Playstation Home: The Death of Gaming?

Are you one of the lucky 10,000 PS3 users to have received an invite yet?  Did you know that King Leonidas actually commanded 10,000 troops at the Battle of Thermopylae, not the 300 Frank Miller would have you believe?  Answering “yes” to either of these questions means one of two things:  either you are a classical history dork like me, or you still believe in Sony’s oft-mentioned yet never-released Playstation Home Service.

On July 31st, Sony announced that it would be inviting 10,000 PS3 users to beta test its newest service.  Invitees were selected through August 11th, and the testing will begin soon.  That means if you’re wondering how to get an invite, you’re probably too late for this round, but don’t fret.  Sony also announced that they would be expanding the beta in upcoming months.  So just what is this Playstation Home Service that I keep blabbing about, you ask?

I’ll give you the company line first:  “Home™ is a real-time 3D, networked community that serves as a meeting place for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) users from around the world, where they can interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share content and even build their own personal spaces. Home™ will be available as a free download from the PLAYSTATION®Store and will launch directly from the PS3™ system’s Home Menu.”

Let me tell you what Home really is:  a load of crap.  That’s the politest way I can put it.  Imagine a world where instead of using your $500 video game system to play the latest and greatest games, you decorate your new virtual apartment to show all of your friends. It’s like Second Life mixed with Facebook.  Ooh…I can stalk all of my gaming buddies now, too!  Have you seen my Mii avatar’s new hairstyle?  Give me a break.

With Nintendo and Microsoft currently developing similar software, I implore my fellow gamers (that’s you) to demand more from your gaming companies.  Please Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo: remember that there are some of us that have been with you since the good old days.  We didn’t buy your systems because it was the “in” thing to do.  We want quality games with better graphics and more blood.  Most of all, we want you to cater to us hardcore gamers, even in years when your system isn’t launching.