PS3 Firmware 2.7 announced

[tha_con]

I don't think so either. I just think it's a weird feature to release. I find it really hard to go from Xbox Live which seems to be a very social service to PSN, which is very isolating. This text chat is better than nothing, but it isn't really what a lot of people were waiting for.

I don't know, a service is only as social as you make it.

I have a lot of friends on PSN, most of which I communicate regularly with either in videogames or through messaging.

I really don't understand the connotation that not being able to use "voice chat" = isolated. Communication is communication. Being social is being social.

If that is YOUR experience, awesome, more power to you.

 

[betan]

It may look like "only" a text chat but the infrastructure may be more sophisticated (i.e., a generic communications platform). e.g., If you play with Jabber comms server, they have similar feature set as the PSN chat room (e.g., text notification, persistent chat room and log, address book/friends list, presence, ...). The same platform also has gateways to MSN, AOL, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, and voice + VoIP services.

Not saying we will definitely see these features on PSN, but if it's based on Jabber, the technical solutions are already out there. And it can be bigger than a text chat.

They already have a multiway video and voice chat support implemented and working. It's just not cross game (or even ingame). Why has it not been ingame though?
I honestly doubt the reason has anything to do with lack of an infrastructure ala jabber.
We also know OS memory was shrinking from day one. Whether OS has enough computational resources for AV compression and decompression is another mystery, though I doubt the answer is positive. We don't even have background installs on PS3 (yet?).

Of course there is the possibility that MS may have console specific patents on the subject making the rest mute.

Anyway persistent text chat is quite awesome.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I don't know, a service is only as social as you make it.

I have a lot of friends on PSN, most of which I communicate regularly with either in videogames or through messaging.

I really don't understand the connotation that not being able to use "voice chat" = isolated. Communication is communication. Being social is being social.

If that is YOUR experience, awesome, more power to you.

Do you really think chatting by sending messages through PSN is easier and natural as ... talking to one or many people at the same time?

If you were sitting in a room with someone would you whip out your phones and start texting each other? Texting has its place. I'll text people if I see they're playing a game and I want to send them a quick message without disturbing them. Otherwise it's a lot easier just to talk to people than send text messages back and forth.

Here's a good example. Last night I was just quitting out of NHL09 and I invite Robert to a party. He's playing COD4 and we start talking about Killzone2 and text chatting in PSN ... ha ha ha ... Anyway Al drops into the live party and he's playing Rockband2. A few minutes later, I've talked to a person I've never met and I have someone new on my friends list. So, this could happen with PSNs new chat system, but you can't honestly tell me that text chatting with short messages that you can't type without pausing or leaving your game is anywhere near as social an atmosphere as being able to casually talk with people regardless of what game you're playing.

The text chat is not a bad feature, but I think they've somewhat dropped the ball in not having implemented one to one voice chat three years after the Xbox360 was released.

 

[patsu]

They already have a multiway video and voice chat support implemented and working. It's just not cross game (or even ingame). Why has it not been ingame though?
I honestly doubt the reason has anything to do with lack of an infrastructure ala jabber.
We also know OS memory was shrinking from day one. Whether OS has enough computational resources for AV compression and decompression is another mystery, though I doubt the answer is positive. We don't even have background installs on PS3 (yet?).

Depends on the licensing. I don't know enough about their current AV system to comment. There is also the bandwidth cost and server sizing. The standalone AV chat may not get used as much as an in-game service.

 

[tha_con]

Do you really think chatting by sending messages through PSN is easier and natural as ... talking to one or many people at the same time?

If you were sitting in a room with someone would you whip out your phones and start texting each other? Texting has its place. I'll text people if I see they're playing a game and I want to send them a quick message without disturbing them. Otherwise it's a lot easier just to talk to people than send text messages back and forth.

Yes! Make your point by being extreme! When in doubt, take the example to the extreme and blow it up!

Whatever. I send a PSN message, me and someone get in a game, then we talk via voice chat.

I send out messages to people asking about trophies, games, movies, etc. We discuss things like music, etc.

Is it really so far removed to actually TYPE to someone, just like you're doing now? OMG!!!

