Xbox Live Virtual World

I'm really starting to enjoy playing some of my games for the Xbox 360 online. It's loads more fun and a lot more challenging. Because of this, I haven't spent much time playing in some of the virtual worlds I used to visit.

I remember reading an article not too long ago about Playstation having some form of a virtual world called Playstation Home where players could make their own apartment, show off their achievements and meet up with other players virtually. I don't know if this has come about yet but it sounds like a great idea.

Now, I believe XBox Live is a great service. They seem to be incorporating more stuff into like downloading movies, music and games. New things are being added all the time. The form of currency used is MS Points which can be bought either online or through XBox live. However, all it seems to be is another online store for shopping, which is great but I believe it could be so much more.

My idea would be for XBox to combine multiple ideas into one. I envision a mix of Playstation Home, Second Life and Entropia Universe (or any other RCE or MMORPG for that matter). It would be cool to be able to log on, browse the internet, play some games and then if I wanted to, log into the Xbox Live Virtual World to display my trophies in my apartment. I could then venture out and go shopping for new stuff for my apartment or go to a store that has previews of movies with the option to buy (rather than the current 2d version in the marketplace). If I decided I wanted to be more adventurous, I could venture into the MMORPG area of the virtual world and take on some activities (kind of like Entropia Universe). I could go hunting, craft, mine, etc. This would give me the possibilty of generating MS Points so I can buy stuff either in the RPG section or in the actual martketplace. Of course, just like EU, I could also lose my money that I gamble with. It would also be possible to set up my own virtual shop where I can sell products (i.e. virtual Amazon) or I could set up shop in the RPG area and resell items I loot or trade for.

I think this would be the best use of XBox live. They have almost everything in place (keyboard for the controller, headset, etc), they just need better servers (compared to the cruddy lag that has been happening since the holidays). I would love to see something like this in the future.

What do you think of this? Good idea or just another useless suggestion? Comments or suggestions?

Thanks again for reading.

Regards,

Bob