ShareWhat video game console does the job that consumers want done the best?
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has high definition graphics, a wide variety of great games, classic controllers, a vibrant online network, and is affordable.
Nintendo’s Wii has crappy graphics, a small amount of games, an innovative motion sensing controller and games intuitively adapted for that controller, a nascent online network, and is cheap (but hard to find).
Sony Playstation 3 has high definition graphics, a small set of games, classic controllers (with motion sensing that is barely utilized by the games), a nascent network, and is super expensive because of its bundled in high definition dvd player hardly anyone yet uses.
For a few months now it has seemed like the battle for supremacy is being fought by the Xbox 360 (getting the hard core gamers) and Wii (getting some hard core gamers and a lot of new to gaming casual users), with the Playstation 3 being a great and expensive flop. However, Sony hasn’t given up the fight.
Sony has announced Home, a free software download that allows your Playstation 3 to access a virtual world. A place to meet friends, hang out, show off. Like Second Life, Sony’s Home allows people to create representations of themselves that wander around fake environments and interact. It’s unclear how much Sony will allow you to customize Home, the way Second Lifers have been customizing that world.
Sony may only be the first out of the gate with a virtual world for its video console, but it’s an impressive step to couple a virtual world to high definition TV’s. Of course, creating a virtual world that is very pretty isn’t the same as creating an environment that people want to use. Myspace is mostly text, but it actually attracts alot of human interest in a way that it will take some time (if ever) for virtual worlds to duplicate.
For more on Sony’s Home, including a video of it, click here: http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/07/playstation-home-revealed/
