Chan's Personal Blog

This week is an exciting week for gamers because the Game Developer's Conference is taking place in San Francisco, and many companies are showing off their latest and greatest video games. One of the most interesting demos that I've seen is Sony Home which is an online world for PS3 gamers. It actually reminds me a lot of The Sims 2.

Here's the trailer:


All of the major consoles (PS3, XBox 360, Wii) have been trying to make money off their online services. This trailer tells us that you can purchase clothes, home decor, etc from the Sony Store, and I actually think this is very smart of Sony. Basically, people are buying virtual items with real money, and there's no real value with these virtual items. Translation, profits! These virtual items merely help personalize your online home and online character, but there's no real advantage having any of that stuff. Yet, I know from experience that a lot of people will be more than willing to pay money for these accessories.

It's also interesting that other sponsored companies can build virtual properties in Home to offer movie downloads, games, etc. This makes delivering online content easier for companies since Sony is already offering the infrastructure and environment in Home; all the company has to do is build their store online.

Is this enough to convince me in buying a PS3? Not at all. I'm a computer gamer. But, I still have to give Sony the tip of my hat for creating a very interesting online environment that will surely challenge XBox Live. From the last console war, PS2 VS XBox, Sony totally dropped the ball on their online play, and XBox Live completely dominated. As I recall, Nintendo didn't even have an online presence.