Our sources are telling us that the next firmware revision headed to the PlayStation 3 could finally contain the most requested feature by owners, which is the addition of cross-game chat. While cross-game chat has been available for a long time on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 owners have had to do without this feature.

From the whispers that we have been hearing, the feature has been in development for several months. Despite concerns from some who continue to suggest that cross-game chat can make things unfair due to the face in team-based games, if users on the same team use it instead of the in-game communications, it is possible to communicate enemy positions, effectively providing an avenue to cheat in some situations.

The cross-game text chat was added in the 2.70 update and our sources tell us that the cross-game voice chat has been in development and testing for some time. It does seem now, however, that Sony will push ahead with the release of this feature and give owners access to what they have been asking for.

While we don’t know the exact date yet of when this next firmware update will be released, we suspect that you will see it added before the end of the year. Of course, Sony never comments on rumors or speculation of what might be in the future for the platform, but it does seem that our sources are convinced that it will arrive before the end of the year.