Conspiracy Theory: Why Cross-Game chat will not be in FW 3.0

Posted Aug 26, 2009 at 3:39PM by Mabie A. Listed in: PS3 Tags: firmware updates, Microsoft, patent, Sony, XMB
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Wanna know the real reason why Cross-Game chat won't be coming in FW 3.0? Yeah, it's been in the works for a while now, and people are actually expecting it to arrive with this update. Then again, that's not gonna happen, and there are some wild (and disappointing) conspiratorial theories going around as to why this is the case.

PS3 - Image 1 


Over at the N4G Forums, one Super_Secret is spilling the beans that it's not Microsoft's patent's fault why the in-game soundtracks, in-game XMB and Cross-game Chat features are not coming to the PS3. No siree. There are obviously a variety of alternative options Sony could implement and exercise in order to have it in their system. They just chose not to because of a certain company.

According to Super_Secret (and he's supposedly been right on "about every other" Sony-related rumors/ speculations), a certain company, whose name he withheld, is the real reason why these cool things are not happening on Sony's really cool console.

To quote:

So what happened? Why is it that titles HAVE to be developed specifically with custom soundtrack support when it was working more or less just fine?


Is it because Microsoft owns the patent on custom soundtracks in games?


This is something that makes me laugh every time I see one of the less educated ones spouting it off. That's an absolute fabrication. Patents don't matter, Sony as a while infringes upon thousands of patents through the whole company, both hardware and software. If you infringe a patent, you pay royalties to the owner or find a different way of doing the same thing that doesn't infringe. That's it. Microsoft infringes upon all kinds of patents we own but that's up to legal to sort out.


No, the reason we had to drop Custom soundtrack support like that has nothing to do with Microsoft. It does, however, involve a different company. A rather large company. You see, one of their games happened to fall into the 5% that didn't support in-game custom soundtracks. And they did not like this.


When they found out that a new firmware update was going to suddenly make one of their games look inferior to just about every other game released, they protested. A lot.


They threatened everything, from legal action to dropping support for the PS3 all together.



Hmm... that last bit.. I've heard that one before... Then again, it could be anyone, really. Let's not end on a sour note, though. He did say that the Firmwares team (you know, those guys dealing with the Firmware updates) are really "working very hard on it". If it doesn't come out in 3.0, maybe it'll come out in 3.1. Or 4.0. Or not at all.


Thanks to Naroon for this tip!



Related Articles:


Via N4G Forums

 
 
 

Comments [refresh]

by Shatterdome - 2009-08-26 13:08
» ...

Well that KINDA explains why no universal custom soundtracks (although a very stupid reason...this company just needs to let it go and make sure the rest of their games work). It still does not explain no cross-game chat...the title of the article. That is unless this companies game also cannot support that feature...



I am really curious what game this is....because if it is a franchise from EA or Activision....than they most likely have released some sequel to it and should give a sh1t about the original....



Maybe it's LBP ?!? Just a guess, but that is a game that should have had custom soundtracks long ago and has had so many good updates that could have added it. Still I don't see MM being whiny babies about that either....

by Pinski - 2009-08-26 13:09
» ?

How does that make their game inferior if all games can then have a custom soundtrack? Also wouldn't it be better for them cause they didnt have to spend time developing the custom soundtrack into the game. Oh well.

by FelisCatusLover - 2009-08-26 13:19
» ...

Tell me what company so I know to never buy their games again.

by kobra47 - 2009-08-26 13:22
» Its EA

Page 8 he posted a coded message, it said who it wasn't and it mentioned the game.

Harry Potter and the order of the Pheniox.

Before you go and rage to EAs forums, beware. A guy on GT posted some scary stuff

by The Frenchman - 2009-08-26 13:22
» Konami

This screams MGS4.

by Vman00 - 2009-08-26 13:22
» Super_Secret said in the link

that it is not Activison. He also said it was a company that developed poorly for the PS3.

by kobra47 - 2009-08-26 13:26
» his other post

decrypted of course.

"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."

by kobra47 - 2009-08-26 13:28
» heres the full thing

without decryption.

Some of you people could really do with learning to read. I specifically said it was NOT Activision. I thought I gave enough hints as to who it was without directly stating it, but I guess not, so lets try this again, except we'll make it interesting. Here lies the answers, lets see who is clever enough to figure it out? SXQncyBub3QgQWN0aXZpc2lvb i4NCkl0J3Mgbm90IFViaXNvZ nQuDQpJdCdzIG

