Playstation3 Home News
There have been rumors circulating about the PS3 Home online pseudo-world for the last few weeks. Without really announcing anything solid, Sony released some information about the feature and the beta process that is forthcoming.
The announcement came at the Game Developers Conference last week where Phil Harrison spoke about the new 3D community for the PS3. If the rumors are true, this system will let users select an avatar model and then customize their look and their environment so they can mingle around and interact with the world that others have helped them create.
In his address, Mr. Harrison stated that the closed beta will begin in April and will have around 15,000 testers involved. After that, when the open beta releases, the number of testers will grow to around 50,000. The ‘free’ service will officially launch sometimes in the fall, but is scheduled to go live in October.
I know I am not the biggest fan of Sony and the PS3, but good for them. If this is the direction they want to go with their system, I am happy for them. I do hope Microsoft doesn’t try to keep pace and put up something like this, because it certainly isn’t something I am interested in. This is already in games like Phantasy Star Universe, and those games don’t appeal to me. I want to play games with my friends, not chat with them or decorate a new house so they can come see what I did. I have a real house, and I don’t invite people over to see what I put on my walls.
At least Sony is doing something they think is innovative. I guess in a way, it is. Even though virtual chat rooms have been around since the mid 90s, they haven’t been a part of the console world.
Personally, I can’t think about this without picturing my 5 year old’s monkey in Disney’s Toontown.
Filed under: Consoles
