PlayStation Home, Sony’s highly anticipated virtual gaming world (à la Second Life), has been delayed. Sony President, Kaz Hirai, announced yesterday that gamers won’t be seeing a public release of the service until late this year, stating that he felt the service needs more time before it is up to par.
Sony certainly has an uphill battle in terms of online gaming, seeing as how it is going up against the online juggernaut that is Xbox Live.
Although I don’t own a PS3 myself, I must say that Home seems like an interesting concept. While it’s great being able to talk with your friends through Xbox Live and even see them if you have a Vision camera, there is something very appealing about being able to virtually walk around and interact with them, the main concept behind Home.
It is quite obvious that several aspects of Home are directly competing against Xbox Live’s features, such as the concept of Trophies. Achievements have been extremely popular for the Xbox 360 and Sony is hoping to emulate that success with its Trophies. I think what’s so appealing about Achievements is that they make you feel like you have accomplished something. You have “proof” of what you have done. Since many video games are also inherently competitive, the idea of comparing achievements with friends has also been extremely popular
With its Trophies, PlayStation Home will actually be giving players the ability to see other players’ accomplishments. Unlike with the Xbox 360, where players only see the name of an Achievement, with Home, players will actually be able to physically see something. Being able to actually walk inside a virtual room and see dozens of Trophies definitely seems like it would be more powerful than merely seeing a list of Achievements.
That being said, I love my Xbox 360 and its Achievements, but I am looking forward to seeing what Sony does with its Trophies and am glad to see that they aren’t completely copying Microsoft, but are instead offering players something new and different.
It’s too bad that PlayStation owners will have to wait even longer for Home to arrive, but at least they’ll have GTA IV to whet their appetites until then.
Filed under: Microsoft, PS3, Technology, Video Games Tagged: | GTA IV, Kaz Hirai, PlayStation Home, PS3, Second Life, Sony, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
