PS Home will be available today

[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.



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 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!