Six PSN and XBL Features We Need Now
by Andrew Podolsky on August 26, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Gametrailers blogger LifeRPG has been doing some serious thinking about what would make online consoles just a little bit better, and some of these actually seem like they might work. Read on for the full list of most wanted features.
Here’s a rundown of the six suggested features:
1) Be able to watch a friend play, from your screen
To make myself clearer, let’s take an example: JUSTIN.TV
You play, recording yourself with your webcam and broadcasting your gameplay to the entire world. Anybody coming on your channel will be able to see you play. So basically, what i am saying here is a concept pretty much similar. When online on PSN/XBL , it would be great to have a feature that lets you connect to your friend’s game and watch him play….In other terms, i would be a ‘Spectator’.2) Take in-game videos screenshots, and being able to host them online directly from the PSN/XBL
The PSN lets you (although still very limited) upload in-game footage directly to YouTube. Well, that’s good for a start isn’t it, but i mean….YouTube? No. Just no. SCE / Microsoft need to set up a private video sharing website, in which all content would not only be in HD, but also uploaded directly from our consoles.3) Cross Platform Online Play
Take a multi-platform game, COD4 for example. Imagine a feature that would allow PSN gamers to play against XBL gamers. This sure sound ridiculously impossible, doesn’t it? But let’s think bigger..See this example: how about a multi-platform game developed by SCE themselves? A MMO for example, that would be out on PS3 and PC..maybe that would work.4) Stuck in a game? Meet the Virtual Walkthrough!
Let’s admit it folks, we’ve all got stuck in games..and still do. One of the game i most used a walkthrough was Zelda: Twilight Princess. I can vaguely remember the number of pages i printed off the GAMEFAQ walkthrough, but it certainly was above 30. Aren’t you fed up with that? Moving to your PC to look for the solution ; Making sure you always have papers and cartridge ready, cause if you don’t you’d have to constantly come-and-go from console to PC ; Reading the walkthrough while playing..well believe me i am. I believe it is time we have a Virtual Walkthrough. In other terms, an in-game walkthrough that would help us in our ’stuck’ situations, and lead us to the solution.5) Not an online feature, but a feature in general..a really important one: Game Cutscenes accessible anytime
Am i the only one who wishes i could re-watch all cutscenes from the games i play? I’m sure i’m not. I believe this is a game developer decision, and not a console manufacturer’s, but whoever it is they must hear us: We want to watch all cutscenes from the games we’ve completed ANYTIME. Whether it’s on the Disc itself (unlocked after completing the game maybe), or an option to have them all transfered to our HDD, we want it!6) Organized Clan Management System
Clans Clans Clans..Numerous clans exist for nearly every online game available today. A great feature would be the integration of an Organized Clan Management System. The use of such a system would basically let console users to not only group the clan members, but actually manage the entire clan overall: Have a motto, a logo, statistics, …etc
In other terms, Clan Identification. That would be a great idea, eventually for future ‘clan leagues’.
Our own writer John Kershaw had this to say about these ideas:
Points 1 and 3 are just technically hard to do. You can already kinda do point 2 in Halo, but because of the server costs, it wouldn’t happen over the two networks, it’s a game-by-game thing. Point 4 has nothing to do with XBLA or PSN, same with 5. Point 6 is called a forum.
Use the comments below to let us know: What do you think of these proposed features? Would you use any of them?
Source: LifeRPG’s Gametrailers blog
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6 Comments » |












on August 26, 2008 10:13 pm
Walk through not necessary just get better at the game
the cutscenes devs already do that not all but some look at heavenly sword
other than that yeah you forgot to mention media attachments How cool would it be to send a friend a song? and when pipelines open up maybe a vid hmmm
on August 27, 2008 1:17 am
I agree with wardrox. I actually wouldn’t use any of them, and would actively avoid point 1. I don’t want to look at the people, I want to play the game!
on August 27, 2008 1:36 am
I think PSN could do with an improvement in voice chat. it isn’t as smooth as XBL seems to be.
on August 27, 2008 3:46 am
Great stuff, but if you click on the link, you’ll find a 7th feature that Ripten missed writing about.
on August 27, 2008 8:06 am
@Kerry,
That would be because the blogger added to the list after it was sent to us. The cached version of the page shows 5 points. When it was sent to us as a tip it had 6, and now it has 7.
Chad-
on August 27, 2008 11:46 pm
Good catch, Kerry!