Business Blogging Excellence

One of the best things a company can do to create a lot of buzz is to exceed expectations. Recently, Sony did just that at the Game Developers Convention.

President of Sony Worldwide Studios Phil Harris was the keynote speaker that night and sent the message that had game developers and gamers alike floored. How did they do it? They introduced a robust new online system called “Home”.

Home is a system that combines the best of both worlds from Xbox Live achievement system and Second Life’s online world. Players can create and customize their own character and interact with others in a fully realized virtual world. Lounges with simple games like pool, bowling, arcades, and more are all fully realized and interactive.

Power is given to more than just the gamer, though, which is where the brilliance comes in. Game developers can use the virtual world to display trailers for their upcoming games, banner ads are literally banners in the virtual world and aren’t limited to just advertising in the game industry. Sony gave them full flexibility to create their own online environments for players to visit, lending itself to more creative freedom for marketing. Users will be able to navigate areas from their favorite companies and chat with other players inside, play games, etc. Sony gave developers full freedom to advertise and create as they pleased within this new system. This creates a very friendly, enticing platform to work for.

The introduction of a new trophy system gives a nod towards 360’s achievement system, gives a win-win situation as well. Players are happy to have their bragging rights visible in a room full of trophies, developers are happy because other players see it as well, bringing more buzz for their game.

I could go on and on about how Sony really listened to both game players and game developers this time and not met their expectations, but exceeded them and turned us all for a loop, but I’ll let the presentation do the talking. Check out the speech for yourself on Gamespot for a glimpse at the future of PS3’s gaming. As an added bonus, you’ll see footage of another innovative title, Little Big Planet, that shows the brilliance of giving people simplicity, flexibility and control in gaming. Sony has finally made itself a very strong contender for XBox Live, it will be interesting to see how they fare against each other. This is a prime example of creating huge buzz by giving us all the unexpected.

Disclaimer: The image in this article is from gamespot.com. Please visit their site if you wish to see more.