In The Next Version

Future Press: Over the next several years IBM released their innovative "Sametime World" conferencing solution. Users were impressed! Network Administrators, of course, demanded more granular Sametime Policy settings to lock-down user preferences like: clothing choice, theme song, and dance styles.

LOL! Ok, let's keep this URL for future reference. ;-)

This is sony playing catchup to Xbox Live in about 90% of the cases ... nice to see them doing it, but they act like they are creating the wheel. Sounds like another company with their email product (and I do not mean IBM)

Ah, the magical land where everyone is thin and rich and knows how to dance! It's PS3 and the City!

Hey John. Yes, I agree XBox Live has a very strong infrastructure and ecosystem. What is their "virtual universe" product so I can take a look?

Yes Nathan, I was joking on a team call the other day that neither Weight Watchers nor Clearasil® will likely be making a fortune in virtual universes!

Yes Alan it is amazing I think..

...part of the appeal will be it's ease of entry and the fact that all(?) consoles are hooked up to a T.V. More social experience in the home than something like Second Life on a P.C. -or- xbox live which tends to appeal more to the hardcore gamer crowd and costs you extra. This has much broader appeal for the general user.

Pulling my media (but still local storage) content into this 3D world is going to be a lot of FUN...it's kind of like myspace, flickr, youtube, e-bay, all pulled together in one place using a 3D world. One login, one identity instead of the scattered 2d web 2.0 stuff. Mix and match and share them in new ways that are very difficult with those other services. In fact because the PS3 also allows you to browse the web, you can still pull your photos off flickr to local storage and integrate them as well.

Amazing is an understatement IMO :). This is a 3D web experience.

And it's FREE. :)

It's apparently been in development for 30 months - so if it was playing "catch" up then they just blew past the competition in a big way. Developers, businesses are going to flock to this given the opportunities. And as is now becoming apparent on Second Life - those that get in early and stake out their claims benefit the most..developers, business and consumers alike.

Ironically just today ..

{ Link }

"Italy's Gabetti Property Solutions has joined the Second Life land rush, laying claim to being the first real-life property company in the booming virtual world."

"Real estate is already one of Second Life's biggest industries. One resident called Anshe Chung—in real life, a woman named Ailin Graef—has become the site's most successful businesswoman by developing themed communities, accumulating US$1 million in assets within Second Life."

..get in early. Same kind of thing is going to happen at Playstation Home as well...but empires will get built more as a by-product of people expressing themselves and of just having fun.

Like enhancing the initial free property with the various design tools. If your really good at interior design and someone really likes what you've done - sell, trade up and get a bigger space that can hold more of your gaming achievement awards :) Fancy yourself a graphics artist - upload it on your wall and hold a gallery opening in your space..

Getting bored of interior design, flip over and blast some creatures...maybe you'll be able to drag some of those game assets back into your world..like a lion head from a Safari game and stick it on your mantle - if that's your thing.

Second Life married to a gaming, multi-media hub on a bigger screen. Who would have thought? The more I think about it the bigger the possibilities become in just about every direction. I guess the downside is the kids are going to also want another PS3..

And now it's time to investigate Second Life a bit more as well..already have several ideas and the ideas keep coming.