The hope is that games will become even more addictive as they take on the trappings of MySpace or Flickr or Second Life or YouTube. Inside Sony's virtual world, anyone you meet can instantly know your interests, favorite movies and game achievements.

This is happening because people in modern society are suffering from the "lost village'' syndrome, says Trip Hawkins, the CEO of cell phone game maker Digital Chocolate and founder of Electronic Arts.

Hawkins' theory: We're all basket cases because we no longer live in closely-knit villages. People reside among strangers in big cities far from families, work away from home, and don't know their neighbors. To him, we're all desperately using technology to restore or extend our social networks so we won't be isolated anymore.