DirtyDMan
03-15-2011, 07:16 PM
http://nextgenretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wpid-Playstation-3.jpg
Without a doubt Sony Computer Entertainment has done an excellent job when it comes to their current gaming home console, the PS3. To be honest, this isn’t really a surprise given their previous experience and success in the gaming market with the PSOne, PS2, and of course the PSP. The PS3 has come a long way since it was released back in 2006. Considering it had such a slow start due to a pretty average games line-up and only a handful of features back in the day compared to the competition, this is pretty monumental.
When the PS3 released, consumers clearly realized that those who wanted online interactions with their friends were not Sony’s target market. With the Sony PS3 limiting users the way they interact with other friends in their “social network”, many consumers were not very satisfied with their purchase. After Sony realized the rapidly increasing online social needs of the consumers, and the fact that those were being spoilt by other companies, they eventually started opening the doors, adding new features via system firmware updates. In many ways they tried to make gamers feel at home and make the PS3 their console of choice.
But then again, when the PS3 released it didn’t have most of the things it has to date. For example, it did not have an online store. The store eventually evolved based on consumer demand. Many other features changed and were created with the consumer in mind, such as the ability to access the main menu or XMB while playing a game, messaging friends while doing other activities, integrating a web browser, Facebook and Twitter interactivity through the PlayStation Network, PlayStation Home and many other services and features that were not possible in 2006.
Although Sony has added dozens of new features to the PS3, it is still missing a lot that the consumers have been passionately demanding for a long time, and others that pick my personal interest and make us wonder what the heck is Sony thinking.
Cross-game chat:
Quite possibly the most wanted feature by the largest percentage of PS3 owners is the ability to chat with people on their friends list at any given time with no restrictions at all. Say, Player A is playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Player B is playing Gran Turismo 5 and they have something important to discuss, but not to a level of importance that has to interrupt their game session. Player A doesn’t have a cellphone or other way to communicate and Player B can only contact him through the PS3. Player B sends a message asking something to Player A, who didn’t bother to stop his game session to read the message and write back with an answer at the time. Hours later, he finishes his session and checks his inbox to see B was asking for first-aid help because his mom was dying. It was too late already. A mom just died because the PS3 didn’t have cross-game chat. Ok, maybe that was a little dramatic, but this and surely many other situations are in need of cross-game chat. I’m not really sure what’s going through Sony’s mind about this. If it’s a legal patent or what, there’s many ways to get around it. Even Sony’s PSP, the little handheld weaker than PS3 has Skype. Nothing really holds back the PS3 from it.
Universal invitations
Sure, most high-profile multiplayer games have a pre-built feature to invite other players into the game. But, then again, many others don’t, and when they do the process could be a huge pain in the cheeks.
To fix this, many gamers have asked for an universal feature integrated into the XMB and not into certain games. A feature where you could invite a friend with just the press of a button and he could join you where you are with the same level of ease. Where is this, Sony
PlayStation Move friendly UI:
LiveArea, anyone?
This feature is probably just personal interest, but since I got the PlayStation Move controller and after navigating the XMB with it, I came to the conclusion that the XMB simply sucks while using it. I constantly find myself swapping the controllers from my hand every few minutes when I want to play a Move title due to this annoyance. Things could be much easier with an user interface with larger icons and better-organized menu with the PlayStation Move motion controller in mind.
http://nextgenretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wpid-ngp_livearea.jpg
When Sony revealed the NGP along with it’s explendid looking UI codenamed “LiveArea”, I couldn’t help but picture it as the perfect PlayStation Move navigation UI. There’s still hope in my heart of Sony announcing LiveArea for the PS3 sometime soon.
Mind you, I’m not saying replace the XMB with LiveArea, just make it an option to choose which of the two you want to use. One for PlayStation Move users and the other for regular DualShock 3 controllers.
Ability to play PS2 titles for late adopters:
We all know the PS3 released with backwards compatible hardware capabilities, letting us play not only PSOne titles like to date’s models, but also our own collection of PS2 titles. Though Sony slowly removed this feature and now we can’t help but think of the amazingly large games library we’re missing thanks to this.
Seriously, Sony. I’m sure many of us will be grateful with whichever way you decide to let us play our old games, be it letting us use the disc we already own, or letting us buy it again in digital form for cheap. Just do it already.
Google Chrome or Improved Web Browser:
Like I mentioned earlier, a web browser was added through a system update after the PS3 was released. It has been improved by the time by Sony, and many web sites have revamped their format to make it PS3 friendly. But I’m sure we can all agree when I say it has not been enough. Sony, this is 2011 and you haven’t yet realized that your web-browser has been outdated since it released? To put it lightly, it sucks browsing the web on the PS3. It’s pretty basic, lacks a lot of features any browser should have, and constantly freezes like mad.
Given Sony’s well-known marketting relationship with Google, it definitely is not crazy to wish for a Google Chrome port for the PS3. Come on, make it happen. There’s a big enough group of people who do not own computers, you know? See “Player A” above.
