Over the last several years, gamers and tech buffs alike have seen the PlayStation 3 drastically change and improve for the better via firmware updates. Partly due to customer requests and partly via a roadmap, the PlayStation 3, once with little video offering, now offers Vudu, Netflix, and Hulu support prior to other consoles and even has Sony’s own purchase and rental space via the PlayStation Store. Speaking of the Store: Once a barren HTML design, the PlayStation Store now offers a much more functional design with access to games, movies, themes, demos and more which can also be taken on the PSP and the soon-to-be-released PS Vita. We’ve also seen new photo and video apps, as well as support for 3D games and movies. Heck, you can even create a download queue and tell your PS3 to finish downloading the list, install the items and turn itself off. PlayStation Plus members can set up their PS3 to turn on during a scheduled time slot, check for game updates, and install the content all without being near the console. However, the feature that many gamers consider to be the holy grail of offerings, ‘Cross Game Chat,’ has yet to make it to the PS3 via a firmware update.

Then came this past week’s E3 conference, which we were able to attend and live blog from. During the further reveal of the PS Vita (NGP) and the games, features and prices that would accompany the system for a holiday 2011 launch in the US, Sony also mentioned that the Vita would be gaining Cross Game Chat. Cross Game Chat would give Vita players the ability to talk with other PSN friends, no matter which game they are playing. However, later on during an interview with CVG, SCE Europe boss Andrew House revealed that there is still no news for the PlayStation 3.

 “No, [there are] really not any new announcements to put on that,” he said. “We know that it’s a huge thing out there. We have continued to do much R&D in the area, but we don’t have anything to announce right now.” 

For PlayStation fans, this is a bit of a mixed bag. With nearly 50 million PlayStation 3s on the market, the ability to have cross game chat would be welcoming to say the least. However, it’s  at least nice to see Sony embrace the technology for their upcoming handheld and make sure that the Vita offers a ton of features that players want. With no other handheld gaming device being able to offer such a feature, this will give the Vita another vote of confidence from gamers. Still, this might make some gamers scratch their head as they wonder why a console as powerful and versatile as the PlayStation 3 still does not offer Cross Game Chat.

As with all things internet-related, people tend to make wild and crazy accusations as to why Sony doesn’t offer it, with a popular reasoning being that they don’t listen to their fans, as if the whole process was as simple as clicking on a check box which enables the feature. I, however, have a better one. During CES 2011, I had a chance to chat with many higher-up employees of PlayStation and seeing how I was not officially interviewing them, I won’t be mentioning any names. However, during my lengthy conversations with them, it was apparent that they were very much aware of the situation and had internally run into a roadblock. That is to say that while the PS3 was being designed in Japan, cross game chat was never taken into consideration as a necessary feature, which makes sense considering the fact that Japan is much more interested in the single-player experience while we in the West tend to love the multiplayer offering. If this is indeed true, the fact that the right hardware for the task is not present in the system could very well explain why Sony hasn’t been able to properly implement the feature.

I must say that, personally, Cross Game Chat is not a feature that interests me. If I’m playing a single player game like Uncharted, frankly, I don’t care to talk to anybody else, seeing how I will be focused on that game with its rich plot and dialogue. And if I’m playing Killzone 3 or SOCOM 4, for instance, you can bet that I definitely don’t care what my friend has to say when he is playing Gran Turismo 5, seeing how I’ll be focused on talking with my teammates. How about you? Is Cross Game Chat really that important of a feature for you or is it something that’s been hyped up too much?

[Via CGV]