Gamercards making their way to PS3?

by Richard Mitchell { Aug 15th 2007 at 5:15PM }

Games Digest is reporting a curious sighting they made at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, a menu option entitled "Gamercard." While such an option isn't strange to 360 Fanboys like us, we should probably note that the option was seen during a presentation of Unreal Tournament III ... for the PS3. According to Games Digest, Epic's Mark Rein quickly covered up the option, saying, "Oops, you shouldn't have seen that." As further evidence that Sony may be adopting Microsoft's terminology, a forum goer on Evil Avatar posted the above image, apparently taken from the Home beta.

We don't typically report on the happenings of the PS3 (as our name would suggest), but this is certainly relevant to followers of Microsoft's curvy white box. And no, we're not going to sling any mud Sony's way. Gamercards are a good idea, and one that would benefit PS3 owners. Considering Unreal Tournament III is heading to PS3 this holiday, PS3 fans may be getting a taste of Gamercards very soon.

Read -- 'Gamercard' in UTIII demo
Read -- gamer card image from EvAv forums

[Via Joystiq. Thanks, Godfree]

Tags: gamercard, ps3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

TORO @ Aug 15th 2007 5:21PM

Good for them...I recommend they start implementing gamerscores, XBLA, IM chat, marketplace, d/l content, etc.

Wait, I have a better idea, buy an Xbox 360 and stop using the RROD as an excuse!

Project Ekim @ Aug 15th 2007 5:23PM

this is getting out of hand cant MS sue them?

spezzdispenser @ Aug 15th 2007 5:24PM

good for sony.... "hey our online sucks! let's copy microsoft!" couldn't they at least call it something else?

NitroFrost @ Aug 15th 2007 5:32PM

Wow I agree with everyone that has posted so far. Sony needs to come up with something original, the Wii did (it may suck that you have to remember a bunch of numbers but hey they did it.

Magic Whiskey @ Aug 15th 2007 5:36PM

IF this is something reverse-engineered from Microsoft technology, in essence, it wouldn't be a bad thing for Sony. It might be their last ace up the sleeve.

Think about this, dear reader: Sony has, for the most part, gone on their own path and tried to decide what their customers should want, instead of listening to them and hearing what it is they really craved. For example:

-The PSP turned into a movie player where most owners wanted it really for a portable gaming device..

-The PS3 has SIXAXIS control instead of the generally preferred rumble. Whether Immersion lawsuits prevailed in this case or not, Sony eventually decided that gamers would rather, and SHOULD rather have 'six degrees of motion' in place of an old friend...

-The PS3 is also going the way of the PSP in terms of sales targeting. It's being sold more as a Blu-ray player than a gaming device..

Maybe Sony is now realizing, albeit in a twisted way, that they may not have all of the answers for the gaming public.
Perhaps Sony's biggest hope for a chance in this gaming market this generation, is to somewhat utilize the same aspects their competitors use. We've heard about the Sony 'Trophies', Playstation Network, motion control in controllers, and now Gamercards. The end power, it may seem, of the Playstation 3 is in the Sony-bankrolled lawyers.

All I can truly blame Sony for is poor imagination and arrogance.

Tony @ Aug 15th 2007 5:39PM

The Gamercard, in a lot of ways, is really just a miniature profile. I do not think it's a big deal for them to use concept and I think it's a good thing.

At the same time, come up with a different fucking name.

SharpBlade @ Aug 15th 2007 5:41PM

Ahh, but the icing on the cake will be in a few months when Sony fanboys are claiming Sony invented it and it works a million times better because of the power of the Cell and Blu-ray.

haha.. I can't count how many bashing threads I've seen when MS decided to include HDMI and how they are always copying Sony.

Expect to see more of this as they rip-off gamercards, gamerscore and achievements. Then they will brag about how it's better and it's free, ignoring the fact that Silver members have it free on 360 as well. That's the double-standards that are the PS3tard.

I hope MS has some new/BIG stuff up their sleeve for GDC or TGS because it's obvious Sony knows no shame and is not holding back. IPTV alone is certainly not going to cut it.

coolbreeze06 @ Aug 15th 2007 5:45PM

Right, what the Wii did is original, but it does not work. MS some what has nailed what online gaming should be on a console.

If it ain't broke....

Intergrating this into Playstation Home can be nothing but good. Don't hate congraduate!