Facebook Application:
http://nextgenretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wpid-facebook-poder.jpg
By now, the amount of people who use the social network Facebook is probably over the billion. Am I exaggerating? I don’t know. I currently don’t use it myself but pretty much everyone I know and their grandmother use Facebook. I’m not exaggerating this time. Facebook is such a massive and supposedly addictive network that people wouldn’t really mind where you let them access it. They’ll be glad to access Facebook whenever and wherever possible. Why not make it easy to do it on the PS3?
I know it’s accessible through the web browser, but like I mentioned above, it sucks. Not to mention the scientific formula you need to solve to get it to work on the PS3′s web browser.
Sony already has the iniative, with Facebook features integrated in some games, and the ability to sync your PSN account with Facebook’s and automatically posting your game’s progress to the Facebook feed, among other things. A PS3 friendly application is neither impossible nor too much to ask.
PlayStation Network ID change:
Come on. I can’t possibly be the only person in the world who got tired, sick and started having second thoughts about his PSN ID years later from creating it when he reached level 12 in trophies… Or am I?
My trophy level is something very important to me and I certainly don’t want to create a new account and go through that road to reach the level I am again.
Perhaps make this a paid option where you pay like $5.00 to have your ID changed and make it free for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
Automatic Trophies Synchronization:
Talking about trophies, I’m sure everyone hates the annoyance it is to manually sync your trophies every time you earn one, if you want your friends to see your progress and brag about being the best at unlocking them.
PlayStation E-Mail Service or GMail Integration:
http://nextgenretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wpid-crear-correo-gmail.jpg
Everyone has an e-mail address up to this date. Everyone needs an e-mail address be it for school work, university, business relations, subscribing other services, etc. The list goes on. Wouldn’t it be great to receive e-mail on your PSN inbox and receive notifications on your PS3 the same way you do when you get PSN messages? And, of course, be able to read them and reply right from your PS3. Yes, it would indeed be great. Don’t kid yourselves.
If Sony truly wants the PS3 to be the center of entertainment and a one-stop social and media device, they should start their own e-mail service and give us our own PlayStation e-mail address. user@psn.com or something along those lines. Or, of course, just let us use Google’s e-mail service GMail. You should know why if you’ve read above.
Features the PS3 Desperately Needs NGR (http://nextgenretro.com/2011/03/features-the-ps3-desperately-needs/)
So what do you guys think the PS3 needs? I think you should be able to download your games to the hard drive like you can on the xbox360..
Without a doubt Sony Computer Entertainment has done an excellent job when it comes to their current gaming home console, the PS3. To be honest, this isn’t really a surprise given their previous experience and success in the gaming market with the PSOne, PS2, and of course the PSP. The PS3 has come a long way since it was released back in 2006. Considering it had such a slow start due to a pretty average games line-up and only a handful of features back in the day compared to the competition, this is pretty monumental.
When the PS3 released, consumers clearly realized that those who wanted online interactions with their friends were not Sony’s target market. With the Sony PS3 limiting users the way they interact with other friends in their “social network”, many consumers were not very satisfied with their purchase. After Sony realized the rapidly increasing online social needs of the consumers, and the fact that those were being spoilt by other companies, they eventually started opening the doors, adding new features via system firmware updates. In many ways they tried to make gamers feel at home and make the PS3 their console of choice.
But then again, when the PS3 released it didn’t have most of the things it has to date. For example, it did not have an online store. The store eventually evolved based on consumer demand. Many other features changed and were created with the consumer in mind, such as the ability to access the main menu or XMB while playing a game, messaging friends while doing other activities, integrating a web browser, Facebook and Twitter interactivity through the PlayStation Network, PlayStation Home and many other services and features that were not possible in 2006.
Although Sony has added dozens of new features to the PS3, it is still missing a lot that the consumers have been passionately demanding for a long time, and others that pick my personal interest and make us wonder what the heck is Sony thinking.
Cross-game chat:
Quite possibly the most wanted feature by the largest percentage of PS3 owners is the ability to chat with people on their friends list at any given time with no restrictions at all. Say, Player A is playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Player B is playing Gran Turismo 5 and they have something important to discuss, but not to a level of importance that has to interrupt their game session. Player A doesn’t have a cellphone or other way to communicate and Player B can only contact him through the PS3. Player B sends a message asking something to Player A, who didn’t bother to stop his game session to read the message and write back with an answer at the time. Hours later, he finishes his session and checks his inbox to see B was asking for first-aid help because his mom was dying. It was too late already. A mom just died because the PS3 didn’t have cross-game chat. Ok, maybe that was a little dramatic, but this and surely many other situations are in need of cross-game chat. I’m not really sure what’s going through Sony’s mind about this. If it’s a legal patent or what, there’s many ways to get around it. Even Sony’s PSP, the little handheld weaker than PS3 has Skype. Nothing really holds back the PS3 from it.
