[GC'11, PS3, Vita] The PS3 can't do cross-game chat due to RAM restrictions

[GC'11, PS3, Vita] The PS3 can't do cross-game chat due to RAM restrictions

It has been one of the most highly requested features for Sony's PlayStation 3, and now we have learned (five years down the track) that the PlayStation 3 will never be able to do cross-game chat because of memory restrictions. To find out why, continue reading.

According to Sony Worldwide Studios president, Shuhei Yoshida, the reason is because the PS3's RAM is consumed entirely by the game that it is running, which is why the feature will not be able to be retroactively added in.

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

This news surfaces after it was revealed that the PlayStation Vita would have more RAM than the PlayStation 3. The Vita will have 512MB of RAM and 128MB of V-RAM compared to the PlayStation 3's 256MB of RAM and 256MB of V-RAM. What those numbers mean is that the Vita would have enough spare RAM to run something like cross-chat in the background whilst still playing a game.

"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 there you have it, cross-game chat will never be coming to Sony's home console this generation. It also appears that the chat feature will be better on the Vita, so I guess the best we can all do is look forward to the PlayStation 4.

Written by: Kyran Morrison

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