It really isnt that hard to meet up with friends online.. My buddy has a 360 and I just talked him into a PS3.. and he says XBL is better cause you can send in game friend invites to people not playing your game.. So I asked what good is that if they dont have the disc in their system.. No response.. then he said you can sent in game invites to people online, who are playing the same game (COD IN THIS CASE).. And my response.. Yes you can.. you just cant get into the game if the room is full..

With that being said.. That last sentence of mine, In game communication would be helpful to let someone know how much longer is left in a game, so then you could meet up.. but with about 70% of my COD4 friends being friends I know.. I can just text them.. and out of the 30% left on my PSN, only about 6 play COD4 and we have Nextel so we just BLOOP BLOOP each other...

Custom Sound Tracks would be cool.. I mean MLB the Show has it for PS3.. Its just it doesnt play during your game play, only at the Menus..

i just like the convenience of having it when you want it. but if i'm in the middle of a game i most likely won't respond depending how deep into the game i'm at.

but it's nice to have available with the push of a button.

If you're not sure, ask a 360 owner.

I don't care about anything other than in game messaging.

no matter how you slice it, in game communication is a beal deal, and important.

to all the ps3 COD4 fans out there, imagine actually working as a team by giving and taking orders, like stay together or flank them.

whatever, its a big deal. Even when you play with strangers, sometimes its just funny to hear some of the things they say (sometimes it can be annoying) but in the end, you can end up making more friends to play with this way.

My friends list consists of about 10 of my friends that have xbox, and about 30 that I met online while playing.

Considering that I come from a gaming age when none of this "in-game chat/music/HDD/etc etc etc." existed I don't feel as if I'm missing anything really.

The only time I REALLY wish I had in-game music is when I'm playing Pain and Burnout Paradise and both of those are going to be getting that feature in their next updates.

So, I guess for me, I'm not really in a hurt to have those options. Not to say that I don't think they are are awesome and considering that the 360 has them all the time I really with the PS3 had that option, but it's not like I'm going to stop playing games until they show up.

are that IN game messaging and crosstalk will be very very important this year, last year it wasnt sooo necessary, but with community games like LBP, MGO, socom confrontation,Home, ect ect, we will need to be able to reach other gamers any way possible..it needs to be smooth and seemless, and if sony and game devs really want to blow it out of the water, some games should have ingame cross cam...have eyetoy??

I don't mind no in game communication because I rarely play online on my PS 3 anyhow, but custom soundtracks shoud definitely be a standard option for racing games.

<Posting what I wrote at the PlaystationLifestyle page. I'm lazy......sue me :)>

I also don’t care about in-game soundtracks as the music that comes with the game dictates the atmosphere. The only genre I would ever use this on would be a driving game. Interestingly, I only like two music tracks in GT5P but the way I look at it, I don’t even listen to rock or whatever it’s classified as but it opened me up to music I wouldn’t necessarily buy, which I think is good. So the tracks I do like was a big surprise.

Back on topic: I agree with this guy, I had a TON of friends (mainly from Tekken challenges) who I never ever talked to (recently had a big purge) Now my list consists of people I actually know though there is on guy who is still on my list as we do talk about new games from time to time and he seems cool.

I do hate getting a message to join a Warhawk match or a Rainbow Six match when I’m playing a different game and I can’t really reply. In-game messaging will be a welcome addition, but I don’t think there will be a good online community on the PSN until Home and I think that could be the catalyst for great things…..we’ll see.

And I have to say that I never did online gaming in my life till I got a ps3. I didnt know how cool it was to have friends that I met off of games like Rainbow six and Call of duty till I got my ps3. So things were all fine and dandy till I realized how much more wicked the 360 community is compared to the ps3.

The xbox 360 has way more features than psn, and I know that its not too far till the ps3 starts to get them features, but I think its been way to long for us not to have what the 360 has had since launch. Thats why I just sent my gf to buy a 360 for me as I type this. I want to know how it feels to be spoiled instead of being treated like a redheaded step child.

And just so you all know, I used to be a ps3 fanboy, thinking the the ps3 had so much over the 360, but I did learn my lesson when I kept buying games like call of duty 4 that doesnt even have rumble, and Burnout, which only has two good songs which is why I wish I had custom soundtracks, let alone in-game text and video chat. I think its amazing what the 360 has done, and I will no long be a fanyboy of any kind. Thats why I will own both systems and reap the benefits.

Just one more thing guys. Im sort of in a dilema. Im getting a 360 now but I dont know what games on the sytem are must haves. Im really into traditional rpg's and action/platform games. Im getting sick of FPS's, and thats why I bought a 360 so I can play flight sims, racing sims, and games like fable 2. But ya, can anyone suggest what game should I purchase for my first 360 experiance? Any immediate input would be helpful, considering my gf is gonna call me to ask me what games I want, cause I still havent decided.