Universal invitations
Sure, most high-profile multiplayer games have a pre-built feature to invite other players into the game. But, then again, many others don’t, and when they do the process could be a huge pain in the cheeks.
To fix this, many gamers have asked for an universal feature integrated into the XMB and not into certain games. A feature where you could invite a friend with just the press of a button and he could join you where you are with the same level of ease. Where is this, Sony
PlayStation Move friendly UI:
LiveArea, anyone?
This feature is probably just personal interest, but since I got the PlayStation Move controller and after navigating the XMB with it, I came to the conclusion that the XMB simply sucks while using it. I constantly find myself swapping the controllers from my hand every few minutes when I want to play a Move title due to this annoyance. Things could be much easier with an user interface with larger icons and better-organized menu with the PlayStation Move motion controller in mind.
http://nextgenretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wpid-ngp_livearea.jpg
When Sony revealed the NGP along with it’s explendid looking UI codenamed “LiveArea”, I couldn’t help but picture it as the perfect PlayStation Move navigation UI. There’s still hope in my heart of Sony announcing LiveArea for the PS3 sometime soon.
Mind you, I’m not saying replace the XMB with LiveArea, just make it an option to choose which of the two you want to use. One for PlayStation Move users and the other for regular DualShock 3 controllers.
Ability to play PS2 titles for late adopters:
We all know the PS3 released with backwards compatible hardware capabilities, letting us play not only PSOne titles like to date’s models, but also our own collection of PS2 titles. Though Sony slowly removed this feature and now we can’t help but think of the amazingly large games library we’re missing thanks to this.
Seriously, Sony. I’m sure many of us will be grateful with whichever way you decide to let us play our old games, be it letting us use the disc we already own, or letting us buy it again in digital form for cheap. Just do it already.
Google Chrome or Improved Web Browser:
Like I mentioned earlier, a web browser was added through a system update after the PS3 was released. It has been improved by the time by Sony, and many web sites have revamped their format to make it PS3 friendly. But I’m sure we can all agree when I say it has not been enough. Sony, this is 2011 and you haven’t yet realized that your web-browser has been outdated since it released? To put it lightly, it sucks browsing the web on the PS3. It’s pretty basic, lacks a lot of features any browser should have, and constantly freezes like mad.
Given Sony’s well-known marketting relationship with Google, it definitely is not crazy to wish for a Google Chrome port for the PS3. Come on, make it happen. There’s a big enough group of people who do not own computers, you know? See “Player A” above.
Facebook Application:
http://nextgenretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wpid-facebook-poder.jpg
By now, the amount of people who use the social network Facebook is probably over the billion. Am I exaggerating? I don’t know. I currently don’t use it myself but pretty much everyone I know and their grandmother use Facebook. I’m not exaggerating this time. Facebook is such a massive and supposedly addictive network that people wouldn’t really mind where you let them access it. They’ll be glad to access Facebook whenever and wherever possible. Why not make it easy to do it on the PS3?
I know it’s accessible through the web browser, but like I mentioned above, it sucks. Not to mention the scientific formula you need to solve to get it to work on the PS3′s web browser.
Sony already has the iniative, with Facebook features integrated in some games, and the ability to sync your PSN account with Facebook’s and automatically posting your game’s progress to the Facebook feed, among other things. A PS3 friendly application is neither impossible nor too much to ask.
PlayStation Network ID change:
Come on. I can’t possibly be the only person in the world who got tired, sick and started having second thoughts about his PSN ID years later from creating it when he reached level 12 in trophies… Or am I?
My trophy level is something very important to me and I certainly don’t want to create a new account and go through that road to reach the level I am again.
Perhaps make this a paid option where you pay like $5.00 to have your ID changed and make it free for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
Automatic Trophies Synchronization:
Talking about trophies, I’m sure everyone hates the annoyance it is to manually sync your trophies every time you earn one, if you want your friends to see your progress and brag about being the best at unlocking them.
PlayStation E-Mail Service or GMail Integration:
http://nextgenretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wpid-crear-correo-gmail.jpg
Everyone has an e-mail address up to this date. Everyone needs an e-mail address be it for school work, university, business relations, subscribing other services, etc. The list goes on. Wouldn’t it be great to receive e-mail on your PSN inbox and receive notifications on your PS3 the same way you do when you get PSN messages? And, of course, be able to read them and reply right from your PS3. Yes, it would indeed be great. Don’t kid yourselves.
If Sony truly wants the PS3 to be the center of entertainment and a one-stop social and media device, they should start their own e-mail service and give us our own PlayStation e-mail address. user@psn.com or something along those lines. Or, of course, just let us use Google’s e-mail service GMail. You should know why if you’ve read above.
Features the PS3 Desperately Needs NGR (http://nextgenretro.com/2011/03/features-the-ps3-desperately-needs/)
So what do you guys think the PS3 needs? I think you should be able to download your games to the hard drive like you can on the xbox360..