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Sony, Microsoft Begin Battle of Virtual Worlds

Posted by timothy on from the who's-your-hiro dept.

Slatterz writes "Sony and Microsoft are poised to do battle in virtual worlds. The console kids both announced Second Life-style virtual environments at the Tokyo Game Show today. Both games show striking similarities to Linden Lab's creation. Players are represented by avatars which live a virtual life — engaging in relationships, going about day-to-day business."

9 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. "Oh yay" by KeX3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, two clones of something that is little more than a furry playground? My pythonic "yaaay" just isn't lethargic enough to express my feelings.

    1. Re:"Oh yay" by Negatyfus · · Score: 5, Funny

      I thought this was pretty cool, that is, until I read your post. Seeing the error of my ways, I will now live a life free of virtual worlds and offer my sincere apologies for having a different opinion. Please accept twenty self-inflicted lashes of the whip to my back to atone for my sin.

    2. Re:"Oh yay" by TDyl · · Score: 5, Funny

      Posted by someone with "Fox" in his/her name???

      --
      Todd: I hope it proves as delicious as the farmers that grew them
    3. Re:"Oh yay" by electrictroy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Trivia:

      One of the first (perhaps the first) online virtual worlds was hosted by Quantum Link for the Commodore 64. Connections were made by modems with speeds from 0.3 to 2.4 kbit/s. Q-Link eventually renamed itself America Online, aka AOL.

      "Q-Link's Habitat is a multi-participant online virtual environment. A cyberspace. Each participant ("player") uses a home computer (Commodore 64) as an intelligent, interactive client, communicating via modem and telephone over a commercial packet-switching network to a centralized, mainframe host system. The client software provides the user interface, generating a real-time animated display of what is going on..." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link

      Note that it says "animated". This wasn't some text-based BBS, but a fully-graphical interface similar to the world wide web, but with much lower resolution (320x200).
      .

      --
      The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
    4. Re:"Oh yay" by TDyl · · Score: 5, Funny

      Verily I concede (while stroking your back and tickling under your chin).

      --
      Todd: I hope it proves as delicious as the farmers that grew them
  2. Article misleading? by AndyboyH · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Having RTFA, and also having a background as a games dev.
    Home is a virtual world, but isn't Microsoft's avatars pretty much just the same approach as Miis?

    I think the article's a little misleading in implying that Microsoft are making some virtual world (like Home or 2nd Life), when instead, it's just giving devs a representation of the player to put into their own games, like how Miis are currently handled on the Wii.

    --
    Baka Drew
    1. Re:Article misleading? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's actually another useless article from The Inquirer, republished on pcauthority.com.au.

      Sure, Home bears a glancing resemblance to Second Life, albeit a homogenized one, but the NXE bears absolutely no resemblance other than they both have avatars and feature text and voice chat. Virtual world, NXE ain't.

      Where is slashdot's bullshit filter when we need it?

  3. Hurrah. by cordsie · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bet nobody will buy Vista in their virtual world either.

  4. I'm not a young hippster by Holammer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My main beef with Home is the fact that the average real-life looking avatar seems to be a hip 20 something with a slim athletic build and angsty haircuts (what Sony probably believes is their main demographic). I'm not some fat dork but I'm close to 35 so I really having problems connecting with the avatar. Meeting up with pals in Home would be ridiculous when everyone looks like someone fresh from college. Miis and the new Live avatars while a lot more simple offer a better way to create a good caricature of yourself. Sony should watch and learn.