GDC Keynote: Sony Launches Third Life - UPDATE: video footage

I know there's a market for all this but as somebody who doesn't give a toss about collecting graphics, actually logging in to spend time in a place more boring and sterile than the one I live in seems like arseholery of the highest order to me.

I agree. But tell that to the "millions" of "active" Second Life users. And the companies who have been bamboozled and FUDed by (Second Life shareholders) Reuters reports that Second Life will entirely replace sliced bread.

Metaverses are hot, and compared to Second Life's 1950s ration-book existence - Sony Home is like life in the 21st century.

mmm... microtransactions...

BULLshit FILTER ENGAGE: Unless you want your Mii - sorry avatar - to walk around naked and looking like everybody else, you better be prepared to cough up.

As a strict pro-nintendo person I want to find this insulting for obvious reasons. Truth is, aside from the microtransactions s**te it looks as though it could have a lot of potential. I love the idea of actually being able to use your avatar in matchmaking rather than the whole "must protect the children" approach that's been adopted on the Wii.

Wouldn't it have been nice if this had been a pack in rather than a response to what the competitors are doing though? Sorry PS fans, I couldn't resist adding some fuel to the fire.

Surprise, Surprise, Sony have ripped off someone else... Second life, Sony saw how much money SL is generating & now want to steal a slice of that pie, how long before your being charged for your "virtual space" & "clothing & flower pattern curtains", i went on to second life once walked about got bored, abused a load of people & f**ked off, i can see this appealing to some people & it'll have a novelty factor for awhile but most people just wanna play games..... come on Sony, start listening!!, PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY GAMES ON YOUR PLAYSTATION!!!.... If Sony had concentrated more on making good games for the PSP (which i happened to think is an awesome console) instead of trying to make it a f**king Swiss army knife!, then maybe it wouldn't be sinking as much as it is.

i can see the headlines now "my son was abducted after meeting someone on his playstation" peados will be rejoicing.

The potential is huge though, an complete interactive way to share what you have on your PS3 with others. Like music as shown in the video, or pictures you can put up as posters in you house. Now it all needs is a link with the internet and you can watch youtube on your telly in your virtual house on your telly in your real house (or is it?).

Just think off all the useless community stuff you can cramp on this thing! Tehn think how much they can charge people for all the little stuff. The video itself talked about "downloading new stuff to get the exclusive look" hello micropayments!

Also...nobody will be able to create a avatar that looks like him/her because of the realistic style of it all. Mii's does that a lot better in a lot smarter way, again, smart art direction overtakes superior technology.

Second life is not makling money,. Just claiming to do so through it's tame media outlet, Reuters, in the hope that if you say it enough, people will believe it and it will become true.

Reuters shamelss pimping of Second Life is one of the most distasteful examples of how modern media is prepared to prostitute itself. Since the Times Newspaper of August 24th 1995, when they ran an entire issue of Windows 95 puff pieces, it has been acceptable for once great organs to suck corporate cock - because those same once great organs are now shareholder owned commercial entities and the corporations whose cocks they suck are advertisers.

Second Life blows. No one uses it, except the scared clueless companies who have been tempted into it by Reuters tales of its boundless success.

Home looks fun, usable and engaging. Second Life is IRC with avatars - ones that look like they were created in 1994.

i just dont get all this virtual meeting people & buying things that u dont own or cant use?, the reason i like online gaming is becuase its an experience i cant emulate anywhere else, i cant play battlefield in the real world flying helicopters & shooting tanks or racing in Super cars around london, but second life & this new Home thing, i can go & chat with my mates & go to the cinema with them i can play bowling in real life, & i'd much rather do that, these things reek of geek.

Would you rather navigate through a bland text based menu screen to make all your choices? Would you not like to have gorgeous graphics on your way to play your game?

The thing Sony is trying to do here is what companies have been trying to successfully design for the past decade or so, Chat 2.0. No more text based chat rooms. I mean it's part of the reason why people shell out millions on MMORPGs! The social component Sony is now offering free, awesome. I love the idea of large virtual worlds. If you think it's arse, then your not a gamer. Or worse your contradicting yourself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we all drop our jaws when we load up a new game and marvel at the vast open landscape (GTA, Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy et al). Why should we crap on a FREE vast open community. If you use s**t like MySpace, blog software, and the like don't point fingers at Sony. Everyone is copying everyone else's ideas. It's what fueling better games, consoles, and social networking applications. Remember MySpace is just a fascimilie of Friendster and no one is point fingers at Tom! Stop the incessant Sony bashing. Because the only thing that reeks here is the detractors. This is definitely the future of online interactivity.

This is just one man's opinion though...

This sounds really interesting. Maybe each component isn't very innovative, but as a whole it could be quite unique.

Remember Nintendo doesn't even have an online service yet, and it sounds like this was in the works long before the Wii.

However I'm not sure how many people this is going to attract to buying to console, it ranks as a "that's interesting" rather than "that's so cool and innovative I'll spend £450".

I'm also not sure about the appeal of MMORPGs beyond a certain group of people - I personally would never play one.

This for me has absolutly nothing to do with gaming, its a blown up chatroom & if your into that sort of thing fine, but i just wanna play games xbox live dashboard might not be amazing sexy but it works, thats just my opinon.

Would you ever or do you play MMORPGs? There's a large social component you can't deny. It's what makes them unique. Or maybe a better question to ask is would you play a persistent online game? One that as you play you contribute to the shaping of the game world in some way. The persistence and grandoiseness of it all is what gets me all hot and bothered. Don't care so much to dress my avatar in the latest buyable content or blast my personal music collection from my own space, but the network here as a whole is really exciting. I like connectivity...

I agree. But Second life and all the other Metaverses would have you believe it's the hottest thing right now. And compared to Second Life, Home looks superb. So rather than pay to play in a crude slow Metaverselike Second Life, it's nice to be given a far superior one for free.

And yes, with micropayments, lots of it won't be free... But as long as Sony keep the basic aspects of it free, they'll hook a large number of people (possibly me included) into stumping up for nice stuff for my Home.

"Would you ever or do you play MMORPGs? There's a large social component you can't deny."

I dont play MMORPGs, i dont have anything against them but i really dont have the time to make them worth while, plus i like to play varied types of games, in one night on live i might have a few races on PGR then i'll have a shoot out on Rainbow6 then i might catch up with sum mates on CO-OP GRAW i cant imagine playing the same game every night for months on end. Even Gears which is possible the best game i've playd once i'd done the solo game on Hard & Insane then Co-op & a zillion 4x4 online battles i've had to put it 2 rest.....if that was a constant online game, i dont think i could be assed to keep it up.

Oh come off it. If Sony is ripping anyone off, it's the 3D chatrooms - such as Blacksun's Cybergate - that were created over 10 years ago using VRML.