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Xbox update brings noise suppression to Party Chat
Microsoft is doing something about annoying background sounds by introducing noise suppression to party chat in the latest Xbox update.
Sony tries to clear up confusion over voice chat recording on PS5
There is no opt-out of this — if you use voice chat on PS5, someone in your chat can clip your audio and submit it for review by the moderation team.
Here's a look at March's Xbox One update
Microsoft has released a preview video detailing the new features and enhancements coming in next month's Xbox One firmware update, including improved party chat functionality and friends list features. Starting next month, Xbox One player parties will have party chat enabled by default -- a change spurred by frequent user requests. The Xbox One's improved interface will clearly differentiate between in-game competing players and cross-game chat within parties, and party invitations will specify player requests for chat, gameplay, or both. Players will also be able to check up on what their friends are doing more quickly starting in next month's update, as friend status can now be accessed with three button presses or a single voice command. The update additionally introduces a message shortcut menu, and friends may now be identified as "favorites," giving them priority and list placement over followers and acquaintances. If you're looking to maintain a tidy friends list, you might want to start mentally ranking your friends by how much you like them. Friendship quotient, incidentally, is determined by frequency of real-world interaction divided by cheap Titanfall kills. Judge your friends harshly. [Image: Microsoft]
Xbox One streamlining friends list and party chat before Titanfall
The Xbox One's multiplayer and social features are to be adjusted in a pre-Titanfall upgrade scheduled for "early March," Microsoft says. This latest overhaul, which will target the friends list and multiplayer party systems, will be the second consecutive update issued by Microsoft in as many months. Microsoft plans to change the "Activity" "Friends" application on Xbox One to a "Social" tile that opens straight to a friends list – showing you who's online at a glance, just like in the good ol' Xbox 360 days. Party chat audio will be activated and separated from game chat by default, Microsoft promises, and forthcoming multiplayer games will have a standardized option to quickly invite friends into the match. While welcome, the return of this reliable Xbox 360 feature shows the odd online isolation one can feel in the robust but splintered operating system of the Xbox One. Xbox's Chief Product Officer, Marc Whitten, also claims the March update will bring further improvements that have yet to be highlighted. "The improvements to multiplayer and parties are just a few of the features that will be included," he says, "and we'll continue to share more details in the days and weeks ahead, including in-depth videos so you're all ready to take advantage of the new features in March." If you're just joining us - and your Xbox One is telling you it's time to update – you've gotten the February update, which promises to eradicate the dual mysteries of controller battery life and remaining hard drive space. Update: The February update will not go live today, but it's due to launch this week, Major Nelson tweeted. "The team is working on finalizing. More details when I get them," he says. [Image: Microsoft]
PS4, Xbox One party chat supports up to eight party people [update]
You can gab and gossip with up to seven pals using PS4 voice chat, but the real test will be deciding which of your 2000 bestest buddies to invite to the party on November 15. PlayStation Social Media Manager Sid Shuman revealed the figure on the PS Blog, saying, "Party Voice Chat will support up to 8 players on PS4, like PS Vita." On the subject of Vita, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida tweeted recently that party chat will work between Vita and PS4. So that's cross-platform, cross-game chat - not too shabby, really. Update: A Microsoft spokesperson told Game Informer the Xbox One also supports up to eight people in party chat. So, final score: Xbox One 8-8 PlayStation 4.
Modern Warfare 3 will offer more options for Party Chat
Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling says that if you want to chat privately with your friends while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, you'll probably be able to do so. While the last entry in the series blocked Xbox Live's Party Chat in many of the game modes, Modern Warfare 3 will apparently be much more forgiving. "The only place where Party Chat should be blocked is Search & Destroy," says Bowling, since that's the only mode where players are meant to have only one life per attack, and allowing dead players to chat with live ones might create an unfair advantage. For all of the other modes, "it's about giving options. We will have places where competitive guys go where you might have restrictive voice chat. And then you have an option to maybe play that same mode without the same restrictions if that's the type of player you are." So, good news! You and your girlfriend can have some private time together to say lovey-dovey things in each others' ears, even while you gat some noobs. How romantic.
PlayStation Vita features voice chat via 'Party'
aHey, cross-game chat is coming to PlayStation ... Vita! It's called "Party," and according to a quick explanation by Kaz Hirai, it allows people to talk to each other through the PlayStation Vita system even while playing different games, using either a headset or the microphone built into the Vita device. We're not used to that name yet. "Vita." Will we ever be?
Call of Duty: Black Ops will block party chat in some (but fewer) modes
Xbox Live socialistas were upset by Modern Warfare 2's policy of prohibiting players from taking part in certain online multiplayer modes while in a Live Party. In a recent interview with Videogamer.com, Treyarch's online director Dan Hunting explained that this policy returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops, reminding players that "we have that same restriction in certain playlists where they can use party chat to exploit the game mode." The hardcore Search and Destroy gametype is used as an example of where this would be appropriate. However, the restriction won't be applied to as many playlists as it was in last year's Duty, including Team Deathmatch and "any game mode where it doesn't make sense to have it." So, yes, certain game modes will still require you to converse with the hoi polloi, but isn't that part of the magic of online shooters?
More options for party communication
Our buddy Rufus from the WoW LJ brings word of a sneaky change in the recent patch: raid warnings (those warnings that pop up in the middle of your screen, created by typing "/rw" while leading a raid) no longer work in parties. Apparently you have to be in a raid to actually toss off a warning. Of course, that could have happened before this patch, but at any rate, it's in the game now. No more /rw in party chat. Not only is it a bummer because some people used to use it constantly to keep party members in line, but this also means that there's one less means of communication between all of these random parties forming out there on the realms. Sure, in a perfect world, everyone would know the fights and chat would be enough to make sure everyone was on the same page (or depending of your vision of a perfect world, everyone actually uses the in-game voice chat -- a quick survey of our staff here presumes that it works in cross-realm PuGs, but given that I've never actually seen it used on the live realms by anyone, who knows?), but we're hardly running instances in a perfect world. Sometimes chat is not the best way to get a complicated boss fight organized and ready.
Rumor: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer disables Xbox Live party chat
If rumors circulating around NeoGAF prove true, Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward won't be allowing the use of the Xbox 360's party chat feature during ranked multiplayer playlists in its upcoming title. Since a distinction in the post is made between different styles of online matches (ranked and social), we presume the function will not be utilized throughout all of Modern Warfare 2's online playlists.Speaking with Joystiq, Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling said the company "can't comment on leaks," and was unable to confirm if the feature will, in fact, be disabled. "Players should reserve judgment until they get a chance to experience it for themselves on November 10 instead of viewing it out of context," Bowling added. Have an opinion on the matter? Sound off in the comments. [Image Source: BL4CK HAWK 8]
