The Next Great Video Game War
We're flush with excitement over the New Xbox Experience, with all its Avatars and Netflix streaming. So excited, in fact, that many of us seem to have temporarily forgotten that there's another community-based service with avatars (currently in beta) is looking to top the NXE -- PlayStation Home. Just as a reminder, here's a taste of what Home can still hold over the 360's new look.
A 3-D World
Sure, your NXE Avatar may be able to wobble his head and stand near friends when he's in a Party, but like a kid who's terrible at freeze tag, he's not going anywhere. To the contrary, Home provides a whole world to explore, provided you've got some time to kill. Plus, you get a swanky looking 3-D house that's way cooler and cleaner than your real-life den of dirt.
Game Spaces
The NXE may be able to plop your friends list on a Gears of War 2 backdrop, but only Home serves up fully explorable game spaces, including a Far Cry 2 area that's so real you can actually catch malaria. OK, not really. But you can pretend to down shots at the Uncharted bar, that's something, right?
Sitting
They may look happy, but your NXE Avatars are exhausted. Think about it, the poor little guys and gals never get to take a break. That won't happen in Home. No sir, you can sit all day, every day if you like. It's just like being a professional video game journalist!
Clubs
Despite our pleas to be able to organize into groups larger than eight, NXE still leaves us wanting. Luckily, Home fills the gap with clubs that can have up to 32 members and a persistent message board.
Load Time
Loading times not a plus you say? Not so, say we! When else are you going to balance your checkbook, make some cereal or call your grandma? (She'd love to hear from you, you know.) Luckily, after you install a new area (which could take up to a couple of minutes) most of the loading times while traveling from region to region is relatively snappy.
Detailed Avatars
Your NXE Avatar may resemble to you, but Home drives right past that and floors it into the Uncanny Valley, with way more detail in its avatars. Stretch and pull every aspect of your face from brows to chin until it's close enough to your mug to creep out loved (oir hated) ones.
In-Home Games
NXE may be a fine way to meet people and get a game of Halo 3 together, but Home will allow you and your friends to play games built right into the service, meaning none of that cumbersome disc swapping and friend inviting. We're partial to bowling ourselves, but we have a place in our heart for the scaled down version of echochrome in the arcade.
Talking With Strangers
You might have been warned against it when you were a tot, but chatting up your other Home neighbors is a great way to make friends or just a future MotorStorm racing buddy. How do you do it? It's simple: Just walk up to any avatar you can see, press R2 and yammer to your heart's content.
BBQ at Sony CEO Jack Tretton's Pad
As we learned during Sony's E3 2007 press conference, Sony's president and CEO is prone to throwing impromptu e-barbeques at his Home apartment with his buddy Kaz Hirai. We're not saying you're on the guest list, but Tretton wouldn't be caught dead doing it on the 360. Ya know, if you're into that sort of thing.
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