House cross-game chat a "side issue"

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Andrew House has told Eurogamer that cross-game chat is not part of PlayStation Plus at the moment.

According to one Sony website, cross-game chat - the ability to talk to friends via headset whatever you're up to, similar to Xbox Live's Party system - was set to be part of the subscription-based PlayStation Plus service, but yesterday a Sony spokesperson told Eurogamer it had not been announced.

House said much the same in our interview with him at E3. "I think that's a separate, side-issue from PlayStation Plus right now," he told us. "I don't think we've talked about that for that reason."

We pushed him about it, but he added: "That's not really something we're talking about at this show."

When we told him that it was the main thing people on the PlayStation Blog and Twitter wanted to know about, he countered: "And we'll be able to tell them." But not right now? "No."

PlayStation Plus launches worldwide on 29th June and Sony believes an annual subscription offers £200 of value for £39.99, while a 90-day sub costs £11.99.

According to House, we can expect "Free game downloads, one PSN title, two Minis and one PSone classic every month; free premium avatars; dynamic themes; full-game trials, which was one of the things consumers told us they wanted most..." And meanwhile all the other stuff you can do already remains free.

Check out the full Andrew House E3 interview elsewhere on Eurogamer.