Sony’s President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, had this to say on why the PS3 can’t handle cross game chat:
Once a game gets RAM we never give it back…It’s not possible to retrofit something like that after the fact.
It’s about time Sony came clean and made it clear that it’s never coming. For now, if you want cross game chat, you’ll have to stick to our podcast.
49 Responses to “Sony Says Cross Game Chat on PS3 “Not Possible””
+ It don’t do – PS2 playback
I would rather have PS2 playback back than that pointless cross game chat rubbish.
so tired of hearing this. heres your options: buy one of the original model ps3′s or get this…buy a ps2.
Don’t get all high and mighty jackass. The PS2 was able to play all my PS1 games so naturally a few people who wanted the next console from sony would expect it to play their PS2 games.
I dont think KCZFINEST_913 is being a jackass, it really is getting annoying when people keep asking for PS2 playback when you can still buy the original models that have it. People just dont want to spend the extra money, I spent the extra money for the 60GB and its worth every penny.
Its unfortunate people didnt see the value of having three game consoles in one until they removed one to make it more affordable.
@randal
Well, actuall yea he kinda is.
You must be pretty fucking stupid to not know what your “options” are. Reality was simply stating his opinion (& mine and probably millions of others), that he would rather have ps2 playback instead of xgame chat.
You dont know what ps3 version he had. What if he did “spend the extra cash” on the 60 gig, just like I did. These things dont last forever, and it would actually be nice if we can just replace the console we had ORIGINALLY purchased, with ALL the features we originally had, but guess what? We CANT.
I sold my PS2 when I got my PS3 for Xmas, based on the fact that it had b/c. The idea that when that PS3 broke I not only needed to buy a new PS3, but would also have to buy a PS2 as well because they no longer offer b/c annoyed me. Now that nearly every game I own is being resold to me as a PS3 game annoys me even further – either way, I’m stuck paying more money to play stuff I already own. Any way you spin it, I think that’s bullshit.
@WestSiide
I had 2 60GB die on me, im on my third. Since the second one died within warranty, it was free to replace. It cost 150$ to get it repaired, why would you have to buy a new one? I had a 60GB, it died, i still have a 60GB so we CAN replace the original model we had.
well i mean if you sold your ps2 , that is something you choice to do , did sony force you to sell your ps2? your not stuck paying anything, you don’t have to rebuy a hdps2 game on ps3. if you had just kept your ps2 you could still play your ps2 games. they took it out to cut costs on the console. i have a bigger ps3 that played ps2 games , to be honest i think that ps2 plays ps2 games better then the ps3 did.
@randal
Well yea of course its no problem if youre still under warranty, but many people with a dead 60 gig died between year 2-3.
Paying Sony to repair your 60 gig for $150 with only a 90 day warranty is now more absurd than ever, since you can get a new one with full warranty for $100 bucks more. Not
only that, but Sony doesnt guarantee that the original console you sent in would be the same one you get back, meaning your potentially paying $150 for a refurbished (used, previously broken) product.
Does that sound like a good deal to you?
I would rather Sony keep One “premium” ps3 on the market with full b/c. Instead of trying to entice you into buying the $299 ps3 just because it has more hard drive space, i would rather them entice me into paying $299 because it can play ALL my Playstation games.
@abercrumbie
Dont be a smartass. Tyler obviously sold his ps2 (a product he was no longer using, were not all hoarders like you) becuase he had just acquired a product that would play the same games.
Do you think he, myself, or anyone else had knowledge of Sony planning to remove that feature? Of course not! Nobody knew. Around that time the people working at Sony probably didnt know. What we DID know was that the ps3 had FULL b/c with ALL ps1 & ps2 games, and there was never a reason to suggest that future ps3′s wouldnt have the same features.
Youre reasonings for everything is always so damn retarded. Its always “No one forced you to do this”, “No ones making you buy that”, “No one made you… blah, blah,blah”.
The next time you look into your crystal ball into the future, please share your findings. Only then will there be no more excuses from the things that we do or dont do.
