Archive: 19 posts

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Sony Gives PlayStation Home a Massive Theme Park Makeover With MMO-like Gameplay This Fall PlayStation Home, the digital hang out space for Sony's PlayStation 3 that opened to the public in 2008, is getting an extreme makeover later this year. Sony's console social network will be redesigned for the fall, reemerging as an experience that's part theme park, part online game and part social network. The new PlayStation Home, Sony says, represents the social platform's "evolution from a virtual environment to a world of games, with a focus on rapidly connecting players with game content that pertains to their style and mood." Gone will be much of the architecture of the current Home, replaced by a space called the Hub and a series of districts based on themes, a digital Disney World designed with core gamers in mind. The Hub of the new Home is a sleek, bright entrance into this redesigned world. The new entrance to Home, the Hub looks like a futuristic airport or mall?clean, populated by virtual shoppers and travelers, and drawing some visual influence from Valve's Portal 2. It has been designed to get Home visitors to destinations and games faster; to pop you into a social space, not an empty apartment; and to immediately have "a huge game staring you in the face as soon as you come in," says Jack Buser, director of PlayStation Home. http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/medium_playstation-home_hub.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/playstation-home_hub.jpg) "No longer will people come into Home and say 'I couldn't find anything to do,'" Buser promised during a preview of the new Home at this year's Game Developers Conference. The Home team want to "jam fun right in your face" (in the nicest way possible). Upon entering the Hub, Home visitors will instantly see games to play?a version of Lazy 8 Studios' Cogs has been the example provided in early previews, but Buser says Sony wants "fresh games all the time"?places to shop and activity boards, where players can learn about Home-based events and play mission-based quests. From the Hub, PS3 owners can also visit Home's new districts, each inspired by the Tomorrowland and Adventureland of Disney World, each loosely themed around video game genres. Home's Action District is geared toward the Call of Duty, Resistance and Killzone player, with an "urban feel reminiscent of a first-person shooter level" that "provides a direct travel point to action and horror games." Whether we'll actually be able to shoot our fellow Home visitors in the face, or just give them finger guns while dancing with them, remains to be seen. The Adventure District is more suited for the Tomb Raider and Uncharted fan, an area designed as a "lush island jungle with an air of mystery, hidden treasure and discovery." I got a peek at the Adventure District at this year's E3 and was impressed by its ancient architecture and detailed idols. It's one of the more intriguing areas, as it may be home to the most interesting quests and treasure hunts the new Home has to offer. (It was also previously rolled into the Action District, but Sony split the two after early feedback.) http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/medium_playstation-home_action01.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/playstation-home_action01.jpg) PlayStation Home director Jack Buser expects that PlayStation 3 owners will meet up, strategize and launch their games from districts like these, or at the very least socialize with like minded gamers. Two more districts are also planned. Home's Sportswalk is aimed at the virtual sports fan, designed with an "outside-the-stadium feel." Sony promises "major league sports scores, headlines and highlights, ample space for sports-themed games and provides direct travel points to sports-related games." And its Pier Park, a boardwalk populated with carnival games, rides and arcades, promises an "E for Everyone area." In addition to dividing Home into theme park-like zones, pushing more games on players (like Cogs) and making it simpler to move between the platform's virtual spaces, Sony is layering new MMO-like quests and "persistent, branching story lines" into its revamped virtual world. I had the opportunity to play some of these games at E3 2011, including one that instanced an alien invasion of Home. Seriously! That objective-based gameplay started with a warning message in Home's new Hub, detailing the invasion and informing me about my tasks. That lead to me playing a mini-game that put my Home avatar in control of a boat in a top-down arcade game. Taking control of a DualShock, I gobbled up barrels of fuel with my boat while avoiding the alien missiles that rained down upon my little watercraft. A related game put me in control of a gun turret, from which I shot down alien space ships and destroyed a city block-sized mothership. The games were simple but entertaining diversions. It was the promise of quests, daily challenges and ongoing story-driven missions?and the resulting rewards from completing those tasks?that seemed to hold the most promise for ramping up gaming in PlayStation Home. Add to that community-driven quests and the ability to unlock video game content from Home and the appeal of "gamifying" the PS3 social space starts to look much more appealing from a play perspective. http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/medium_playstation-home_pierpark01.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/playstation-home_pierpark01.jpg) Sony's push for PlayStation Home to be more than a digital space to chat, dance and play with other PS3 owners hits this fall. It says it also plans a "separate core client upgrade" that revamps of the underlying user experience in Home. "This update will deliver a more streamlined experience upon login with customized tracks for new, returning and regular PlayStation Home users, minimizing the time it takes for players to get into games," says the official announcement. If you're a fan of the current Home, one of the 23 million users who have creeped its virtual halls, say your goodbyes to the old experience. Buser says spaces like the existing plaza and theater will soon be extinct?"We're going to press the detonate button on that stuff," he said excitedly at GDC. Source: http://kotaku.com/5833437/sony-gives-playstation-home-a-massive-theme-park-makeover-with-mmo+like-gameplay-this-fallI've always wanted to be more active in Home, but found it took too long to load and the controls to be a bit wonky. Who knows, though? Maybe I'll give it another try. I also wanted to get an LBP2 party going in there once, but that fizzled out pretty quick... maybe the revamp will bring with it some new features that'll make it all worthwhile. What do you think of the changes coming to Playstation Home?

