What's Sony up to? Community websites abound!
Though Phil "Game 3.0" Harrison may have moved onto green ... err, different pastures, his flock of PlayStation 3 developers haven't forgotten his lessons. After taking a handful of upcoming PlayStation games out for a spin last Friday during Sony's Pre-E3 Judge's Event in LA, I noticed a recurring phrase in my notebook: community website. Think Halo 3 and Bungie.net; a game-specific site chocked full of additional ways to engage the title. It's like ... Web 2.0 plus ... Game 1.0 – wait, we finally got it!
LittleBigPlanet – While they're "not decided yet" on exactly how to integrate the game into a community website, if any mechanic seems ripe for such a project, rankings and stats for LBP's user-generated content seem like a sure bet.
Killzone 2 – There already is a my.killzone.com site for Killzone: Liberation, but adding "rankings and statistics" for Killzone 2 is the plan.
SOCOM: Confrontation – They plan on launching a community site – think "My SOCOM" – on SOCOM.com. There's nothing there now, and MySOCOM.com is taken.
Motorstorm: Pacific Rim – The Motorstorm representative wasn't very interested in providing any details, but she told us that they would have a "community website" as well.
Resistance 2 – Insomniac has perhaps the most ambitious plans for community content, dedicating an entire development team to the task. They're "overhauling" MyResistance.net, adding things along the lines of "facebook-like features."
Sony obviously thinks gamers want community websites, and the most visible example to date (the aforementioned Bungie.net) is a brilliant extension of an already robust multiplayer game. So, is the PS3's proliferation of community websites enticing to you, web-savvy gamer?
