PS Home will be available today

[titanzguard]

Did not see a recent post about this but was watching G4 last night and saw it scroll across the screen that Sony officially announced that Home will be available Dec 11 2008.

Was surfing the PS forums this morning and looks to be true. I guess it will be available tonight when the PS Store updates.

[Nebagram]

I'll be getting it, but I was left distinctly underwhelmed by the beta. This could be largely because I never got into the Sims-esque games and I'm usually an offline gamer anyway, but looking around the Home square seeing people going (and I am not making this up) 'omg its a girl' kinda had me losing all control of my digestive system.

That said though, I look at this and I sigh when thinking how this could've been applied to Animal Crossing...

[Tempest]

looking around the Home square seeing people going (and I am not making this up) 'omg its a girl'

At least they THINK it's a girl. Won't they be surprised... :eek:

I can remember back in my FF XI days that more than half of the 'girls' I met were actually guys. Heck I had a female character just for fun but I had to stop using her because it started getting creepy when people started telling me things like "You're the first girl I've really liked" or "So are you single IRL?". Sooo creepy...

Tempest

[jcalder8]

At least they THINK it's a girl. Won't they be surprised... :eek:
This is what I think is sad about the reaction of people on there.
Anyone can make a female character!

I wasn't too excited about Home beta but I think there are some cool ideas, I want to start a DP club and hopefully get a bunch of retro arcade machines in there, but I need to see how much that's going to cost.

[Leo_A]

Whats available for arcade machines?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I found the beta to be very fun and much more of a "social" experience than anything that can be found on any other system outside of chatting in a pre-game lobby for a specific online game.

I really enjoyed the bowling alley/pool hall/arcade area ... having grown up frequenting REAL arcades/bowling alleys/pool halls, I was immediately familiar with the feeling of having to wait to play a game. I can see how that could be frustrating to some ... but to me it was a brilliant flash of nostalgia through design.

Though, admittedly the last round of the beta was extremely gimped (more-so than previous incarnations of the Beta from what long-time beta users I've met in the service explained) ... and that feeling of "not much to do" both in private spaces as well as public ones will hopefully be alleviated by this update.

The article on the official Playstation blog detailing the update shows a lot more spaces to travel in, items to interact with, games to play, and things to buy/wear/personalize.

From what I understand, the cost of owning a "club" space is around $10. If no other DP member wants to front that I'll be more than willing to pony up.

See you all there!

[jcalder8]

From what I understand, the cost of owning a "club" space is around $10. If no other DP member wants to front that I'll be more than willing to pony up.

I'm willing to spend that, even up to 20 but since it's from Sony I was afraid it was going to be closer to 50

[Clownzilla]

From what I read Sony is going to release a portable system dedicated to the PS Home application. They are calling it the Homeboy.

[titanzguard]

I would be more than willing to pitch it 10 bucks. Although I am a bit of a newb, I still play a ton of PS3 and would be interested in playing with other members.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I would be more than willing to pitch it 10 bucks. Although I am a bit of a newb, I still play a ton of PS3 and would be interested in playing with other members.

From how I understand the process (we did some club starting/joining in the beta) once just ONE of us starts a clubhouse, all that will need to be done is to send out invites.

It's not $10 to join or anything like that.

I wonder if the club will have a member cap/limit.

[otaku]

I'll have to DL this thanks for the heads up

[refan]

I will hop on as soon as I hear that it won't crash my system.

[s1lence]

Well, any reports on it?

[Hitman Tyler]

ITS LIVE!!! It's 77MB to download. It can be found for download in the XMB under Playstation Network. The actual size is approx 3.08 GB! I was like OMG! this is huge, looks like I might need a new hard driver sooner than I thought.
EDIT: Read on www.us.playstation.com so it is available!

UPDATE:
Keep getting a time out error,log in error,etc apparently other people have this too. I did a google search. There is even talk about it being hacked already. LOL Which is causing the errors.

[SkiDragon]

I just installed it and it is hanging on a screen where it is accessing the hard drive, after it just told me to not turn off the power if the hard drive is being accessed.