@WestSiide
I agree, it would be awesome to still have a fully functional “slim 60GB” PS3, but it would be around $400 realistically. With a now $250 PS3 on the market, it would not be very profitable for them to have one almost twice as expensive.
Of course ill pay if its out of warranty, if my tv dies 7 years later, i would much rather pay 300$ to get it repaired/replaced then drop another 1500$ for a new one.
There are plenty of options to get a b/c PS3, people just dont want to pay that premium to have it.
*yawn* i mean you can’t even spell my name right, but have fun not being able to play your ps2 games, and giving people thumbs down on here.
why do u no longer have a ps2? did you sell it? or did it break? i’m sure you can find a cheaper ps2 used out there. but slim ps2′s are 99$ new as well. but why did you get rid of your ps2 if you still wanted to play ps2 games.
could not agree more about ps2 playback…it could do it on the first model..and they clearly realized it was a mistake since they were still selling ps2′s and ps2 games. Kind of crooked, and if we as consumers don’t complain about things..how do you expect them to get better? God forbid we hold a company accountable if we think something is shady. Big sony supporter here, but I think it’s shitty that I had to in fact go out and buy a PS2 so I could play some of my old library.
Hmmm. Obviously Sony is aware of the desire for this and other community type features. I know they would never do this, but it would be cool to launch a “PS3.5″ that would incorporate more RAM, a faster blu ray drive, a few more USB ports, and Wireless N. Still have the same PS3 base of hardware (not a new dev kit, etc), but be able to expand the community that has been squelch due to hardware limitations.
They did it for the PSP with RAM, and they already have different PS3 models with different hardware features, i.e. Bravia Synch. I really dont see how it would be a negative by adding the amount of RAM needed to have CGC. I know a lot of people who dont use the PS3 because of it, and they would buy one if it got added.
@jamkor
But even if they did come out with an upgraded ps3, the current 50 million+ ps3′s out there wouldnt have the Xgame chat capabilities, so itll be a pretty pointless and fragmented feature.
As far as adding other stuff like wireless n, usb ports, upgraded blu ray drive, etc. Well, the goal and objective is to bring costs down, not up.
If people want CGC that bad, they would just trade in their old model and buy the new one. I personally think its a pointless feature anyways, but a lot of people think its got a monetary value. Those holding out for CGC will buy it and those that were waiting for it would trade in/buy it. Its a solid win win for consumers and Sony.
Wonder if sony has ever heard of skype…
Anyway I don’t believe that. I think sony is just lazy.
I wonder how much RAM is used up by the XMB. It runs so slowly, maybe by improving it they could free up RAM for cross game chat/skype. There are so many menus in it that don’t even work in-game anyway.
@francisco
Yes they have heard of skype, which is why itll be a feature on the Vita. Even if the ps3 had skype capabilities, I doubt itll be available for use while youre playing a game anyway.
I used to use “Skype” as X-Game Chat when BF: 1943 was released on the PSN because it had no “Chat feature in Game” we used Skype at the time to talk between team members. What was funny sometimes is that we would be pitted on opposite teams and we would get together at points on the map and then just create havoc on the team of our choice, usually with people that just team killed others to get people off that server so that they could get a friend of theirs on the squad. Some nights were a big laughfest because of Skype.
But now that M$ owns Skype I won’t be using it on any Sony Product since I am sure that M$ will make changes to the use of Skype to push you into paying for the service’s “Premium” features.
But also there is a fact that Nintendo owns many Patents that don’t run out until 2013 if the 15 year rule is in affect. It was Nintendo in 1998 that was granted patents by the Patent Office for what we now call Cross Game Chat. Even if memory issues with the PS3 are the hardware issues with cross game chat and that is why they keep saying that Game Developers would have to create the feature and get it working because the feature would have to work inside the games code it makes rumours from around FW 3.00 update more real. That rumour was that a specific game publishing Company warned off Sony against cross game chat because it interfered with what they had put into the game… So it looks like both aspects are true, there is a physical reason that you can’t do cross game chat and a legal issue, but which one is the real reason we don’t have it.
