The movie above details 'Life with PlayStation' a free service that provides access to real-time news and information from over 60 cities around the world. Displayed via an impressive digital globe it is an interesting addition to the PS3 - almost enough to justify one for the office...
Life with PlayStation is now available by selecting the Folding@home icon under “Network” on the XMB.
Second Life broke into the main stream during 2007 and perhaps more than any virtual world to date illustrated how digital environments can be used for visualisation and communication in the sciences.
Second Life's take up by NATURE and numerous Universities illustrates how established institutions are testing the water and exploring the potential of virtual environments. As readers will know we are huge supporters of virtual worlds in geographic science, outreach and education and 2008 looks like it'll be the year when such environments reach into more and more peoples homes.
A World of My Own (AWOMO), currently in beta, is indicative of the increasing number of systems that are looking to get into the Second Life model. Interestingly the system is aimed at developing a communication space and distribution network for gamers. The movie embedded below provides a glimpse:
Sony's 'Home' is similar in concept to AWMO but via the Playstation 3, a notable move to bringing virtual worlds into the home.
Due early in 2008 'Home' is not looking like taking Second Life's crown but with the ability to tap into the PS3's graphics ability it looks like being the most visually impressive virtual world to date -note the real time shadows, something that Second Life is crying out for.
The official trailer is embedded below:
More speculative predictions are the launch of Google's own Virtual World system, something that wouldn't surprise us at all. Google Earth is being rapidly out manoeuvred by Microsoft's Virtual Earth and a populated earth is without question the next big thing. We would love to tell you more about the 'Populated Earth' but sadly we aren't allowed to yet :)
The number of virtual environments is growing at an ever increasing pace, we believe 2008 will be the year of Virtual Worlds entering into main stream science and that can only be a good thing for outreach, education and visualisation.
A movie of Sony's multi-user environment for the Playstation 3, known as 'Home' has been leaked onto YouTube:
Although the footage is of low quality it does provide an insight into how Home is shaping up.
Comparisons with Second Life will abound over the next few months in the main stream press and time will tell how close it is to the PC/Mac based multi-user world. At the moment it is unsurprising how well Home is shaping up considering the power of the PS3.
Joystiq notes to enjoy the movie while you can as its liable to be deleted from YouTube shortly..
Sony has announced plans for a multi-user environment, similar to Second Life, on the Playstation 3. Known as 'Home' the aim is to create a community led world whereby users can build and perhaps more importantly buy virtual objects.
Virtual economies are increasingly attracting the eye's of the big players and its unsurprising that Sony is taking a leap into Virtual Words. Sony's Playstation 3 has attracted some negative press recently due to the high price tag and changes in hardware design for the European launch. The introduction of a virtual world on the PS3 is interesting but you cant help thinking that its not really about the users but more about extracting money from them once they are in the world.
Perhaps its a cynical view and one made due to a lack of coffee so far this morning but we cant get excited about a virtual world on a console, especially from Sony. Maybe that shows just how much bad press Sony has had and how its affecting the views of people towards the £425 PS3.
It'll be interesting to see what level of building tools are provided though...