[We Are Ninja]

I gave it a go, but couldn't get into it... I don't see myself spending a whole lot of time there.

[jcalder8]

I just created DigitalPress(all one word)
Make sure you come and check it out.

[refan]

Home is Pretty Sweet

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The servers were VERY VERY busy with downloads/installs/logins around the 6-9 PM Eastern hours.

I had some trouble getting in.

It's much better now. I'm not too crazy about the new central area, but at least it has a game to play with now.

I especially dig the "Uncharted: Sully's Bar" are and the "Mercenary Madness" arcade game found within.

In the bar area I managed to get into one of the "secret doors" (the top right which leads to Nathan Drake's Artifact Room) ... but was unsuccessful in getting in to the top left or downstairs doors. Anybody manage those?

[gepeto]

The servers were VERY VERY busy with downloads/installs/logins around the 6-9 hours.

I had some trouble getting in.

It's much better now. I'm not too crazy about the new central area, but at least it has a game to play with now.

I especially dig the "Uncharted: Sully's Bar" are and the "Mercenary Madness" arcade game found within.

In the bar area I managed to get into one of the "secret doors" (the top right which leads to Nathan Drake's Artifact Room) ... but was unsuccessful in getting in to the top left or downstairs doors. Anybody manage those?


I thought I was the only one that experienced outrageously long download times with sony. Alot of people I talk to claim 1 gig downloads in 20 minutes. For me 1 gig can take 4 hrs and that is the ps3 hardwired,

How about the people here?

[RPG_Fanatic]

I thought I was the only one that experienced outrageously long download times with sony. Alot of people I talk to claim 1 gig downloads in 20 minutes. For me 1 gig can take 4 hrs and that is the ps3 hardwired,

How about the people here?

Mine took about 20 minutes.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I thought I was the only one that experienced outrageously long download times with sony. Alot of people I talk to claim 1 gig downloads in 20 minutes. For me 1 gig can take 4 hrs and that is the ps3 hardwired,

How about the people here?

That might be an issue with your home network.

I used to have 2-3 hour downloads on the PSN until I replaced what I discovered to be a faulty router.

Now I can do the 1 Gig downloads in about 20 minutes as well.

[gepeto]

But here is the thing the 360 1 gig comes down in 20 minutes. I never had a long 360 download. There stuff seems to zip. The pc downloads zip only the ps3.

[Darren870]

My updates and dowloads would always hang and then freeze. I had to shut off the my network drive option. I forget the exact menu but it was basically scanning my home network. I think its the last option in the internet connection option.

Network Settings > Media Download thing > Shut it off.

[jcalder8]

Personally I've found that my PS3 downloads faster than my 360 or PC

[jcalder8]

In the bar area I managed to get into one of the "secret doors" (the top right which leads to Nathan Drake's Artifact Room) ... but was unsuccessful in getting in to the top left or downstairs doors. Anybody manage those?
Taken from the PS3 Home Forums:
First door downstairs:1024
Second door downstairs:1577383
Right door upstairs:24312
Left door upstairs: 41675

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Taken from the PS3 Home Forums:
First door downstairs:1024
Second door downstairs:1577383
Right door upstairs:24312
Left door upstairs: 41675


Haha, I figured out the right door by listening to the "morse code" beacon sitting on the table!!

[Chainclaw]

Played around with this for a while last night. Playstation Home is perhaps the worst thing ever to be put onto a game console. It's like Google's crappy Lively service they recently shut down, but somehow even worse.

[R.Sakai]

I'm not sure where people are seeing this immediate 1gig download, mine was like 300meg for the install, then the areas are like 25-35meg a piece. It seems really small for something with this much detail.

The Bigger deal is if you have both a Japanese account and an American one, They install separately, and have much different areas.

I tossed a club request at DigitalPress as well.

You know, I've been waiting for this one for a while, and it's better than I expected. When you can get in, it's pretty quick to link around through the ages.

