SAN FRANCISCO - Sony Corp. will unveil today 'Home', an online network for its new PlayStation 3, which supports streaming video and advertising and will host virtual characters in common areas and private rooms.
Sony also will preview LittleBigPlanet -- a game where users play, create and sharewhat they build with other worldwide PS3 users -- at the Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco.
Sony's PS3 is locked in a battle with Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii.
'Home', a free download, will be available globally beginning in fall 2007.
A full-featured sample of LittleBigPlanet is slated for release on the PlayStation Network this fall, with a full version expected in early 2008. Game pricing will be announced at a later date.
Sony's new projects, incorporate elements from a crop of innovative websites, including Second Life, a virtual reality site where players create and own content, from representations of themselves to homes and businesses; Google Inc.'s video-sharing site YouTube; and News Corp.'s MySpace, a wildly popular site where users create profiles and share everything from music to photos.
"It will take the industry forward," Phil Harrison, President, Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, told Reuters ahead of the launch.
Sam Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Ziff Davis Media Inc.'s 1UP.com video game site, said the projects end many months of waiting for Sony's online strategy and show the Japanese electronics giant has been on top of advances in online software and services.
"What it tells me is that they're clearly paying attention. I'm glad to see that side of Sony," Kennedy said.
He added that he was intrigued by functions in "LittleBigPlanet" that allow gamers to make their own games to share with friends.
"This is like game development for everybody," he said.
