"twitter integration" do's and dont's: extension vs. rehash

I saw this headline show up in my feed reader the other day, from PSFK:

Video Game To Feature Twitter Integration

Which got me excited immediately, until I clicked through to find the following image:

Imagine my disappointment when I found that the game Uncharted:2's idea of 'Twitter Integration' is essentially just 'cramming as many publicity-seeking updates into the tweet pool as possible." While investigating some more thoughts, I ran into a Flavorwire post on 5 Appliances That Desperately Need Twitter Integration. It's humorous, and describes notification services that some appliances really could use (read: in the future, will use), but I don't think Twitter is the right medium in any of the above cases; text and iphone push notifications go over much better. Think of the difference this way: Twitter is a collective medium, one that thrives off of thoughts and messages that benefit the community. Imagine what the tweet pool would look like updated every time someone's coffee was done or notified that their laundry was ready to turn over.

 

"Twitter Integration' can and should mean so much more. My initial excitement conjured thoughts of Twitter acting as a medium to extend the game experience, not just rehash it. We haven't seen any truly great executions along these lines but I think we're on the verge of seeing some. These extensions will fit into the natural flow of how we use Twitter; some thoughts might be around the idea of extending the game experience with in-game NPC's personified out-of-game with their own Twitter accounts, providing critical game information.

In fact: consider this. What if a console game relied on Twitter extensions of in-game characters, such that in order to truly follow and progress through the game you had to actively engage with these out-of-game Twitter characters? This might only work if the game is orchestrated as a limited-time window of opportunity for playing, so the replay value of the game would be limited as well, but it'd be one heck of an experience for everyone who was on board.

Thoughts?? Would you play?? Have you seen examples of truly excellent Twitter integration?