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Mar 7 / Ozymandias

Quick Thoughts on Sony’s GDC Keynote

Sony Home looked quite interesting, but there will be some growing pains. The idea of 3D trophies is nothing more than an evolution of achievements, though without the concept of Gamerscore. Phil mentioned there will be an SDK for game developers to enable this feature, but it’s unclear whether it’ll be a requirement or not. My guess is that it will, though obviously already released games won’t necessarily take advantage of it.

The larger 3D spaces look fun, but I’m not sure they’ll be as compelling as the individually personalized apartments/lounges. I’m just not sure I want to walk my way from game to game, or chat with random 3D avatars of people I don’t know. Sure, you’ll probably have ways to warp from point to point, but this feels a bit unbaked to me. That said, the ability to personalize your personal space (or apartment) was very nicely done – I’m looking forward to playing with that! I can easily imagine inviting people into my house to chat, jumping into games together from that meeting point, etc. However, one big area that’s unclear is how games will interact with these spaces. Can a game create content that I can unlock or purchase for use in this space? Will games be required to have those 3D achievements so I can depend on having a flow of content? Lots of interesting questions to resolve there.

I really liked the publisher spaces – basically private lounges that a publisher can create and allow people to visit. It’s a great way to give publishers and developers a “storefront” in the PS3 online network (whether or not they choose to sell content). Phil mentioned there’d also be an SDK to enable this aspect.

Somewhere in there was a quick reference to Playstation EDGE, which is the same technology I mentioned yesterday. Appears to be Sony’s developer support creating tools to better enable developers to take advantage of the PS3 platform. One tool (the name of which I forget) appears to be a PIX clone, allowing developers to profile the RSX. Also looks like they’re releasing optimized libraries to help developers use the cell and SPUs – make sense! Will be very interesting to see if this helps move the development-ease needle.

Singstar looked like more Singstar – still cool, still a great broadening app, but also still not going to sell a $600 console, much less a $800 console (in Europe, where Singstar will initially be available).

The big hit was Little Big Planet. I kid you not when I say it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Playstation game have that “Nintendo Magic” that we all love. Although the core mechanic is basically an Incredible Machine clone with updated graphics, physics, and co-op… what more do you need? This is one of those games that describing just won’t do justice, so I’d suggest you watch the videos when they get out there (any minute now, I’m sure). Send me the YouTube link and I’ll post it. Don’t take the fact that I wrote so little about the title as any sort of negative aspect – it just really is one of those titles you have to see in action to understand. I will say that out of all the announcements at the show, it was this title that had the crowd cheering. Gotta say I agree – this game (not Singstar) may start selling some PS3s.

There are issues Little Big Planet will have to address, however. Once you start allowing users to create content from any source, including images or pics taken from the video camera, you have plenty of opportunity for abuse. Phil didn’t make any reference to how they’ll address this area. The recommendation, rating, and referral of content from the game was also very cool, but this was hand-waved to as a video clip, and it’s pretty obvious this is also another area that’s not baked. (And it’s disappointing that this capability appears built into only the game, and isn’t built into the system. That’s where every platform will need to go if they’re serious about UGC sharing.)

Related posts:

  1. [Edit] Nintendo E3 2007 Keynote Thoughts
  2. Quick thoughts on Crackdown
  3. Quick Thoughts on Fable 2 and Fallout 3
  4. Quick Thoughts on Zune

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  • http://zune60.net sportsunit

    I agree, Little Big Planet is Sony’s Wii killer. It seems like it should be Nintendo’s next big game, but it;s coming from the Sony camp. Job well done. Incredible graphics, cute characters, and a neat gaming environment. Just from the short trailer, it seems like a sure-fire hit. Amazingly, I now want a PS3 because of it.

    Playstation Home has the potential of interfering with the public’s perception that Microsoft is leading in the online space. It seems very disruptive, and if MS sits back and waits to see how it pans out, they may fall behind, as amazing as that seems. It’s a complete 180 from the current situation, but Sony has their game on right now. Let’s see if MS can stay agile and respond appropriately without copying or producing a knee-jerked, half-baked response.

  • Trellium

    The Home is moderately interesting, but I still think that just making a games "room" is what I would like. A place for friends/family to meet up in, set an environment (ie tropical forest, beach, a nebula), and play good old card games or board games, or go play arcade games in their environment.

    But, families like mine would play together in such a room. We have people aged 10 to 75; and need games common to everyone, and the ability for group voice chat in that room. Then let people buy Monopoly, or whatever old board game and have it simulated in that room.

    Mostly its for socializing, the game itself being secondary. The games room would be like a customizable virtual room added to your living room.

