PS3 will see 'user-created experiences' next year, says Harrison

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Dec 18th 2006 at 8:25PM }

User-created content, which has long been a fixture in the world of PC gaming, has never managed to gain any real traction on consoles, be that due to technological constraints or a lack of online connectivity. With both of those issues out of the way in modern systems, the time is ripe for users to interact and share their creations and experiences. Sony's Phil Harrison gets behind the idea in a revealing interview with MTV's Stephen Totilo, opining* that gaming needs to move away from presenting "closed experiences."

If games are to break free (God knows they want to break free), there needs to be a constant flow of communication between Sony and gamers -- more importantly, Harrison insists that said communication flows in both directions (give us money, here's your money). "Next year you're going to see user-created experiences in a number of interesting ways on PlayStation 3," goes the official and spectacularly vague PR line. A Second Life-styled virtual network has oft been rumored, but Harrison fell victim to "line distortion" before Totilo could get any concrete information about it.

So, what entails a "user-created experience?" In the worst case, it's a custom wallpaper and a shared photo between friends. In the best case? Oh, it could be anything, from personalized in-game T-shirts to deadly dungeons designed to foil your friends. Be sure to ask us about it next year.

* Basis for an awful pun later in the sentence.

Read (and be assaulted by Flash) -- Full interview on MTV News

Tags: console mods, ConsoleMods, mods, MTV, Phil Harrison, PhilHarrison, PS3 second life, Ps3SecondLife, second life, SecondLife, Sony PR, SonyPr, Stephen Totilo, StephenTotilo, user-created content, user-created experience, User-createdContent, User-createdExperience, virtual worlds, VirtualWorlds

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

A, E! I O U.... Y? @ Dec 18th 2006 8:29PM

Awesome, I can't wait to develop for the cell.

Miniboss @ Dec 18th 2006 8:29PM

So... it'll be like in Elebits where you can create your own levels and send them to your friends. Or you create your own Miis and send them to friends.

Unless they're meaning something more substantial, this concept certainly isn't new.

Ross Castro @ Dec 18th 2006 8:32PM

Maybe I'm just over thinking things, but I believe Sony is saying this purely on the fact Microsoft has released the XNA and that PC Games are lasting a LONG TIME due to replability and custom creations. It seems like maybe user creations is something that can save the PS3 from a nasty demise.

Richard @ Dec 18th 2006 8:34PM

Sounds like Sony wants a piece of XNA.

Optimus Prime @ Dec 18th 2006 8:43PM

There's already user-created content.. its called Linux and free roms and emulators, etc. Whatever they offer on the PS3 side cant match that.

cARLTON @ Dec 18th 2006 8:53PM

Copy cats

PS3 XNA

Sony nothing original
1) Copy Wii motion controller

Whats next?

Ringworm @ Dec 18th 2006 8:58PM

Sony ask anybody in your company about how you follow Ninty and swallow 360.... The nerve of you....

GiovanniMcAdoo @ Dec 18th 2006 9:10PM

Love how you guys are jumping the gubn before they even annouce exactly what they mean by this. And remeber; all companies copy each other one way or another. Only reason why you gusy are picking on SONY is because of the negativity that surrounds them and also the fact they have been ontop of the gaming world for two straight generations.

RoroCo @ Dec 18th 2006 9:15PM

'user-created experiences' - Homebrew...

Thanks Sony, but hackers are way ahead of you.

carlos @ Dec 18th 2006 9:17PM

everyone shut the fuck up about xna have u heard of the source engine and how many ppl base mods of it holy shit the reason everyones hates the ps3 is because they cant afford it and the wii sucks 360 is getting boring* and dont tell me graphics dont make the game because they do along with gameplay and the VC sucks hey has anyone ever heard about roms and there for free i dont have to pay 8 bucks for a game i can download for FREE well any how and ppl saying that MGS4 wilkl come out on the 360 what are u smoking kojima himself never said it could be done on the 360 and it will never fit on 9 gigs and yes blu ray is the future Size does matter.

* ihave a 360 gow and live so dont call me a fanboy

AJ @ Dec 18th 2006 9:30PM

he looks...sick. I don't know he just looks really depressed in that picture.

Deth @ Dec 18th 2006 9:32PM

hey guys i love writing one long sentence it is great i cannot understand why people find this annoying it is totally leet i have been writing this way for decades i came up with it everybody that says differently is a fanboy peace and long life live long and prosper

* i am not a fanboy

Iced_Eagle @ Dec 18th 2006 9:35PM

So they want to open up the communication pipe-lines, eh?

Well start telling people what's in the updates you push out!