Is B3D "isolated" because there's no voice chat? Is posting on a forum "Dated technology"? Is this not "social"

Or is this just not extreme enough to support your one sided view that is your experience, and not everyone elses?

 

[patsu]

Do you really think chatting by sending messages through PSN is easier and natural as ... talking to one or many people at the same time?

If you were sitting in a room with someone would you whip out your phones and start texting each other? Texting has its place.

See, it depends. This is your view and I respect it. If someone text chat me even when I'm in the same room, I may not voice chat him back. Some people (many ?) may not like to talk in the virtual world, especially to new folks in online gaming. Same answer. There are room for both.

The guy may eventually switch to voice chat. Or he may not. But it's not a big deal. I should be able to text or talk to him anyway we prefer.

EDIT: btw, we have a 6-7 people chat going now in the B3D room.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yes! Make your point by being extreme! When in doubt, take the example to the extreme and blow it up!

Whatever. I send a PSN message, me and someone get in a game, then we talk via voice chat.

I send out messages to people asking about trophies, games, movies, etc. We discuss things like music, etc.

Is it really so far removed to actually TYPE to someone, just like you're doing now? OMG!!!

Is B3D "isolated" because there's no voice chat? Is posting on a forum "Dated technology"? Is this not "social"

Or is this just not extreme enough to support your one sided view that is your experience, and not everyone elses?

No, I do not consider typing on a forum anywhere near as social as speaking with someone. That's why if given the option I'd choose speaking with someone 99% of the time over texting.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Whatever. I send a PSN message, me and someone get in a game, then we talk via voice chat.

What if the game doesn't support voice chat? This is where XBLive excels - it's always present. In something like Booty, there's no social aspect to playing the game. Individuals on the same team may play the same goals or not, but there's no social feel to faceless, voiceless graphics buzzing around the screen. Throw in some chat and you have real teamwork and smack-talking and a sense of people getting together. WH is similar. When voicechat works, it can be very sociable. Otherwise it's you and a bunch of sophisticated AI bots to all extents and purposes.

You can't comfortably message or text-chat in game, at least not action games. The only way to be easily sociable in game while playing is with voice comms. XBLive! has this as standard. PS3 is decidedly hit and miss, with games that optionally support it suffering from lousy breakup at times. This is obviously a different type of sociability to chatting outside of games, and why you and Scott_Arm can both be right with contrasting opinions.

 

[DrJay24]

I for one have never voice chatted with anyone not in-game in over three years on XBL. I think it's a generational thing, I'm too old to talk to strangers and hear all the crap that comes out of people's mouths. Texting is far less personal and people tend to think more as they type (and re-read and correct), unlike speaking.

I have enjoyed the group banter in games like Burnout Paradise, but that is in the context of a game. I would not sit around chatting with them otherwise.

 

[obonicus]

I for one have never voice chatted with anyone not in-game in over three years on XBL. I think it's a generational thing, I'm too old to talk to strangers and hear all the crap that comes out of people's mouths. Texting is far less personal and people tend to think more as they type (and re-read and correct), unlike speaking.

I have enjoyed the group banter in games like Burnout Paradise, but that is in the context of a game. I would not sit around chatting with them otherwise.

Essentially this. It probably is a generational thing, I have no problem sending messages to friend across XBL, but I feel really uncomfortable using the voice message system. Chatting with a friend in a coop game or while in a squad in some MP game feels okay, though. Least of all because no one assumes I want to get to know them.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Some very very minor changes I noticed in 2.70:
The Themes list is now sorted so the latest downloaded themes are up.
The video section now shows your external usb HD below an inserted Blu-ray disc, wheras before I think it was always upper on the list.

 

[Scott_Arm]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/4/3/

Here's the reasoning behind the comic.

 

[obonicus]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/4/3/

Here's the reasoning behind the comic.

It's what I suspected. Of course, talking about this as if Sony doesn't want to do voice chat just makes Tycho sound like a moron.

I disagree about wanting voice chat, but I'm especially anti-social so I hardly ever take my own opinion as the 'general' opinion.

 

[patsu]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/4/3/

Here's the reasoning behind the comic.

It doesn't matter what their reasoning are. People are not going to change their preferences or needs because Penny Arcade said so. Plus, they don't have any access to internal Sony activities, so my guess is as good as theirs.

