Everyone was expecting PlayStation Plus to appear at E3, it was pretty much a dead cert, but by the same token most of us were sure that Sony would finally announce cross game chat too – the option to talk freely with other gamers over the internet, regardless of which games you were playing.
But for some reason it never emerged. Tretton didn’t mention it, and it was missing from all the PlayStation Plus press releases when they were dished out to journalists late last night.
However, those of you up after midnight would have seen our story which revealed that, at some point at least, cross game chat was meant to be part of PlayStation Plus. You can clearly see at the link the english text mixed in with the Dutch that highlights what would have been a major selling point to PlayStation Plus.
“Invite your friends to chat online no matter what game you’re all playing,” it said, “even if they aren’t members of PlayStation Plus.”
To us, this suggests that the feature required at least one person to be a PlayStation Plus member, and if you were you could freely invite others to chat in a party regardless of whether they were members of the subscription-based service or not. But the line was swiftly pulled from the PlayStation website moments later.
So, what happened? Was cross game chat simply not ready, code-wise, but somebody left it in the bulletin on the PlayStation website, untranslated? Was it meant to be part of PlayStation Plus but somebody changed their mind at the last minute and didn’t tell everyone involved with the European sites in time?
It’s a mystery indeed, and Sony have been silence on the matter since. We still reckon it’s coming – after all, Sony themselves had let us know they were working on it at least once – but the question now is whether or not the service will be free to all, or part of PlayStation Plus in the future.
Sony have got until the end of June to work it out.
CaptainMurdo
I’m guessing everyone will get it, regardless of PSN+. It’ll come with 3.40.
Soild_Nat
Big announcement to end the show i think, everyone is getting it in the next firmware due in a week or to.
I think they had originally planned to have this as part of PSN+ however if one of your friends had PSN+ and you could still use the functionality via them it kinda makes it redundant keeping it just for PSN+ subscribers, so i reckon they are just giving everyone it.
Will certainly be a way to keep the momentum with as the show closes.
JesseDeya
That would be a brilliant PR stunt, and a good outcome for PS3 users. Hope you’re right!
DR-DAVROS
Its all a bit odd but if true thats its only in PSN+ and the fact only 4 people can chat then no thank you I’ll stick to Skype that handles more than 4. I’ve said it before I don’t want it as cross game chat I want it for same game chat with games that don’t support chat and games where I personnelly don’t want my chat to be heard. Im trying so hard to use the words FRAK in games when playing online over skype to cut down on my swearing. I don’t want to be talking to people I don’t know. Its still nice to hear them though screaming when you defeat them in whatever game your playing.
TSBonyman
It was weird that it was the only thing outlined in red..
gazzagb
Im sure they’ve said that they want everyone to be able to acess cross-game chat, and I think it would be unfair to only allow PSN+ suscribers to invite people to joing a chat.
Really hope it just gets released with FW3.40 and its free for everyone.
cc_star
Still think Cross Game Chat is nothing without a full party system which keeps the team together as you go from game to game.
For example you can all be playing different things.
Use XGC to meet up and decide what game you want to play, go for something like Split/Second, all insert the disks and then seamlessly all launch into the same online lobby together, then later if you fancy Killzone 2, just come back to the XMB based ‘party’ lobby, swap your disks and launch into the same online Killzone 2 lobby never leaving contact with each other throughout the whole process.
XGC is just one part of what the competition does right in the area, but it is nothing without the other ‘party’ benefits.
Sad to see Sony were only talking about 4 players, not the 8 the 360 has managed for years now.
Juelz345
You’re totally right. While i would love to see it implemented the way you described, i’ll still settle for 4 person group chat. Sony has a way of drip feeding things so this comes as no surprise. What me and my friends did before was sign into LIVE and create a party then switch the channel over to our PS3’s and used party chat to talk instead of PSN. It’ll be great to not have to do that anymore.
bunimomike
I love demos so if they bring that in with PSN+ I’ll be sorely tempted.
BigCheese
Oh. That’s gay :(
doomsday619
Dont know how true this site is but here is something they say is from sony.
Sony: “Cross-game voice chat was not announced as part of PlayStation Plus. The new offering provides subscribers features such as frequent discounts on PlayStation Store content, free and exclusive access to select games, full game trials, early invitations to select betas of popular games, and new functionality such as content downloads and updates which will automatically be “pushed” to the PS3 system even when consumers are not using their system. Content will vary by region.
http://www.examiner.com/x-12218-Video-Game-Examiner~y2010m6d16-Sony-clarifies-PlayStationPlus-crossgame-chat-regionalonly-features-and-content
Michael33
It might come in 3.40 for eveyone?
But i still fail to see whats the big deal about xgc….
Juelz345
It’s only a big deal if you’ll use it. Just like some people could care less about playing online so they stick to the silver sub on LIVE.
Some people see itas a distraction and some see it as a much desired benefit. Just depends on what side of the fence you’re on.