Today I had my first play about on Playstation Home, which is available as a beta on the PSN. Home was something I had been mildly excited about for a wee while, as the little information that was doled out about it made it sound like a huge cityscape where you could have an apartment and your friends could come over and what not. From those tidbits, my imagination ran away with me and I imagined skyscraper apartment blocks, elevators with search fields, full customisation and design of your apartment etc. So when I logged on (after several c-931 errors) what I found was rather deflating.First you are sent to the wardrobe to pick from a very limited selection of free clothing, and then you are plopped into your ridiculously beautiful apartment with a harbour view and bland furniture. There is literally nothing to do there, so I quickly dashed out (after downloading it) into Home Square, the hub of the world. What I found was many people dancing at each other, some watching trailers of (sony) games and some playing a mangled version of pool or bowling.
The whole thing sort of felt like an emptier SecondLife (which I abhorred) and wasn't the step towards consolidating Sony's online community that I hope it would be. I was hoping for a genuinely intuitive hub where online games could be set up and friends could meet. I may be judging it prematurely as it is still in the beta phase and hasn't been opened up yet. I admit there is the possibility of some cool stuff happening there, provided developers get the freedom to experiment and don't go too hard at selling stuff.
This was the major bugbear with Home for me. Being charged to 59p for a cowboy hat for my avatar to wear and £5 for a new house is faintly ridiculous in my estimation. I imagine Sony have priced clothing items at 59p so that users think "ah, it's only 59p, and my character would look ace in those cargo shorts!", and that all those casual 59ps add up to a sustainable revenue stream but it just seems cynical and downright cheeky to me. So I think I'll just stay in my real home, where I can wear what I want - for free.
Posts
I've been in it for just over a month now. It's a total joke, from the ridiculously slow loading/download times to the pointless 'house'. I could understand if it was the PS3 version of the new 360 dash, and you loaded into it as soon as you switched on your PS3 and could access all your media, games and web from it but as it stands they just need to scrap it and forget about it.
ReplyDeleteprecisely, there is absolutely no incentive to go into it, why would you want to play slow, laggy pool when you can just load up fallout 3?
ReplyDeleteYou could load up fallout 3: but then you might be faced with the horrible realization that you prefer a post-apocalyptic holocaust future to the real world....
ReplyDeleteThat would be very very bad of you!
I think it quite sad that we all look forward to something like this, a world in which we can roam around and meet friends and play pool in an artificial environment. It does seem like another step to simply never leaving the house, its obvously not quite as simple as that but wanting to actually pay real money, to purchase a computer generated house you really should not spend alot of time in seems very sad to me. In saying that i will probably do exactly that. I do want to be immersed in a environment like this when playing games and be able to fly in and out of it when i like to see what the crack is but sitting down and getting drawn into a good game, one which is hard to complete and really gets me involved. That i find much more appealing. I can quite easily continue to love playing games and not get involved in "Home" I honestly don't see the point in it. More sony trying to beat microsoft in creating a community feeling. They took it to far maybe? The fact it has been delayed for so long tells its own story, they wanted to rush it out to compete. Perhaps taking more time and creating as you said a world in which you can do anything. Including going for a pint with your online chums. Well maybe not anything.
ReplyDeleteGood idea with the blog steve, could be some interesting chat.
It seems that Sony are jumping onto two bandwagons, the popularity of XBOX Live, in particular the trophies, and Second Life. Although I'm not familiar with either Live or 2nd life, this doesn't seem like a totally bad thing. Charging people 59 pence for a virtual cowboy hat, however immediately has the alarm bells ringing. Why couldn't they offer these items as prizes for attaining trophies in such fine gaming products as GTA 4? Congratulations you've wasted 200 hours trying to find all the pigeons!! Here's a pair of trousers for your Home avatar in recognition of your noble sacrifice!
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly the point, playing games and being rewarded through trophies would be the way forward instead of spending money for a hat as you say. Kill enough children you get a free slide for your garden. But it still frustrates me that developers are spending time on that. Why not get the head down and create great games. Kojima has endless crappy little secrets and gifts in metal gear, however you dont need them to simply melt when you play the games. Someone actually cheesin about gettin a hat as a reward/trophy, has little or no life to me. Maybe iam just cynical in my advancing years, but fuck "home" and give me a real game i can settle down into, in front of my big tv, surround sound and play along in my own little movie world. A topic for discussion in itself. The problem is "Home" will grow into something big, sony will make sure of it. And endless youngsters or folk who never leave the house will check into "home" like it is a e-mail account or eventually as natural as eating. This is not far fetched as our fellow asian game players have already expirienced death through over play of WOW. This is slight scaremongering but this could grow into a huge issue. A virtual world in which you can visit youtube, google, hmv, tesco. You do all your online shopping in "home" I dont really think sony could monopolise it like that but in current climate and the way the internet is dominating life. Companies may see it as a way to tap into the new lifestyle so many people have. Maybe going a little to far, but we are told so many times by boffins at sony and microsoft that the internet and technology is the way forward. Profit wise maybe.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely sure of your point here phil, would there be that much of a difference visiting youtube and hmv in Home as there is through your internet browser? Maybe you could view Home as just a very fancy browser?