    Avatars, the PS3 Home looks like everyone is human but thats too boring for words. I think everything from stickpeople to orcs should be allowed in.

    So, the PS3 thing looks interesting, but doesn’t seem to be what I would want to socialize with family.

    Also, none of it looked all that much different from what Sony already has from all their mmorpg’s. EQ2 had rooms you could buy and set up a merchant in there to sell, or invite friends into. But, it was a pretty static environment. Add a few things, move this around … but you couldn’t USE the room for a gathering, or play a game within that room.

  • …

    so, another ps3 bashing…

  • Trellium

    Consider it helpful criticism, if you can’t sleep over this.

  • Anonymous

    am I the only one that thinks the home, even if interesting, is just a Second Life rip-off in esence? Regarding Little Big Planet, I have not yet seen it in movement, but the screens I have seen are of really beautiful artwork, magnificent work from the artists involved

  • Wet Jimmy

    Home and LittleBigPlanet are the first things I’ve seen on PS3 that really make me say “Wow!”.

    I was umming and ahhing about picking one up, but if Sony can deliver on the promise of these two trailers (and lets face, you have to assume that Sony is taking the mickey in some capacity when it comes to these target renders) then I’m sold.

    Yes, Home is a rip-off of Achievements, Mii’s and The Sims all rolled into one – but you have to admit it is initally far more impressive than any of the above mentioned implementations. I agree that for matchmacking and setting up multiplayer games, it looks like an unnecessary, laborious step (hell, even the 360 Guide slides out too slowly for my liking) – but as a place to chill out and chat while killing time? It looks incredible.

    So, personally I think MS needs to get onboard and jazz up the Live services – because at the moment the dashboard is looking pretty dull. For those that don’t understand or appreciate the functionality that the 360 offers, it’s going to be a hard sell over the glossa and glam the PS3 may be offering soon.

  • Wet Jimmy

    Does the  private lounges in Home and the talk of launching multiplayer games therin suggest a multiplayer party matchmaking system like Halo 2?  If so.. Woot.

  • islandkiwi

    Little Big Planet looked awesome.  Home?  Well, I’ll adopt a wait and see stance on it.  We’ll see what actually hits the console.  Personally I prefer Live over wandering around a virtual mall, but I’m not looking for a lifestyle.  I want to play a game, chat with some friends, and do so without lagging or listening to other people screaming profanities.

    That being said, I did like designing your own room, and maybe you can invite friends up to listen to music or start games from that point.

  • http://mythor.net/thebiggestloser Mythor

    So, how long will it take for Microsoft to develop something Home-like for Live? (Vista and 360 I’m talking about there.)

    Being able to customise your own apartment/flat/house/THING is likely to appeal to a lot of people, especially with them saying it’ll have a physics sim in there. It’ll be Sims 2.5 + multiplayer? Very interesting.

    Not a system seller by any means, but I can’t imagine too many PS3 owners who won’t be at least checking this out when they can.

  • Deano

    Yes it’s hard to see how well focused the Home idea is and how far they need to go with it.

    The most immediate thoughts for me is that it’s a more rewarding way of seeing gaming achievements as opposed to looking at a gamerscore figure.

    The other thing that springs to mind is Halo 2′s lobby system which really should be the standard for Live.  If you build that into the 360 dash and pimp it out a bit I think you have something that allows you to take advantage of having a Friends list.  I have no idea whether such pimpage should include 3D avatars but I can see the advantage of having a single point of entry to meet friends, then perhaps go off and do some shopping – the 360 dashboard navigation is already a bit convoluted in this respect.

  • nopants727

    "Home" seems cooler than I had imagined.  Personally, I’m not really interested though.  I wonder how the avatar and personal space creation works.  Little Big Planet sounds like a great concept.

  • John-Paul

    No no no. I hate seeing sony try to form a strategy for better or worst…  I kinda liked it for the last year or so where they’ve just been fumbling the ball ALL over the field while Microsoft scores again and again.

    Okay I admit their were a few fumbles in their for MS as well. My point remains.

  • droptop GP

    PS3Home:

    It lets me share a virtual couch with a bunch of dudes i don’t know as we wait for a decent game to come out.

    best quality trailers for home & lil big planet are at gametrailers.com

  • http://zune60.net sportsunit

    little big planet looks amazing.  Period.  Home may lead people to change their perception that MS is leading in the online space.

  • Enzo304

    I’m actually pretty excited to see what Sony will do with all of this… I need more reasons to justify the $600 purchase I will have to make.

