I like Twitter. In fact, I probably tweet more than I should. I also like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and I have little doubt that I'll like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. But the sequel's Twitter integration, I'm not so sure about.
The folks at Bits, Bytes, Pixels, and Sprites fired up the multiplayer demo, and noted the options for the game's Twitter integration. Basically, the game would like permission to "tweet your progress as you play," auto-updating your status to tell your followers things about your Uncharted 2 session:
- When connecting to multiplayer
- When a cinema file is uploaded
- When a chapter is completed
- When earning multiplayer money
- When earning trophies
- When reaching a level milestone
My thoughts after the jump.
Admittedly, it could be useful to alert buddies when you're hopping online to play a multiplayer game. But the rest of that stuff is akin to telling your friends with automated messages that you're using the toilet, making breakfast, or getting into bed. Not only is it likely that no one cares, but one of the things that makes Twitter great is the personalities, the humanity behind each individual message. Spamming Twitter with stock "I just earned $2,000 in Uncharted 2's multiplayer" messages makes me cringe a bit.
The good news is that it's up to the user to choose what updates are pushed to their Twitter account. The bad news is there's going to be someone out there who thinks anyone gives a damn when they earn a trophy, complete a chapter, or earn money in multiplayer.
It's a novel concept, and I applaud Naughty Dog for being the first to get it into a retail game, but it's certainly not new -- services like
Raptr help people flood Twitter with emotionless (mostly pointless) game playing updates. Does anyone think they'll utilize this in any helpful manner, either as a sender or reader?
Contest:
9:40 AM on 09.17.2009
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Twitter update: @BadBoyfriend has just joined an Uncharted Multiplayer Game!
Hahaha! That's EXACTLY what's going to happen.
Well i think its cool to update friends on how far you went in Uncharted 2. Its like a more dynamic Achievement system
Case in point, if SF4 were to Tweet that I finally garnered a loss after 167 consecutive ranked wins, that's something to write home (and everyone else) about. But I'd it were to Tweet every win I had as they happened, that would get pretty annoying, pretty quickly.
I know the two games are completely unrelated, but that's the best snap comparison I could muster on such short notice. :oD
This isn't some revolutionary feature that will change the landscape of the video game world, and anyone who argues otherwise has their head up their ass.
Goddamn BlackBerry.
Besides as soon as Uncharted 2 drops my facebook status will be "CelicaCrazed is ZOMFG!! Uncharted 2 agreeed to marry me!! ^_^" I don't need Twitter to tell my people what I'm doing.
Preach it, brother. That's why I don't use Twitter, it has legtimate functions for some of the world, and that I wouldn't deny. That'd be silly to do so.
But it still remains a massive sounding board for 90% of the userbase offering information that is pretty much grounded in irrelevancy, IMO. This just shows potential to add even more asinine, irrelevant data into the mix.
I think this is cool actually but what would be cooler is if I could Tweet via the game that I'm in X game an I wanna play online with my buds. As of right now the feature is kinda useless.
You can do that already with services like Raptr (like the article says).
The main point of Twitter updates I think is to let people know what you're playing so they can either ask you about it or join in with you. If I see a friend playing a game that I'm on the fence about, I'll ask them about it.
Wastedyears, the idea was just as dumb when it was announced for 360, rest assured.
My main issue is how I use Twitter, which is a way to casual keep up with friends (and in some cases, companies or products). The tweets I look for are very human, written by a human, about something that is (whether it's relevant to my interests or just silly) personal to the person who tweeted it. If they want to pat themselves on the back about an achievement/trophy, or express their excitement over Uncharted 2, that's great.
Having anything auto-update Twitter with a "fill in the blank" message about your progress strikes me as odd. I want to follow people talking about things, not robots.
why not just create an 'alias' twitter account you then post all of your game updates to?? then have your main twitter account follow it so you can just retweet any posts you may want to share w/pals, followers?
thats what i does. :P
I'm on Twitter because I find it amusing from comedians and my funny friends. I too use it for such things as well as linking to important issues in the world.
Uncharted 2--while I am so very anticipatory to it's arrival, is not one I wish to laud about every time I play it.
That was for you Adam! <3
AND EVERYONE ELSE >:0