Sony: We're not antisocial, we have Singstar

Posted Oct 27, 2008 at 10:50PM by QJ Staff Listed in: PS3 Tags: London Games Festival, Sony
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PlayStation Home - Image 1 


With the success of games like Activision's Guitar Hero, MTV's Rock Band (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii) and Nintendo's Wii Sports, all of which rely heavily on the social aspect of the play, there appears to be growing demand for social games in the industry.

During the London Games Festival, Jaimie MacDonald, Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, was asked to respond to criticisms that Sony is falling behind on these social centric games.

I wouldn't say we fell behind. SingStar (PS2) and Buzz (PS2) and EyeToy (PS2) are still hugely successful. I personally am really pleased to see the success of Wii Sports and Wii Play and Guitar Hero and Rock Band in a sense that it's expanding the market for everybody and it's expanding the appeal of video games.


Because they tend toward a more narrow niche market, the success of the SingStar, Buzz and Eye Toy is somewhat debatable when measured against giants like Guitar Hero. However, MacDonald also cited the recently released LittleBigPlanet and the upcoming PlayStation Home as their contenders for the mainstream social gaming market.

Even if Sony is behind the social gaming scene (despite their insistence to the contrary) they won't be for long. MacDonald said on the subject:

I think we're incredibly well positioned (to take advantage of social gaming) in the sense that we kind of, it would be a bit arrogant of me to say we invented, but we were an early pioneer certainly and we continue to be very successful in that space.




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Comments 


 
# BAh!,. my old man rant!ShadeyProphet 2008-10-27 19:56
some of this post will sound negative, and even condescending, but hear me out.



perhaps Jim part of a dieing breed of gamer, and in face people with my views on online gaming are now a minority, And if that is true then so be it, I can understand the apeal and importance of online gaming to others.



some players even go as far as to exclusively play online titles,



I feel online gaming on the broad scale, hasn't fully matured, Sure we have some decent online game's like world of warcraft, and halo 3, Cod 4 and so on, and these games really do have great online modes.



Games that make really great use of online capabilities are honestly few and far between, And more often then not when choosing a quality title for any given console, ones best bet would be a single play offline experience.



has anyone else ever noticed this?



it seems bioshock didn't have a multiplayer mode because 2k, at the time, wanted to focus on making the single player experience as great as they possibly could,



im my opinion it paid off.



there is something to be said about the single player offline experience, im not social redundant, or anti social, but the media and electronic developers are really pressing this social theme too far,



instant messages and in game email, the question is really. not did we need it. the question is, why the hell would be want jason and jacob and tammy and jill to all know when im online emailing me while im trying to get my bioshock on?!



really?

do people really want that?



i mean i'm not socialy impared, but the honest to god point is, not everyone damned happy skippy feels like being social all the time,



sometimes they just want to curl up with a book, all by themselves and not be bother, or a videogame,,



but no, sony and microsot and nintendo all want to strap a lcd screen onto my forhead so they can text me while I ***** !!



I mean Damn,,,,





I don't suppose anyone these days can remember how great it was to just have a really great offline game with no interuptions, emails,updates, or people annoying them while they are trying to play a game..



like i said, im part of a dieing breed.

Reply
 

 
# Trueabumu 2008-10-28 00:54
Yea I see your point, I view Online Modes as a bonus, but I'll mainly play the story modes.

I find it I cant play online games unless a friend plays with me, except for Socom and hopefully LBP.



But I think that ingame messages was needed because there was many a time were someone sent me a message, and I had to quit playing just to read it and repsond.



If you dont wanna be bothered while playing, and your playing offline anyway, just log off your account, no point being signed in if your not playing online. +)

Reply
 

 
# I see ur point man..nikko03 2008-11-02 17:21
It does seem like there trying way too hard with the multiplayer now a days..i mean i like multiplayer n wut not but not when it hinders the single player. lol and i too miss them days where id be stuck on a good game locked in my room where nobody was, to kinda escape from things..not like im some emo or something...lol its just good sometimes and video games were grea at that back then

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