Sony quiet on in-game XMB talk Comments by Robert Purchese

Expect nothing. Avoid guttment.

Or expect everything, be gutted, whinge on EG forum. Plenty will choose that, but I'll go with your suggestion jonsaan, as long as it doesn't brick my machine I'll be happy :)

Would prefer across the board implementation rather than optional for certain titles. Expect that the multi platform titles to accord the same 'awards' for Trophies as available for X360 Achievements, only without the gamerscore points.

XMB cannot come soon enough, but would the expectations be too high and causes some disappointments?

I'm probably being really stupid, and I don't own a PS3. But what the hell is XMB? Best I can come up with is "peddling your bike backwards over stunt ramps".

@Shadman

XMB = XrossMediaBar

Shadman: XMB = Cross Media Bar. The word Cross has a silent X at the start, in this case.

This is the main menu interface on both the PS3 and PSP. Specifically, people want Sony to add in-game XMB functionality to the PS3, so you can access the XMB while playing a game. I don't actually have one so I can't comment, but I believe currently stuff like viewing your friends list etc has to be included as a part of the game by the developer. A PS3 owner could probably set me right on that though.

Basically, it works really well on the 360 as you just hit the Guide button you have access to a limited version of the blade system, and Sony customers think (quite rightly, IMO) that this is vital for the PS3.


EDIT: FFS, when I said "a PS3 owner" I didn't expect someone with that as a username. Damn my slow typing!

Funnilly enough though, I don't think Sony have ever stated in-game XMB was coming, so their "silence" over it now is really not very surprising.

itll eventually happen so long as youve got the balls; goldenballs that is

It would be a very nice surprise, but I'll resist getting my hopes up.

Could be here as early as June, could be here as late as never.....

@ Kazzahdrane

That was a lovely and informative post and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you.

They can't get it working can they? It'll be the same with making a recording using Play TV while playing a game. No chance.

@Kazzahdrane

hehe. now that is ironic :)

So how do you currently send and receive game invites/messages when in a game?

We use good old fashioned paper cup and string.

so umm ... why would Sony think you wouldn't want to contact friends whilst playing a game if this feature was never planned? idk, i'm sick of waiting for this feature, 0/10 for Sony, could do so much better!

not all of us want crappy insipid home! =_=

I don't want the whole XMB, just the friends bit and the voice settings.

The funny thing about in-game XMB is that Sony didn't bother playing one single PC/X360 game beforehand and figuring out that maybe, just maybe, PS3 owners would also like/love/appreciate the same feature on the PS3.

They just thought they could dump the whole thing on the developer's shoulders and let them implement proprietary interfaces for doing game invites/challenges, chat and other features in their own game code.

It goes to show how bad Sony are at writing APIs and how easy it is for Microsoft to do so. But then again, one is a consumer electronics company, while the other cuts code for a living...so one shouldn't expect anything more and not be so disappointed when it doesn't arrive.

I think that's the whole problem with Sony's inability to deliver in-game XMB; they didn't see it coming and they're dragging their feet delivering it. But again, Sony is an arrogant company that likes to dictate to its consumers and when it has to capitulate on something (which is extremely rare) it takes ages to deliver it. Almost in revenge for having being told that implementing this feature would help existing customers and bring it on a par with Microsoft's product.

You'd think it would be grateful for the feedback but like I said, it is Sony we're talking about...

:-X

Now all we need to wait for is in short xmb.

could be here as soon as June

should have been here a soon as launch!

It's not a silent X. X just means cross, as it looks like a cross. As in King's X or Charing X train stations in London...

please please please... plus, about damn time. plus, plus sony would have this feature by now if it wasn't working on home... plus, plus, plus isn't home just a graphical version of said feature anyway... i would have prefered a simple ingame xmb to years of homelessness.

'could be here' means nothing in Sonyland.

People expecting full XMB access from within games, will be sorely dissapointed. But in-game communication (friendslist and messaging) will be a big improvement IMO. Yes it should have been available at launch and no surprise to Sony that consumers would expect such a feature.
I predict a lots of flaming from xbots then the 2.40 firmware comes out and there's no full in-game XMB support ;)

Great... just in time :D

@ Jonsaan, good word...Guttment
Got to slip that into a conversation!!

in game xmb has been already partially implimented in some games, hv bowling, super stardust and resistance spring to mind, so its certainly possible.

Actually, I didn't realise this (until the IGN review) but Singstar has in-game XMB implemented.

Ht the Start button |> to bring up Shortcuts, and you'll see an item called "Friends lists".
Selecting this brings up the Friends portion of the XMB showing who is online and allowing you to message them.

