‘It is not unusual’ for PS3 users who've signed up for the open P...

Wednesday at the Engage Expo in New York. Users are “spending significant amounts of time inside PlayStation Home,” exploring with their avatars, downloading content and performing other activities, he said. About 5 million PS3 users have downloaded PlayStation Home, about 2.2 million in the U.S. and Canada, Buser said. He declined to say when the beta test will end and the official launch will come. Buser also declined to say whether Home will be eventually extended onto a future Sony console. The online efforts of Nintendo and Microsoft with the Wii and Xbox 360 pale in comparison with what Home offers, Buser said. Home’s more realistic avatars that come with virtual living spaces users can personalize are superior to what the competitors offer, he said. “Avatars without a space” are “pointless” because spaces can define a gamer as much as the avatar itself, if not more, Buser said. Of Sony’s console competitors, he said, “the other guys haven’t even woken up” when it comes to significant online efforts. Home users have indicated that they want content and activities added regularly and Sony is trying to comply, he said, telling the conference there will be a “ton of content,” including new mini games made available in 2009. Home is “a revenue driver” for Sony, as well as “a differentiator” against competing consoles, Buser said. More Home content will be developed by companies other than Sony, he said. The biggest challenge for Sony is “how fast” it can “execute on this opportunity,” he said. This is the third year that Show Initiative has produced the conference, but the first time under the Engage Expo name. It used to be part of the Virtual Worlds Conference, held in 2007 and 2008 in New York. Show Initiative decided to split the event for 2009, targeting the consumer market with the Engage Expo and businesses for its coming 3D Training, Learning and Collaboration conference in Washington, April 20-21, Executive Director Christopher Sherman told Consumer Electronics Daily. About 600 people registered to attend the Engage Expo this week, but it’s too early to say where registration will come in for the other conference, he said. Sherman said he’s happy with the 600 and would be happy if 300 register for the April conference. Combined, that would represent a dip in attendance from the 1,200 who attended Virtual Worlds last year, he told us. But “given the state of the economy,” he said 900 attendees for the conferences this year would be fine.