libellule on 13 December 2008
In summary : "it is uselss" from 3 editors on 4.
I m sure it was expected by most of us (at least from me)
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/938/938179p1.html
Home Impressions
It's out. No, we can't believe it either, but here's what we think of Sony's virtual space. by IGN PlayStation Team
US, December 12, 2008 - It's getting really cold here, which means it seems that Hell is probably freezing over. In fact that must be true because Home is finally out. Yes, Sony's virtual hangout city is finally upon us, having been unleashed to the masses this week. After being in beta testing for pretty much ever, it's now widely available to everyone. In beta form, that is.
So how is the public release? Has it lived up to the promise of being your one-stop place to chat about games, play mini-games and make new friends? Is there even anything to do? Here's what the IGN PlayStation Team has to say about the matter.
Chris' Take
If I had to describe Home in one word, it would be "boring". Yep, I'm bored to death with Home. I've only found two things that are entertaining for more than about 30 seconds: griefing and trying to enter the Matrix (read: break the game).
Other than screwing with people or trying to break out of the intended space of my apartment, I haven't found a single thing that keeps my interest for more than about a minute. The theater just shows the same videos over and over, and it's just stuff that I can find online in a much higher resolution. The games in the arcade cabinets aren't very good and are only worth checking out for a second - they're not entertaining enough to really sink any time into. Pool is about as basic as can be. The billiards game in GTAIV was quite a bit better than what you'll find here, and any number of free Flash pool games online are leaps and bounds better than it. Bowling is just OK, but it's certainly not enough for me to come home from work and say to myself, "I really feel like some Home bowling. That would be much more fun than Dead Space."
I understand that the point of these games is to help encourage people to talk while playing them, but that won't happen at an arcade machine unless you're waiting to play. And who is going to stand around to wait to play Carriage Return?
The problem here is that while the experience on the whole is supposed to be there to incite conversation, you only really exist while you're logged in. If you're not currently in Home, there's not an easy way for people to interact with you outside of sending you a message, which you can just do from the Cross Media Bar anyway.
What it really needs is some sort of messaging space where you can leave gifts for people, write on a whiteboard, put stickers on their apartment door, etc. It should act more like a college dorm, where people leave notes for each other and can decorate their doors, which other people can still check out if you're not home. As it is, if you're not currently logged on in Home, you don't really exist.
The problem here is that while the experience on the whole is supposed to be there to incite conversation, you only really exist while you're logged in. If you're not currently in Home, there's not an easy way for people to interact with you outside of sending you a message, which you can just do from the Cross Media Bar anyway.
What it really needs is some sort of messaging space where you can leave gifts for people, write on a whiteboard, put stickers on their apartment door, etc. It should act more like a college dorm, where people leave notes for each other and can decorate their doors, which other people can still check out if you're not home. As it is, if you're not currently logged on in Home, you don't really exist.
Really, if I felt like having conversations with people I don't know, I would much rather do it on a message board somewhere. At least you're then capable of stepping away for a bit and can come back to where you were and see what others were saying when you have time.
I know that a whole lot more stuff is coming, like the Red Bull flying game, which looks like it could be OK, but what's here now is, to be perfectly honest, a giant waste of time.
I know that a whole lot more stuff is coming, like the Red Bull flying game, which looks like it could be OK, but what's here now is, to be perfectly honest, a giant waste of time.
Greg's Take
After seeing PlayStation Home at GDC 2007 and the handful of events that followed through the months, I wasn't impressed. The social networking application seemed empty, limited, and bare. Why would people want to load a virtual world to find a friend to load another game and launch that title? Now, after a month or so in the beta and taking a few hours to fool with the final product, I can finally weigh in with an informed opinion.
PlayStation Home is dumb.
After seeing PlayStation Home at GDC 2007 and the handful of events that followed through the months, I wasn't impressed. The social networking application seemed empty, limited, and bare. Why would people want to load a virtual world to find a friend to load another game and launch that title? Now, after a month or so in the beta and taking a few hours to fool with the final product, I can finally weigh in with an informed opinion.
PlayStation Home is dumb.
Seriously -- as it stands now -- this is a waste of everyone's time. Whether it was watching a pixilated Twilight trailer in the theater while some kid said "Emo sucks" over and over or whether it was watching a dozen or so people just stand around the Far Cry 2 room without saying a word, Home has not made me feel like this was something the PlayStation audience needed. Things only get worse; when I went to the Uncharted room, I found a guy standing at the secret room keypad. See, only one person can access the keypad, and this guy had accessed the pad and then gone away, thus tying up the keypad for everyone else. He had effectively closed the area. Only one person can play an arcade machine (a machine that has to load), the billboard in Central Plaza is a still image and it's pixilated to hell, and there's one trailer and one music video tied into that trailer that play over and over.