2011-08-23 13:05:00 Author: schm0 Posts: 1239

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They missed a trick with Home - there should have been the option for Home to be the default Boot-Up screen, instead of the X-bar - and made it much easier to launch games/enter game lobbies from within Home. Most of my friends have deleted their install of Home - as they found it totally useless. I will only occasionally visit it - when I know there's an event on like Gamescon or E3 - as it's quite good for getting that kind of footage. But where's all the stuff we were promised in the Beta? The abilty to put up pictures on our walls from our HDD? - A TV that plays videos stored on the HDD? - A stereo that plays music from the HDD? Right now, the reason why nobody uses Home is because it's essentially useless (unless you like the sub-par games that you can play there )

2011-08-23 13:10:00 Author: Macnme Posts: 1970

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Sound intriguing... I'll give home another shot whenever it comes to pass. Though are they rebooting everything... eh. I'll just wait for this, whenever it is to be

2011-08-23 13:10:00 Author: RockSauron Posts: 10882

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Right now, the reason why nobody uses Home is because it's essentially useless (unless you like the sub-par games that you can play there If you spent more time in Home you would actually find that there are fun games. The whole idea of Home in the beginning wasn't to shove games down your throat, it was supposed to be a hangout for friends.

2011-08-23 13:44:00 Author: tanrockstan34 Posts: 1076

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If you spent more time in Home you would actually find that there are fun games. The whole idea of Home in the beginning wasn't to shove games down your throat, it was supposed to be a hangout for friends. So is the pub. But at the pub, I can play pool with them as well. And if they cheat while playing pool at the pub, I can actually punch them, rather than having to load up Street Fighter, punch them, and then quit. So it's better in every way to go to the pub.

2011-08-24 01:47:00 Author: Unknown User

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It's about time. Before ever playing Home, I had high hopes for it being a Sims-esque game. Hopefully with this addition they can find some way to make our characters have more meaning and give Home more of a gamer's feel.

2011-08-24 02:06:00 Author: WoodburyRaider Posts: 1651

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But why? If you want to play a game, play a game. If you want to socialise, go outside. Home is pointless.

2011-08-24 02:08:00 Author: Unknown User

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But why? If you want to play a game, play a game. If you want to socialise, go outside. Home is pointless. That's why I'm hoping it develops into something more as I'm fairly certain I've been on there twice the past two years.

2011-08-24 02:11:00 Author: WoodburyRaider Posts: 1651

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That's the reason me & my mates don't meet up in home - when we fire up the playstation, it's normally to PLAY A GAME - rather than talk crap with virtual strangers. (that's what lbpcentral is for!)

2011-08-24 13:48:00 Author: Macnme Posts: 1970

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If you want to play a game, play a game. If you want to socialise, go outside. Eww, going outside.