  • Subkeg145

    I think that home and little big planet is so cool.  I hope that MS comes up with something like home later on for the 360.  I see Sony going there on way with somethings that make the ps3 different.  Even with these two things there are adding it still can’t take place of my 360

  • Cheezer

    Doh, thats exactly the Kinda thing I was thinking of when I posted on the  "Your Thoughts on the Future of Live"

    http://ozymandias.com/archive/2007/01/16/Your-Thoughts-on-the-Future-of-Live_3F00_.aspx#990

    Link above if you wanna check it out. Oh well.

    Cheers

  • vanTom

    Home and LittleBigPlanet are 2 community features/games that both are a NECESSITY for the PS3, here’s why…

    1) Nintendo makes a profit on every sold Wii, so they don’t have a large pressure on them to deliver on software(games,movies,etc.)

    2) Microsoft makes a loss on every sold Xbox 360, so they have a pressure on delivering software to make money, and they have so far delivered both lots of games and movies, and more to come via IPTV etc.

    3) Sony also makes a loss on every sold PS3, so they have an enormous pressure to deliver on software. However, Sony can’t deliver software at the same high rate as Microsoft which is why the PS3 will continue to cost $600 until 2009, hence Sony have to do something different. The general rule is: “If you can’t beat them, join ‘em!”, which is to say: If you can’t win the consumers with the software you make, let the consumers make the software for you. And so the user-community-based features/games Home and LittleBigPlanet have been created.

    Of course Microsoft could create a mixture of e.g. Second Life and CafePress where users can create their own content, hang out in a virtual world, and then sell their stuff (e.g. real-world T shirts etc) to other users, while at the same time, Microsoft makes money out of it. But the question is: is this going to profitable in the short run? I don’t think so. That’s why Sony needs this feature, since it is more or less a way to STALL consumers and prevent them from going to either the Wii or the Xbox 360. But it’s a cool way though ;)

  • imaginedbug

    The avatars look a bit like those found in There (www.there.com), which is nice but they’ll become boring soon.

    Funny thing is that well over a year ago I proposed something similar to this "home" thing, just not using text bubbles but rather using the 360′s voice chat capabilities along with the technology from a company I used to beta test for.

    It won’t sell systems, but it’ll fit a need some people have; social interaction beyond plain voice chats.

  • Warzone

    The proverbial, if pretty, band aid on a bloody stump.

  • Matt

    The only highlight of the conference IMO was LittleBigPlanet–if Sony had a few more titles with this type of charisma, then Microsoft would have something to worry about.

    As for @Home, folks shouldn’t worry about it. It’s already been pointed out that it’s a half-baked idea, and such commonplace things like universal voice chat during online games still haven’t even been touched on or referenced by Sony.

    If anything, Sony@Home is a large, pretty red herring to get people to forget that Sony’s online experience is a piece of festering ****.

  • http://rdefiore@gmail.com PS3 Now converting me

    Up until yesterday I was NEVER going to buy a PS3…but after that phenominal idea (my opinion) I am actually considering it.

    It reminds me of guild wars and when you are in a cetain area before you go out on a quest you can talk to people recruit them etc…(not the same I know)

    I still love my 360 but if this "home" takes off microsoft have better start thinking how to counter this or it may be the day the PS3 cameback from the dead and took over the world.

  • http://technowledgy.spaces.live.com Backscatter

    The HOME project certainly looks like a fascinating concept. It seems to be a hodge-podge of various other existing services and ideas with a new spin. I guess I’ve aged to a point where I’m no longer in their target demographic, however, as I can’t really envision myself getting into or making much use of such a service. To the contrary, actually, I think it would have the potential of making an otherwise simple menu option or transaction laborious.

    Guess I’d have to see it in action.

    I’m intrigued, also, to see so many folks coming out of seemingly nowhere on various blogs with comments chiding Microsoft for it’s subscription fee for Xbox Live – As if these new announcements from Sony have somehow diminished the value of that $50 investment. Advertising or no, the backend of a service like Xbox Live or Sony’s PS Network is an undeniably massive, complicated, and expensive undertaking and I have to wonder how long and at with what cut corners Sony can maintain “free” with such a service.

  • http://technowledgy.spaces.live.com Backscatter

    The HOME project certainly looks like a fascinating concept. It seems to be a hodge-podge of various other existing services and ideas with a new spin. I guess I’ve aged to a point where I’m no longer in their target demographic, however, as I can’t really envision myself getting into or making much use of such a service. To the contrary, actually, I think it would have the potential of making an otherwise simple menu option or transaction laborious.

    Guess I’d have to see it in action.

