What the hell is Game 3.0? That’s basically what I was thinking as I got situated at the Sony keynote speech. I made sure to dial in my camera settings, set up the voice recorder, and then proceeded to pull out my DS and jump into a very full – and surprisingly boring – Pictochat room. As soon as I was settled, Sony came right out and showed that they do indeed have some very big balls. Soccer balls, that is.

Sony Soccer Balls

Four giant inflatable soccer balls were unleashed on the crowd, and it soon became apparent that our collective objective was to punch and push them through a couple of huge goals on either side of the room. After my side was successfully trounced (come on guys, get your head in the game), Phil Harrison was introduced. He seemed to be aware that the majority of us in the room were wondering what exactly this Game 3.0 is all about, because he spared no time getting down to the details.

Going Home

Phil started off by talking about Web 2.0, something that we’re quite familiar with here at GameAlmighty. Web 2.0 isn’t exactly a completely defined set of standards, or a copyrighted process by any means. It’s all about user integration and empowerment, evolved content, and a new and unique experience – which is what we strive to deliver.

Sony’s plan is to begin the movement forward to Game 3.0. Phil said that Game 1.0 was the era of the unconnected console, and Game 2.0 came with the internet age. Now, Game 3.0 promises a new age of, well, the same type of thing that Web 2.0 delivers. We can look forward to user created content, and a lot more community interaction. The first step into Sony’s vision of Game 3.0 was delivered in the form of Playstation Home.

Let’s be frank here. With all the noise that was made recently after the Kotaku leak incident, we pretty much all saw this one coming. However, what I didn’t expect was how cool the Playstation Home experience looks. Basically, it’s sort of a mix between Second Life, Myspace, and an arcade. It’s essentially a “3D social networking service that allows you to express yourself, and your personality.” You can create an “infinitely customizable” avatar and just wander around the “central lounge” area to socialize with fellow PS3-ers, or do something with some purpose. The stage tour took us through a tunnel, and we were in the “games” room. Inside, there’s a pool table, a bowling alley and a set of simplistic user-definable arcade games. It’s intended to let players “in a very low intensity environment to meet, to share, and get to know each other all while playing very easy, very simple multiplayer games. It looks very cool, and will likely lead to a slew of new online gamers.

After the games were shown, we moved along to the residences. Every user of Playstation Home will have their own very customizable apartments. Of course there’s a ton of gear available to “trick out” (his words, not mine), but you can also download free or premium content to add to your stash. You can even do things like throw up picture frames or TVs that can be filled with your own custom content. When you invite your friends to your house, they can see everything you’ve created, so it could be a very cool way to share photos.

Additionally, music that you play in your house can be streamed over the network to other users. Very cool indeed. It’s worth noting that the whole world is physics-based, so you can do things like throw your TV down the stairs and watch it bounce about.

From here, we went to the movie theater where you can check out movie trailers and user created content. There wasn’t much said about downloading full length movies, but Phil did say that you can watch certain TV shows. We’ll have to wait to get more details on this, but it sounds promising.