I really wish people would go buy a damn headset, seriously. I had a mic on my dreamcast. You can use any ol' 7-11 crappy bluetooth headset on the thing, c'mon.

But, I have to say, there's something about staying up until 4 in the morning playing playing pool, kicking peoples assess while looking like solid snake.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Home is some polarizing stuff for sure. Some people are loving it and others can't stand the fact that it even exists.

I'm finding it to be some really awesome social/zen time between actual games on the PS3.

I've met other very cool PS3 users that are now on my friends list that would have NEVER made it on there previously.

Can't wait till they start selling things like pool tables and arcade machines for use in private spaces and/or club-houses.

Hell, I can't wait till they freaking add PICURE FRAMES.

[Hitman Tyler]

I played for 8+ hours total so far. The 1st time I played I played pool, and I WON! I was nervous due to I had to sink the 8 ball and he had 2 balls left, and boom he sunk both. Then it was down to me and him, I was nervous on every shot he made trying to sink the 8 ball. In the end something told to hit the ball of an angle and BOOM! I did and WON!.
So far I say Home is excellent.

[geneshifter]

From what I've seen from friends, HOME is an abomination of the highest order. I cannot believe this is the result of 2 years of development effort. I just cannot believe it.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

It's fascinating to me that the people who hate Home the most are ones that have spent the least amount of time with the software. (Or none at all.)

[exit]

I'm kind of neutral with Home, I don't really care that it exists, but I don't mind that it does. I spent maybe an hour or two on it and talked with one of my friends and found it to be pretty pleasant. The only downfall is that I can't find my bluetooth and I don't have a keyboard for my PS3, so I had a hell of a time talking to my friend and talking shit to the idiots that failed at being annoying.

My only gripe is that the character creator isn't as deep as it could be and the accessories they give you to start with are pretty lacking in the variety department. I messed with it for a few minutes and I ended up looking like a Mexican, needless to say there were a few racist comments about it, one being someone asking to see my Green Card.

[kupomogli]

I messed with it for a few minutes and I ended up looking like a Mexican, needless to say there were a few racist comments about it, one being someone asking to see my Green Card.

I wouldn't say something like that, but it is pretty funny.

Anyways, I a friend of mine said I haven't got on my PS3 in around 30 something days. I was over at his house a different day and it was 97 at one time before I got on. I just don't like the next gen consoles that much and prefer the much better handheld consoles. It does look like the PS3 is picking up though, and the 360 isn't that bad regardless.

I'll try home since it's free and I really don't have many friends on the PSN, but that's because I don't add many people on there because I really don't know them. The only people who attempt to add me also are people who suck in comparison to me, and I'm more interested in competition, but then again, I guess you could say I suck in comparison to other people so why would they add me if you use my logic?

[Neil Koch]

I just created DigitalPress(all one word)
Make sure you come and check it out.

I'm sure it's a dumb question, but how do I join?

Home seems like it could be decent, but the public rooms are a total clusterfuck right now.

[heybtbm]

Shamelessly stolen from Penny Arcade...


The Beta for Playstation home is now available to everyone, and now you know what I know: this is what happens when your marketing department tries to make a game. Here is everything you need to understand about Home, if you should accidentally launch it from your XMB: press and hold the Playstation button in the center of your Dual-Shock or Sixaxis controller. From the menu that appears, select Quit.

There are things about Home that are simply beyond my understanding. Chief among these bizarre maneuvers is the idea that, when manufacturing their flimsy dystopia, they actually ported the pernicious notion of scarcity from our world into their digital one. This is like having the ability to shape being from non-being at the subatomic level, and the first thing you decide to make is AIDS.

If you approach an arcade machine and there is a person standing in front of it, you will not be able to play it. Likewise, if you see people bowling and think that bowling is something you might like to do, you probably won't be able to. Unable to play arcade games like Ice Breakers and Carriage Return the first several times we logged on, these games had begun to take on an epic stature in our minds. These were gushing fonts of liquid fun, habit-forming and dangerous - for the good of our virtual society, the supply had to be controlled. When we were finally able to play them, we learned that they were the equivalent of browser games.