    I’m intrigued, also, to see so many folks coming out of seemingly nowhere on various blogs with comments chiding Microsoft for it’s subscription fee for Xbox Live – As if these new announcements from Sony have somehow diminished the value of that $50 investment. Advertising or no, the backend of a service like Xbox Live or Sony’s PS Network is an undeniably massive, complicated, and expensive undertaking and I have to wonder how long and at with what cut corners Sony can maintain “free” with such a service.

  • Rask

    I think people are abuzz about Home cause it’s a new announcement and something that a lot of people have never seen before.

    Second Life does this, Sony has done this already(the appartment thing) with EQ2. The customizability of it all will lead this to purely be MySpace but with a 3d interface that you can launch games from.

    What also kinda resounds here is that Sony still hasn’t given guidelines to developpers as to how to integrate this in their games so as to keep a unified feel on the system. Some devs may choose to ignore Home and the hall of fame completely.

    If you look at the trailer video for Home, you notice their’re pimping at Home being free but that the customizations for your character and furniture for your Appartment would be available on PS Store, they didn’t mention that all that stuff would be free.

    It also doesn’t really enhance the gaming experience at all except for the planned feature where you can jump into MP games from an appartment and I’ll believe that one once they implement it.

    I think this annoucement is great for the fact that people at MS are going to be shaken off their laurels a bit with this and we can probably expect some great new fatures coming down the pipe in more attempts to one-up Sony =)

  • ry cee

    If the system still costs 600USD, HOME isn’t going to change a damn thing. People don’t buy a 360 because of the chat systems or how nicely the marketplace is laid out, they spend a chunk of change because the games are awesome. Everything else is a perk. Sony needs some good games. Heavenly Sword and Lair look *** hawt..

  • Rask

    I’m not a real fan of what they’re trying to do here simply because I’m not a fan of what they’re emulating(namely Second Life, EQ2 appartments and MySpace).

    The one good thing that will come out of this however is that it most likely has shocked MS out of what I consider to be complacency and am looking forward to the next big announcement for the XBox 360 and XBL.

  • xAngelGabrielx

    Home seems cool for a social environment but I would like something like a gamer score that you can check while in a game or lobby as oppose to having to leave a game to see someones trophy room. Good to see Sony pushing something in the online department so that I can   finally put my PS3 to use.

  • http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5815368 The Wayfarer

    I hope Microsoft and Xbox do not pursue the same path as Home.  It’s a dog and pony show.  

    Yes, it seems cool and there are some parts of it that will probably be worth the effort but it’s a gimick.  One that will get old just like all those My Space blogs we all started last year and never finished.

    One thing people in the game community always say but seem to forget when a "big" announcement like this comes along is:  It’s all about the games.

    2007 has a full plate of great games coming for the 360.  Let Playstation hold onto Home and LBP.

  • http://www.slashcry.com dozenz

    Some may argue that the home features could probably have been done in a simpler way, with just pull down menus in a tab somewhere.  Simple is nice but its the added customization that comes along with it that is great.  How many people here love customizing their Gamertag icon, changing it every couple months, or their background pictures in the dahsboard?  If these were generic, static images that came with the box people would probably complain that they can’t change it.

    Don’t tell me that if the 360 had the option to change how the Achievments looked people wouldn’t jump all over it.

    As for LittleBigPlanet, that just looks amazing.  Better than anything on XBLA so far, and if thats a sign of what to expect on a PS3 than I have to say it will sell consoles.

  • SillyMikey

    Sony is doing exactly what MS was afraid to do for way too long. USER CREATED CONTENT IN GAMES. After all the talk of “velocity Girl” J.Allard mentioned at the E3 before the 360 launched, this was the feature that got me the most hype about the Xbox360. Now practically 3 years later, still nothing.

    Microsoft has done nothing about this. Putting out a tool like XNA that in the end, isn’t usable by casual gamers doesn’t exactly inspire the little people to create their own content. Unless you have knowledge in programming, XNA DOES NOT work with casual games. What Sony has done on the other hand does work.

    How hard is it to implement a simplified map editor in a game like Halo3 and let users create their own maps? Forza 2 is a step in the right direction for those casual gamers who want to create content without a degree in programming, but MS is talking a far too complicated approach to this.

    XNA creaters club will never be “YouTube-like” like MS wants it to be if you guys require people to have a degree in programming to use it, and then charge to use it on top of that.

    Come on guys, look at Sony and stop being so f***ing scared.

  • Aedrin

    "Better than anything on XBLA so far, and if thats a sign of what to expect on a PS3 than I have to say it will sell consoles."

