Zucas on 07 March 2007
Erik Aston said:
Well, its not a rip-off of Miis + acheivements, but I think the coolest parts of this really do address some of the same concepts...
Nintendo has the Miis in place, I don't think they really have to worry about the acheivement trophies (WAY cool, but probably not a selling point), and I don't think they have to worry about the content sharing (playing your music and videos for friends in your private space, etc... Again, way cool, but it'll never beat YouTube...) You have to pay to decorate your apartment, but I'm wondering how this will work... Is your apartment stored on your PS3? And so, you have to be online for other people to come visit it? Or is it uploaded to a server, so your friends list can all hang out at your place 24/7... That way, you can basically have a members-only virtual chatroom/game lobby, where everyone pitches in some cash to make it super posh. That would be much better, IMO.
Considering you have to pay for the poor man's version of this with a 360, I think MS have really been handed their ass. But I think Nintendo are in a position to answer this, not with a unified service, but with new "channel" updates and with software, which extend on the Mii concept.
And I honestly think LittleBigWorld is a very creative answer to some of Nintendo's key software, but again, Elebits was sharing user-created levels in December... Question is, who can turn a user-created content based game into a bona-fide killer app first? LittleBigWorld is slated for "early 2008", and Animal Crossing is supposed to be out this year (though I doubt it).
All in all... Bravo Sony! They've basically addressed some of the unique advantages of both of thier competitors, and gone beyond that to raise the bar and give themselves a unique advantage. After Gundam failed to matter in the overall console wars in Japan, Sony needed something BIG. And they delivered.
Problem is, this doesn't solve the unique problems of PS3. If Nintendo and even MS can address this over time, and continue having a better value based on software libraries, this won't be enough.
So now addressing issues and upping the ante is taking others ideas and tweaking it. Oh yea that's so honorable and everything. It shows desperation on Sony's part is what it really shows. They know Nintendo is taking off and they need something to counter it. So why not take things that are causing them to take off so quickly.
