Sony Home too little and now late

Sony Home, the idea of a virtual world associated with the ill fated PS3 is now going to be delivered later on next year rather than this year as initially thought. While this might not be a major problem, the real issue is going to be “adoption of a virtual environment” across all ages, and all people.

We have seen this in games like WOW, Final Fantasy and others that are highly successful, but in looking at what Sony Home for PS3 is supposed to look like, it is coming across more as a Second Life kind of process, only this time affiliated with a gaming console. It will arrive a bit late, and just as people who really do have first lives tend to use second life for a bit and then move on.

Sony Home should have the same issues that any other reality simulator has, although if Sony is smart theirs will come with their own police force because they are going to need it. Sony describes home as:

”Home” is a real-time interactive online world much like Linden Lab’s “Second Life” and other so-called “metaverse,” except it’s designed for PlayStation 3, Sony’s newest home console. Millions of people now enter “Second Life” on personal computers, moving avatars, or computer graphics images of themselves, in a virtual universe. Major companies are also setting up shop in “Second Life,” and analysts see great potential for such virtual worlds as a communication tool and real-life business. Source: AP

The interesting part is that their imagination has them doing something that they should have been doing long ago as businesses are rethinking their involvement with second life.

It might be too little, too late, long after the horse has left the barn sony is bothering to notice this one, frankly they would do better to emulate a working solution like Xbox Live rather than second life. There are going to be a lot of problems involved in the process, and they are going to be dealing with a lot of issues that maybe they will not be prepared to deal with, let alone enforce.