The only possible use I can think of having this in Singstar is to tell them that you've uploaded a video, which they can't watch, unless they also own a copy of the game.

"in game xmb has been already partially implimented in some games, hv bowling, super stardust and resistance spring to mind, so its certainly possible."

True but is a different scenario. Game developers have been able to include some XBM features into their games but at the cost of memory. The new firmware will have to squeeze the new XMB features into the same memory space which is reserved for the in-game menu today, or swap some game memory to HDD to make room - not an easy task.

A bit like building a basement for a house after the house have been constructed - it's possible but may cause problems ;)

Unsurprisingly (to me) not all existing games will be able to use in-game XMB because of incompatibility - but it sounds like most games will. All future PS3 games will of course.

This is such a mammoth task for any console maker to do 'After' the console has been out for ages.

Developers have built their games using the maximum memory space allowed to them this means that Sony must design the XMB to operate within the reduced memory space which exists when games are running (At this time they only reserve a fraction of memory to pop up the game exit/shut down PS3 screen).

To enable XMB to work with all games that are out at this time they have to stay within that reduced memory space for the in-game XMB and enable the friend invite/chat settings and functions otherwise the games will crash/not load due to the lack of memory.

I expect that when the XMB in-game feature comes out it will only be supported in a handful of games and wont work with older games until they are patched (unlikely as fitting a game into a target memory space is no easy task to do and you would have to retarget the entire game code to do this for a smaller memory allocation). I also fully expect to see that larger games will also not support XMB in-game but will choose to add those chat features etc themselves and utilise a larger memory space.

I dont really understand the technical stuff, but wouldn't the game be basically paused when the XMB comes up? Wouldn't that then mean there was plenty of "temporary" memory that the XMB could use or does it carry on streaming even when paused?

I am really looking forward for trophies / achievements. They really give all the games a nice boost for their living age and they're really fun to complete and then compete your achievements with your friends. ;)

Hopefully those reports are bullshit because it would really suck if you couldn't open up the in-game XMB in all the games while you are playing. And all the games may not support achievements. That would be really bad thing too.

wtf? werent the PS3 owners and sony themselves making fun of the achievement thing going on and the gamerscore? WTF? Are all the fucking Sony funboys such smooth bitches? damn it. Its so pathetic that i wont even log back on this to check replies I swear. You are either not worth of wearing pants either just freakin teenagers who are also excused to change ur minds. Just get a life at least soon. Have sex and drink some beer. Take care. ( Im not talking to the ones that have nothing to do with what im saying ofc. They know who they are and talked shit before.)

whoa! the cliche machine rolls one out!

"Hopefully those reports are bullshit because it would really suck if you couldn't open up the in-game XMB in all the games while you are playing"

True but again - sound like far the most old games will work wiith in-game XMB. Only very few should not work according to the original article.

"wtf? werent the PS3 owners and sony themselves making fun of the achievement thing going on and the gamerscore?"

Yes, ALL PS3 owner have the same options about achivemnts. PS3 are drones made in a factory and imprinted with the same opinions.

Oh wait... I'm a PS3 (and 360) owner and STILL don't give a rat's ass about achivements/tropies. It's just a nice-to-have feature for those people like that kind of thing IMO. I just want more and better games and not ways to "show off".

They are an interesting addition rather than a must have. Although depends on the achievement setup, Drakes Fortune and Warhawk's ones are pretty interesting, conversely, I've just seen them added to Day Of Defeat:Source and they're not so interesting....

"Beano" - true - but i've found i replay my 360 games more often so would greatly welcome scoring achievements (trophies) or whatever they implement - but want somewhere where they can be seen.

Vainty is a dangerous thing....apparently : )

please please please let it be true.

Anything's fine as long as they don't introduce a gamer-score!
Trophies though are ok.

@timberwolf
PS3 firmware is developed in Japan, Home is being made by Sony Cambridge. I'm pretty sure the development of one hasn't affected the other.

"It goes to show how bad Sony are at writing APIs and how easy it is for Microsoft to do so. But then again, one is a consumer electronics company, while the other cuts code for a living...so one shouldn't expect anything more and not be so disappointed when it doesn't arrive.

I think that's the whole problem with Sony's inability to deliver in-game XMB; they didn't see it coming and they're dragging their heels delivering it. But again, Sony is an arrogant company that likes to dictate to its consumers and when it has to capitulate on something (which is extremely rare) it takes ages to deliver it. Almost in revenge for having being told that implementing this feature would help existing customers and bring it on a par with Microsoft's product.

You'd think it would be grateful for the feedback but like I said, it is Sony we're talking about..."

RROD.

"RROD."

MGS4LOL.