Sony’s rivals: ‘been there, done that.” OK then, why doesn’t everyone feel the same?
This year’s GDC was about many things, but mainly about Sony’s “PlayStation Home,” which is a fairly good idea to give PS3 users a social network and an avatar creation system. Something
like this couldn’t go by just like that and it wasn’t only the press who had a say at this but also the rival companies, Nintendo and Microsoft. Yet, unlike the rest of the world who commented positively in regards to Sony’s new social service, the two rivals said they weren’t that impressed. In an interview with CVG, a Nintendo spokesman stated: “This is an example of Sony’s ‘Mii-too’ approach. Nintendo years ago considered and rejected the type of approach Sony is now taking.”
Nintendo also likes to show off a bit, now that they’re on the subject, thus the spokesman continues: “Miis have become a cultural phenomenon in their own right, appealing well beyond the traditional core gamer audience, and the process of populating them across the Wii universe is just beginning.”
OK, we all got that. Here’s Microsoft’s point of view. In the same interview, Chris Satchell, general manager of Microsoft’s Game Developer Group stated: “I think they’ve definitely taken some concepts that we originated like achievements, but I think they’re pushing in a different direction and we’ve sort of fundamentally got two different approaches going on here. I think theres is very much a vision that people see it and it looks cool but it’s fundamentally separate from the games – or at least what they’ve shown so far. It’s a cool world but it’s like a little game by itself. Our approach is the other way around; it’s that games are the center and that’s the star of the show, that’s what people buy the console for.” Microsoft’s spokesman also added that Sony’s PlayStation Home service is “not a very game-centric approach.”
Now that we’ve heard both companies’ opinions, it is safe to say that Sony has developed a great program to attract people, for an even greater machine (the PS3) and Nintendo and Microsoft are probably just sad that Sony beat them to it.
Source: softpedia.com