I seriously doubt it’s a matter of laziness. I think it’s seriously absurd that this is a reason for someone to not buy the system, but I know quite a few people who claim it is. I have a phone, a pc with a mic, and a mic for my games, so that’s plenty, but Sony has got to be aware that this is a serious issue for many customer. I’ve gotta think that if they could do it, they would.
Lazy companies don’t push out hardware that’s so above and beyond everything else on the market they have to knowingly lose money for several years on every sale of it, and still manage to turn it around into a profitable and extremely successful platform. That’s some crazy strategery right there.
I agree. You cant use the “lazy” card everytime you dont get something that you want.
Most of the people on my friends list are my real friends, so our version of xgame chat are our cell phones. I understand you dont want those who you dont know in real life having your cell or home phone number, so heres something I suggested in the past.
Create a free google voice account, tie that number to your cell phone, and display that number over the “comment” section of your avatar. Boom.. xgame chat without giving away personal info.
It’s not going to kill me not having XGC on the PS3. I use if all the time on the 360. But I’m still buying a PS3 next week. UC3!!!
Wow… well done Sony.
Gutted no xgame chat, sad very very sad.
Lets hope devs sort it out for the ps3 on online game chat, ive had to many games spoiled by bad voice chat: Borderlands and Hunted had terrible voice chat, so we had to use msn or skype how sad is that.
I love co-op games and with the terrible ps3 voice chat support it just isnt happening.
Resident evil 5 was good and UC2 wasnt bad, so it can be better.
It seems 360 takes the voice chat W hands down.
NO Xgame chat fuckin sad shite man
…wow, and this is exactly what Gabe with Steam integration can actualy do!
I’m glad Sony told us right away instead of dragging it out and allowing fans to suggest it as an idea or their blog, and then allowing their fan base to believe it was possible for the next 4 years.
Not that I wanted it, but really Sony? We can handle the truth. Just come clean with shit like this. Then we don’t have to hear “Where XGC???” every time new firmware is dropped on us.
Actually, Yoshida has never said its not possible on PS3. Everyone here should read what he said. He even says cross party voice chat is something implemented in games, so if Sony releases it some games might have to patch it. Thats not a reason to add this mandatory feature because some games didnt patch Trophies in and everyone was fine. Another option is for Sony to free up some space. The current UI can be drastically improved and same with in game UI.
I wouldnt be surprised if this was just said by Yoshida to try and screw PS3 owners and try to make the Vita look better and try to have us buy it and same goes with the PS4.
I wanted to add, if none of those above options can be done, than release a PS3 “3.5″ with enough RAM and everything else needed to have these features and give earlier PS3 owners an add on for free, or if it cant be free than a reasonable price so the PS3 owners that care about XGC and all the other great features can also have it.
Kalu Kalay it’s a wonderful day
…and the gorilla has left the room; With an ipod touch and the Skype app this becomes a non-issue very quickly and we’ll be getting CGC with the Vita so in the words of Mr. Lahey “No Big Deal Bud!”
If they knew it would “never work”? then why not announce it. It;’s been almost 5 years since it debuted.
You can talk to 20+ people in Resist.2 and any other Online MP game thru your headset, on certain games, like Tiger PGA 12, you can see the other players ball tracks … we can “lend” our PS3′s power to help the “Folding @ Home” Initiative…if some issues arise with the PS3 and/or game developers can build a patch and send it out to thousands, even millions of people, in a PATCH UPDATE, and yet after 5 years, NOW they say Corss game chat “it can’t be done?
“Once a game gets RAM we never give it back…It’s not possible to retrofit something like that after the fact”
ISony sure as shit sends out a PATCHES that UPDATES the PS3 that addes/alters our PS3s settings, in game whatever
Exactlly. This contradicts all the other statements Sony has made about cross chat. I believe Sony plans to add it to PS3, if they arent than its because they want us to get Vita to experience it on PlayStation or worse have us wait for PS4, but if we dont take this, this feature will happen on PS3. If they cant just release it even if older games have to do a patch, Sony should release a new PS3 with more RAM, just like they did with the PSP.
