Sony Presents Home And Singstar PS3
On Tuesday morning at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Sony presented Singstar on the PS3 and its Second Life alike Home. Describing the new generation of consoles as ushering in a new era and a new challenge to the interactive industries. Unfortunately there were no performances form the speakers during the presentation of Singstar though some of what was demonstrated was quite interesting.
The introduction by Jamie Macdonald, VP of development for SCE Worlwide Studios, made the point that gaming has to get away from its image of being something that teenage boys do in their rooms on their own. We’ve been saying this for years and it seems that just now the big names are starting to pay attention. Sony’s strategy is based on four pillars, Creativity, Community, Competition, and Commerce. Unlike the other speakers talking about dealing with this generation of consoles, he was quite willing to admit that if you had the first three, the fourth would follow as a side effect.
Singstar on the PS3 will have a seamless interface between the game and the two online portions of the title. The SingStore will be the place to buy your favourite tracks for singing along to, and mySingstar Online will be where you can upload your own videos and performances to the PSN. Inspired, obviously, by the kind of MyEverything that is taking the web by storm, and embracing the web 2.0 revolution in user generated content.
The Singstore is integrated into the game so that there are no visible joins between being in the store and playing the game. The video we were shown had almost instantaneous downloads. with the player browsing the store and moments later singing the song in the game. Also using the PS3 USB camera users will be able to record their Singstar performances and upload them to their mySingstar online space and let others see them and respond to them. There was no word on how this would integrate with Home but I would have thought that you can line your online apartment with wallscreens and have your own or other’s performances on a continuous loop. My brain would melt but I can see that appealing to others.
And so on to Home, first off there is a big difference between the PSN and XBL, highlighted a few times during the second day. PSN is free, as is home, and its an open system. XBL is a subscription service and is a closed system, nothing gets on XBL that Microsoft doesn’t want on XBL. This means that PlayStation Home and the Playstation network is paid for by advertisers. For it to work Sony are relying on it making money, either for them directly or those that advertise on it. There was some discussion afterwards as to whether it was too corporate and advertising focussed, I was of the opinion that if it was done well and was as easy to use as Peter Edwards, Sony’s man in charge of the Home platform, hoped I didn’t see anything wrong with publishers, brand names, and other companies funding it.
What Sony are trying to do with Home is build a virtual world that acts just like the real world, users will be able to meet up with their friends in public areas, play mini-games such as pool or bowling, organise matches of other multiplayer games, invite friends back to their virtual apartment, which they can decorate with virtual items purchased with cash or acquired as bonuses in games. Through their virtual apartment they can access their music or movie collections to watch on a virtual screen or listen to on a virtual stereo. Eventually they want to be able to give users the tools to create their own online items which they can then trade with each other. Big brands can sell virtual clothes for user’s avatars, and have the real thing mailed to the user in the real world. Much like Second Life but with a multi-player lobby for PS3 games. Whether this will be embraced by gamers, suspicious of big business sticking their fingers in what has till quite recently been an area unsullied by capitalism, is all dependant on the execution. If its is obviously a space, purely designed for marketing then I don’t see it being thought much of, if some thought is put in and it’s done more carefully, letting the social and creative aspects come to the fore, as Mr. Macdonald said at the beginning of the presentation, commerce will follow as a natural side-effect.
Tags: Beta, beyond gaming, business, Casual, community, conference, consoles, Culture, EIF, future, in development, innovation, money, multiplayer, Online, PS3, Sony
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Posted on August 16, 2007 by Mandrill | Filed Under Features
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[...] and added to with things purchased on PSN or trophies from games. There is the possibility, mentioned at the EIF in August, of users being able to create and trade their own. Major brand names look set to get in [...]