Also, PS3 XNA ftw! :-)

Ringworm @ Dec 18th 2006 9:52PM

Sony fans are style biters. They know how Sony copies everything Nintendo does but yet they dont give a fuck because they themselves copy the way other people talk,walk,and dress. So its really no big deal to them at all because they themselves are style biters who try to dress,talk,and walk like they're favorite joe-neckbone rap star. Fuck that targeted demographic.

joe @ Dec 18th 2006 9:56PM

the ps3 cell and rsx hardware are locked out even to the linux software so everyone expecting to use any verison of linux other then the one sony is supporting and even then its still not supporting the hardware, which i read runs like a 800 mhz PIII. They are going to be runing NES roms or maybe? a PS1 emulator (whats the point?)

XNA is going to open the much large install base for microsoft for developers and students learning video game development, xna is a full feature tool and you can make very complicated games which can run on both the 360 and PC, the 360 uses a variation of the SM 3.0 shader which is the same shader used in the Direct X 10 games so developers have the options of creating their games on either platform which will encourage them to develop for microsoft. This of course will be bad for sony becasue the reverse coding time need to the cell and extra time and expense need to hire cell engineers will only let the larger companies make sucessful pc and 360 games.

joe @ Dec 18th 2006 10:01PM

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Fnewsticker%2Fforen%2Fgo.shtml%3Fread%3D1%26msg_id%3D11731119%26forum_id%3D109161&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

heres the translated article

jsn @ Dec 18th 2006 11:39PM

Sony will say whatever they have to say to try and hold peoples attention to their year old console wrapped around a blu-ray drive. If you believed all the crap they've shoveled at you, $600 is a great price for a console that you can't find because it will cure cancer, make you eggs and bacon and fellate you on demand (this explains the violence).

They have no hardware to put on shelves, no compelling games and an ever shrinking list of exclusive titles. They approached the 2006 game market like it was the 1996 market and they will learn a very sore lesson for it.

Tom @ Dec 18th 2006 11:47PM

I am getting really tired of listening to Sony executives spout all this "me too!" crap. Why don't they focus FIRST on getting a solid product out the door and into the hands of gamers--one that's glitch free and can be trusted as being worth its price tag--and THEN focus on promising everything (else) under the sun? They might come off with a bit more credibility then. Then again, these announcements may only be made for the benefit of stockholders and analysts, so that they can be convinced that Sony has an actual strategy other than "we'll throw everything at the wall and see what sticks!"

Murky Waters @ Dec 19th 2006 1:54AM

You haters are funny. You don't have any clue what you are talking about, but you are funny.

How can Sony be copying this idea from MS and Nintendo, when they came up with the idea, and were the first to make it possible for user-created console content way back on the original Playstation, in 1997?

Ever heard of the Net Yaroze?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Yaroze

If anybody is copying anybody by making it possible for users to make their own content and share it over the internet, it sure as heck isn't Sony.

Learn your history kids.

Fester @ Dec 19th 2006 2:16AM

I would love to put some "user created content" all over Phil Harrison ;) , I can't stand the guy and his arrogance.

Oh and FFS stop Copying Microsoft and Nintendo, get some originality.

Mark @ Dec 19th 2006 5:34AM

I dont think sony jumping on the band wagon of xna is a bad idea. if it works do it..im just tired of sony pushing off thier copied ideas as original ideas. Just admit XNA looks appealing so we want to do it to. Sony reps are worse then politicians.

bm @ Dec 19th 2006 7:47AM

If you wanna see a fine example of a game driven by user-created content, look at Second Life.

I'm going to clearly state right here that the previous sentence was meant to be sarcastic. I cannot take the risk of anybody not getting it.

Erik @ Dec 19th 2006 8:37AM

This isn't a rip off of XNA in the slightest. People have been creating content for PC games for years, this sort of thing is just an indication that consoles are finally moving in that same direction.

For everyone thumping the "originality" bible, pretend for a moment that you were born before 1987 and actually remember when community devtools *were* new.

Malik @ Dec 19th 2006 9:57AM

Erm guys...Take a look back a couple of months, in fact a year. Sony said this along time ago. Nintendo and MS may be doing it now, but sony talked about this along time ago. I know it's ridiculously fashionable to bash Sony right now, but get a grip, he said nothing wrong, he's a PS guy, he's gonna talk about PS. Any artcile about Sony is turned into a bashfest, just talk about the article ffs.

Slestak @ Dec 19th 2006 11:11AM

It's pronounced "oh-pine-ing"

v1cious @ Dec 19th 2006 12:32PM

Sony said months ago they were gonna do this. i think they even mentioned it at E3. seriously people, i love all consoles, but this is getting silly.

solomonrex @ Dec 19th 2006 12:41PM

Sony: Yes, user-created content and we're coming out with GT5 and GT:PSP, and we have motion sensing and the PS3 will output TWO 1080p screens and our free network will be as good as Live and we've hidden 2 mil PS3s in our secret underground lab and ...!

Seriously, XNA is only cool because it's already a mainstream dev tool (it's built on Visual Studio and directx), has tons of free content, MS has a huge developer network already and it runs on a PC, which every Xbox user in the USA has. Plus, you can use it to release games for the PC.

On a side note, videogaming has come a long way when MGS fans are younger than Zelda and Mario fans.