Sony\'s Online Future

Today I went to the Games & Mobile Forum where a few interesting little items were revealed to huge audience of 307 people (that was the actual attendance).

John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, started the conference off with his keynote address and revealed quite a few interesting tidbits.

First the foremost, Smedley revealed that the PS3 will allow online microtransactions (just like the Xbox 360) and these transactions will become more commonplace in the near future.

Smedley then described a future where you could play an online game via your PSP, PS3, PC, and cell phone where you would be able to play the same game utilizing the same character on all platforms. The graphics and experience may be slightly different – for example, you would only be able to perform inventory management of your character on the cell phone version of the game while the PSP, PS3, and PC versions would play the same but have different graphic engines. However, it was important to note that these online games would not be separate games, they would all be the same game, using the same character, across different platforms, where you can play with the same people online. He also said we should expect to see this sort of gameplay within the next six months.

As for selling items within Everquest via Station Exchange, Smedley said that they were still figuring out the exact pricing but expect the Station Exchange to be live in June. He also warned that SOE programmed extensive monitoring tools which will alert SOE if players are excessively camping certain creatures or treasures and may ban these people from EQ.

As for new online chatting interfaces, Smedley explained that they were working on a single text and voice chat interface which would work across all platforms and games (PS3, PC, PSP, Everquest, etc.). So rather than having to leave Everquest to chat with your friends playing an online game on PS3 you could chat across platforms and games within a single interface. No timetable was given for this technology.

All in all it was an interesting keynote to see where SOE is planning on moving in the future.

http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/2005/04/sony_online_ent.php

Not surprised that Sony and MS have similar online plans in mind.  I\'ll be even less surprised when the capabilities of both machines are so similar it won\'t even matter...it\'ll come down to marketing and software like it always has.

Oh i like i like.  Still haven\'t decided if I will get a PS3 or Xbox 360.... I\'m going to have to wait it out.

this is the future at our fingertips.