Having heard about a new online effort by Sony Computer Entertainment called the game, I was immediately intrigued mostly because I hadn’t heard anything about it previously and the description of the new application baffled me.
www.PS3-TheGame.com. is a site which Sony describes as
“an open-ended, online challenge that’s set to get everyone talking about PlayStation®3 (PS3™). The idea is simple: two Teams, thousands of players, endless entertainment. Players prove their skill and knowledge through a series of challenges made up of ready-made mini-games and quizzes, and then create challenges of their own to pass on to others. More people join, more challenges are set, more mini-games are played, more points are earned, more rivalry sets in, and more people join in… The Game just gets bigger and bigger.” (Excerpt from Sony Press release)
The sign-up process for the programme is very quick and easy; you pick a side (team A or B) give your basic details and you’re ready to go.
From then on, I found the experience somewhat pointless. The description touts the sense of teamwork and community but I found the whole experience to feel very isolated.
The mini-games themselves range from clever to rehashed. Players will play games in which they shoot groups of squares, circles, triangles and crosses, take part in quite sporadic quiz games. There isn’t even an effective way of indicating the language which the game uses, I found myself, on three occasions, clicking onto games which I couldn’t understand.
Sony has a had a great year; Blu-ray is achieving a strong following, the Playstation 3 is starting to catch up to the 360 and their Bravia TV’s are selling like hotcakes. Throughout the year, we have been told the PS3 does “everything”. And it effectively does, that marketing campaign is effective enough to make people want to take a look, this site as well produced as it is, won’t send people rushing out to buy a Blu-ray player.
The site is in relative infancy, so maybe the experience will develop further once more users sign on. I however found the whole journey not so worthwhile.
