Are Sony & Devs Holding Back PSN?

When the PS3 launched back in 2006, the PlayStation Network was a total disaster. Not only in terms of content (or rather the lack thereof) and limited payment features, but also in social features. Gamers that switched from Xbox LIVE were in for some unpleasant surprises, but it’s fair to say newcomers got burned too.

In the first games that included online play, each of them had another kind of menu-structure to manage invitations and lobbies. Not all games used the PSN’s universal Friends list, so you had different friends in different games. I think the best example of this is Metal Gear Online, which required a separate Konami ID to play the game online. Heck, some games didn’t even feature voice chat.

Later on, this got a little more streamlined, as the PSN’s Friends list got incorporated into most games in some way, which was a small improvement, but still far from perfect. Especially when compared to Xbox Live. “Sure, but that’s a paid service”, some might say. But unfortunately it doesn’t change the fact that Sony screwed up with their network user-interface. It’s clear that they didn’t take online gaming very seriously back when they developed the PS3:

• No in-game XMB to continue communicating with friends while playing a game
• No cross-game invites
• No cross-game voice chat
• No official headset

These are all features that you get out-of-the-box when you buy a Xbox 360 and connect it to LIVE.  But let’s be reasonable here: this is Sony’s first real attempt at building a universal social network for online gaming. Aside from Microsoft being a software company, they’ve also learned a lot from creating and improving the original Xbox Live service.

Then came Home: an ambitious, free service that got a lot of people excited – this would be the answer to the problems mentioned above! Game Launching, meeting, playing and (voice)-chatting with friends… some even talked about Home eventually replacing the XMB.

Well, we all know the story. Home didn’t live up to the promises and expectations and it (still) is much too separate from the PlayStation Network. There are just a handful of games that support Game Launching, and even if they do, it’s doubtful that they get used much, as it doesn’t make sense to first load a service, then hook up with your friends through a cumbersome (although slightly revised with a recent patch) menu-structure and sit through the loading screens, only to launch into a game. It’s much easier to just boot up the game and do it from there.

However, after much feedback and rage from the community, Sony finally started listening to the gamers. We got our in-game XMB, we got custom soundtracks (although this is something that only works in some games, as the developer needs to manually enable it), a screenshot feature and even a YouTube upload service. But there were some things that the community kept demanding. With every single firmware-update, PS3 gamers posted thousands of comments on The Official PS Blog and the official PlayStation Boards were full of requests and feedback, mostly concerning three key features that were still painfully absent:

• Cross-game invites
• Joining friends in their multiplayer sessions through the in-game XMB’s Friend list
• And of course cross-game voice chat

But then, somewhere in late 2009, Sony finally added the functionality for developers to implement true cross-game invites (through automated PSN messages) and the ability to instantly join friends through the in-game XMB’s Friend list. When a player gets an invite, they can just open the message and select ‘Join’. The rest will be handled automatically and before you know it, you’re in the game or lobby with your friends. Even if you’re in another game while accepting the invitation, the PS3 will just ask you to insert the correct game disc and warn you about losing unsaved progress.

This removes the need for crappy in-game social environments when it comes to handling invitations and such. Nothing about this was mentioned though. Not on the PS Blog, not on the Official Boards. Nowhere.

Infinity Ward was the first developer to get it right on PS3, with Modern Warfare 2. Cross-game invites? Check! Joining friends through the XMB? Check! Because none of these features were publicly ‘announced’ or even mentioned, this came as very pleasant surprise to PS3 gamers.

Basically, it works the same as on Xbox Live. And it just makes sense, perfectly integrates PSN into the game (which makes it feel much less detached) and it’s easy to use.

They also included ‘Presence Data’. This is information about the players current state in the game, like for instance: ‘Playing Free for All on Scrapyard 6/8′. These small bits of info are displayed below the usernames of your friends, so you can always see what they’re up to. You may have noticed this for some games before.

Although this isn’t new, it is a great feature, and it should be used for every PS3 game. But that’s exactly the problem. It SHOULD be used. And the same goes for cross-game invites, joining friends through the XMB and custom soundtracks. But most developers just don’t do it. Why? Because they’re lazy. Yes! They really are. They don’t HAVE to do it if they don’t feel like it. It’s not like with Trophies, where it’s mandatory.

After Modern Warfare 2, DICE followed, with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but failed to do it right. Cross-game invites? Check! Joining friends through the XMB? No. Instead, we have to join them through a custom in-game menu again, without any information about what game type or on which map they’re playing. No ‘Presence Data’ either. After Modern Warfare 2, this sure feels like a step backwards.

Some time ago, developers had no choice but to create their own in-game structure for the social part of multiplayer. For example, Criterion designed an excellent system for Burnout Paradise (by using the D-pad to handle everything that’s related to multiplayer and your friends), followed by LittleBigPlanet and a few other games. You could basically access this menu from anywhere in the game.  But now, months after the release of Modern Warfare 2, Rockstar – among other developers (like EA’s Blackbox with Skate 3) – ignores this new functionality completely, by adding their own crappy in-game social menu into Red Dead Redemption.

Dear Sony, do all developers even know that these new features exist? Did you perhaps hide the instructions on how to properly implement them somewhere in the back of the PS3′s dev-manual?

It’s clear that something needs to be done on Sony’s side to make this work. Surely, the firmware development team worked very hard on these features. It’s such a shame to see them go to waste by being ignored. Sony should streamline these new features (by, for example, enabling us to press the PS-button upon a message / invite notification so that we can read or accept it immediately) and make them mandatory for all future games that feature online play. They did the same with Trophies. Imagine what it would be like if only some games would have Trophies these days. It would be a mess and it would be confusing. Much like what connecting with friends on PSN is right now.

The PlayStation Network needs more consistency, better integration and a standard model for handling game-invites and joining your friends through the XMB.

It’s great to know, though, that Sony does want to know about what could be improved. Not too long ago, they introduced their PlayStation.Blog Share module. Here, gamers can leave their feedback and ideas. Afterwards, all PSN users can up – or downvote these ideas so that the best ideas will eventually be on top of the list. Cross-game voice chat, PS2 Emulation and auto-synching Trophies are currently most favourited, so let’s see if one or more of these will make it into the next Firmware-update.

Maybe the recently announced PSN+ will shake things up a bit?

This is an unedited guest article written by reader Kevin Middelbos.  His views may not represent those of TheSixthAxis.