There is nothing about the experience of using Home to suggest that you are actually moving through a single, contiguous environment. It is very clearly a handful of walled off zones, where you are confronted by incessant load screens in a desperate search for stimulation. From the moment you enter one of their ultrahygenic "amusement regions," it's clear that all life has been burned away. You get the sense that this is a place in which no interesting thing could ever happen.

There is already a growing school of Home apologetics, fostered by the same Order of Perpetual Masochism that lauded the rumble-free Sixaxis at launch and suggested, hilariously, that Lair and Heavenly Sword were videogames. They're under the impression that because something is free, this places it on some golden dais beyond censure. It's no virtue to give away something that no-one in their right mind would buy. Sony has no idea what this world is for, and that ambiguity infuses every simulated millimeter of it.

This is the terrible secret that roils beneath their false universe: it is nothing more than a cumbersome menu, a rampart over which you must hoist yourself to accomplish the most basic tasks.

(CW)TB out.

[swlovinist]

I tried it out for a couple of hours, and I have think that it is the right direction for the PS3. It is not perfect, but for a FREE(the basic exploring) thing that is unique to the system, its not horrible. I like the bowling alley and mall to buy stuff, not to mention just the idea of chating with random people. I do wish that Sony would go would have more success with online connectivity with people if they packed in a crappy voice headset like MS has. Texting is a drag with the controller, and few people have forked out the extra dough to get one. There was alot of lag, but hey...alot of people are checking it out and overloading the servers. I thought the character creating was pretty nifty, and very detailed. I look forward to seeing what else they do with it. In my opinion...not too bad.

[jcalder8]

To join the DigitalPress club:
Press start to bring up your PDA thingy
Scroll down to Clubs
Press X
Scroll down to Search Clubs
Press X on Name
Type in DigitalPress and then press Start
Scroll down to Start Search and press X
Scroll down to DigitalPress(all one word) and press X
Scroll down to Apply and press X

It's just that easy

I hope we get at least a few more members.

[nintendoeats]

question...why do I have to download echochrome to play it in the arcades? I already own it, can't they just add a couple meg mod or something?

also, who the hell would pay 50 cents for a piece of digital furniture? I can see somewhere between 1 and 10 cents, but not 50 plus tax.

Also, why is it saying that our club doesn't exist? rrrrrrrrrgh.

[Nebagram]

Also, why is it saying that our club doesn't exist? rrrrrrrrrgh.

If I had to guess I'd say clubs are locked to a specific region... which would suck if true. I tried to give it another go last night but banged my head on a few server errors so decided in the end not to bother- will give it another crack today but really I still can't see me becoming too enamoured.

[nintendoeats]

Being in Canada at the moment I was concerned that region-encoding might be the issue. Talk about a useless social-networking service.

[Darren870]

I played it for about maybe 3 hrs last night. At first I was like oh this is pretty cool. Though on hour 3 I got bored.

Its really funny when you see a girl in the game and there are like 15-20 people surrounding her all typing "whats up babe?" I've already seen girls running away screaming "leave me alone!!"

Oh and I tried to start a man train around the fountain. I got a line of like 15 people going but then there was like no one else left outside.. I'm thinking there are like 10 diff servers because it didn't seem like there was that many people in the "home" world..

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Shamelessly stolen from Penny Arcade...

The comic more succinctly states their anti-Home POV.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2008/20081212.jpg

The Penny Arcade guys are so great that even though I disagree with their position, I still laugh at how they say it.

[jcalder8]

Someone could have mentioned there was already a DP club before I put down the money. I'll try and disband mine since SolC already started one.

[Melf]

Also, why is it saying that our club doesn't exist? rrrrrrrrrgh.

because clubs are now $4.99 plus monthly fees since the beta went public. Old clubs were deleted.

[BHvrd]

Someone could have mentioned there was already a DP club before I put down the money. I'll try and disband mine since SolC already started one.