Magic Whiskey @ Aug 15th 2007 5:46PM

I hope fear tactics don't prevail here. XBOX 360 does NOT need 'Home'. We do NOT need extra fluff to the Dashboard, IMO.

We need what we already have; strong games, strong vision for what we want, and a stronger community that listens to the consumer and gamer.

Xavierrose3001 @ Aug 15th 2007 6:01PM

Sounds like a good idea to me - Stuff like this should be used and improved by all partys. I don't here anyone screaming that Microsoft "copied" online from the pc, instead they just took the idea and made it work. Then again maybe that sort of thinking only comes about when you have all 3 systems. Oh but damn...they should have changed the name for real...

Marasai @ Aug 15th 2007 6:03PM

Amen, whiskey.

Whenever I think of home, I think of that scene in Tom Sawyer when TS cons the local kids to paint a fence for him. Moreover, he gets them to PAY him for it.

sony, instead of coming up with a decent online service (which would require that whole fee paying thing they've been badmpouthing) comes up with home, where they advertize to people and provide a MUCH more limited service, but make the operation of said service into a game. so what if it takes you 3 times as long to get a game...you are doing it in 3D! While dancing! And while paying real life money for fake apartments and sony Vaios that play game trailers you can already view on your HDD.

ill trooper @ Aug 15th 2007 6:09PM

Oh wow. I love my 360 but let's be realisitic... Microsoft only joined into the game console market because Sony was doing so well... You could play the PS2 'online' before you could play online on the XBox. The dual analog controller was made by Sony first, the 360 controller added shoulder buttons like the dual-shock, etc., etc.

I don't put any of these companies beyond making their own version of something successful.

Imitation of an 'inevitable' concept is simply part of competing businesses. In this case, can you really honestly act like Microsoft invented the idea of an 'online profile?' I can't, there have been many before on the internet, and now that consoles are on the internet so heavily, the first one there with a 'card' can't claim they invented somtehing that was going on for years before in other venues.

I think this is on '360 Fanboy' to stir up the hornets.

ill trooper @ Aug 15th 2007 6:11PM

Marsai, funny how your Tom Sawyer analogy also works when applied to Microsoft making us pay for Live when Sony is building a similar network without a subscription fee. Just sayin'.

JJ @ Aug 15th 2007 6:13PM

i really dont see the big deal... its not like Microsoft has the patent on an Online Profile or something like that.

Thats like claiming everyone is ripping off of MS because you can Download games on a console... or play online.

MS didnt invent ANY of that, gaming on consoles has been around since the Super nintendo days in some form or fashion and most the "originality" MS is unveling on the home consoles has been a part of the PC community for years.

So i dont think its fear to bash one company over another simply because they implemented the idea first.

Whats next? criticising a console maker because they use a dual analog controller or have multimedia features too?

tobin92 @ Aug 15th 2007 6:24PM

***Sniffs***

Ahhh.....Th smell of a lawsuit.

Magic Whiskey @ Aug 15th 2007 6:25PM

14 @ jj.

I think the big gripe here that we, the 360 fanboys are trying to say is that we want uniqueness from the three consoles, and there's no need to copy off each other in any way if true imagination would prevail.
At least that's MY bickering point. If Sony would make something similar, yet better and more unique than what's already out there, then that's cool for everyone. Lord knows they don't have many unique games!

If they copy almost verbatim what the competition has, well..we get what we've already got.

That's why Dino Crisis sucked and Resident Evil prevailed back in the day.

Nick @ Aug 15th 2007 6:26PM

@2, laughing out loud for the prospect of MS suing someone over stolen ideas.

whocares @ Aug 15th 2007 6:30PM

cool to see edinburgh get a mention - i didnt even know there was an interactive show during the festival (call me a fanboy!?).
Pretty hilarous, its kinda cool seeing the ps3 resorting to xbox features to attract people, it'll be interesting to see the layout of the actual gamercard when they reveal it.

Irwin @ Aug 15th 2007 6:54PM

man i LOVE x3fanboy, everytime i go to ps3fanboy to have a look, all i ever see is people having arguments and insulting eachother

Irwin @ Aug 15th 2007 6:56PM

wtf, half my comment didnt get posted..
well i said, Whose with me?

bk on topic, if sony implements this hole thing, it AlmOst gets rid of the reason people pay for XBL..almost

Tony @ Aug 15th 2007 7:00PM

@12 - Sony didn't come up with the shoulder buttons on a controller concept. The PS2 wasn't the first console online either, but let's also remember that at first it required a separate component that came out well after the system's original release.

