A Much-Needed Addition to Next-Gen Consoles

In 2007, the coming launch of Halo 3 prompted me to buy an Xbox 360.  I'd already been considering it, and the looming launch of the next installment in one of my favorite franchises helped cement it for me.

The 360 has gone through multiple changes since 2007, and five years later, its offering as an entertainment console has redefined what many thought a machine for playing video games could be.

One of the smaller improvements I've enjoyed since the latest OS update is the integration with Facebook and Twitter to share achievements.  Microsoft has really made it a point to give people the chance to share what they enjoy, with social media integration being a great addition to the Xbox offering.

Sharing an achievement on Facebook.  Image via Xbox forums.

But there's so much more we can, and want to, share.

It may not have been the first game to do it (or maybe it was), but Halo 3 was the first game for me where I had the ability to go back, watch what I've played, and take pictures and videos of the action to upload and share on Bungie's dedicated Halo network.  (You might have been able to do this with Halo 2 as well, but I didn't have Xbox live until I got Halo 3, so I can't confirm this.)  This has spawned countless machinima series - one of the many creative outlets created by users when given tools like this.

Image via The Married Gamers, a screenshot of the Halo 3 file share portal

I loved this feature, as I could go back and relive that awesome double kill with a Spartan laser, and share visual confirmation of said pwnage with other users.  What bugged me, though, is that you could only share this with other players, as the only way to see the videos and images was to download them to your 360.  You could see them right there on your computer if you were a paying member of Bungie's website, but that didn't help me if I wanted to share things with non-players.

EA Sports eventually caught the UGC bug, and for the last few years, users have been able to save replays and screenshots to upload to EA's servers, where you can watch them online.  I've never felt the controls are as great as Halo's theater mode, which has made the creation of dynamic replays that are fun to watch a bit difficult, and the clips can't be that long, but it's nevertheless rewarding to be able to share that awesome bicycle kick you just scored in FIFA.  And even better, once you find your video online (which isn't always easy or immediate, and in fact, as I write this, it's become almost impossible to find any of the content I've uploaded on EA's site), you can share that link with anyone.  It's even more rewarding when someone you WANT to share the video with can enjoy it.

I'd put a video of this hilarious clip from a game of FIFA I played, but EA doesn't give the option to embed the video anywhere.  So here's a link.  It's better than the NCAA videos because at least it gives you sound, if not full commentary.

But all of these ways of sharing your gaming experience currently exist in-game only.  It requires you to go back and look at what you played, pick out parts, and then share them.  And it's not always the easiest way to share it with the real people you want to see it.  And not every game has the ability to view replays.

"But BoFC, how do people share videos of Mass Effect?  It doesn't have a replay mode."  Well, those are either recorded on the PC version of the game, or someone has bought extra hardware to send the Xbox (or PS3) AV stream to a PC in order to record it.

There's no need to buy extra hardware if it can be built into the operating system.  This is my proposal for next-gen systems.

Allow users, at the click of a button, to take a photo or record a video as they are playing.  Then, allow the user to share the video or image directly to any of their social networks.

All the pieces are in place, just not connected.  Microsoft has made parts of Xbox integrated with Facebook and Twitter.  Take it further.  Video and photo uploading is there.  Why not just let it go directly to the platforms that people already use?  No extra steps seeking out your uploaded content on low-quality servers to share with the people you want.

It could be as simple as an additional button on next-gen controllers.  Click it once, it takes a picture while you're playing.  Hold it for a second, it will start recording video.  Click again to stop.  All of these are saved to your hard drive, where you can then pick through the ones you want to upload directly to whichever platform you wish.

This operates over all functions on the console, so it can be used whenever.  And of course it can be disabled to prevent recording on Netflix, Zune (does anyone use that?), etc.

An extra button wouldn't be too much, as evidenced by this concept from Dave's Geeky Ideas that has Kinect functionality built in.

This will add a lot to all those games without replay modes where you couldn't share what you had just done because you had no option to.  For the games that do have great replay modes, it doesn't add much except the ability to upload directly to Facebook, Twitter, etc. (which I would love instead of having to hunt through EA's site to find my stuff and then share it).

And why wouldn't a console manufacturer want to include this?  It's not adding any data that needs to be stored on its own servers - everything is stored either on the user's hard drive or is uploaded to existing platforms.  Upload a video directly to Facebook - it's on their servers now.  Same with a photo to Twitpic.

And it's free advertising.  We know of the power of word of mouth, and how that's become amplified through social media.  If your friend shows you how enjoyable something is, you might be more inclined to check it out.

I'm not saying that me just showing a clip of fighting a dragon in Skyrim is going to convince someone to buy a new Xbox.  What's most likely is it would convince someone who already owns the system to consider the game.  It's a lot to say that this is going to get new console purchases.

But, if you were like me in 2007, perhaps all you needed was just that little push, inspired by a game, to get a new console.  And the console manufacturers wouldn't want to miss out on that.