They would be focused on the PSN.

Look at what they gave us so far

-More content
-More demos
-PS Store redesign
-2.4 with in-game communication in the summer
-video store coming this year

i truly agree with this article...

The guy has a valid opinion, and one I pretty much share.

I have the ability to listen to custom soundtracks on my 360. In the 18+ months I've owned it, I have NEVER used the feature. For many games, the soundtrack is an integral part of the design and is used to set mood and pace in much the same way as you would for a movie soundtrack.

In game coms however is much more useful for inviting your friends into a game, and its a shame that more PS3 developers did not properly implement the feature as was originally expected of them. In this respect, MS's forced approach definitely payed a dividend.
It should be noted however that about half of these consoles are not actually used on line, so thats 50% of the user base that couldn't care less, and many others like myself, would use the feature very rarely, so its omission isn't the huge deal that some would have you believe. But for those that really want it and play online a lot with mates they have to talk too, it will no doubt be a valuable addition when it arrives. For many - its meh...

wow...what ps3 fan's have been missing and at that are in denial about the ingame voice. i mean listen to yourselves. you don't care about talking in game? you use your cell phones to talk? and to TEXT?!?!. that's just stupid i'm sorry. you have to admit that. you guys have to talk to sony about that. you don't know what your missing. the soundtrack thing i've used once, very cool feature but not to useful. unless you like listening to your own music.

They just need to have in game voice chats, in game messenging system,and custom soundtracks and that's about it

hmmm do you think that it would be possible to pair up 2 bluetooth one for chatting and another for music.
Its just a thought you know to help eliminate the extremly loud music that might be heard.

We do need in game messageing though and i hope its not as sloppy as the ones that are in games already. There so dam choppy.

With the 360 you can control the volume of you custom soundtracks, so it doesn play over the games dialog or sound effects, making it sound as if were the games soundrack. Just accept what you don't have and stop trying the convince masses they don't need somthing they clearly want.

it has revolutionized Halo 3

Now that Jim Ryan is gone just need to remove Herman Hulst from his position! And maybe give Shuhei the position he deserved.

This gen hasn't been the best for games, last gen consoles are still out there and now there's been talk of the PS6 and Xbox Two for a year or so. Many games this gen will be ported to next gen and the cycle will continue. The re-release of the Neo Geo AES+, games on cartridge for £70 ($95), gaming is going back in time. Gaming has gone pricing mad with the high cost of games, consoles and controllers. The men and women at the top are clueless.

It’s always interesting to hear behind-the-scenes stories like this, especially involving veterans like Shuhei Yoshida and leadership figures like Jim Ryan. That said, there are usually multiple sides to decisions at that level. It could be less about not “listening” and more about differences in long-term vision for PlayStation. Yoshida played a huge role in shaping the brand, so whatever the reason, his impact is undeniable.

If true, and I'm inclined to believe it is, it goes to show that Sony lost their way when they became more western/didn't respect the PlayStation origin story. Andrew House and Jack Tretton did great work, but they also didn't try to fundamentally change the PlayStation DNA. Ryan oversaw the death of Japan Studio and a live service direction.

I already figured this, good lord imagine if Shuhei took over instead, would've been a platinum era 😩

I miss the first three generations of PlayStation. The way they turned PS3 around, we knew they meant business. We were all worried for a bit there around launch. Eventually from 2008 they started shifting slowly. But since Yoshida was fired, it's never been the same. Still enjoy my PS5 daily. I got a backlog dating back to PS2 lol So I'm fine but new games aren't as appealing anymore.

It seems like we were thrown on to the worst timeline possible where everything is too expensive and the wrong people were put in positions that makes the world a shitty place. We could have had Shu as the head of PS but we got the shitty alternative. Same goes for everyone in power around the world. Doesn’t matter the company or country the majority of us got the shitty picks and the world is declining like never before. I do think PS can come out of this because of their studios, talent and IP but they need someone more in touch with gamers leading things like Shu was. They’re still the best place for console gaming imo but it could be much better than it is especially without the massive live service failures. The rest of the world I have a lot less hope for right now. Hopefully the pendulum swings back towards the good ole days but I’m preparing for the worst.

There goes illuminati distraction story

So now there's certifiable proof that Ryan was in fact "fired", as opposed to when it was first announced that he "retired", in order to save face.

There's another guy who recently "retired" as CEO of another large gaming company, after doing a dismantling job as lead for well over a decade.

seems legit, the business man, fires the one who has ideas to move the business forward.

Jim Ryan is the reason why we are entering year 6 since the PS5 launch and many of us don't feel like the PS5 has gotten started as yet.

I hope going forward, we will see a return to form.