I don’t usually blog about Sony, the Playstation, or really even about the Xbox — but I can’t resist laying a post down on this latest development from Sony. As you are all probably aware, the Playstation 3 was released to a lot of disappointment last Christmas, and has been projected to trail behind the Xbox360 and Wii in sales this year.

So, its no surprise to hear that the great minds behind the over-priced and under-gamed black behemoth at Sony came up with something new and drastic: an online community a la Second Life, called “Playstation Home”. It allows PS3 users to enter an on-line virtual world complete with avatars, a personal space to show off your online trophies, a place to “hang out” to play some virtual sports and so on. Videos and pics seem pretty cool.

But the question that should be asked is: Will it help sell more Playstation 3’s?

I don’t think so. By offering this extension to the gaming system, the Sony seems desperate to dilute what the Playstation brand is all about and that is *gaming*. From what I’ve seen and heard, while “Playstation Home” does enable you to keep track of your gaming exploits, its emphasis is a community beyond gaming.

And quite frankly, if people want online gaming they have a lot more (and better) frugal options than a $600 gaming console with an anemic selection of games (cough, cough WoW!).

I could see “Home’s” role as a retention mechanism to both bolster and strengthen people’s perceptions and enjoyment of the console once they’ve got it. But if “Home” does little to actually improve the actual on-line gameplay, such as the Xbox Live’s way of matching, keeping track of friends, and so on — and if Sony’s biggest problem is going to be simply selling the units in the face of horrendous press, “Home” is not going to help its bottom line all that much, if at all.

But what it does do is give a Sony a certain aroma that seems to grow stronger with every gaffe — and that’s the stink odor of desperation.