5vdCBDYXBjb20uD QpJdCdzIG5vdCBJ bnNvbW5pYWMuDQp JdCdzIG5vdCBLb2

5hbWkuDQpJdCdzI G5vdCBUYWtlIDIu DQpJdCdzIG5vdCB NaWR3YXkuDQpJdC

dzIG5vdCBTcXVhc mVzb2Z0Lg0KDQph cmUgd0UgQWxsIGd ldHRpbmcgdGhlIH B

pY3R1cmUgeWV0Pw0KDQp PbmUgcG9pbnQgSS B3YW50IHRvIHJlaXR lcmF0ZSA

tIHRoZXJlJ3MgYSBkaWZmZXJlb mNlIGJldHdlZW4g dGhlIGdhbWVzIHR oYXQgZGlk

bid0IHdvcmsgd2l 0aCBpbi1nYW1lIFhNQiBhbmQgdG hlIGdhbWVzIHR oYXQgRElEI

Hdvcmsgd2l0aCBp bi1nYW1lIFhNQiBidXQgRE lETidUIHdvcmsgd 2VsbCB3aXRoIGN

1c3RvbSBzb3VuZHRyYWNrcywgc 28gc3RvcCBwaWNraW5nI G91dCB0aGUgb25lc

yB0aGF0IHNpbXBs eSBkaWRuJ3QgZG8gaW4tZ2FtZ SBYTUIuDQoNCkFs c28sIGl0I

Hdhc24ndCBqdXN0 IE9ORSBnYW1lIHRoYXQgY2F1c2VkIHRoaXMsIGV pdGhlci4gQ

Wx0aG91Z2ggb25lIHRpdGx lIGRvZXMgY29tZS B0byBtaW5kIGFuZ CBpdCB3YXNuJ

3QgZXZlbiB3aGF0IHlvdSBvciB JIHdvdWxkIGNhbG wgYSAiQmlnIiBnY W1lLiBJJ2xsIG

dpdmUgeW91IGEgaGludDogSFB hdE9vZlAu As for those curious as to why I would call the whistle on this, tell me good sir, what would you do? You have a vested interest in the company you work for and you see this other company constantly getting in the way. Oh sure, on the outside everyone's all buddy-buddy, but that's just good business. And that's what it boils down to - business. Why fix something that doesn't need to be fixed when you can just **** over everyone else and get away with it? You know Sony isn't going to make a huge fuss, they can't afford to alienate publishers and developers (especially HUGE ones), not when Microsoft and Nintendo are happy to welcome them with open arms. Still, all our hard work and it just gets pissed down the drain because one company can't be bothered doing some support? I ask you again - what would you do? Oh and I appreciate all of you guys trying to spread this around, I hope that they'll back track and enable that feature for as many titles as possible

by Vman00 - 2009-08-26 13:33
» Lets

Petition a Letter of Grievance to EA. Who wants in?

by kobra47 - 2009-08-26 13:35
» Lets not

That is stupid, this is leaked info.

People already broke EAs forums. twice!

On top of that, they have legal action, don't want to lose EA over Xgame chat.

I can live without it

by Vman00 - 2009-08-26 13:37
» i just want the music

:(

by xxPI3TROxx - 2009-08-26 13:40
» Screw you EA

head over to the EA forums and join in the hate towards the bastads that are EA

by kobra47 - 2009-08-26 13:42
» DO NOT DO THAT!!!!!

Every thread as been spammed with pics of fecal matter.(will I get banned from this)

People already flooded every forum in exsistance, and the EA forums keep breaking

by FearEvil19 - 2009-08-26 13:47
» well that's

one more reason to do it. Can't wait for this to be posted on Kotaku xD

by Cortador - 2009-08-26 14:09
» Its Valve.

Think about it guys.

by TheDude - 2009-08-26 14:15
» umm

I hope you're joking and you really did read the comments above you but just decided to post what you thought would be a funny comment even though you still failed.

by s0nlxaftrsh0ck - 2009-08-26 14:18
» I think it's extremely obvious...

It's EA. What other "LARGE" company houses a crap load licensed songs on their games? Burnout? Madden? Why would they want to support custom soundtracks when they get their licenses from artists and such to do that? They did it with Burnout and that's about it. I'm not sure if madden does it or not. Buuuuut it can't be valve. You know why? Because valve has never developed a game for the PS3. So they have never "developed" a poor game on the system. EA has for orange box.



Soooo it's definitely EA that is being an anus about this...

by kobra47 - 2009-08-26 14:21
» Nice guess

do people read comments here? I sorta just joined.

its EA, super-secret kinda confirmed it. Read my post.

by NarooN - 2009-08-26 14:22
» Update:

Several others have posted it, but Super_Secret gave out a coded message (coded in Base64 or something like that) and it basically said it was EA to blame. It matches up with them having a bad track record with Sony, and "poorly" programmed games.

by kobra47 - 2009-08-26 14:26
» I already posted it. :P

I posted the entire post, if you were wondering

by Vman00 - 2009-08-26 14:38
» I guess

news travels slow these days...

by jerix954 - 2009-08-26 14:53
» UHHHH!!!

FK U EA, just when I thought activision topped you at being *****ty you took your title back. Well im not buying nothing from ea anymore (not like I was at all)

by jbwzrd213 - 2009-08-26 15:18
» Wow...

It is not Valve, of that I am sure. They already hate Sony. They don't make games on that system since The Orange Box, I believe.

by kon_e3 - 2009-08-26 15:23
» umm.

LBP has custom soundtrack... not complete but it does, which is only wen ur in the pod

by kon_e3 - 2009-08-26 15:29
» well...