As it stands, Home is an empty advertising arm that should be a disappointment to anyone who was looking forward to it. It takes forever for the textures of other characters to pop in, these rooms have nothing to do in them -- reading dossiers in the Far Cry locale and looking at artifacts in the Uncharted space don't do it for me -- and you're being nickel and dimed (49 cents for an origami dog, 99 cents for a chair, etc.) if you want to make your experience any different than everyone else's. If you want to wander around and meet new friends, not a lot of people have headsets or keyboards so communication is a slow and arduous process.
As it stands, Home is an empty advertising arm that should be a disappointment to anyone who was looking forward to it. It takes forever for the textures of other characters to pop in, these rooms have nothing to do in them -- reading dossiers in the Far Cry locale and looking at artifacts in the Uncharted space don't do it for me -- and you're being nickel and dimed (49 cents for an origami dog, 99 cents for a chair, etc.) if you want to make your experience any different than everyone else's. If you want to wander around and meet new friends, not a lot of people have headsets or keyboards so communication is a slow and arduous process.
What boggles the mind is that this took so long to come out considering how limited this application is. In the Mall, there are no picture frames for sale, one footstool, and the Stuff store has nothing in it. Was this the best foot to put forward? Why is the voice chat so echoy? Why was so much of Sony's time, money, and hype poured into this application while the PSP hungers for games and Trophies, the PlayStation 3 has no official Netflix or Hulu support, and the Xbox 360 is permeating the market with advertising? I realize that all of those occurrences aren't related to the same department, but they all could've benefited if the folks and money behind Home were redistributed in Sony's infrastructure.
Like all evolving online products, there's hope for Home, but I don't think there's a lot of it. If publishers just continue to pump out empty rooms that are just a new form of advertising, if the video quality remains crappy, if all people do is run around and scream, there's not going to be a large audience for this application. I know that there are going to be people who truly dig Home and make it a point to sign on and customize their apartment on a daily basis, but that's not going to be me. I'll keep messaging via the XMB and talking to people I like in games that I like.
Like all evolving online products, there's hope for Home, but I don't think there's a lot of it. If publishers just continue to pump out empty rooms that are just a new form of advertising, if the video quality remains crappy, if all people do is run around and scream, there's not going to be a large audience for this application. I know that there are going to be people who truly dig Home and make it a point to sign on and customize their apartment on a daily basis, but that's not going to be me. I'll keep messaging via the XMB and talking to people I like in games that I like.
Jeff's Take
I've said it since Home was announced, and I'll say it again: Home is perhaps one of the biggest mistakes that Sony has ever made. Plagued with bugs, delays and a significant lack of content, this is a gimmick, a boondoggle that was gambled on by Sony to drag users away to a virtual space that would hopefully compete with the popularity of the Nintendo Miis and the large amount of content delivered weekly to the Xbox Live Marketplace. But there are way too many issues with the service to make it worth anyone's time.
Let's start off with the fact that there's a significant dearth of content to be found within the virtual spaces. Go into the Far Cry 2 space, and you'll see absolutely nothing but the outside of the train station and the inside area, both of which don't particularly offer anything interesting to look at. The Uncharted space is somewhat more interesting because there are artifacts to look at and rooms that you can get into by punching in the right keypad combination. However, once you've entered these spaces, once again, there's very little to do – if you've played Uncharted, you've seen the footage projected on the video screen, and the interaction, minus sitting down and talking to people or the Pitfall inspired arcade cabinet, is truly unremarkable. Where are all the partnership spaces that were announced recently? Why isn't there more to find within this beta, which has been delayed numerous times and only seems to have been rushed out to prove that Home wasn't a pipe dream or vaporware? By the way, weren't we supposed to gain access to Trophy spaces within our apartments in Home? Guess that's waiting for a future update, right?
The same can be said for the amount of entertainment that can be found within the virtual world. Carriage Return? Ice Breaker? Seriously, are these the huge leaps in casual entertainment while you're waiting for your friends to join you? I'll admit, playing pool or bowling could be fun in brief spurts, but that's not nearly enough to keep you coming back for more, or maintain your interest. What's more, there are so few game stations that are open at any point in time that you'll find yourself standing around bored or, for the most part, watching people constantly doing the Running Man or the Robot. Honestly, this is pathetic, and not amusing in the slightest. It's quite telling that some of the most amusing fun that some of us on the team had was playing the downloadable Namco Museum demo which unlocked different equipment that we could outfit our avatars with. It's pretty sad when an external program provides more enjoyment than your service.
