RSSSony to expand 'transaction-based game play'
By Ed Oswald | Published May 14, 2008, 11:50 AM
The PS3 manufacturer said the feature that allows gamers to trade virtual items for real money will be expanded into two new titles to be released by its in-house game studio.
Those titles, The Agency and Free Realms, use technology from Live Gamer that serves as a secure back-end for online marketplaces. The company incorporated Sony's Station Exchange technology into its own product earlier this year.
Station Exchange made its first appearance in 2005 as part of Sony's MMORPG Everquest II, and allowed the company to offer auctions of virtual goods between players.
Estimates of the value of such a market for these virtualized goods have run as high as $800 million annually -- a staggering number considering many would say "it's just a video game."
"We are actively exploring free-to-play and other revenue models, and always looking for new ways to engage and entertain gamers," SOE president John Smedley said in a statement. "We trust them to handle this area of the business for us so that we can focus on creating and growing our games."
Of the games, The Agency is a spy-themed first person shooter, allowing full customization of attire, weaponry, gadgets, vehicles, gear and aliases. Free Realms is a fantasy adventure game offering deep customization of a player's avatar.
It was not announced when these titles will be released.
"Sony to expand 'transaction-based game play'"
Oh, its an article about actual game development! Who woulda thunk...
It sounded like an article aimed at their economic and business model!
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|Sony see's where the money is.. Only 4 years late..
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|I am still wondering why games like WoW and Everquest have not come to a console like the 360 or the PS3 yet.
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|Actually, Final Fantasy XI debuted for the PS2, and is currently playable on the 360. I myself played the PS2 version when it came out. The main drawback was not too soon after FFXI was released for the PS2, the slimline console was introduced, and there was no way to install the Hard Drive that came with the game. The game played very well, especially on dial-up (most broadband users could not tell I was on dial-up), and was convenient for some of us who wanted to try an MMO but didn't have the money to upgrade our PCs.
As far as I know there's a small number still playing on both consoles, but most have migrated to PC or left completely.
Edit: I believe the lack of success on the console of this game frightened other publishers from attempts outside of "Everquest Adventures" or whatever that side-game was called.
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|As that would be amazing it would hard for them to implement actual changes to relms and updates to instances using the HDD. Not to mention upgrades to their servers would be required. Don't get me wrong that would be awesome for WOW to come to the 360.
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|I can see the attraction this will have. Unfortunatley this leaves me with doubts as to if it will work properly (as even Sony cannot code properly for their own system) and what bugs will result in this. When HOME is released (probably 2010 as they are already pushing back other releases i.e. Killzone. Probably because they see ideas from other game producers like MS and Epic with Gears and need to implement those into their games.
I am sure by the end of the POS3's lifetime you will see the beta released near the end because as some of us believe they just can't compete with the other game and console manuf.
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|Um... not cool. Sorry but if anyone really thinks about this, the next target on this is the IRS going after everyone not paying taxes on net profits on virtual crap. Its already being threatened regarding transactions in Second Life.
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|plz hurry and release a public beta for "HOME"!! sony come on!
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|Does the security at the local mall not want you to loiter around?
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|Wait.. Isn't Sony is the first one to ban virtual item sold on eBay?
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|Yeah, but this way, Sony gets a cut instead of eBay. ;)
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|Sony banned people from selling virtual items on eBay? LMAO, what about Craigslist?
This no personality complete loser I used to work with made money selling all this virtual crap, he would play from Friday after work until 3:00 AM on Monday every weekend, catch 4 hours of sleep and come to work. I think is was WoW that he plays.
One time he took a few days off and I heard he played for something like 96 hours straight. Your mind starts to go goofy after 48 hours with no sleep.
Good to hear they put a stop to that nonsense, he was one of the most bitter angry sarcastic people I had ever met. He thrived on being miserable all the time.
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|Alright...
Look, I may be bitter, angry and miserable, but I draw the line at sarcastic... ;)
Oh wait, you weren't talking about me?
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|A guy i worked with quit his job and went straight Everquest. Apparently he made good money selling virtual goodies. I would have been a millionaire if this was out in the days of Bard's Tale and Seven Cities of Gold on the old C-64!
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