This fabulous home can soon be yours!Hot on the heels of a story that The Times Online ran on Sunday, stating that Home--Sony's online-virtual-world-social-networking-advertising-buzz-word-thing for the PlayStation 3--was “slated for release in the next 10 days,” Joystiq has today received confirmation from SCEA that Home will in fact launch before the end of 2008. This is only kinda-sorta news, as folks from Sony have been saying since Leipzig that Home would launch this year. Though considering the number of delays Home has seen, it's good to hear that Sony is still on target. So the big question about Home can soon go from “is it ever coming out?” to “was it worth the wait?” For Sony's sake, I sure hope so.
I have reserved judgement since the beta was so empty. It's all gonna have to come together with the developer and studio/game spaces along with the shops actually having something in it. My hopes are still up, but I'm not gonna by psyched or bummed either way.
What Home desperately needs is content. I just don't see how they'll keep churning stuff out at enough of a pace to keep people interested.
Yes, it is free, so the price is obviously right. The point is that Sony seemed to be pinning all their hopes on it at one point, and regardless of the price, if you're talking something up as your saviour and it then turns out the be underwhelming, it's a bit of a public relations problem. It appears unprofessional and incompetent and if you've implied that that's the best that you've got, it's bad news. But they do have better things. I guess I'd just rather they champion those other things more.
I say all this as someone who spends more time on his PS3 than his 360. I have a lot of time for Sony, but I wish they'd focused on the essentials like OS-level game-independent voice chat before they indulged in this peculiar diversion. Not that they can only work on one thing at a time, of course. But who really wants Second Life with all the flexibility taken out? I don't even want Second Life in the first place!
As for it being the best use of avatars, I don't know. It's the most fully-featured default avatar environment, but that's because the default avatar environment is separate from the OS, and is therefore something a lot of people are not going to bother with. That, of course, is fine (it would be idiocy to ruin the aesthetic of the XMB with little people running around), but (from what we've seen) it's a less integrated deal. Besides, you could argue that incorporating avatars into games that people actually want to play is a better use than dumping them in 3D chat room.
I guess I'm being a little harsh on Home. I don't hate it at all. I just don't see why it's worth the load time. Or the time actually spent in it.
3D trophies / other unlockable in-world items could be pretty cool, I guess.
Honestly, it may not be worth the two-year wait, but let us look at this objectively, shall we? First of all, it's free. That means we don't pay a dime. Also, Home has the best use of avatars among the big three..... and it also gives trophies more value.
So why are we complaining?
I think Home has the potential to be good. It's a brilliant idea in theory. And how much do you wanna bet that Microsoft (possibly Nintendo too) will have their own version of "Home" next gen? Home is a glimpse into the future of online gaming, like it or not.
Having never used Home, I don't know how it works. If it replaced the XMB like the NXE did with the blades, I could see it being the new interface that would boot up on the PS3. If it's still a program that needs to start from the XMB, then using it for anything other than farting around some half-ass Matrix world is more trouble than it's worth.
Does Sony expect people to leave the PS3 on all the time so Home is where you'll always be outside of a game? I can see making use of the Home avatar in games like previous examples. Imagine your dude on a bike in Motorstorm, or replacing Nathan drake with generic douche with a hoodie. If Sony went that deep into making devs include that function it would be pretty cool, but since Sony is doing all it can to keep games on that shitbox at all, forcing devs to d othat seems like a pipe dream.
I'll download it, make a Duke Togo avatar and kick it in a posh penthouse, but aside from that I see nothing that looks appealing beyond that initial 30 minutes.
Honestly Home is nothing special right now. I'm in the beta and it honestly just feels like there are tons of things missing. Hell, the only kind of facial hair you can set on your avatar is mustaches. No goatee's or anything yet. Plus the clothing options and hairstyles are really limited too. It feels very not done yet.
"I am not sure about "it was worth the wait?". It certainly looks nice and all, but right now it is nothing more than Second Life, with a lot less content..."