Sorry I haven't been online to post on the boards, but yeah I got Digital Press registered. I'll be holding the club till or if Joe wants to claim it which at that point we can schedule a time for me to delete and he can create I imagine as only sub-leader can be set (kinda a pain), they may update that though, who knows. If he wants to that is, I just figured I would nab the name to keep it safe.

So I guess send all requests to (Digital Press) instead of (DigitalPress), or whatever. I had the best intentions in mind and never meant to upset anyone. Two clubs may be needed anyway in case clubs only take X amount of members, so maybe just keep it.

[Chainclaw]

They charge you to make clubs? Playstation Home is even more BS than I thought.

I'm surprised they don't charge you a quarter to play those crappy arcade games.

I'm also curious why it took them so long to get Playstation Home to its current state.

For the amount of content in the game, outside of the character editor, any competent game development studio could have generated the current amount of content available with less than a dozen artists and 3 months.

There were free 3D virtual chat programs in the late '90s with more content and functionality than Playstation Home.

I really like my Playstation 3, but the fact that Home exists the way it does just pisses me off.

[nintendoeats]

Ok, having spent some time with home now I can safely say that...it kinda blows...I mean, what is so interesting about walking around with peoples avatars? If I wanted to hang out with boring lifeless people I would go outside.

[robotriot]

I was able to try it on Friday and found it really boring. I don't know why I should use such a program. And besides, it doesn't work anymore for me since yesterday, I'm always getting the message that the server connection was reset. Great.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

So.

I have a question for anybody/everybody in the "it's boring" camp.

What about any of the past 2 years of press, promos, videos, or descriptions of the service made you think that a non-game, Second Life style social software app was going to be a "NOT boring" or "exciting" experience.

Were you hoping that Sony would throw chainsaw guns in at the last minute?

I think that there are some seriously misplaced expectations regarding the whole CONCEPT of the project.

Nobody joins Second Life for a visceral gaming experience and nobody is going to be inclined to sit on the edge of their seat with excitement while running around the Home central lobby. Any type of anger/disgust over Home not being those things is like being furiously angry that Super Mario Galaxy isn't a very good College Football Game.

I've been following the project closely since the beginning ... and what it was/was going to be was always clear to me, so I'm curious where some of the more angry and/or furiously disappointed POVs are coming from. What did you EXPECT Home to be?

[scooterb23]

so I'm curious where some of the more angry and/or furiously disappointed POVs are coming from. What did you EXPECT Home to be?

A really stupid idea that Sony surely would abandon before releasing it upon the public?

[Hitman Tyler]

I find it FUN! Maybe that is because I beat everyone is pool, I play with. I mean one game LOL the guy started it off and the 1st ball to go in was the 8 Ball making me the winner.
He said "WTF", then ran away.
One thing I do hate is when a guy sees a girl, almost 10 men flock to her. I don't do this due to I look at it as its most likely a guy.

I wish in their you could get like a job, and pay for your furniture. This I guess kinda explains why the PlayStation Network Cards are now out. I swear I though furniture was free, but was I wrong.

This is so far the only problem I have.

[Poofta!]

i still cant get it to work... get some kind of error (cant remember now, but something like request not exist.) i'll try again later today.

[Chainclaw]

So.

I have a question for anybody/everybody in the "it's boring" camp.

What about any of the past 2 years of press, promos, videos, or descriptions of the service made you think that a non-game, Second Life style social software app was going to be a "NOT boring" or "exciting" experience.

Were you hoping that Sony would throw chainsaw guns in at the last minute?

I think that there are some seriously misplaced expectations regarding the whole CONCEPT of the project.

Nobody joins Second Life for a visceral gaming experience and nobody is going to be inclined to sit on the edge of their seat with excitement while running around the Home central lobby. Any type of anger/disgust over Home not being those things is like being furiously angry that Super Mario Galaxy isn't a very good College Football Game.

I've been following the project closely since the beginning ... and what it was/was going to be was always clear to me, so I'm curious where some of the more angry and/or furiously disappointed POVs are coming from. What did you EXPECT Home to be?

