Big 3 console makers offer slew of extras for broadband users

A screen shot from Sony's PlayStation Home where avatars of gamers travel to a virtual city featuring a movie theater, bowling alley, and shopping mall. (SONY)

It's one week later, and by now the initial buzz of your Christmas gifts has begun to fade. Even the thrill of that new video game console has lost its edge.

Perhaps you should spend less time blasting bad guys and more time hanging out online. The three top video game consoles - Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Co.'s Wii - each offer a variety of extras for users who plug them into a broadband Internet connection.

The Nintendo Wii doesn't even need plugging in. Unlike the PS 3 and Xbox 360, the Wii includes built-in Wi-Fi networking, compatible with standard wireless Internet routers. You can play games against online rivals free of charge. But while more than 100 PS 3 games offer online play, as do more than 350 Xbox games, only about three dozen Wii games allow for Internet competition.

Still, you'll also get built-in news and weather channels, so you can get caught up on current events in just a few minutes. Old-school Nintendo buffs can visit the Wii Shop Channel and purchase classic games from the past, like Donkey Kong or Mario Bros. You pay with a "points" system. Using a credit card, you buy a bundle of points, priced at $10 per 1,000 points. Games are generally priced at 500 to 1,500 points.

The Wii features by far the best Web browser yet developed for use with a living room TV. Nintendo hooked up with the Norwegian firm Opera Software ASA to build the browser, but saddled it with a confusing name: the Internet Channel. Besides, at a time when Web browsers are usually free, Nintendo charges 500 points, or $5, for this one.

Spend the money. You'll get a Web browser that's easily managed through the Wii's elegant wireless game controller. And unlike earlier living room browsers - do you remember Microsoft's ill-fated WebTV service? - you can read Web pages fairly well, even when seated on a sofa 15 feet away.

By contrast, Microsoft hasn't bothered with a browser for its Xbox 360 console, and you'll find no news or weather feeds, either. Still, Microsoft's Xbox Live is rightly considered the classiest online gaming service of them all. It had better be - Microsoft charges $50 a year for full access; with Nintendo and Sony, hooking up is free.

So what are Xbox Live subscribers getting for their money? A whole lot of movies, for one thing. Until recently, members had to pay $4 to download and watch a movie, but Microsoft's recent upgrade of Xbox Live includes a partnership with the movies-by-mail rental company Netflix.

Last year, Netflix began selling a little black box that let subscribers stream movies directly over the Internet. Now the same capability has been added to the Xbox 360. Xbox Live subscribers who also subscribe to Netflix can fire up the game console and start watching full-length movies on demand - as many as they want, whenever they want. Only about 12,000 movies are presently available, many of them ancient or awful, and only about 300 are in high definition, but Netflix vows to expand its library in the months ahead. If that happens, it'll be one of the best bargains in home entertainment and a major reason to buy an Xbox 360.

Another recent upgrade to Xbox Live is also a work in progress. Members can now create their own avatars - animated online characters that can be given customized faces, physiques, and costumes. Your new avatar becomes your digital representative in the online world. It's a cute idea, but not particularly useful; at least, not yet. Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, told me that upcoming games will let players insert their personal avatars into the action. Imagine playing an online sports game in which your own avatar dunks the basketball or gets sacked for a 10-yard loss.

Sony's PlayStation Network is taking the concept even further. Owners of a PS 3 console can log on to PlayStation Home, a small but growing virtual world inhabited by the avatars of PS 3 gamers. Every Home member gets a beautiful, but rather underfurnished, waterfront apartment. From there they can travel to a virtual city featuring a movie theater, bowling alley, and shopping mall. The theater features videos about current and upcoming PS 3 games, while the bowling alley includes a variety of simple arcade-type games. At the mall, you can use real money to buy clothes for your avatar and furniture for your apartment.

It's all very Second Life-like, to those familiar with that well-known virtual world. Indeed, Sony began working on Home in 2005, when Second Life was being touted as the next big thing. But since then, the popularity of Second Life and other virtual hangouts has faded considerably. PlayStation Home reminds you of the reason why. After the initial wow wears off, there's not much reason to hang out there.

Sony officials concede the point, but note Home's only been up and running a few weeks. They say game developers are working on ways to integrate it into their upcoming software. Already, Home features gathering places for two popular PS 3 games: Uncharted and Far Cry 2. Gamers will visit these areas to chat, pick up game tips and cheat codes, and set up multiplayer online matches.

It's too early to tell whether these virtual game rooms will catch on. But Sony has sold about 17 million PS 3s so far. That's enough to support a very lively online community, if PlayStation gamers cut back on annihilating aliens and spend more time at Home.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.