Complain-time.

Alright, this is a rant, and it requires a lot of setup to appreciate. And it's about the Playstation 3. So if you don't care, skip it.

Killzone 2's multiplayer is pretty amazing. I've been playing a lot of it, and I've been really happy with it, so far.

I've been waiting for my friend's copy of the game to arrive, so we can finally tear it up together.

I was extra excited because I thought my number one problem with the PS3 and Playstation Network was finally addressed with a single feature in Killzone 2.

Alright. On Xbox LIVE, you can set up a party for 2-8 people. In this party, you and your 1-7 friends can all talk and play games together. It can be the same game, or you can all play different games. Some could watch a movie, some could browse the marketplace, some could play games together and some could play games alone. But they can all privately chat together as a group. Awesome. Fun.

On PSN, there is no real private chat. You can set up a private chat from the Cross Media Bar, or XMB, but you can't play games, watch movies, browse the store, or do anything at all, really, besides talk and look at the private chat screen.

This is a big problem. I don't public chat in multiplayer games. I won't, pretty much ever.

On Xbox, I just set up a private chat so I can choose who I want to talk to, and not be in communication with 8-32 other goons that I just don't want to socialize with in the slightest. Other than shooting them in their fat faces.

When I don't have friends online to chat with, I just don't wear my headset. On PSN, this is how it always is. Unfortunately.

But I thought Killzone 2 had a somewhat tolerable solution...

Once your in a multiplayer match, you can set up a Squad (of up to four people). A Squad is a great idea and has a lot of benefits; you can keep track of your Squadmates location and lifebars, you can spawn on the Squad leader, helping you stay and work together, and, most importantly, it gives you a Private Voice Channel. Awesome! Finally! Huzzah!

I couldn't wait to try it out, So last night I finally get my friend online and we form a Squad first thing. Success!

But wait, I can still hear my other teammates, and they can hear me... What? Why?

I try again, and it's the same. So we drop that match, get into a new one. We form a Squad and once again, I can hear my obnoxious, overly aggressive, mouth-breathing teammates...

We played for a bit (in silence). Finally, I get fed up and quit. I go straight to my computer and start checking online. After a fair amount of searching, I finally get a straight answer...

Squads do get a dedicated voice channel, that's absolutely true. The catch? There's still proximity voice chat. All the time. And you can't turn it off.

The "value" of the dedicated voice channel is that you can communicate with your squad from opposite ends of the map. Anyone who is not in your squad you can only hear when you stand right next to them.

Which means that I'm back to my original problem. I can't just hang out and chill and play a game with a friend and chat. I have to forced into a room where 16 other people are having conversations, shouting orders and being all-around obnoxious.

Why would I think that I could? It's the PS3, and I should know by now that their online implementation is so piss-poor I should never, ever expect even the slightest ease of use.

Private chat is only the begining, a first step, but it would have went a long way in alleviating my grievances with the PS3. I'm makes me really more frustrated than it should. I know that.

...sooooo. My grand solution?

We both turn on our Xbox 360's and use the party chat. Seriously. That's the best I got.

The funny part is, up until right now, I was totally sure Sony FINALLY came up with a viable voice chat solution. It might not have been perfect, it may have been inelegant, it may have been confusing and convoluted (if it HAD worked at all) but it was better than the alternative.... listening to 16-32 boners yammer at me all at once.

Crap.Killzone 2 is lucky it's good, because it's tough to put up with this nonsense.