On top of that, the amount of video or even customizable items is sparse to non-existent. The closed beta had been going on for months, and for the most part, the theater continually showed a running loop of a SOCOM: Confrontation video. Now that the beta has been opened up, there's a looping video of Pulse, the Twilight trailer and a music video. That's all that could be mustered for the big launch? Really? Come on – talk about underwhelming. Then again, look at what's offered in the mall stores or the avatar customization, which is rather light as well. No beards and very few hairstyles or facial hair styles for men. Minimal items that are being offered within some stores, and the obvious "coming soon" storefront that is an obvious tease for a lack of deliverables; considering that players have to pay for almost everything they use to augment their avatar's appearance or their apartments (or home if you chose to purchase it), you'd expect, or at least demand, a wide selection. Instead, there's very little.
Another issue is that Home is filled with puerile, irrational and insipid dialogue. It's rather telling that while you're supposed to be thirteen or older to participate in Home, you get the kind of juvenile commentary that you'd expect on a playground or at a shopping mall. In one five minute period of wandering through the mall, the theater and the bowling alley, there were plenty of comments that would make you cringe or seemed inappropriate to some group. That, of course, was if you were using the keyboard or the DualShock to type – forget the censoring if you had a microphone. And God help you if you were a woman – the groups of guys that would congregate around a female character were almost like flocks of vultures looking for a meal. Whatever supposed moderation is designed to keep idiots like these in check is obviously nowhere to be found, much less enforced. Were I to want to engage in these kinds of meaningless discussions, insults or griefing flame wars, I'd either a) leap into an online game, where I could hear people continually claim that the other players were morons, b) go hang out in a real life shopping mall, or c) attend a function at a high school. The same kind of commentary could be found at any one of these locations.
Then again, look at some of the "clubs" that have been formed within Home now that the beta has been opened. So far, there's some for Al Qaeda and things that should be done to other people's mothers, amongst a myriad of other "charming" club names. I'm sure that this is the kind of community that we would want to have fostered for Sony's newest project; then again, considering the limited experience that's being offered within Home, I'm not entirely sure that the right kind of community will exist, because a large number of people will become disillusioned with it and promptly leave, never to return to the service, which isn't something that Sony could use right now for its experimental space.
Now, while I don't mind the contact with friends, and even found that it worked somewhat well when I was able to connect with people on my friends list, it's not like I couldn't do this before with the messaging system on the XMB. Therein lies one of the largest problems with Home, which is that it's basically a redundant experience. Had this come out before many of the XMB enhancements, like in-game XMB support or other elements, Home could've been one of those things that would facilitate game playing. As it stands, it's an extraneous step that is unnecessary to playing games on the PS3, which is where the attention, development time and money that was sunk in this project should have gone. I want Sony to succeed, but wasting energy into something that will take multiple months if not years to shore up the obvious inadequacies of this virtual existence is a foolhardy maneuver by the company. Thankfully, it's an optional procedure to gaming, watching movies, listening to music or any other function with the PS3, because there has to be much, much more within this service to make it even slightly interesting for me to want to return.
I've said it since Home was announced, and I'll say it again: Home is perhaps one of the biggest mistakes that Sony has ever made. Plagued with bugs, delays and a significant lack of content, this is a gimmick, a boondoggle that was gambled on by Sony to drag users away to a virtual space that would hopefully compete with the popularity of the Nintendo Miis and the large amount of content delivered weekly to the Xbox Live Marketplace. But there are way too many issues with the service to make it worth anyone's time.
Let's start off with the fact that there's a significant dearth of content to be found within the virtual spaces. Go into the Far Cry 2 space, and you'll see absolutely nothing but the outside of the train station and the inside area, both of which don't particularly offer anything interesting to look at. The Uncharted space is somewhat more interesting because there are artifacts to look at and rooms that you can get into by punching in the right keypad combination. However, once you've entered these spaces, once again, there's very little to do – if you've played Uncharted, you've seen the footage projected on the video screen, and the interaction, minus sitting down and talking to people or the Pitfall inspired arcade cabinet, is truly unremarkable. Where are all the partnership spaces that were announced recently? Why isn't there more to find within this beta, which has been delayed numerous times and only seems to have been rushed out to prove that Home wasn't a pipe dream or vaporware? By the way, weren't we supposed to gain access to Trophy spaces within our apartments in Home? Guess that's waiting for a future update, right?