I figured there would be some amount of content in the game. What they delivered feels like a college project.

I was expecting to be able to walk around with loading only when skipping to zones with the start button, and when entering private areas.

I was expecting some more content in Home. A few more areas to wander around to start with. I know it will probably get there eventually, but they have been working on this how many years?

I was expecting a fair amount of free items available in the mall and other areas, and the pay for content would actually be interesting and tempting to buy. Not slightly different chairs from what I already had. I've played plenty of free to play online games that subsist off of pay for content, and they've completely missed the formula here.

I was expecting a stopgap form of currency, like a lot of other online experiences offer, so you can earn in-game money through various other means, and can pay with cash to jump ahead.

I was expecting to be able to jump into the Home games without waiting in line.

I was not expecting much out of the games they offer, but the billiards is one of the worst I've ever played, the arcade games feel like crappy flash games from the late '90s, and I didn't even get to try bowling.

They've been hyping this service for years, so I expected some amount of content within it. Each of the areas in the game would take a single background artist at most 3 months to create.

Home is worse than Google's Lively service right now, and look what is happening to that.

[FxMercenary]

I managed to unlock everything, beat all the games, get all the clothing, buy a summer house, and buy a club house.

I decorated all of it with the bought furniture, the arcade game trophies ( ice breaker penguin, echochrome table, thinking man, squares ) so i am done. I got everything that there is, and now im waiting for more...

The amount of content released after 2 years of being in the works it VERY little.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I figured there would be some amount of content in the game. What they delivered feels like a college project.

That's a harsh estimation of the quality of what's been delivered. College projects are what we're seeing on the XBLA Community Games section.


I was expecting to be able to walk around with loading only when skipping to zones with the start button, and when entering private areas.

Um ... have you actually played with the service? That's exactly how it works. The only mid loading of data is texture maps and audio/video on screens.


I was expecting some more content in Home. A few more areas to wander around to start with. I know it will probably get there eventually, but they have been working on this how many years?

The service has been in a CONSTANT state of revision for the entire time that it was being developed. There's never been anything like this on a console before so they're looking to please the users who are spending the most amount of time in the service and providing the most amount of feedback on the service. While it's obviously not meeting your expectations ... if you don't participate and provide your furious disapproval of the project directly to Sony, I wouldn't expect it to change in the near future.


I was expecting a fair amount of free items available in the mall and other areas, and the pay for content would actually be interesting and tempting to buy. Not slightly different chairs from what I already had. I've played plenty of free to play online games that subsist off of pay for content, and they've completely missed the formula here.

There were a fair amount of free items in the earliest incarnations of the beta from what I've come to understand, and in the last round, right before the open beta launch, there was lots of free loot to be grabbed. What's for sale now was ALL available for free if you were there and paying attention. I'm not going to fault Sony for selling items. It was always understood that items would be sold in the service, and to support the free model of the service I see no reason to have a problem with that.


I was expecting a stopgap form of currency, like a lot of other online experiences offer, so you can earn in-game money through various other means, and can pay with cash to jump ahead.

Home isn't a game. There's no "jumping ahead" or "goal". This is where your expectations are really beginning to get in the way of your feelings about the service ... and there ARE free items to be gained via in-service achievements. Score high enough on the arcade machines and you gain new clothing items.


I was expecting to be able to jump into the Home games without waiting in line.

This is an aesthetic designed to not only emulate "real life" arcade gaming, but promote social activity. Somebody playing the Echochrome cabinet when you walk up to it? This is what happens in real life. Either wait your turn or walk around, you never know maybe you'll wind up meeting your future husband/wife.


I was not expecting much out of the games they offer, but the billiards is one of the worst I've ever played, the arcade games feel like crappy flash games from the late '90s, and I didn't even get to try bowling.

Mileage may vary. I think the pool and bowling games are fun. Yes, the cue physics are sort of "locked down" ... but once you play a few games and get a feel for it, it's certainly no worse than the pool game in GTA4. At least this one doesn't automatically set you up for the perfect shot on every turn. Maybe you'll like the bowling game more if you get a chance to try it ... but based on your expectations for everything else, I doubt that.


