Strange days

I recently joined the beta of Home on my PlayStation 3. It’s the Metaverse from Snow Crash, only boring. It does look really good.

So I boot it up for the first time, design my avatar (below), and am plunked into my beautiful waterfront studio apartment. I leave for the town square, populated by other Home players – you can tell the real women from the men role-playing by the modesty of their outfits – and notice that there is 2D video playing on screens intermixed with the 3D environment – house ads for Sony projects. I go into the shopping mall, browse around – would I like to spend 49¢ on a new pair of virtual jeans? no – and go up to the second floor, where there’s another large video screen playing Sony ads, this time for movies. I stand and watch. Purchase the Fred Claus Unrated Edition in HD from the PlayStation Store.

AND THEN
then a trailer for House Bunny. And there’s my sister, walking to the side of Anna Faris.

Kind of a postmodern moment. I hit the R1 button and make my avatar applaud.