Habbo Hotel designer says no to online communities on consoles
Now that it’s a cool thing to have the most decorated MySpace account in the neighborhood, and playing a high-level World of Warcraft character makes you popular with the ladies, it is obvious that people love virtual communities. Even video game consoles nowadays want to conquer the online scene, but Habbo Hotel lead designer Sulka Haro doesn’t think the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 will make it big as far as online socializing goes.
Haro told Games Industry in an interview, “PlayStation 3, Xbox 360…those are for people who are seriously into gaming.” Given that, he believes something like Habbo Hotel won’t receive success on consoles. One big problem, according to Haro, is the ability to type messages which becomes difficult on game controllers. He mentioned how USB keyboards can be plugged into consoles but people don’t take advantage of it.
What of PlayStation Home then, which Sony is strongly pushing for? As Haro sees it, the much anticipated service is “a world with a US$ 600 entry ticket.” Apparently, he didn’t like Home’s feel during the beta. He was quoted, saying:
…in the demo I saw, it was this pretty clean Sony world. You’re able to buy a virtual Bravia television that does not break. That’s kind of funny, in some sense, but a bit too clean. It was too polished, somehow… It didn’t feel like I’d really call that place my home.
Via Games Industry
Now that it’s a cool thing to have the most decorated MySpace account in the neighborhood, and playing a high-level World of Warcraft character makes you popular with the ladies, it is obvious that people love virtual communities. Even video game consoles nowadays want to conquer the online scene, but Habbo Hotel lead designer Sulka Haro doesn’t think the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 will make it big as far as online socializing goes.
Haro told Games Industry in an interview, “PlayStation 3, Xbox 360…those are for people who are seriously into gaming.” Given that, he believes something like Habbo Hotel won’t receive success on consoles. One big problem, according to Haro, is the ability to type messages which becomes difficult on game controllers. He mentioned how USB keyboards can be plugged into consoles but people don’t take advantage of it.
What of PlayStation Home then, which Sony is strongly pushing for? As Haro sees it, the much anticipated service is “a world with a US$ 600 entry ticket.” Apparently, he didn’t like Home’s feel during the beta. He was quoted, saying:
…in the demo I saw, it was this pretty clean Sony world. You’re able to buy a virtual Bravia television that does not break. That’s kind of funny, in some sense, but a bit too clean. It was too polished, somehow… It didn’t feel like I’d really call that place my home.
Via Games Industry
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