PS Home Enters Open Beta. Videos And Images.

PS Home is going to enter on open beta today December 11. This has been long awaited and announced because, for some, it may be the only competitor to Second Life that may take a big portion of the market.

There's already a photo group centered on PS Home in Flickr. It has been just launched and is administered by Annie OK, that is who created the virtual worlds timeline that is shown in our sidebar, thus being a recognized expert in virtual worlds.

Don't miss the official video of their homepage, but also have a look to the others that are here that will illustrate more aspects of this platform, like this:

How will PS Home impact the virtual worlds market? It will attract a huge portions of gamers, mostly those who own this console. This virtual world is highly focused on gaming.

The social services and gateways for virtual worlds should also consider adding support for PS Home.

I don't think that many people will buy the console just for playing Home. Just the opposite: many who own a PS console will buy a computer to see what other virtual worlds are out there, and get deeper in this universe.

So I don't think this will be negative for Second Life or others. Just like Second Life has supposed a re-birth of virtual worlds and has familiarized the masses with this concept, PS Home will attract a legion of users to other virtual worlds.

But as Richard Bartle said in his books, newcomers to a virtual world always compare it to the first one they played. If PS Home is as spectacular as it seems, the comparisons may be terrible for all the others, at least in the graphics and games part.

Let's see if they can also create and keep a community of users that lasts in time, goes beyond playing, and becomes those special second families that every virtual worlds user  belongs to.

-Jordi R. Cardona-

© by Jordi R. Cardona. Link to this post without copying the text.

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