An Experience Compromised
The advantages of a relatively free (you’re already paying for any subscription fee, broadband/console) telephone line are obvious, especially if most of your friends are on the same console when you need to contact them. But what of the actual game you are playing? I can understand that it will be a positive when “grinding” in an RPG, but not if your playing an immersive game such as Uncharted, where every moment requires your attention.
When I went through Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction for a second time to get all weapons to level 5, (the closest I’ll ever get to “grinding”), I turned my stereo on and listened to music. But I wouldn’t do this on my first playthrough. Would anyone?
My point is that cross-game chat and using your own music in-game can only compromise the experience that the developer has worked to give you. In a “grinding” situation, be it an RPG, mulitplayer session or even asking a friend for verbal assistance, it will be beneficial. But for first single player playthroughs, I can’t believe anyone would consider using it to simply converse with friends about other things or to listen to a new album they’ve bought.
Consumer Choice Is Paramount
The consumer is king and choice is what the consumer should have, so I have no problem when a gamer can pick their own music to listen to while playing a game or chat to a friend who is playing another game. Like facebook and twitter integration, you don’t have to use it, it’s yet another feature of a multimedia platform.
For me, it just seems that whoever thought up the idea of gamers being able to take themselves out of the experience by listening to potentially unrelated music or talking over the game itself, was no gamer at all, and potentially someone that had no respect for the games they were creating a platform for.
It is an example of how gaming is taking the backseat in these multimedia enabled devices, where the money is not only in selling you a game, but influencing you to buy other services. Buy this album via the store and listen to it while you play the game, that way you can take in an extra 45minutes of content and be ready to buy another album when you’ve finished.
If there is money to be had from cross-game chat, then it will be got at, take a moment to imagine ad breaks at the start of each call. It’s business and I don’t have a problem with that, just remember what is most important, the games. Respect the developers. Peace.
_____________
Image compiled by a Broke Gamer
Popularity: 1% [?]
Related posts:
"How do I know that our ways are lost?
When a childrens best friend is something by Microsoft."
catch this buzz, chainsmokers, the shape shifters 
Loading ...
I was all ready to have a counter argument, but your “Consumer Choice is Paramount” section turned me in your favor. For instance, when I played Bioshock, I sure as hell didn’t want to talk to anyone on chat. If someone sent me an invite, I would only talk while I had the game on pause. That being said, I absolutely want cross-game chat available to me at all times. If I’m playing multiplayer, in fact, I have no problem talking to friends while I shoot people in the face. The music thing is totally different, though. I never want to use my own music over what the developers chose for their game. The ONLY time I use custom soundtracks are for racing games. But that’s one game out of like 50, so I can go ahead and say I really don’t have a use for custom soundtracks. I don’t use my 360 for anything but playing games and watching stuff on Netflix.