There’s more to Mii than meets the eye.

At least that’s what the folks over at Marketing Vox are saying. It seems Nintendo is far from finished showing off everything Miis can do. Next on tap is the launch of a Mii channel later this year that will give users the ability to chat and rate each other’s Miis. The idea is to create a social network site that could possibly rival MySpace, but in this case it would be just for Wii users.

At least one industry analyst is calling the move a stroke of genius.

“Within a year, the Wii may be the most successful and valuable social-networking community on the Web,” says Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group. "Nintendo is creating a framework for an open environment that will allow other developers to add value. Interesting third-party solutions could link fans of TV shows, gamers sharing tips, even home-schoolers."

Doherty may indeed be right. With Sony’s announcement of Home and the unbridled popularity of sites like MySpace and YouTube, why not a place Wii fans can call their own?

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Labels: home, mii, Nintendo, ps3, sony, Wii

Sony Computer Entertainment let the cat out of the bag about its big, free promotion to make the PlayStation 3 a little bit different than anything else out there. Taking tips from the MMORPG Second Life and the Wii with its adorable Miis, Sony plans to make gamers feel right at “Home.”

Home is a new service that will launch sometime this fall that will offer gamers a detailed 3D sort of game within the game.

From Sony’s media release, “Home is a real-time online 3D, networked community available on the PLAYSTATION®Network. It allows PS3 users to interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share private content and even build and show off their own personal spaces to others in real time. Home will be available as a free download from the PLAYSTATION®Store and will launch directly from XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) on PS3.”

Users will get to create their own avatars and customize them to their own liking. They also will have their own in-game apartments where they can have others over to see their gaming trophies, watch videos, show off pictures and so on.

“This is a significant step forward in the area of user community services and emergent entertainment experiences,” said Izumi Kawanishi, Corporate Executive and CTO Software, SCEI. “While the 3D graphics demonstrate the power of PS3 and the PLAYSTATION Network, the most impressive feature in Home is the variety of ways in which multiple consumers, as well as our third-party partners, can experience the next generation of communication by interacting and sharing among each other. I feel strongly that this unique blend of community, user-generated content, collaboration and commerce will expand the future of computer entertainment.”

The new Home project goes into closed beta this spring with the full launch set for sometime this fall.

I’m personally not sure what to think about this. Granted, games like Second Life have an impressive following, but I’m having trouble seeing a hard-cord PS3 gamer that’s been pulled in by the power wanting to sit around and show home movies in a cyber apartment. I'm just not sure this is the kind of PS3-targeted game fans were looking for.

Maybe it’s just me?

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Labels: home, PlayStation 3, playstation network, ps3, second life, sony, Wii