Web 2.0–Microsoft’s Afterthought, Nintendo’s Blindspot, and Sony’s Only Hope–Part 2

This is the second of a two part article on how the Web 2.0 is affecting console gaming. If you missed part 1, you can get started here.

Sony

As for the Playstation 3, while much can be said of the mistakes that Sony has made over the past two years regarding the announcement and subsequent launch of their next-gen console, the evidence seems to be mounting that they are positioning themselves to become the leader in Web 2.0 experiences on a console. Their main weapon in this drive to change the way that gamers play their games is Home, announced at March’s Game Developers’ Conference.

The idea of Home is a virtual space in which you can hang out with other PS3 users, share UGC as well as your in game accomplishments, all while chatting through text, voice, or emote in real time. Each user will have their own customized apartment that they can furnish and design, as well as public spaces to hang out with other PS3 users. Eventually users will be able to create their own content that they can then display, market, and sell for real life currency, similar to Second Life, but with a few more controls on the environment. Oh…and you can play video games too. There was a great article this week that came out of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, in which several Sony high-ups discuss some of Home’s features, as well as the future of “Gaming 2.0″.

Home is complimented by Sony exclusives like Little Big Planet. Developers Media Molecule are incorporating all of the features of a PC user generated community into their game by putting the tools for building and displaying new levels to the world in the hands of gamers. UGC will be subject to judgment by the community via a peer review system and level rating. 1up.com recently got a chance to sit down with Pete Wilson (the Senior Producer on Little Big Planet), who filled them in on some of the finer details.

One final detail about the PS3 that often gets overlooked is that every console comes with a hard drive of some kind–a necessity for user generated content. This means that developers are more free to design their games with UGC in mind than they are with the 360, since a hard drive is encouraged but not required.

Nintendo

…and then there’s Nintendo.

Of the three major console companies, Nintendo has been notoriously resistant to online connectivity, let alone “Gaming 2.0.” The Wii does come with a wi-fi connection, something that even the 360 doesn’t have standard. However, Nintendo’s online interface is a nightmare, compounded by 16 digit “friend codes” and no way to interact via im or voice chat. One may send a pm, provided that both parties have added each other’s difficult to remember id number to their buddy list.

A second draw back is the lack of games so far with online support (at the time of this writing there were only three games in the NA region that had online capabilities, and one of those was Madden 08). Add to that the lack of a hard drive for the console, and you have a picture of a company who either isn’t interested, or doesn’t see the potential in Web 2.0 gaming.

At E3 this year, Nintendo did announce a new channel that would allow users to display and swap their Mii avatars, a concept that does hint at their growing awareness of the potential shift in gaming and the internet. But without a hard drive and a streamlined, simpler way to connect to other gamers, the Wii simply won’t be able to take advantage of this new way to look at gaming. Nintendo will have to wait until the next generation of consoles to implement these changes in game development and presentation, if in fact they actually want to go that direction at all.

Conclusion

Make no mistake, Gaming 2.0 is coming. The industry is already lumbering in that direction, but we’ve only seen the first few steps as it catches up with the rest of the internet. My analysis of the three console developers sees Sony occupying the place that Microsoft held in regards to last generation’s “online revolution”. Microsoft lost a lot of money just getting into the market, and their strategy was to pioneer the online service, something that Sony failed to do well, and Nintendo refused to do at all.

This generation Nintendo has come on board with online connectivity, but isn’t exactly chomping at the bit to push any boundaries in the Gaming 2.0 arena. In fact, they’ve made a conscious choice to deprioritize it. On the other hand, Microsoft and Sony have switched places, with Sony eating a lot of cash to put out a machine that can better handle future technology, while pioneering a shift in how we experience games with Home. The more I see of Home, the more I’m impressed with its ambitiousness and its courage in attempting something completely unique in the console space. The only question is:

Will it be enough to make up for Microsoft and Nintendo’s lead?

As a final thought, I’ll say that from Nintendo’s perspective, Sony is pushing the boundaries needlessly. Obviously, the Wii has been incredibly successful, and I attribute that mostly to Nintendo’s excellent perception of what is now, rather than what is “the next big thing”. It’s the Wii’s perfect storm of price and accessibility that has brought it into the lead in global market share, and it’s a strong argument for developing a less powerful system that fits what customers are looking to buy rather than a processing behemoth that tries to shove the future down the consumer’s throat. Perhaps Nintendo knows what they are doing to be “one step behind” in online feature development, and next generation they’ll add UGC and step into Gaming 2.0 seamlessly, when the public is ready for it.

We’ll have to wait and see.

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So what are your thoughts? Will Sony’s initiatives help them retake their former market share, or are they trying to push too far ahead? Is Nintendo’s philosophy about online a weakness, or are they crazy like a fox? And all the while, the 360 seems to be straddling the gap between the other consoles’ two extremes. What’s your take on Gaming 2.0?

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