Sony geared up to unleash virtual universe for the PS3
In a bid to fight off Nintendo for the title of Console King, Sony has whipped out their latest weapon in the battle. Sony are planning on launching their ‘virtual universe’ for their Playstation 3. The question everyone is asking at Sony, however, is whether this new experience provided by Sony will finally be the first step on the ladder of victory. Are Nintendo quaking in their boots? I think not.
The 3D social community, which has clearly been devised as a way of bringing Facebook-esque activities to the Playstation 3, will allow players to prance about a virtual universe with their little characters. Sony are attempting to entice new users to the Playstation 3 that were drawn to gaming by the unique experience that the Wii and DS offered. Is this virtual universe really a way of hooking these people in though? It sounds too much like Second Life…which was free, and quite boring.
Players of the game will be able to create their homes, cars, clubs and shops and will be able to chat with their friends using an Instant Messaging client that is part of the game.
On their new game, Sony have said that the user would be experiencing “overwhelming visual graphics and rich gaming social experiences only possible on the PS3 platform.”
But recent figures are showing that maybe Sony have started doing the right thing when it comes to their attitudes towards the Japanese public as the Playstation 3 has taken a lead over the Wii in Japan. However, there is a possible reason for this. The lead by Sony is being explained by the fact that most of the people in Japan that would buy a gaming console already have a Wii, and they’re now moving on to the next thing. The Blu-Ray player doesn’t put off any buyers now that the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray war has come to a conclusion.
Yet still, even though they have managed this lead over Nintendo and are about to launch this new virtual universe experience, they are still struggling. Sony have recently had to get rid of 5 per cent of their workforce – 8,000 people in the wake of the current economic climate.
Nintendo on the other hand seem to have nothing to fear as they are still waiting patiently to be affected by the downturn. A spokesman for Nintendo Canada, Matt Ryan, said, “We’re still not caught up because we’re selling everything we ship. We still haven’t reached this unprecedented demand. We don’t know how many people want it, but that’s actually a good place for us to be right now.”
How nice for them.
Mick Hickey, an analyst who spends his time watching the video game industry (nice job), said, “Clearly if you have an item that is very hot, where demand outstrips supply, and then you’re able to increase supply, then you have the opportunity to sell more units.” Surely these tactics will be rushing through the Sony Playstation 3 developer’s minds as they unleash their virtual reality universe on the world.
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