MMOs are big business and it’s a fair bet that a host of games developers are going to challenge Home in luring players to their patch of virtual space. TV companies too, according to a recent press release which reveals that EA and Endemol (the company behind Big Brother and Fame Academy, among others) have embarked on a venture to create a "new digital entertainment concept that bridges the divide between traditional TV and videogames."

The name of the game’s Virtual Me, and it’ll allow users to create their own avatars socialise and take part in Endemol franchise series such as Dead or No Deal and Fame Academy. The series is due for release in Summer, where it will apparently debut in Big Brother. No formats have been announced yet, though I'd be surprised if this one skipped the PS3 completely. It’ll be intriguing to see how this squares up to Home: online social spaces seem to be the trend of the moment.

It’s tempting to be very cynical about the product of a gaming deal between EA and Endemol. Some bits could work: out of all the titles, I think Fame Academy could work the best, if it allowed players to sing and upload an act, or even have performances from players streamed. You could then have a player community vote on it. It could work, although Rock Band still sounds better. Deal or No Deal would be pretty dire as a videogame if they followed the format of the show.

Most likely it won't have the same degree of user uploaded content as Home if the games aren't any good, I doubt the power of the TV license will really count for long. At the end of the day, not much info’s come out, so I'll reserve judgement. Nevertheless, I’m not anticipating Virtual Me that highly.

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