2011-08-24 14:28:00 Author: Ayneh Posts: 2454

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The only point I would bring up about the whole "going out to the pub" argument is that it's a lot cheaper to do when the friends you wish to hang out with are local. Most of my online friends are from all over the world, and as such a virtual location cuts down on the costs of international travel quite a bit. In all seriousness, though, of course you shouldn't make Home your, uh, HOME. It's a diversion, like any other online community can be. We're all here reading this post right now, aren't we? One thing I like about Home that I was able to back in LBP1 is to randomly meet up with strangers and play LBP1 without having to friend them. You can do this in LBP as well, but it was kinda neat to go into a virtual lobby, see who wanted to play which games, put in the disc and start playing. The one thing about Home I don't like is that certain features, such as voice chat, don't really work. Other features are hard to find or are buried in context menus. Also, the load times were horrendous, and most of the time the areas I travelled in were filled with "invisibles" with names over their heads. And if there was a video streaming? Forget about it. Watch 2 seconds, stall... 2 more seconds... stall. Unless you have a fast internet connection, Home was mostly broken. Of course, Home is free and all of my gripes fall under the whole "It's still just a Beta" label so I suppose I can't complain too much. Hopefully some of those glaring errors can be addressed in the update.

2011-08-24 14:39:00 Author: schm0 Posts: 1239

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Home isn't 'still' Beta is it? How long has it been out now? 2 years+? Pull your finger out Sony!

2011-08-24 15:41:00 Author: Macnme Posts: 1970

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But why? If you want to play a game, play a game. If you want to socialise, go outside. Home is pointless. And so is Facebook, Google+, and every social networking site in the world if we're basing this off of your logic. The point is, Home is like a social networking site for gamers; you meet people around the world and play games together to have fun. Socializing in real life is still important, but Home is for those who want to meet new friends that aren't local. Now... who wants to go to a pub and play pool?

2011-08-26 05:05:00 Author: CyberSora Posts: 5551

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And so is Facebook, Google+, and every social networking site in the world if we're basing this off of your logic. The point is, Home is like a social networking site for gamers; you meet people around the world and play games together to have fun. Socializing in real life is still important, but Home is for those who want to meet new friends that aren't local. Now... who wants to go to a pub and play pool? nobody, because the sun hurts my eyes

2011-08-26 05:14:00 Author: nunsmasher Posts: 247

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Home is actually a lot different then it used to be. I know a lot of people that have complaints are people that have gotten on a couple times and never revisited. But things are always changing in Home. I remember when it took forever to get places in Home, but they have greatly improved load times and it sounds like they will be improving that even more with this revamp. There are also some pretty fun games in Home. I mean, right now the whole Central Plaza has been turned into a Dead Island area where you can play solo or with friends to kill the undead through various waves of zombies. I encourage people who have checked it out months or even a year or two ago to try it out once again when the revamp happens, or even now. I think you will see a great improvement since you last spent time in Home. I would hope that people don't use Home as there only form of socialization, as the real world is awesome. But as others have said, it is a nice way to hang out with PSN friends that you could not really do otherwise. Some people develop friendships online that go beyond Co-op in a video game and Home offers a place for them to hang out without worrying about killstreaks at the same time.

2011-08-26 06:15:00 Author: Spider-Jew Posts: 1090

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Last time I went Home was with Dekay to watch the Sony Gamescom stream. We had lots of fun bullying around everyone Though we so missed the punch option to strike everyone dancing without music or reason. I hope that a brawl function will be implemented in the new features.

2011-08-26 09:18:00 Author: OmegaSlayer Posts: 5112

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I only tried Home once, and i found it pretty pointless. Uninstalled it. - The Load Times are Atrocious, it really kills it for me. - I don't remember now, but you had to pay for furniture, that's just retarded. - You can't customize your apartment. If they don't fix the Load Times, it'll be useless.

2011-08-26 10:05:00 Author: Flame Dragon Posts: 312

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Load times have gotten better... maybe it's your connection. I do admit that many things are overpriced but they're always giving out free stuff.

2011-08-26 14:35:00 Author: tanrockstan34 Posts: 1076

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I would hope that people don't use Home as there only form of socialization, as the real world is awesome. The real world is what made this in the first place, so it better be awesome! Load times have gotten better... maybe it's your connection. I do admit that many things are overpriced but they're always giving out free stuff. Free stuff...you mean lousy virtual t-shirts with logos from games no one has heard of? I'm not saying that don't give out free stuff, but the overpricing is ridiculous and makes me laugh at anyone who even considers buying that junk. Well, that's my opinion on Playstation Hut (which is what it should be called after looking at my appliance-less standard apartment).

2011-08-26 16:59:00 Author: WoodburyRaider Posts: 1651

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