They've been hyping this service for years, so I expected some amount of content within it. Each of the areas in the game would take a single background artist at most 3 months to create.

I think "hyping" is a bit strong. I've been very interested in it for years and have followed it very closely ... and there was a period of near-SILENCE for about a year after the first beta invites. At best I'd say they've been DISCUSSING it for years. And again, it's been in constant state of flux ... so while it's been around for years in beta form, it's not like they've just been building on the original idea, they've revised and re-started areas from scratch a few times. It hasn't been two or three years of forward momentum.


Home is worse than Google's Lively service right now, and look what is happening to that.

Lively is competing with Second Life and other social avatar services. The internet is a vastly different arena for these types of things. Home is competing with NXE "parties" and ..... Mii Parades. While I think both of those things are "neat", neither are in the same class as Home on a home console.

All that aside. I'm not trying to convince you to change your opinion. The service is obviously NOT for everybody, and it's far from "mandatory". If you don't like it, you are totally entitled to your opinions. I was just curious where those opinions/expectations were coming from. Thanks for sharing.

[Poofta!]

i got it to work, and i have to say its fun yet very underwhelming after so much hype and 2 year life cycle. i did expect more. hell i mean there almost nothing in the form of customaization of clothing etc.

its fun, i'll play around with it, but as far as im concerned, its little more than a digital chat room meant to syphon money outta my pocket.

rating?
by itself: B
after the hype: D

[roushimsx]

I can't stand the horrific, awfully designed and limited character creation tools nor can I stomach the resulting travesties that people have developed. Waiting for characters to pop in when you move to a new zone is annoying and trying to engage in any conversations is a chore.

Going to play with it a bit more before I write it off, but if this is what social gaming is all about, then I'll just go back to my parents' basement and poop in a sock. It's a hell of a lot more engaging than this.

[nintendoeats]

Now join the sock poopers group on Facebook!

[djbeatmongrel]

Frankie, relax.

[neuropolitique]

Leave Home alone! You don't know what it's like to be Home! The Pressure! Leave Home alone! Bastards!

[Drifter 2000]

Call me old fashioned but I buy video game consoles to play video games, not to spend more of my real money buying virtual furniture and clothing for an avatar that does nothing for me in return except for earn me praise from other people in the virtual world.

I want to save the virtual princess from the virtual dragon. Not spend my time dressing up my virtual self. If I wanted that I wouldn't spend $500 on a PS3...I'd go out and buy some Barbies, a digital camera, and start a blog.

(Virtual...>_>)

Kudos to Sony for trying something a bit different. Not my cup of tea though.

[Nebagram]

I can't stand the horrific, awfully designed and limited character creation tools nor can I stomach the resulting travesties that people have developed.

I actually read that as 'resulting transvestites'. The sad thing is, both descriptions are accurate.

[TonyTheTiger]

One thing I do hate is when a guy sees a girl, almost 10 men flock to her. I don't do this due to I look at it as its most likely a guy.

Speaking from experience watching two of my PS3-owning male friends, this is a very sound assumption. After I got done making fun of them I begged either one to invite people to "her" room and then once they're there get on the mic and watch the ensuing hilarity.

[MegaDrive20XX]

It was fantastic, it was like playing GTA without the killing, except everyone kept shouting the "N" word randomly and screaming stupid catch phrases like "Gears of War is better than MGS4".

Bottom Line: Cluster Fuck

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Frankie, relax.

No need to tell me to relax. I'm not upset.

Just having a conversation.

I'm not the one spouting rhetoric like "Home is an abomination!"

I'm not even angry that people quote-unquote "hate" it.

I'm just curious as to how a free, social app can cause such anger, confusion and frustration in the masses.

Those are the people who need to relax.

No need to get your panties in a twist because you don't like a free app.

Srsly.

[Half Japanese]

I had no expectations for Home and was never really excited about it. I did give it a try when they invited me to the beta for it and didn't think the experience was anything I'd want to sink any sort of time into.