On top of that, the amount of video or even customizable items is sparse to non-existent. The closed beta had been going on for months, and for the most part, the theater continually showed a running loop of a SOCOM: Confrontation video. Now that the beta has been opened up, there's a looping video of Pulse, the Twilight trailer and a music video. That's all that could be mustered for the big launch? Really? Come on – talk about underwhelming. Then again, look at what's offered in the mall stores or the avatar customization, which is rather light as well. No beards and very few hairstyles or facial hair styles for men. Minimal items that are being offered within some stores, and the obvious "coming soon" storefront that is an obvious tease for a lack of deliverables; considering that players have to pay for almost everything they use to augment their avatar's appearance or their apartments (or home if you chose to purchase it), you'd expect, or at least demand, a wide selection. Instead, there's very little.
Another issue is that Home is filled with puerile, irrational and insipid dialogue. It's rather telling that while you're supposed to be thirteen or older to participate in Home, you get the kind of juvenile commentary that you'd expect on a playground or at a shopping mall. In one five minute period of wandering through the mall, the theater and the bowling alley, there were plenty of comments that would make you cringe or seemed inappropriate to some group. That, of course, was if you were using the keyboard or the DualShock to type – forget the censoring if you had a microphone. And God help you if you were a woman – the groups of guys that would congregate around a female character were almost like flocks of vultures looking for a meal. Whatever supposed moderation is designed to keep idiots like these in check is obviously nowhere to be found, much less enforced. Were I to want to engage in these kinds of meaningless discussions, insults or griefing flame wars, I'd either a) leap into an online game, where I could hear people continually claim that the other players were morons, b) go hang out in a real life shopping mall, or c) attend a function at a high school. The same kind of commentary could be found at any one of these locations.
Now, while I don't mind the contact with friends, and even found that it worked somewhat well when I was able to connect with people on my friends list, it's not like I couldn't do this before with the messaging system on the XMB. Therein lies one of the largest problems with Home, which is that it's basically a redundant experience. Had this come out before many of the XMB enhancements, like in-game XMB support or other elements, Home could've been one of those things that would facilitate game playing. As it stands, it's an extraneous step that is unnecessary to playing games on the PS3, which is where the attention, development time and money that was sunk in this project should have gone. I want Sony to succeed, but wasting energy into something that will take multiple months if not years to shore up the obvious inadequacies of this virtual existence is a foolhardy maneuver by the company. Thankfully, it's an optional procedure to gaming, watching movies, listening to music or any other function with the PS3, because there has to be much, much more within this service to make it even slightly interesting for me to want to return.
Ryan's Take
I think it's safe to say that I'm the only editor in the IGN office that enjoys Home. Granted, my experience with the Beta has been limited, but what I've seen has pleased me -- at least mildly. I think we have to keep in mind, when considering Sony's virtual space software, that Home is indeed just that: an avenue for straight-forward social interaction dressed up in nice clothes. Furthermore, it has incredible potential for growth, if it's continually supported. I'm in full agreement with the general populace that Home should have hit the PlayStation Network a long, long time ago, but now that it's here I'm happy to see it.
And I think -- most importantly -- people need to be reminded that the majority of Home's content is free. When we analyze software like this, I think it's unfair to compare it to full MMOs and other social games that you not only purchase but then pay for on a monthly basis. When we hop online to hunt down a free flash game, we might play it for a while, enjoy it for the time being and then move on. Most of us would consider that to be a positive experience because it was free to play and -- although nowhere near as elaborate or expansive as an actual videogame -- provided us with entertainment. That's what Home is, but on a much larger scale. Sure, there's quite a bit of room for improvement, but most of what's there costs us nothing. So what's the harm in having fun with it?
Another reason that people have lashed out at Home is because they don't see a point. That's usually coming from the perspective of gamers that are "no-nonsense, all-action" types that want good gameplay without the frills. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but that's not the kind of gamer Home is providing service to. I've always been the type that loves virtual spaces, no matter how simple. I remember playing multiplayer matches in Duke Nukem 64 and, during one match, we found an isolated office building only accessible via a secret jet pack. Once up in the office, you can wander the building, drink out of a water fountain to regain your health and snipe people from the window. Was it almost completely pointless? In a sense, yes, but I had a blast getting there and goofing around with my friends. It was a virtual shelter. A place we could make up a story for and work into the greater narrative of our gameplay. We called it the Shinra Office.