I wish that home becomes a virtual world where you can trade hard earned trophies for real money, so that instead of going to work every day, i can stay at home and play games, in order to earn money/trophies :-) It's time for my microwave-lunch, see ya!
I did the beta and I was not impressed. The whole concept of home is to get people playing games right? Why are they making matchmaking and the whole online experience more cumbersome than it already is? Bad move Sony.
I'm also of the opinion that since Home is free, I don't really feel Sony owes us an incredible experience. I think that it will get better with time...it's a cool distraction for now...and it's free.
I have the Home Beta and the thing is just pointless unless you really like doing the robot with a large group of people just to block a staircase or playing so-so bowling and pool games.
Any practical game related use Home would have is a wash because it's a program that needs to load. How many honestly want to start an application so they can just boot a game? People wanting to play will just bypass Home unless certain features require it as a launch point. Which in that case Sony deserves a bitch slap for requiring people to load Home for them in the first place. What gamers on the PS3 need is a toolset that allows for fast, effective and meaningful game operation and management, not a pseudo MMO. Unless Sony offers a NXE Guide-like feature (when necessary) for use during game play I think Home will be relegated to a social networking novelty.
man, it seems like everything sony does these days people will find something to bitch at. Just wait until the damn thing comes out and if it happens to flop than talk trash about it all you want to, but as of right now, please please keep your fanboism to yourself
worth the wait isn't really a matter in my opinion. i don't think anyone was really waiting for it. but now that i have the beta, i like it and i think its a nice addition. as soon as i'm able to load my room full of my trophies it will be awesome.
Do you like sitting? Do you like standing around? Do you like standing around watching the same game trailer playing on a loop? Do you like watching teenage avatars trying to hit on anything that looks like it might be a girl? Do you like watching PS3 users trying to impress girls by making their avatar dance right in front of a what might be a girl's nose? Would you rather read abuse in neat little speech bubbles instead of just on voice chat?
Do you hate having furniture? Do you like moving furniture really slowly? Do you like paying for clothing that isn't real?
Do you like running? What about running back and forth trying to figure out how Sony have spent almost two years and all they've done so far is make 5 rooms? Would you rather chase after a figure that looks just like you so you can send them a message instead of just pulling up a quick list and hitting send?
Do you like performing cool stunts with in game vehicles?*
If so, then congratulations! You just found a new Home! Hurrah!
Sony doesn't have any great exclusives anymore, except LBP and MGS (not sony for long), so they gave up on games and are creating miscellaneous stuff like this, looks good, but i'd rather play a game, it's a 3D social program, you don't see any of those words in 'video GAMEs'
Sony is going to get reamed when this launches. Whoop-dee-do, a 3D chat room with "uncanny valley"-ugly avatars. As for the "movie theater" it takes longer for the movie to load than it does to watch. But then PSN servers have always been incredibly slow for me.
I just think this is way way WAY over-hyped at this point.
Someone remind me again. Why was this cool? It's a lobby for a virtual me, that I will get to fill with things that I buy from the Playstation Network Store, right so far? Or I can get things by unlocking them in my PS3 games. But not the ones I already own, stuff in the ones coming out next year. Ok. So I'll have an apartment in this thing like I do in real life. I can watch game trailers on my...in game TV.
It's good. It's a 3D avatar-based social networking platform. Stop thinking about it like it's a game or The Sims. It works perfectly for what it is, it's free, and it's a much better avatar use than anything we've seen so far this generation.
I have a feeling this will turn out like everyone expected.Kinda neat for a few days,but then you get tired of walking into a movie theatre and seeing a trailer for Uncharted 2 or playing Virtual bowling.This,much like the Mii's for the Wii,will fall by the way side in a matter of weeks.
virtual bowling with real people in a virtual world when i could go to a real bowling alley with people i know and like instead. I think i will use my ps3 for movies and games and leave the virtual hanging out to other people.
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