News about the forthcoming Champions Online, to Codemasters expanding their business, to how the LEGO Universe economy will function. Hopefully well, we all know how unstable those LEGO financial institutions are. One swift kick from your older brother and the entire infrastructure comes tumbling down, and I’d rather not have to deal with bailing out LEGO Bear Stearns.

So check the numbers, look to the future, and admit you’ve lost (you know who you are). This is…

The MMO Report

VG Cats latest comic illustrates the current state of online gaming on Wii, 360 and PS3 consoles.

What will it take for episodic video games to catch on? I think the success ABC has experienced with Lost and it’s 60-70 episodes over the past 3 seasons (currently Lost is ranked 2 of 16,626 over at tv.com) is no doubt related to the shows content. I think that when episodic video games can deliver a smart well told story with intense gameplay set in an a realistic environment, this type of game will be accepted into our gaming culture.

This latest generation of gaming devices currently have the capability of content delivery that is much faster and more economical than the current $49.99-$59.99 Ghost Recon, Madden & Miyamoto model.

Massive multiplayer games while immersive, seem more about leveling up your character and traveling a large game world. In contrast episodic video games will deliver 100+ hours of intense gameplay, spanning 20+ episodes over the course of ayear. The game world, filled with interesting characters you actually care about, a well written storyline unfolding in a realistic manner, it’s basically what publishers consider the ultimate intellectual property. Reason being they publishers are developing their own content, and the product delivered is more accessible to mainstream gamers.

Companies like GameTap,Valve & 2k Games consider this to be a lucrative market it seems that everything is in place for episodic games to go mainsteam, so which publisher will strike first? Will GameTap or Valve find mainstream success with one of their upcoming games before Sony or Nintendo hit the market with a episodic game of their own, or will Grand Theft Auto on the 360 deliver enough episodic content to satisfy gamers to the extent that a network television series like Lost is already delivering to fans today?

In a lengthy interview with Game Informer, Senior VP of Marketing Peter Dille came out with many fantastic bits of information regarding PlayStation Home, multiple games and other nagging questions we’ve been wondering about. From the “Hall of Fame” (PlayStation’s take on achievements) to E3 to WarHawk, a lot of issues were addressed but we’ve got to admit the WarHawk info really made us nod.

Here’s what Dille said about the final formatting decision on WarHawk: “Warhawk will be available as a download from the PlayStation Network, but we’ll also have a retail SKU. There will be differences between the two. The game will be the same, but in the retail SKU we’re able to take advantage of that Blu-ray disc and pack that disc with behind-the-scenes information, developer interviews, demos of other games and again, if you’ve got Blu-ray why not take advantage of that. On top of that, we’ll have a Bluetooth wireless headset so that you can jump into the fray on day one and start trash-talking.”

So for the cost of $60 in North America, you get WarHawk, oodles of extras and a Bluetooth headset? Sounds like a deal and/or bargain. For those who don’t yet have a headset of any kind, this is a fantastic deal. While he didn’t comment on the pricing of the PSN download version, we’d estimate they’d keep it at $20-$30 because it is just online and headsets aren’t cheap. Especially bluetooth. If you want to learn anything else, check out the complete interview with Dille.

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By now, we’ve all had time to really digest what Sony is trying to do with with their home service. This is Sony’s answer to Xbox Live: a way to get people interacting socially with other PS3 owners. It’s clear that Sony wants to bring a Second Life-like experience to the PS3, with the ability to sell players everything from chairs to jeans. It’s also a vastly different way of handling online play than Microsoft is offering. Instead of making the experience menu-based like Xbox Live, Sony wants their online service to be an actual destination. Why simply sell games when you can sell someone an entire identity, one accessory at a time?The idea is an interesting one: you create an avatar and explore the world with other people and jump in and out of online PS3 games, or just enjoy a game of pool or bowling within the space of Home. Sony wants you to download the free program, chill out, meet people, and of course buy things. It’s very interactive, very MMO-like, and very much not what I want for my online experience.

I like the general idea of Home, but I think it should be sold as its own game, much like Second Life. This sort of thing just isn’t for me. I’m very comfortable with how I look in real life, and the thought of creating a virtual me that has to run around and talk to other virtual characters to play a game of Motorstorm is almost off-putting. I just want to be able to message a friend and jump right into the game. If Sony is going to do achievements, I want to be able to look at a score and see what my friends have as well. I don’t find the idea of arranging virtual trophies in my customized room attractive at all. And making an attractive avatar and then being forced to walk from your house to the Full Auto 2 game lobby could almost be scary. Are FPS titles going to be in the bad part of Sony’s virtual town?

I think Home is going to be a success for Sony; enough people are into this sort of thing to make it worth their while. Sims fans will go crazy creating their own identities and avatars. But I don’t want to fuss around with speech balloons or dozens of people in the Resistance area thinking it’s cute to take their clothes off and dance. On Xbox Live I very rarely interact with anyone who isn’t on my friends list, and Home seems like it’s custom made to let people who aren’t my friends annoy me—I’m just kind of grumpy that way.

That said, I’m looking forward to trying this. I just hope there is a world-wide “mute” button so I don’t have to see or hear the random gamers doing what random gamers do.

I’m glad Sony is working hard to bring us a more unified online system. I’d love to have working friends lists and an easy way to invite people into games. I’m just scared we’re going to have to put up with flying penis attacks to try to get to an area where we can play the game we want to play, instead of just moving around a menu. To me this is putting more space between me and the games I want, not less.

[via Ben Kuchera at opposable thumbs]