Home is a piece of social software that won't appeal to a lot of people. But for gamers like me, it has tremendous promise. Creating your own avatar with a surprisingly impressive array of options, trying out clothes, customizing your own apartment (and potentially buying new places with your PSN funds) and having full text and voice support available is great. I love how there are arcade cabinets in the Bowling Alley that you can take turns playing on and I assume you can win specially themed clothes by snagging high scores (considering how there was a guy decked out in full Ice Breaker gear playing the game in front of me). I thought Listen@Home was a great idea, creating a dance floor at the Central Plaza and letting people vote on the music. It's simple activities like this that are perfect for just passing time and chatting with other PlayStation users.
When we were first booting up Home, another complaint was made about how you had to download all the different spaces as you went. Again, a totally fair issue to point out and -- when I first started up Home -- I expected to be frustrated by these issues. I was surprised to find, however, that you can background download everything as you run around and you only need to download a space once. Downloads only take thirty seconds or less and then you have access to that space permanently. That doesn't seem too troublesome to me.
And despite having a few technical limitations, there are a lot of subtle details in Home that deserve praise, like the stylish menu interface contained in a virtual PDA, or the flashy storefronts advertising different products. Sure, I'd like to see more items for sale and more store variety, but we're just getting started.
So Chris just invited me into his apartment and, upon entering it, I soon found myself trapped by a barricade of arcade cabinets. He's tricky like that. He and the rest of the PlayStation Team consider Home to be a waste of time, but it's these sorts of activities, done purely for the sake of doing them, that define the Home experience. There is no end goal or reward for playing Home. Sometimes, just enjoying a space and goofing around are infinitely more satisfying then playing Derivative Shooter 2 or God of Mindless Battle I. Why can't making a "trap" for people coming into your apartment be fun? Does it have to have a Game Over screen to validate its existence?
To summarize my thoughts: Home isn't for everyone. If you need a gaming experience that has a specific, preset purpose, this isn't for you. But if you like social networking programs and free stuff, Home is already looking like a great addition to Sony's online services.
I think it's safe to say that I'm the only editor in the IGN office that enjoys Home. Granted, my experience with the Beta has been limited, but what I've seen has pleased me -- at least mildly. I think we have to keep in mind, when considering Sony's virtual space software, that Home is indeed just that: an avenue for straight-forward social interaction dressed up in nice clothes. Furthermore, it has incredible potential for growth, if it's continually supported. I'm in full agreement with the general populace that Home should have hit the PlayStation Network a long, long time ago, but now that it's here I'm happy to see it.
And I think -- most importantly -- people need to be reminded that the majority of Home's content is free. When we analyze software like this, I think it's unfair to compare it to full MMOs and other social games that you not only purchase but then pay for on a monthly basis. When we hop online to hunt down a free flash game, we might play it for a while, enjoy it for the time being and then move on. Most of us would consider that to be a positive experience because it was free to play and -- although nowhere near as elaborate or expansive as an actual videogame -- provided us with entertainment. That's what Home is, but on a much larger scale. Sure, there's quite a bit of room for improvement, but most of what's there costs us nothing. So what's the harm in having fun with it?
Home is a piece of social software that won't appeal to a lot of people. But for gamers like me, it has tremendous promise. Creating your own avatar with a surprisingly impressive array of options, trying out clothes, customizing your own apartment (and potentially buying new places with your PSN funds) and having full text and voice support available is great. I love how there are arcade cabinets in the Bowling Alley that you can take turns playing on and I assume you can win specially themed clothes by snagging high scores (considering how there was a guy decked out in full Ice Breaker gear playing the game in front of me). I thought Listen@Home was a great idea, creating a dance floor at the Central Plaza and letting people vote on the music. It's simple activities like this that are perfect for just passing time and chatting with other PlayStation users.
When we were first booting up Home, another complaint was made about how you had to download all the different spaces as you went. Again, a totally fair issue to point out and -- when I first started up Home -- I expected to be frustrated by these issues. I was surprised to find, however, that you can background download everything as you run around and you only need to download a space once. Downloads only take thirty seconds or less and then you have access to that space permanently. That doesn't seem too troublesome to me.
And despite having a few technical limitations, there are a lot of subtle details in Home that deserve praise, like the stylish menu interface contained in a virtual PDA, or the flashy storefronts advertising different products. Sure, I'd like to see more items for sale and more store variety, but we're just getting started.
To summarize my thoughts: Home isn't for everyone. If you need a gaming experience that has a specific, preset purpose, this isn't for you. But if you like social networking programs and free stuff, Home is already looking like a great addition to Sony's online services.
==> do u think they can really improve to make worth the wait ???
(I know Home is free and that u can pay or not, but, like everything, it is time consuming, so do you think it is worth the time you will spend on it ???)
Time to Work !
