These days it seems like Microsoft sets the bar when it comes to online gameplay and in-game customization. While Microsoft's competitors offer their own innovations, it's hard to shake the feeling that things are missing from their gameplay experiences.
PS3 owners have been waiting for (begging for) the addition of some of those Microsoft innovations to their games. This week's PlayStation Network update features a couple of games that include these wanted features. Could it be that Sony is working towards granting those wishes?
Ripten points out that the downloadable PSN title High Velocity Bowling features custom soundtracks. That's right: you can play music from your PS3's hard disk while playing the title.
We'd much rather play with our friends online than listen to our playlists. It's a good thing that the TimeShift Multplayer demo lets players bring up their friends lists and messages in-game. What a nice surprise!
Sure, this isn't much, but it's a start. Let's hope that this is the beginning of something that Sony is working towards.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
11:33 PM on 12.06.2007
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It's good that they're fixing it.
I Hope Sony steals and replicates everything about Xbox live. Then they can throw that "Free" online tag around with added Oooomph.
Yup..middle of the match..end of the match..beginning. The XMB shows up and you scroll and go.
It's a shame that that simple act that Xbox live users take for granted have yet to reach Sony's PS3's shores.
And it will make me want to play Motorstorm again without all that crap music it comes with.
Christ you poor PS3 owners. You might scoff at the idea. of getting something 360 owners have enjoyed for the past 2 years but you really have no clue how awesome it is to listen to "ride of the Valkaries" while playing the "courtyard" area of Dead Rising.
Though if they did, I would tip my hat to Sony for finally making a good business decision.
The in-game XMB access has been a feature available to developers for some time, and was included in a dev kit update agea ago, hence the support in Resistance.
In-game XMB will be replaced in the near future with Home. Meet people in a public space or invite friends to your personal pad - then go straight into a multiplayer game with them without any boring messages and hanging around for answers.
There's really no need for Sony to keep developing in-game XMB when a) it's already available to developer and b) Home will replace it anyway
[URL="http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/DolphGB/no-need-for-in-game-xmb-on-the-ps3-58177.phtml"]Click here...[/URL]
[URL]"http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/DolphGB/no-need-for-in-game-xmb-on-the-ps3-58177.phtml"[/URL]
So why is it in all 360 games? Does it have anything to do with the Dashboard or technical abilities of the 360? In a way, since you can always access your music by hitting the Xbox button on your controller. However, what really makes this possible on the 360 is that MS simply required all 360 games to have that functionality built in. Sony obviously does not require this.
You will not see custom playlists on all PS3 games until Sony starts requiring this functionality from devs. I'd love to see it happen but I doubt it will happen in the middle of a generation. It's a shame, too. This is yet another reason why I prefer the 360 to the PS3.