At 10:30AM PST, in a convention room on the west coast filled with sweaty game developers and media, Sony set out to convince everyone there, and around the world that the PS3 is the console to own for the future. Phil Harrison, the president in charge of all Sony Computer Entertainment software development, took the stage and presented what Sony is calling Game 3.0, bringing user generated content into the gaming scene.
Playstation Home
An online virtual world that is downloadable for free from the Playstation Store, and directly accessible from the XMB interface. Watch the trailer for the details.
Main features
- free
- user owned rooms (public and private)
- show off trophies earned from playing games inside of trophy room
- communicate in real-time with 3D avatars
- play arcade games
- view pictures, listen to music, and watch movies that Sony delivers, or stream them from other connected PS3s while in the person's "room"
- customizable avatars
- customizable rooms with furniture purchasing and placement
The service resembles Second Life or The Sims Online, or even other virtual chatroom like CyWorld and Habbo Hotel.
LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet (LBG) combines physics simulation, with classic 2D platforming gameplay, with user generated content. Users take control of a Sandbag and can customize their character with all sorts of clothing and accessories. The characters then play around in levels that are created by normal people. Level creation is a simple interface where the player uses the character to position the obstacles in the game world for other players to overcome. Everything is physically simulated, and the in-game objects that can be used come in a variety of types including fabric, metal, and wood each type acting similarly to how it does in the real world.
Video
Press Conference real-time gameplay
Full press release:
Another innovative example of the Game 3.0 vision is a brand-new community-based world called LittleBigPlanet. LittleBigPlanet starts with players learning about the powers of their chosen characters to interact physically with the environment. There are obstacles to explore, items to collect and puzzles to solve -- requiring community-based teamwork and brainpower. As players begin to explore, their creative skills grow and they will be ready to start creating and modifying their surroundings -- the first step to sharing them with the whole world. Ultimately, levels of the game will be user generated on a worldwide scale and will change everyday as players create, publish and share their own levels.
Users have the power to design, shape and build both objects and entire locations for others to play. Players can make their world as open or as secretive to explore as they like. When it's ready, they can invite anyone within the LittleBigPlanet universe to come and explore their "patch," or they can go and explore everybody else's. Other notable features and characteristics of the community-based game include:
- Players craft their own individual experience. There's not just one way
- to play.
- Unlimited possibilities for user-created content -- players can
- customize everything: their characters, the landscape around them and
- their own "patch" on LittleBigPlanet.
- Players discover and win new skills and items to aid them on their
- creative journey.
- Online and offline multiplayer modes -- work as a team or get
- competitive.
A fully-featured sample version of LittleBigPlanet is expected on the PLAYSTATION Network this fall, with a full version expected to be made available in early 2008.