ReplyDeleteI do like the idea of being rewarded these "premium" items as achievements though, I reckon that would be better than displaying your trophies in your pointless house. If you saw someone walk by with a particular helmet on and you would think "he must have got completed Ratchet and Clank" or something like that. Or maybe that's pathetic. I can't decide.
I think there would be a big difference, through a internet browser, which in fairness is mainly google dominated. It is a much more free environment, i worry that through a system like home it creates a online community closed to anything else. Because people log onto the internet and they use it. its nothing to people now, however if someone comes along and says why not make your internet browsing a....lifestyle choice. maybe not the best term. But if you close yourself to doing everything in one generated world it seems funny to me. Not well described here but it puts me off. Its very cool to be able to do everything in "home" but i feel its wrong on some level. Yes its easier to have it all in one place, but its the idea that you are walking around this world and you say to yourself(your real self) i think i will go to the shops and get my dinner, oh maybe buy some dvd's. You are detached from life almost. Most would not let themselves become detached but many would.
ReplyDeleteSo yes you could view "home" as a very fancy browser, which i think sony want it to become, but there is something fundamentaly wrong with that. One world which you log into and do everything you need. It feels like tron or something. Maybe my point is flawed but i dont like the idea. I do in many ways and i will use it i imagine, but i think it could grow into something to big. Iam all for technology advancing and integrating but having one hub under the stairs that does everything from tv to operating the oven, is different from a fake world controlling everything. its a good topic cause i really have mixed feelings about it.
Again i agree with the achievements idea, its funa and adds new dimensions to gaming. And i agree that it is pathetic on alot of levels, like my opinion on "home" but at the same time. Its pretty cool. Make what you can of the above garble.
do you think maybe people said the same kind of things about TV and the internet? "People won't leave their homes" kind of idea?
ReplyDeleteJesus guys, this is where it all starts don't you see!! Skynet, the war of the machines, HAL!! We're doomed! On a more serious note, have any of you guys played Disgaea 2 before? It was on PS2, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics on GBA, just ridiculously more in-depth? I'm holding out for a European release of the 3rd installment, does anyone out there share this pain?
ReplyDeleteI've not played Disgaea actually, I've read a bit about it, about how it's like an endless pit of possibilities, which seemed pretty cool to me, but I never really got into strategy-RPG type games so I never checked it out. Worth it?
ReplyDeleteI think they maybe did, but not to the same extent, in fact if atoll. The internet gradually grew, from a networking solution for universities into this mass that it now is. The internet is a loose mass of things chucked together. "home" is a mass of everything(possibly)chucked together. "home" is possibly the first design that could emalgamate everything into one. There may have been a threat before in poeples mind about tv and the internet but when they were developed, the mindest was different. Today the couch potato, to coin a phrase, is the mentality. And so with a tool like "home" the threat is much more. It is very skynet, however these films were written to possibly represent the future. Did we ever think we would try to create a device that can transport us from one place to another in a second. ie transporter. They are working on it, cause someone wrote it or said this would be cool. I hope like most things "home will simply become a amazing tool that we can use, but can see the potential for it to become something much bigger, worse maybe?
ReplyDeleteGod i wish they would remake final fantasy vii.
ReplyDeletei think maybe you might be blowing home out of proportions, its really just a social networking mmorpg-lite with very little functionality. And the internet started as a military tool - ARPANET. Ahem.
ReplyDeletewell it was designed by arpanet. licklider i think. Guy called bob taylor set up a study to allow reaserchers from different universities to share information. It grew from that. Sorry i just read what i typed back. Definately not networking solution for universities. (I did a sixth year study on it. I still got the notes.) I dont honestly think it would get to such proportions, only discussing possibilities and i believe possible possibilities. It is only a social networking site, but there is not a chance in hell sony will not try to push it. articles by developers themselves discuss its potential. I dont think for a second sony will say, okay we are done with this. Lets move on. Its a hub. Why not use it as such.
ReplyDeleteBeing honest i dont give a crap about its growth, being able to do everything through home would be cool and i would use it, but iam just thinking about how far it could go.
Disgaea is very cool, but super geeky. If you havent played isometric turn based strategy before then you should play Final Fantasy Tactics. That game is pure class. Either download an emu and a ROM or I can lend you my GBA and copy. It's a lot more accessible than Disagae and if u dig it then you'll probably know if strategy-RPG is for you.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that one of the guys in Red 7 was in Genesis? And does the name Red 7 have anything to do with Star Wars? You know the X-wing squadron that takes down the Deathstar? Jeez, I wish I could go back to the 80's and ask those crazy guys!
they may even still be alive...?
ReplyDeleteThey probably are alive, although doubtlessly in rehab or living survivalist style in the woods, a la Unabomber. Plus speaking to those guys at the peak of their creative powers would be so much more rewarding.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of getting Resistance 2 over next couple of days. Will post first impressions here and let you guys know whether its any good. Some of the multiplayer modes sound particularly interesting. Especially the one where you play in teams sourcing weapons-tech, while the main campaign battles rage on around you! Certainly more interesting than the standard team vs and free for all.
Hmm...sounds interesting, I might rent it to coincide with your purchase...what's your PSN handle btw?
ReplyDelete