    I believe it has more to do with creativity, and less with console posibilities.

    Some of the games on older consoles are amazing considering what others looked like (Shadow of the Colossus is one game I felt really pushed the envelope). Could these have been done on other consoles? Easily.

    While it would be nice that when 1 good (although no one really knows whether the game will be good) that all other games are good, I don’t think it will happen.

    Right now the PS3 and I have to admit also the Wii are sitting still. I’m looking for the big titles that require me to buy the console, but I don’t see them.

    I’m only interested in Zelda for the Wii, but buying a console for 1 game is not my strategy.

  • http://quarem.blogspot.com Quarem

    Playstation Home is certainly an interesting idea. I am not sure if it the right way to tackle community building on the Playstation Network, but it is nice to see that happening outside of a game lobby. To me this is one area that Xbox Live could see a lot of improvement.

    Right now on Xbox Live the only way to meet or communicate with new gamers is through game lobbies. In general game lobbies are not the ideal location to connect with new gamers and I think Xbox Live could benefit from general lobbies, a sort of online commons, where gamers can go at any time to text message and private chat with other gamers. The lobbies could be divided up via gamer zone and provide an excellent way to meet gamers with similar gaming interests, connect with the community, and find other people to play games.

    All of the community connection on Xbox Live right now happens either through Friend’s list or online communities that must be accessed through a personal computer. It is functional, but Microsoft could build something better right into Live.

    Online commons could be a great way for gamers to find others who would like to play the less popular games on Live. For example, if players could advertise what games they were interested in playing and the system could search the community to give a list of other players that were interested in playing and connect those people together to either play together immediately or add each other to their respective friend’s list so they could hook up latter.

    I like to play Quake 4 from time to time, but the game is not popular on Live right now, so I have to sit in a matchmaking lobby for a long time to find a game, or attempt to connect with people on online forums. It would be much better if I could query the Xbox Live community by geography, gamerzone, games-played and current gaming interests to get a list of other players on Live that would like to play. I know they’re out there, but finding them can be difficult. That difficulty is what eventually kills the games that are no longer on the top-ten played list on Xbox Live; it requires too much effort to find opponents.

    Sony seems to want to connect gamers outside of the game experience, and that is where Home is going to be successful. Is the metaphor of a digital avatar in a virtual world the right way to be going about this? I do not know, but this is a problem that needs to be solved and it is nice to see Sony tackling it.

    I know Microsoft must have identified these problems with Xbox Live before the announcement of Home. I’ll be interested to see what solution they come up with.

  • vanTom

    I watched The Departed last night on my 360 HD DVD player and was blown away by the movie itself and the quality. Did I care about the "ugly" 360 logo that appeared as I pushed the Stop button after the end titles? No! I cared about the movie. As I decorated my crib in the Xbox game NFL 2k5 a couple of years ago, was this the main reason I played that game? No! I played NFL 2k5 because it was the best football game ever and the crib thing was just a cute gimmick. The point is that PS3′s Home is a cute gimmick, I believe, and I hope that MS sticks to the goal of delivering great movies and games for my Xbox 360, because that is something that is timeless. Great movies and games never gets old! I think gimmicky things can be more exciting using the new Windows Presentation Foundation on Windows Vista than Home on PS3, but games and HD DVD movies will still rock on my 360 and that’s the most important thing for me. Thank you.

  • RunRunRa

    I can’t see why people are getting so excited about Home, to me it looks like a graphically better version of Second Life or There.com neither of which I nor the general gamer seems to have much interest in. As a lobby / matching system it looks cumbersome. Live seems easier and much more user friendly. In addition it may be free but clearly it will be mircotransaction and advert city. I hope Microsoft doesn’t go down this path and I think Sony may have been better sorting the basics of an online service rather then this grand scheme.

    I thought LittleBigPlanet looked much more interesting; however again there seems to have been a bit too much hyperbole. I do wonder how much lasting fun will be had building levels etc. I don’t know the full details but I guess whatever you import you are still just building platform levels. Up loading your levels to a central server again sounds good, but as a user now many rubbish designs are you going to have to try before finding the odd excellent one.

    Lastly the best thing I saw (from the internet coverage – I wasn’t there) from GDC was Peter Molyneux and his dog. In fact I watched two different versions of his presentation, just to get more info. I already want one and as someone from IGN said Peter has already provide his point, as without even playing the game I already don’t want my dog to die.

  • sillymikey

    I love the way you just didn’t post what i wrote.

  • Anonymous

    Re: "I love the way you just didn’t post what i wrote."

    ;) Try again. Got caught in the spam filter.