I just think it feels lame, or should I say it makes me feel lame. I don't download game videos on the PSN or XBLM, so sitting around watching the same one loop in an auditorium with my fellow gamers doesn't interest me in the least. I think it's sad and awkward to see some inept drunk guy hitting on women at a bar, and I think it's doubly sad and awkward to see the experience play out in a virtual world. It feels like the same sort of experience chat rooms once provided in the early days of the internet becoming mainstream. The arcade machines are alright I guess, but who really wants to wait on them in a virtual world?

It doesn't piss me off that other people enjoy it, but on the other hand, I can't help but feel the time, money and effort might have been better spent elsewhere.

[geneshifter]

I had no expectations for Home and was never really excited about it. I did give it a try when they invited me to the beta for it and didn't think the experience was anything I'd want to sink any sort of time into.

I just think it feels lame, or should I say it makes me feel lame. I don't download game videos on the PSN or XBLM, so sitting around watching the same one loop in an auditorium with my fellow gamers doesn't interest me in the least. I think it's sad and awkward to see some inept drunk guy hitting on women at a bar, asd I think it's doubly sad and awkward to see the experience play out in a virtual world. It feels like the same sort of experience chat rooms once provided in the early days of the internet becoming mainstream. The arcade machines are alright I guess, but who really wants to wait on them in a virtual world?

It doesn't piss me off that other people enjoy it, but on the other hand, I can't help but feel the time, money and effort might have been better spent elsewhere.

This is exactly how I and many others feel about it. Thanks for posting this.

I seriously wish Sony would have concentrated on getting more exclusive titles to the system. Instead they wasted time, money and effort on this. Very strange the direction they are taking with the system.

[TonyTheTiger]

I don't think there's that kind of exclusivity as far as resources go. I highly doubt that developing one feature somehow interfered with other plans. I don't think there would be any more effort or success in any other area had Home never been devised.

[Chainclaw]

Another thing that bothers me is, unless it wasn't working for me, you can't watch people bowl / play the arcade games / shoot pool. I would not mind "hanging out" on a service like this if you could watch people play games. Especially if they integrated in things like the "quarter mode" they had in Street Fighter 2 on the 360, let people form a group around a machine and play winner stays in.

The reason they purchasable content bothers me so much is what they offer is crap. It's just slightly different chairs and a cowboy hat.

What I want to see out of the purchasable content is what they are doing with Sackboy costumes for Little Big Planet. Interesting things that aren't just Ikea looking crap, and offer one decent item for free along side the 3 or 4 pay items a week. It's enough to get me to enter the Playstation Store every Thursday, to see what's out.

This service bothers me so much because it's obvious that it was almost entirely designed by marketing people. There is so many ways a 3D virtual world like this could be interesting, and instead we get a series of 3D arenas offering very little to do in them, plastered with billboards.

I think if Home were actually really well done, it could have offered something new and different over the other two platforms. I will say it still beats most of the NXE.

[BHvrd]

Well you guys just shoot an invite request to (Digital Press) and come check it out. Pretty much everything available is on display there. Even a glitch ;), just read bulletin board.

It will be cool once you can play your own movies and music and i'll be focusing on that as well and providing decent content to keep it lively as possible. I plan on doing the DP name justice to best of my ability till like I said Joe decides Home is worthy enough or not to take part in.

The environment is cool and so far everything in the clubhouse has been free, minus the clubhouse which was $5. Course I was in closed beta so I got all mall items free of charge prior to open beta.

It would be nice if you could play games while sitting in chairs. Competing for high scores is also something I hope they focus on and have some kind of leaderboard feature that is club members only that will either be accessed via the virtual game machines or/and be able to be posted on boards in the clubhouse space and possibly have contests. I like the Namco arcade cabs, it's a step in the right direction, if not quite perfected yet.

I'm liking it, seriously it's the most fun virtual environment to date imo and if done right it could turn out to be the place to hang your hat so to say.