Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Dear Kaz....

Kaz Hirai


The following is a list of requests by @vdjomb. All views in this piece are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Techfixation or it's writers.


Dear Kaz,

I don't know you well enough to use your first name, but I've been admiring your work for many years . You already know everything about me: my name, address, date of birth, what systems I have owned, what games I've bought and played and what trophies I've earned. You've emptied my wallet so many times. I've even forgiven you for that time you left the backdoor open and let the bad men came in and take all my personal details along with a couple of other peoples.

There's just a few things I need to get off my chest and as it's nearly the day of love, I didn't think you'd mind.

So here goes:

PSN
 The network needs to be stable and free from frequent maintenance. I know its rare that you can't sign in, but give the trolls less to moan about please. If you do need to fix things try picking a non-peak time (i.e. not the day of, or after a store refresh, also avoid weekends & bank holidays.)
 Firmware updates need to be silent & unobtrusive. They should also have more extensive testing, more notice and more details of what they contain.
 The number of friends on a players list needs to be set at a higher limit of about 200.
 Chat functionality needs to be of a decent & consistent quality, across all games. I'm not going to mention Cross-Game chat because it does'nt interest me.

Store
 Needs to be smooth, quick and stable. Meaning it should be everything the current PSN Store is not.
 Purchases should be able to be made via Web Browser or Phones Apps / PSVita & pushed direct to the PS4. So they are ready to play straight away.
 Releases need to be simultaneous world wide. Don't use regionalisation as an excuse for delaying in Europe. The American nation has English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Canada has French. That's 4 out of the way.
 Pricing needs to be better than the current generation 30-50% mark up for a game that has no disc or packaging and requires no physical shelf space.
 Special offers & Sales need to compete with services like Steam.

Games
 Fewer day one patches. All games should work straight out of the box.
 Updates should be silent & optional for Single player. I understand the necessity for Multiplayer. The PS+ background download feature has been a true marvel.
 Consistent pricing a $, £, € are not at a 1:1 ratio.
 More Cross-Play titles would be a real bonus.

Advertising
 Spend some money. Don't throw companies to the wolves ie Superbot.
 Promote your products & features, don't rely on fanboy word of mouth.
 Don't force adverts on to people like the SingStar fiasco, be clever and subtle.

Hardware
 Make sure your systems last at least 3 years. I've been hearing that the PS4 runs cooler & quieter. I hope this means I won't be phoning your call centre for them to send a man round to take away my pride and joy, for repair or replacement.
 Include an HDMI cable in the box. They can be bought for less than £5, so don't be so cheap as to leave them out.
 Provide a decent size HDD with launch machines. For example: 500gb or 1tb.
 Make sure it is compatible with the PS Vita. Allow content to be passed between devices wirelessly and quickly.
 Make sure that Features that you show off arrive, like Remote-Playing PS3 games.
 Allow the PS Vita to be a true second screen or display device.

Community
 Please listen to them. I know its hard and some times it's like trying to pick peanuts out of poo but there really are some tasty morsels in there.
 Deal with the spammers and douchebags. I know you shouldn't have to play Supernanny but sometimes a time out or trip the naughty step is required.

I'm sorry Kaz that I wrote it like an untimatum, but somethings have to change. Think of the children.

It's not all bad. PS+ has been a true wonder of this generation and has shown how subscription based gaming can and does work. Please don't get rid of it. Some of your First Party tiles have been amazing, Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves is my favourite game of this generation. You have some really incredible little studios. Who else would have taken a chance on Thatgamecompany and MediaMolecule? You deserve a big kiss for Journey and LittleBigPlanet. Thank you for helping to show the world it's not all about big guns and killing people, whilst teanagers bismerch our mothers good names.

Lastly, and most importantly, don't make promises you simply cannot keep and hope people forget about it

Happy Valentines day and all the best for the 20th,
Yours hopefully

@vdjomb


As previously stated these are my own views. Please feel free to add any comments or areas you think I've missed. Would love to hear the community and writer's views about this. Even if it's to criticise my self-entitled Fanboying.

16 comments:

  1. Dear Kaz,

    Please bring us Cross-Game chat. It is so handy to have your friends already chatting with you before entering a game. Takes a lot of the bugs out of wondering why your friend isn't connecting yet.

    And please continue to support your system with killer exclusive Titles that are original and ground breaking.

    Sincerely,
    Dexter Jaekel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I completely get what you're saying but having not owned a Xbox360, I've never used the feature but I am familiar as to how it works.
      I don't see how it has any benefit over say Skype, which is now MSN owned and going to be the chat functionality on NextBox.

