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PS3 Cross-Game Chat Impossbile Due To RAM.

S

Saty

Member
Cross-game voice chat is not possible on the PlayStation 3 because of memory restrictions, Sony has revealed.

"Once a game gets RAM we never give it back," he said. "It's not possible to retrofit something like that after the fact."

"The game has to use its own memory to do [in-game voice chat]. There's always voice chat in the game. But it's a part of a game feature. It's not a part of an OS feature. That's the reason in terms of the ability to have voice chat across different games."
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-19-why-the-ps3-cant-do-cross-game-voice-chat
 
I figured this had to be the case.

I'm assuming this is also why you can't have custom soundtracks, unless that changed without me noticing.
 
Cross-game voice chat is not possible on the PlayStation 3 because of memory restrictions, Sony has revealed.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-19-why-the-ps3-cant-do-cross-game-voice-chat

"Cross-game voice chat is not possible on the PlayStation 3 because of memory restrictions, Sony has revealed.

The PS3's RAM is gobbled up by the games it runs, which prevents the much-desired feature form being implemented, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told Eurogamer.

"Once a game gets RAM we never give it back," he said. "It's not possible to retrofit something like that after the fact."

As revealed by Eurogamer yesterday, PS Vita, due out in Europe early next year, actually has more RAM than the PS3.

Vita has 512MB of RAM and 128MB of V-RAM, compared to the PS3's 256MB of system RAM and 256MB of video RAM. This enables features such as cross-game voice chat to run in the background while games are being played.

On the PS3, however, things are different.

"The game has to use its own memory to do [in-game voice chat]. There's always voice chat in the game. But it's a part of a game feature. It's not a part of an OS feature. That's the reason in terms of the ability to have voice chat across different games."

So, voice chat is better on Vita than PS3?

"We totally agree!" Yoshida replied."
 
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I understand the issue I just don't understand why they just didn't come out and say it earlier. They just kept on hinting and teasing at it.
 
Sucks for those who use such a feature, but personally it irks me far more that there aren't custom soundtracks for every game, since I never really play online anyway.
 
angelfly said:
I understand the issue I just don't understand why they just didn't come out and say it earlier. They just kept on hinting and teasing at it.
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They were probably trying to reduce the OS memory footprint enough to get it in, and finally decided they couldn't.
 
flyinpiranha said:
No, it wasn't.
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well yes, officially it wasn't but if there was a way to do it they would have made it years ago. i accepted that it would never come due to RAM issues since forever.
 
I assume they have a fixed amount of RAM dedicated to cross-game chat on the 360 regardless of the software running? Considering the various SDKs and memory usage of PS3 games + the split pools of RAM, it really must be nigh-impossible.
 
Yeah, that was expected. They should have thought about all that during the console designing phase. If they had 512MB XDR RAM, the PS3 would have been a much better console. Such a bad decision, but I guess, they were losing too much money already on it.
 
I figured this was the issue when we got in-game XMB but had to close the game to access the browser or, well, do anything.

But, enh. It's something I got over years ago, and at this point I've learned that buying multiplat games on 360 is usually the better option anyway, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over this. The rest of PS3's online capabilities are passable enough and do the basics competently. At least Vita has it, and the PS4 likely will. I can deal.
 
We wait for years and now they tell us its impossible. I hope people cause a fit for all the lying over the years.
 
Majine said:
Man, Microsoft really made the better console.
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Nailed it.

MS was really thinking of ONLINE infrastructure when designing 360 and its features.

I guess Sony was thinking about living room domination via Blu-Ray player and that golden PS2 throne they were sitting on when designing PS3 and its features.
 
Majine said:
Man, Microsoft really made the better console.
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I disagree. I think Microsoft's OS software is incredibly superior in terms of efficiency, ease of use and feature set. However, I love the XMB as well. We really should have a wishlist per console for next-gen as it approaches. It'd be interesting to see what people prioritize.
 
Dr Eggman said:
Another reason why Live is superior.
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Yup, and the reason why my PS3 only gets touched when I want to play a single player PS3 exclusive or watch a blu-ray.

I have friends I play with online, a lot of times we just want to chill and play our own games while we chat about whatever. This is a HUGE feature to me, and thus why the 360 gets 95% of my game time.

Sad such a simple feature was overlooked during development of the console.
 
Nirolak said:
They were probably trying to reduce the OS memory footprint enough to get it in, and finally decided they couldn't.
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My guess is technically there was enough free memory with the most recent FW/SDK to allow for chat, but some newer games already made use of that memory before Sony could mandate a portion be set aside?
 
Nirolak said:
They were probably trying to reduce the OS memory footprint enough to get it in, and finally decided they couldn't.
Click to expand...
OS memory footprint at launch was around 120mb, it is currently around 50mb, surely Sony must have enough memory now to implement it?
 
At least they've openly admitted what most tech savvy gamers already knew. Hopefully, PS4 takes after the Vita's OS development process, and gets a generous amount of RAM, to avoid these and other OS dependent issues that plague the PS3.
 
Mr_Brit said:
OS memory footprint at launch was around 120mb, it is currently around 50mb, surely Sony must have enough memory now to implement it?
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They gave the RAM to the games instead.

They can't take it back or the games break.
 
Nirolak said:
They were probably trying to reduce the OS memory footprint enough to get it in, and finally decided they couldn't.
Click to expand...

I'd bet instead that they were talking to pubs about patching games to try and use less overhead and pubs (very understandably) couldn't be bothered.
 
Mr_Brit said:
OS memory footprint at launch was around 120mb, it is currently around 50mb, surely Sony must have enough memory now to implement it?
Click to expand...
What if it comes down to what developers would prioritize that freed memory for? Surely, most if not all would choose to have that memory for their game and not a feature that doesn't benefit them directly.
 
angelfly said:
I understand the issue I just don't understand why they just didn't come out and say it earlier. They just kept on hinting and teasing at it.
Click to expand...

When the system launched the OS used a shitload of RAM (I think like 96 megs - one of the many reasons why so many early cross-platform games were so awful). Over the years they kept knocking down that number. It's now pretty low but slightly higher than the 360 and I guess they figure they can't do any more (or don't want to, because they are moving on to other projects).

It's crazy to think of how shitty the PS3 was when it launched.
 
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