We just received a very interesting tip that, while juicy and quite believable, we're labeling as rumor for now. As you are probably well aware, GDC executive director Jamil Moledina set Sony's Phil Harrison up for the spike yesterday, claiming that PLAYSTATION 3 owners will be "very happy" when Phil's keynote takes place next week. Could the PlayStation Home, Sony's blending of achievements and Miis be that big surprise?
While the rumor seems to make sense, keep in mind while reading through it that it came from an anonymous source and that the half-dozen development studios we spoke with hadn't heard a thing about it.
Sony, when contacted earlier today, said they do not comment on rumors or speculation.
Playstation Home sounds like it could be an interesting, lo-fi, killer app, as described by our source.
From Phil's recently published DICE interview with Newsweek editor N'Gai Croal comes this tidbit, following a discussion on the "lo-fi" approach Nintendo took with their Mii avatars:
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While the rumor seems to make sense, keep in mind while reading through it that it came from an anonymous source and that the half-dozen development studios we spoke with hadn't heard a thing about it.
Sony, when contacted earlier today, said they do not comment on rumors or speculation.
Playstation Home sounds like it could be an interesting, lo-fi, killer app, as described by our source.
Basically, you get to make an avatar for your console (like a Mii) and this avatar has a room. As you play games and accomplish certain tasks, you will receive items with which to adorn the room that are specific to the game (achievements). The kicker is that this is going to be a new requirement for every PS3 game...
This also sounds kind of like it could fulfill the promise Sony made at last year's GDC keynote to bring social networking to the PS3.So we move from product based to service based, starting with packaged product augmented by downloadble content. We'll enhance this with social networks, the MySpace experience, this will be a key part of the PlayStation3 going forward. What brings it to life is the voice chat, the text chat, the video, the social features we're building in for the future.
Rooting around some recent (and not so recent) comments from Sony spokespeople, we find some things that might just validate this.From Phil's recently published DICE interview with Newsweek editor N'Gai Croal comes this tidbit, following a discussion on the "lo-fi" approach Nintendo took with their Mii avatars:
If you are going to have an avatar which is your representative in a virtual world, it has to stand for more of your personality than some 2-D cartoons. So while I think that millions of people would be happy with cartoony looks, the planet at large probably isn't. And it's an experiment that will be played out very soon, actually.
From Dutch gaming site Next Generation Gamer comes this choice quote from an unidentified Sony rep:
We have something big coming up for the PlayStation Network, but I can't say anything about that yet. It has something to do with the Home Button on the SIXAXIS controller, and with the community.
Again, this is rumor. Our source continues to remain anonymous. Sony could be announcing the robust set of social features it has been touting for a long time, ones that go beyond voice and video chat, and tap into the collective and competitive feature sets that helped make both Xbox Live and Animal Crossing a hit with gamers.
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