I called this years ago, I think in an argument on the official forums. I didn’t feel good about it then, and wished I was wrong. But I believed back then that there was a technical hurdle they just couldn’t surpass, or they would have already shown it working. They kept it a secret, once they realized certain people wanted it, so as not to compromise sales on an already tough sell. In the end, they are dominating, and frankly I could care less about cross game chat. I only need to talk to people I game with, in game, or pick up a phone.
From the people who had trouble making IN-GAME XMB work (and even now it does rather slowly, and in some very demanding games it may even freeze your PS3 -hint: don’t try it too much while racing B-spec in GT5- ) it’s really no wonder it wasn’t possible, why so many are surprised is beyond me…the PS3 is close to 5 years old and doing just find without it.
SOME features NOT possible in the crapbox and it will NEVER have them:
Blu-ray
Bluetooth
Free Online gaming
Non-propietary HDD replacements that don’t void your warranty.
Internet Browser
Save Game Saves to USB
Save Music/Photos/Video to your PS3 hard-drive from your PC via streaming/from USB external hard-drive.
I WOULDN’T CHANGE ANY OF THE ABOVE FEATURES FOR X VOICE CHAT, NOW WOULD YOU? PS3 gives us so many things WE TAKE FOR GRANTED, let’s appreciate them a little more.
A-Friggin-Men!
Yep. I made this argument April 3, 2009. Thank you Google!
themule,is soo correct! Thanks, Mr.mule
its still possible to do CGC on the PS3 but as some one els put it not needed. back on Wii online games me and friends would just use DS to chat while playing Wii games. with skype on the psp and with the CGC being part of the vita there really isnt a need for CGC on the ps3. Most of the time only people i really chat with are normally playing the same game online anyways.
CGC upside i see is i could build my trains and playstation HOME levels on LBP2 while still being able to chat in Gi and Home informer meetings
hello …
I don’t really care about Cross Game Chat but really like the in-game voice chat feature, since it allows me to coop better, so i guess we will see this later on the PS4.
It could be rendered possible only if the future games uses less memory, but won’t be BC with older games.
OT:
Now to those *fighting* about PS2 BC, i do feel your pain but having a 20Gb Based PS3 that seems to be failing these days even after spending a lot of money on it, my only two PS2 repurchased were God of War 1 & 2. In the beginning because of incompatibility (zones) had to get rid of my collection so now i don’t really need this feature but if i had more games would certainly love to see the SLIM too has the feature. I always say that console manufacturers do not do justice to their fans who not only buy the product at launch but also at a higher price. I feel it’s a let down not giving them back the support they deserved by having a high fail rate & later on removing features.
For me it’s what you give me in the beginning with the price i pay should remain till the end or at least i have a replacement up to my expectations.
BOT: Anyway we’ve got PSLS CGC & it’s great …
cheers!
For games like Borderlands with crappy ‘non-working’ online audio we always use MSN etc etc… Works fine, Jobs a goodun… If something dont work or is missing WORK ROUND IT.. SIMPLE
That’s perfectly fine by me. I could never understand why people need to keep their damned mouths going 24/7. I mean, shut up and pay attention to the game you’re playing. It’s called having an attention span.
Can’t you just pick up a phone? I mean, if you’re talking across different games, then really, what’s the point of talking? Just to talk? That seems a bit pointless really. I haven’t really seen the point of having cross-game chat, especially since you really only need to chat in the same game.
some people only have friends on their game systems, whom they’ve never met in real life…who might be their only friends.
Good, I hope people stop bringing it up every chance they get now. I would’ve used it while screwing around in GTA4 but thats it. I don’t get who’d want to talk to people while playing a story. Its sad nobody cares about stories anymore.
it is a legal issue of patents required for xgame chat. plain and simple. maybe one day when the patents are revised, sold or licensed. they would never admit that a “certain company” is holding on to those patents like their console life depended on it. one day maybe but right now it’s a no go.
msn and skype take roughly 2meg of ram lol
ps3 cant do, bullshit