Similar to Xbox Live, Sony's Home service will allow gamers to chat, join online games, shop and share content.
Facing lagging sales of its Playstation 3 console in the face of Nintendo's popular Wii and Microsoft's now-established Xbox 360, Sony announced its "Home" service for its next-generation Playstation 3 gaming console.
The 3D online community will allow PS3 owners to chat, shop, join games online, and share content, much like the popular Xbox Live service, which recently reached 6 million users. Home will also feature a "Hall of Fame," mimicking the Xbox's "Achievements," where users can display trophies they've earned by reaching various "in-game milestones."
Like the Mii avatars on Nintendo's Wii, Home is an avatar-based service that was designed to resemble a 3D PS3 game. It will support text, voice and video communication amongst its users. Gamers will also be able to personalize and customize Home, since each user will have an apartment that they can furnish and decorate with personal photos and videos. The service will let you choose the artwork and views from the windows in your apartment as well. Home will also include common spaces, and will dedicate areas for certain popular games.
Building on the "Home" idea, "LittleBigPlanet" will offer entertainment options for the PS3's online gaming community. Sony is being obtuse with specifics about the game, describing it as a world where players will "play, create, and share what they build with other players," which makes us think that they don't know what the game is all about, either.
Players will first "learn about their powers" to interract with the virtual world, which leads us to believe that Sony's Game 3.0 recipe, as they are calling the new initiative, involves a dash of Wii, a pinch of Xbox 360, two tablespoons of Web 2.0 and a generous helping of Second Life, as well.
In any case, the company is giving themselves until fall to create a demo, and until 2008 to figure out what the game will actually do, if anything.
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