First valve exactly developed orange box, EA published it. Burnout has in game soundtrack but thats mostly 'cause of Criterion. But I think a lot of ppl are missing THQ but yeah I admit that it's not big but that's the one that I thought of that develops bad games and wasn't in the list.

by deadlyangel91792 - 2009-08-26 15:59
» now that the secrets out.....

EA wouldnt dare to take any legal action they would quickly start to lose support from their fans lol i guess thats what they deserve,i dont really like sports games anyway

(yes i know they make other kinds too)

i prefer rpg games

by ShinbuSK - 2009-08-26 18:30
» EA

Read the ENTIRE article :) it even mentions a hint ( A name of a game) made by EA. what you have above is not the entire article

by nehebkau - 2009-08-26 19:19
» hm

if this is really true, I'd really try to never buy a game devolped or published by EA (except it's REALLY good). damn they'd be sush *****s -.-

by Stealth! - 2009-08-26 19:51
» Nice theory

But the problem is this isn't accurate at all. Sony has mentioned that they've been working on several things like cross game chat and stuff but it's taking time to work with their XMB. Also, I don't believe this guy from some NG4 forum. Who the hell are you? yea you can say "I'm part of sony" or "have some super duper inside scoop details" but it means nothing. This isn't something Sony would allow to be leaked nor does any of this sound substantial. Yea ok some EA games didn't do great with in game music, but really the feature isn't great anyway. People are playing their own music and not listening to the hard work and songs the developers put into the game to add to the atmosphere and theme. to me it's a FU to the devs that do the hard work and I for one don't see what's big about this in game music crap. I think it's stupid. Play your damn ipod or something while playing. The patents is DEFINITELY the reason and anyone with smarts, logic and half a brain could tell you this.



Anyway, I think people need to stop with the "OH NO CROSS GAME CHAT? This firmware update sucks. no this no that, this updates sucks". Do you people know what the firmware updates actually provide? Do you know that not all FW updates are for the GAMERS? It for support playback for some games, to help developers use new tools and access things within the console to give off the incredible feel of the game. It could also help give GAMERS the option for optional FW updates in the future and OPTIONAL installs...or even no installs Like Uncharted 1, uncharted 2, Killzone 2. I mean some people think FW updates are only for you? no it's not.



You guys can believe some person on some random forum thinking he's knows why and whatever, but I for one do not believe it. Just because you may have been right on a few other things doesn't mean you're automatically right on anything past, present and future. Sorry, unless you're part of Sony Computer Entertainment and has proof, that quote is nothing more but a opinionated theory which has flaws in it. Patents play a BIG role, and the other method for in game music is for devs to ADD IT THEMSELVES. If EA is pissed over that, it's their fault for screwing up like they normally do; Capcom is another.



Imo the only games that really could use the feature is sports, puzzle games and FPS's online. Just think about the main things some games get's rated high for? Music, sound, and God of War franchises has been rated so high in that part but yet if you had in game music, all the music that makes that game unique, mindblowing would be gone. You'll basically be playing like Cascada: Everytime We Touch on a level killing harpies and Cyclops, how in the world would that give the game justice if you're not even paying attention to what makes the game as a whole a game? Sorry, developers put their blood sweat, tears, stress, sleepless hours to give us fans and gamers an experience of a life time or try yet a feature like this destroy's one of the main things for the game. If you was a developer, and you saw this you'd be disappointed that people rather play Rick James: Super Freak instead of listening to the music they put on the game that really shows what it's about and brings out the atmosphere. Music is one of those things that truly makes the game huge and shows gamers the vision and experience they were trying to achieve.



I've read articles about "Has Trophies/Achievements ruined games" and I have to think in game music has ruined games rather than those. It's the little things that can make a game so awesome but features like this just override it; shame really.



Also, as for Cross Game Chat: I also think this shouldn't matter. If I'm playing a game online I do not WANT to be talking to someone else and making me unfocused. Single player too. I do not at all see the appeal. Having it as an option is all fine and dandy, but There's so MANY things that should be focused on and I think the animated PS3 themes is exactly that. It's a tremendous idea Sony has done,

by Scribe - 2009-08-26 23:13
» LOL

EA is not a good enough excuse for Sony to not bring out cross game chat I'm sorry but not happening. Worst case scenario their game could be patched and all is well.



The only situation is where their online games are using SPEs to the max and aren't willing to give one up for music.



It's partly Sony's fault for not including cross-game chat and music in the first place (though as we find out this may be a patent issue). However there's no reason they can't just implement it on top of current games, other than the fact they like to use an SPE for extra functions rather than an extra thread like Microsoft, which would have made less of a CPU footprint. The code to decode music is quite large and would possibly require an SPE of its own.

by TheCopyNinja - 2009-08-27 07:08
» Agreed

If you really wanted to listen to music while playing games then you would turn up your PC/Stereo or listen to a music player instead of waiting for every game to be able to play Custom Music.

by Relys - 2009-08-27 08:50
» meh

Just hook up your blu-tooth mic to your PC and use teamspeak if you really want to chat with your friends.

by Mister Common Sense - 2009-08-27 11:11
» .

I can't remember the last EA game I enjoyed.



Burnout paradise required 7 software updates (nearly 2 gig) which took me almost an hour to download. They don't even finish their games.

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