Rumor: Sony insider says EA holding back PS3 XMB development

[Nohbdy]

http://forums.n4g.com/Cross-game-chat-and-why-it39s-currently-MIA-m700070.aspx

Good luck reading through that.

The jist of things: EA's games are terribly coded for Sony XMB features and are incompatible. Sony had to hold back development to make its XMB work with them or EA threatens to leave PS3 development.

The insider who spoiled this apparently is somewhat of a "regular" at the N4G forums and gets validity for leaking out correct details on the PS3 Slim and a firmware update.

[lokizz]

sucks for other people but i dont talk to people in games just seems kinda weird.

[Ryuukishi]

EA threatened to halt all PS3 development over the burning issue of... custom soundtracks? Sounds a little exaggerated.

[Shrapnellistic]

Sony should of had universal in-game XMB/custom soundtrack support at launch. They saw X360 had this so can't really blame anyone, but their short-sightedness (ironic considering their "PS3 for 10 years" line).

[TimPV3]

Sony should of had universal in-game XMB/custom soundtrack support at launch. They saw X360 had this so can't really blame anyone, but their short-sightedness.Sony had all this shit included before launch. I'm assuming they realized their goal was RIDICULOUSLY IMPOSSIBLE though, because if any of this came true it would blow Xbox Live away.

Here's a recap of what went down at GDC 06:

"Using the mention of community as another segue, Harrison presented several slides that showed the interface of the PSNP. Using the PS3 game Formula 1 as a backdrop, he showed how up to three simultaneous video chat windows could pop up during gameplay via a minimalist, translucent heads-up display (HUD). Later slides showed how a player could send messages, check e-mail, scour friends lists, and send game requests all while in-game--and all using the same translucent HUD architecture.


Moving on to commerce, Harrison displayed the first shots of the PSNP store, which can also be accessed in-game. He showed a mockup of a menu offering an additional racetrack that players could buy, again using the same translucent design as the communication HUD. He then showed how the PSNP store menu could be customized to match the look of a game with a slide of a car being bought in Motorstorm. The menu featured the same bold yellow design as the off-road racing game's logo, but retained the same elements as the other store menu."

[xdl]

Assuming this whole episode is true, I would really love to see Sony call EA's bluff on this. I don't think EA as a collective company would have the balls to abandon the PS3. It would mean a loss of tens of millions of games per year, and all the profit that goes with it. Being the money grubbing company that they are, I don't think they are capable of making that decision.

[VipFREAK]

BHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Not that I'd want to be siding with EA...

[shafnitz]

Spoiler: Who really held it back? Sony. By not realizing after the 360 had been around for a whole year that these were features people would want. The tone of the guy's post makes is sound like they had no clue until it showed up on a list, which blows my mind.

But I digress...

I have to agree with xdl. Last time I checked, EA liked money. They wouldn't throw money away just to prove a point. Just like Activision wouldn't actually stop supporting the PS3 if it didn't get a price cut this year. If EA did make these threats, they're just throwing their weight around and it's not surprising. They're just looking out for #1.

[62t]

I dont really buy it. At one point EA was the only publisher not to support XBox live.

[Nohbdy]

http://www.qj.net/Conspiracy-Theory-Why-Cross-Game-chat-will-not-be-in-FW-3-0/pg/49/aid/134126
http://www.qj.net/Conspiracy-Theory-Part-2-It-s-EA-y-all-/pg/49/aid/134132

Worthy enough to be considered news.

[Malik112099]

Sony had all this shit included before launch. I'm assuming they realized their goal was RIDICULOUSLY IMPOSSIBLE though, because if any of this came true it would blow Xbox Live away.

Here's a recap of what went down at GDC 06:

"Using the mention of community as another segue, Harrison presented several slides that showed the interface of the PSNP. Using the PS3 game Formula 1 as a backdrop, he showed how up to three simultaneous video chat windows could pop up during gameplay via a minimalist, translucent heads-up display (HUD). Later slides showed how a player could send messages, check e-mail, scour friends lists, and send game requests all while in-game--and all using the same translucent HUD architecture.


Moving on to commerce, Harrison displayed the first shots of the PSNP store, which can also be accessed in-game. He showed a mockup of a menu offering an additional racetrack that players could buy, again using the same translucent design as the communication HUD. He then showed how the PSNP store menu could be customized to match the look of a game with a slide of a car being bought in Motorstorm. The menu featured the same bold yellow design as the off-road racing game's logo, but retained the same elements as the other store menu."


Umm...what happened then? It def wasnt EA....

[Boeing 747]

I can only think that this was like a certain development team (He mentions that Harry Potter game) going directly to the firmware team and trying to bully them so they don't have to patch features in. I'm guessing that firmware team took it to the uppers at Sony who really couldn't a crap about the feature and told them to make it easy and axe it. That should have been that but they opened the door for disgruntled employees and it was leaked, now both have bigger problems on their hands if the EA forums are to say anything.. what a mess.

Second off, regardless if they should have been in the first place, Sony and their PSN team have been listening closely to PS3 users in the past year or two and have really turned the service from "Hey it's better then the Wii" to being around the same level as XBL.. It's way out of place for EA or any company to try to bully their way to stop these features.

It's going to be interesting to see how this is played out, I don't see any of the major blog site reporting this yet, but it's still clearing causing a hell storm over at EA's forums so I don't think a simple "We don't respond to rumors" will suffice here. They will have to carefully craft something to say nothing, at least for now.

[mykevermin]

After Sony rolled over and died when Activision threatened them as a result of initially approving of the patch that took almost 60 weeks to release letting us play our Guitar Hero instruments on Rock Band on the PS3, I wouldn't be surprised at all at news that portrays them as wimps who don't know when to call a bluff.

[Boeing 747]

After Sony rolled over and died when Activision threatened them as a result of initially approving of the patch that took almost 60 weeks to release letting us play our Guitar Hero instruments on Rock Band on the PS3, I wouldn't be surprised at all at news that portrays them as wimps who don't know when to call a bluff.

Well in all honesty can you blame either side? EA didn't want their games to look inferior or worse, not work at all.. and Sony didn't want to hurt a now budding relationship with arguably the biggest third party publisher. Although Sony should have had some balls and work with them to get whatever the issue fixed rather then cowering, but they aren't quite in a position to say to EA "Hey fuck you, we're Sony baby" like they were last gen.