My point is largely every one is influenced by someone else. All of these concepts have their roots somewhere else.

But again, you'd think that for something that is likely very similar they could at least come up with their own branding for it.

rjguy @ Aug 15th 2007 7:04PM

Personally I am starting to get sick of Mark Rein and Sony's little arangment about working together all of a sudden with Rein taking everything he learned about developing for the 360 and giving it over to Sony.

Microsoft helped Epic out and this is the thanks they get in return? They need to just buy up Epic and put an end to this console war once and for all. With Epic out of the way, Sony would have no more trick ups their sleeves and trickery to use for a while against Microsoft. They need to lose this war to learn some humility.

colin @ Aug 15th 2007 7:07PM

isn't this xbox360fanboy?

Joel @ Aug 15th 2007 7:31PM

just to add does anyone think that sony will perfect on some of the other things sony has done?? like IM because i think they will use AIM which some people think is a bad idea with ms, just asking yano!!

Nixon @ Aug 15th 2007 7:51PM

What else can we copy hmmmm?

Just me @ Aug 15th 2007 7:56PM

some of the things that some people have said is thatsony is coping microsoft, but think back if nintendo wasnt invented we wouldnt have rumble or innovation we would just have the same stuff over and over again like the design of the 360s controllers and the layout of the buttons is based on the snes (i think). So microsoft has came up with something good and innovative, something that gives gamers the identity but i bet that sony will try to perfect on that, it will probly have a picture of you, your address and your phone number to meet "new people"!! and personally i think sony should go ahead with home and get rid of the xmb cos that would be a bad thing to all ps3 owners, lol!!.

Kabapu @ Aug 15th 2007 8:31PM

@5 Magic Whiskey

"-The PS3 is also going the way of the PSP in terms of sales targeting. It's being sold more as a Blu-ray player than a gaming device.."

You'd be correct if you weren't entirely wrong.

"According to a new study by the NPD Group, only 40% of PlayStation 3 owners are aware that their console plays Blu-ray discs."
- "http://playstation.joystiq.com/2007/08/09/60-of-playstation-3-owners-are-oblivious-of-blu-ray/"

Chris @ Aug 15th 2007 8:41PM

well theres no worry, ps3s are selling like cans of beer at a AA meeting.

tobin92 @ Aug 15th 2007 9:53PM

Kabapu, that right.

Most of them are already pulling allnighter.......WITH MADDEN!!!
LULZ

Magic Whiskey @ Aug 15th 2007 10:16PM

@ 27/Kabapu:

I really was shocked to hear that news when it was posted. I mean, really..and I don't mean to be a smartass about this, but...if you buy a PS3 and didn't know it can play Blu-ray movies, what did you buy it for then? Hell..it even came with Talladega Nights, didn't it???

ill trooper @ Aug 15th 2007 10:55PM

"My point is largely every one is influenced by someone else. All of these concepts have their roots somewhere else."

That was my point as well.

Lucky @ Aug 15th 2007 11:37PM

I Don't care they are barrowing the idea. I just find it strenge there not even going to TRY and come up with there own name.

XD

Lucky @ Aug 15th 2007 11:50PM

@ill trooper:

Duel dual analog controller started out on the PC, just like motion senstivity.

Never worked for PC, but endded up great for consoles!

Same with "shoulder buttons". Stop tute-ing you own horn. I can admit when 360 snaps something from something eals. But don't act as if Sony has gotten all there ideas from God's very rectem.

O_____o

Nick @ Aug 16th 2007 3:14AM

@22, that's ridiculous. Epic has been in business since 1991, they have been making big time PC games since 1999. Why in the world would they sell themselves to MS and risk being broken up, less creative control, and less money. They are a development company, and their objective is to make money, not to solely make games for the 360. UT was always planned to come out for both systems and has been in development for both systems longer than GOW was a finished concept. I don't understand where you get this idea that because Epic made a game for 360, that they should solely develop games for the 360 and that their experience on one system gives any other system an advantage. The UT engine is being completely customized for the Cell processor. How would experience programing for a completely different hardware design and operating system give some kind of benefit to their build for the PS3. Get over your fanboi'ism. Business is business and Epic is just doing that.