EDIT: We are all visiting Arwin's Summer Home in Playstation Home now
(NavNucST3, xbd, RenegadeRocks, Arwin, catisfit, and me !)

So... I'm using text chat because I am in the office. The rest are all using voice (plus some text to help set up the voice comm).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I have enjoyed the group banter in games like Burnout Paradise, but that is in the context of a game. I would not sit around chatting with them otherwise.

I'm similarly minded, although I'll chat with RL friends. But this text chat is straddling the roles of random internet chat-room (although not that random, because you have to invite people in) and in-game communication. As it's invite only, voice chat makes a lot more sense.

 

[DrJay24]

I'm similarly minded, although I'll chat with RL friends. But this text chat is straddling the roles of random internet chat-room (although not that random, because you have to invite people in) and in-game communication. As it's invite only, voice chat makes a lot more sense.

If it's in game, use voice. If it's between games, like setting up a match, then text (or Home) works. I'm not sure anyone can do 8+ user voice chat can they?

I'm sure Sony is working on it, they know it's part of a feature check list, but there are technical and legal hurdles. Meanwhile 60% of us never play or talk with others, 25% chat in game and 5% are social butterflies.

As for the comic, it's pretty of the mark. Both companies sell chat pads, it's in their interest to have features that utilize and sell them. Adding features is always a good thing and it doesn't mean it is replacing another.

 

[Arwin]

Well, as I was pointing out in our little Home chat, and then was promptly demonstrated, when you are talking with a group of people text chat can be a lifesaver and a lot more efficient than talking over voice comm. You can all talk 'at once' and still read almost anything after all, at least a lot more than you could ever manage with voice.

Take tonight - we were up to 9 people in the Beyond3D chat room (awesome) and that went great. Then we decided to try Home, so we all went to my summer house in Home (where not only did I have guests for the first time, but also managed now to test cross-region visiting, which worked great I have to say). I mentioned that I often prefer typing even in Home because when you use voice chat and typing together, or when you are with a lot of people, it gets very hard to track whose saying what, you can't hear each other properly when all people talk at once, etc. - and just ten seconds later four people voice-chatted at once and I couldn't understand a single one of them.

Voice chat is very good for a few people, but text chat still has its uses when it becomes more than a few, or when you can't see each other to know when someone is going to talk, etc.

Nothing beats voice chat in a multi-player squad based game though, that's for sure!

Nice side result of the chat-room and the Home get together is that a few more of us are now on each other's friends list.

I took a few shots from our get-together in Home as well (I'll also link them in the Home thread). Home definitely needs a little bit more to do, but the basics work pretty well. Now if we can launch a lot of different games from Home and/or find some games to play together in the summer house (would be great if I could buy a pool table or two, for instance, a few arcade cabinets that keep an online score) and get some music going, and (especially requested by xbd ) a picture frame option or something similar, and we've got something pretty useful in Home.

(Home can basically do 60 player voice chat, though I don't know how that would work out in practice. Certainly, everyone within range - it's proximity based, as we reaffirmed tonight when someone went out to the balcony and couldn't hear us - can hear when other people talk, so it works decent now)

 

[DrJay24]

patsu's avatar is much better looking than last time I saw it

 

[Scott_Arm]

If it's in game, use voice. If it's between games, like setting up a match, then text (or Home) works. I'm not sure anyone can do 8+ user voice chat can they?

I'm sure Sony is working on it, they know it's part of a feature check list, but there are technical and legal hurdles. Meanwhile 60% of us never play or talk with others, 25% chat in game and 5% are social butterflies.

As for the comic, it's pretty of the mark. Both companies sell chat pads, it's in their interest to have features that utilize and sell them. Adding features is always a good thing and it doesn't mean it is replacing another.

Xbox Live has 8 person parties that includes voice chat. You can easily hop back and forth between parties. You can also switch back and forth between the game chat and the party chat.

 

[RobertR1]

I think it goes more than 8? We get a lot of players for Halo night and never seen it hit a limit. I know we've had 10 atleast at a given time. My preference is easily for voice chat. If this was still 1995, I'd be stoked for text chat, I suppose?