      I'm so looking forward to new and exciting exclusives like Killzone4.

      I Have loved some of the amazing exclusives this generation. Heavy Rain, WipeOut, Motorstorm and God of War, as well as some if the HD remake compendiums (MGS Collection, Jak & Daxter, Sly Trilogy, Soc & Ico etc).

      Also this generation isn't over yet with Beyond and Last of Us still to come.

      Delete
    2. Having owned a 360 before the PS3, cross-game chat is a really useful feature for arranging party games and keeping in touch with people when you just don't want to play the same thing. True, sometimes I just want to concentrate of my game... but sometimes I want to gossip like a school girl. This can be done with Skype true and if they were to integrate something like this into the next Playstation so that it runs smoothly at the same time as a game, that would be amazing.

      Delete
  2. Wow thanks for post it guys. Love the image on the feature bar. Nice addition of the link to Sony Website. Any chance you received the revised version with correct formatting?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very good points for most of them. I can't really see why they woud even need to limit the amount of friends you could have to even 200. Maybe have it as a paid unlock ie, you get 200 free friend spaces and pay an extra amount per 100 extra for example.
    I highly agree with the updates to the store and the maintanence issues, that is something that needs to be rectified or at least hidden away from causing players and users issues.
    Cross game chat is wanted by some users so should be added. It's something that has been talked about since the PS3's launch so there should be no excuse for it not to be added.
    Harddrive space for me isnt a real issue as long as they leave it as easy to upgrade it as it is now. They should be sold with a usable size but the PS3 was originally launced with usable size hard drives back in its day, we have just found bigger and better ways to fill them since then.
    I think you are spot on with their amazing PS+ and with them helpoing out developers to create such games as journey, flower, littlebigplanet etc. I hope this continues as its something that i want to see develop and play the next gen of new creations.

    I look forward to seeing what the new system does eventually bring us.

    Graham
    (Jedi Junkie)
    Founder of www.JoypadAndMe.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feedback. Really means a lot. :-D

      Delete
    2. You make some bang on points. You're right about HDD space and make a brilliant point about user choice, to replace with a larger unit. Not forcing people down the propriety route like Micro$haft.
      Clever idea about buying more slots for friends, never thought of that before.

      Delete
  4. Agree with with everything you've said, would only add that Sony (and other console manufacturers) start being firmer with publishers over prices online. The 30% markup we see isn't needed for digital distribution and as the platform operator they should be working to get the best deal for their users, which should drive higher numbers on to the service.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't agree more. I love steam because of all the sales and reasonable prices for digital games, but my main regret is that I can't play them on my favorite console.

      Sort it out, Sony!

      - Dexter Jaekel

      Delete
    2. I'm not sure what the real reasons are for mark up. Also I've heard is Sony blaming publishers. I remember the Warhawk debacle when certain stores wouldn't carry physical copies because the PSN Store were selling it less than retail.

      Delete
  5. I agree with pretty much everything here. I would add more cross-buy is needed too as buying the same game twice is tedious in many cases. They do need some better sales, like the ps+ discounts are great and all but certain holidays or a short 24 hour period with deep discounts would be nice. Well written overall!


    @swizzletooth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading and commenting Dan. I love the idea of Cross Buy & Cross Play just not bee promoted enough and it's only for 1st party games. Publishers like EA should have been all over it. I personally would be happy to give them some cash for another version say at a 10-15% of the full games cost. Thanks just my though on it, I'd prefer it was like Sony's PSN codes.

      Delete
    2. Cross Buy & Cross Play would Amazing! I may even quit my job to just soak that feature up!. May not...quit..per say! but, I'd sure love them anyway. lol

      Delete
  6. Just to add a P.S.
    Kaz if you are going to have web browser tech in the PS4, buy it from Google or Mozilla cos the PS3 browser is shocking. This morning I've had to do 2 system rebuilds because I was trying to watch Utopia & Black Mirror via 4OD app (runs in the web browser).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Started off as being mildly homoerotic but Ok, not sure I've ever seen this done before.
    Full of errors and looks a bit weird but at least you've made it you're own. It also appears to have started a conversation on here, no mean feat.
    Two actual articles , congratulations, you may make a real site out of this, yet.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow thanks Kaz, it looks like we may well have future together after all based on your PS4 press event. I'm gonna say I'm happy you listened to at least some of my suggestions.

    ReplyDelete