The PS3 won't get universal invites - deal with it

This blog post is mostly a reactionary rant to the almost constant demands of certain members of the playstation community. Just check out some of the comments on the playstation blog post detailing the latest, minor firmware update:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/05/13/ps3-firmware-v276-update/#comments

Again and again and again I see people demanding these features. And, as one would expect, many of them are very feasible. Take cross-game voice chat, for instance. The PS3 can already handle voice (and video) chat, you just need to be out of a game OR you can only chat to those people in your current game.

Universal game invites, however, just won't happen. I don't know how stupid most of the people demanding this feature are, but I'm not even sure if they've even considered how it would work.

Let's just look at it rationally; if developers have to patch in trophies, rumble support and in-game music by themselves, how can people expect a game that no longer receives support to be able to have game invites?

Game invites require some knowledge of the network structure of the game being played. Since the PS3 has had no clear standard for this, the PS3's operating system has no way of knowing if you're playing online or simply browsing the online leaderboard. If you now shout "but the 360 can do invites!", that's because each and every 360 game is required to support game invites; the interface is set up through the operating system but each game is required to interact with it in its own specific way. Of course, Sony could force all future games to support this feature, but existing games would not, in general, support invites.

Furthermore, some games already support invites. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and Wipeout HD are the ones that I know of. If the PS3 suddenly supported a new invite feature, what would happen to these extraneous ones?

Sony releasing a firmware update to enable cross-game invites is just like them releasing a firmware update that suddenly enables split-screen or some other feature in games that do not currently support it - i.e. it's impossible unless it is implemented on a game-by-game basis. It's something that if you want it to be standard, you need to make it standard from the start. Resistance 1 won't ever get game invites.

Unfortunately, Home game launching is a similar affair.

[paul0388]

The title says it all. It may not be xbox live, but the PSN has improved in leaps and bounds compared to how it was during its infancy.

[thor]

Did you read what I wrote? It's IMPOSSIBLE. It can only be achieved through forward planning OR retro patching. If you had any clue on how these things worked, you'd realise that too.

Why do you think that PC games don't have universal invites hmm? Because there's no clear standard? Because many games are made by indie developers? The PS3 is no different.

[kwicksandz]

Steam games have a invite/join friends game feature, as does Xfire and even i believe gamespy's comrade. Lord knows i get spammed with L4D invites everytime i logon.

And frankly it should be unacceptable that PSN doesnt have a feature that the 360 launched with. They had over a year prior to launch to copy its featureset and basically totally ignored the online space.

IF the ps3 which is marketed as a premium product cant match its cheaper, inferior competitors that just shows how out of tune with the consumer the brass at sony are.

Sony needs to rethink the PS3 at the OS level. That and fix the clock!

[thor]

How the f*** do you expect game invites to be implemented?

Yes, Steam has invites! But does EVERY game? NO IT DOESN'T!!!! Because Steam has a STANDARD which games need to STICK TO. I can't invite somebody to a non-steam game when they're playing a steam game. Game developers are more free on the PC to do what they want in terms of features... just like.... the PS3.

Read this sentence: "Of course, Sony could force all future games to support this feature, but existing games would not, in general, support invites."

The PS3 won't get UNIVERSAL invites - read the title. It's just like trophies or rumble. Are you completely blind to this? They could add an "invite" feature in the next firmware update, sure, but it would do BUGGER ALL.

The only thing they could do is have an "invite" which simply sends an automatically-generated message saying "join me in x game". But I mean, are you REALLY that lazy? It's not much of a feature either, just a shortcut. The on-screen keyboard has predictive text ANYWAY so in essence that whole feature would save you about 3 seconds. WOW.

[7thNightvolley]

thor y do u bother .. they obviously dont understand IT,and programming how thing things work is systemmatic its not just done by the shake of a wand.

[tretle]

Watch, your language, just because you have written a blog post doesnt make u right. Cross game invites would be more likely than in game video chat as voice and video take more resources and the ps3 doesnt have that much memory to work with. The backend for cross game invites is already written, aka game launching and just requirs a frontend for the xmb. The developer api for game launching is already out, cross game invites will not be retroactive with every single ps3 game but it will be compatible with all of the home game launching enabled titles so there will be better support from day one when the firmware is released.

[Mr Fancy Pants]

This blog fails at so many levels that it is incredible...

So your entire blog is just reduced to this question?

":::Furthermore, some games already support invites. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and Wipeout HD are the ones that I know of. If the PS3 suddenly supported a new invite feature, what would happen to these extraneous ones?:::"

Here's your response: N-O-T-H-I-N-G!

Sony implemented trophies and what happened to the old games?

N-O-T-H-I-N-G!

If Sony implements the cross-game invites then the obvious thing to happen is that newer games are the ones that will supported it. Isn't this like too straightforward and obvious?

[socomnick]

yup your right, the reason psn fails is that its sucess is very game specific. You have games like resistance 2 and cod 4 where the invites and online infrastructure work pretty good, then you have colossal failures like kz 2 where you cannot even send invites to your friends. PSN is inconsistent, where as xbox live is unified and everygame enjoys the same great list of features.

[keysy420]

i really dont see game invites as a problem to put in the game, basically home does that if im not mistaken what a game invite is. if your in home and you want to play a game with someone send them a inviteto the game. i dont really see how this can be really that different. or maybe your not opening your brain to different ways of doing this. through the xmb it seems possible the same way chatbox does its group chat. If the chat is set up out side of the game then it shouldn't matter what game you are playing.Now im not sure but if im in one game and i send a friend of mine a message to join me in another game thats a invite.Once again if you are refering to inviting someone to a game while they are in another and them being able to put it in and play with you. isnt that already in the ps3.

I must be confused because if chat can be made accessible through the xmb which it is through video chat. their is no reason that can't be carried over into game. we have already seen similar features with the text chat.
Making the chat through the xmb negates having to go back and write code for every game.
I invite people to my game from other games they can jsut choose to join or not.

[keysy420]

also i dont want people to know im surfing the net..
but my ps3 tells me what game you are playing and then when i enter that game it tells me what maps your playing im not sure about this invite stuff sounds dumb

[faisdotal]

I want cross-game invites to be mandated and easy for devolopers to implement like trophies. Whilst trophies can only be for games such as single player only games too, It's still an online feature and should be just as easy to do.