Sony Home - The official thread*

[patsu]

Heh, this is similar to what I hoped Playstation Home would implement:
http://worldsinmotion.biz/2010/09/s...aign=Feed:+WorldsInMotion+(WorldsInMotion.biz)

Sony Online Entertainment has launched a new Treasure Trader app on Facebook for its popular free-to-play MMO Free Realms, allowing players to gift or steal virtual items.

In the Treasure Trader application, players are given a virtual inventory, and they can either choose to give an item to a friend or steal an item from one of their friends.

Users who receive a virtual item or have had an item from their inventory stolen must answer a Free Realms-related trivia question within 24 hours. If they answer correctly, they get to keep or save the item.

I supposed Home could gather the trophies we earned and allow us to bet with them as we party up for Home mini-games or game launching. May be even exchange for other items.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

http://boardsus.playstation.com/t5/...dated-a-man-on-playstation-home/td-p/46030021



[Shakes fist at heaven]

"Where is the justice in thiiiisssss ?!"

The internet - where men are women, women are supermodels and kids are FBI agents.

 

[Need 2 Know]

got another email about another BETA for HOME, tbh dont have a clue what this one is about but ill get back with any new stuff

first test is this Weds 22nd Sep then Wed 6th Oct

 

[patsu]

There has been a rumor about a Home 2.0 beta for some time now. Don't want to build up unrealistic expectation. It seems that they are already swarmed with the current workload.

 

[Arwin]

I would at least assume that we'd get some Move support in Home before Christmas ...

 

[patsu]

If they do, they should let us control our avatar's hands using the motion controllers. And may be facial expression recognition too !

 

[Arwin]

If they do, they should let us control our avatar's hands using the motion controllers. And may be facial expression recognition too !

Those things would definitely be cool. The big question though is how flexible the current avatars are. We know they can do custom animations that can be added to them from within a custom space, so that's hopeful at least, but the Xbox Live avatars for instance had to get a whole new revision before they could handle the Kinect stuff.

 

[patsu]

Kinect uses the GPU to process camera data. I think they have to make sure everything is setup properly so that Dashboard and other common modules don't step on the Kinect GPU code.

From Sony's perspective, the other possible Home enhancement is stereoscopic 3D.

 

[-tkf-]

Kinect uses the GPU to process camera data. I think they have to make sure everything is setup properly so that Dashboard and other common modules don't step on the Kinect GPU code.

From Sony's perspective, the other possible Home enhancement is stereoscopic 3D.

2.0? Streaming and seamless spaces thanks !

 

[patsu]

Yeah, that would be good.

I realized it may not make sense to add stereoscopic 3D to Home unless they force all Home developers to support both 2D and 3D presentation. Would be a hassle to take off and put on glasses when you enter different spaces and games.

 

[Rotmm]

...but the Xbox Live avatars for instance had to get a whole new revision before they could handle the Kinect stuff.

No they didn't. There is a change to proportions of the avatars used in game with Kinect (smaller head, slightly longer body) to aid 'bonding' with the player, but the old-style avatars can "handle" Kinect, as has been seen in dozens of videos since Natal was first announced.

 

[Arwin]

No they didn't. There is a change to proportions of the avatars used in game with Kinect (smaller head, slightly longer body) to aid 'bonding' with the player, but the old-style avatars can "handle" Kinect, as has been seen in dozens of videos since Natal was first announced.

*googles* Alright, but I did remember correctly that they were changed for Kinect. Whether the cause is that the animation system couldn't support it or that the dimenions of the avatar weren't Kinect-user friendly, my point is that those in Home may also have limitations ... :

"The resign was initiated because of concerns that the cartoon style proportions made hand-to-eye coordination more difficult when playing Kinect games. This was found not to be a hardware problem, but one of player perception."

Apparently, it was particularly hand-eye coordination that proved an issue with the current dimensions and super deformed heads.

 

[patsu]

They will change the Dashboard for Kinect. Avatar proportion change is to match Kinect's full body tracking better.

 

[patsu]

Developers of Xi reveal new Home space:

 

[patsu]

Let's see what happens when/if MS bought SecondLife:
http://www.develop-online.net/news/36003/Microsoft-targets-Second-Life-studio-buyout-report

Microsoft is at the centre of fresh speculation linking to a potential buyout of Second Life creator Linden Lab.
News reports are claiming that the Xbox 360 owner made an offer for Linden Lab this week, following various tip-offs from various Twitter accounts.

Good luck, Sony and the Home team.

 

[Toaddio]

Let's see what happens when/if MS bought SecondLife:
http://www.develop-online.net/news/36003/Microsoft-targets-Second-Life-studio-buyout-report

Good luck, Sony and the Home team.

I suppose at the least it would be vindication for Sony.

 

[patsu]

It depends. One of the key ideas behind Home is user generated content. Something like SecondLife embraces it. They have an economy and sophisticated end user tools for making SL items and living quarters. It is also accessible from PCs and Macs over the Internet. You have new contents frequently populated by the users (Notice that 3DS tries to offer a new experience everyday. They "get it").

Home inherited the weight of 3D world but very little of the real drivers behind a community. It is a loose collection of content with limited audience. It is further restricted by the hassle to enter the Home world. Even if 3D world takes off, it is very likely to be left behind by the competition and the users. Unless the Home team changes direction, Sony has a different and rigid path for Home.

EDIT: They can also use it to counter LBP franchise.

 

[patsu]

Another PS Home PR article… "Inside PlayStation Home With Cade Peterson":
http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=11982

With over 60 spaces, 100 minigames, and 14 million users, no one can debate Home’s success, regardless of their level of interest. With these kinds of numbers, Cade and the rest of the team believe they’ve moved past the stage of a social gaming network, and are now establishing it as a platform for gaming.

Those numbers are meaningless. They represent work done, but do not measure user satisfaction. How many in 14 million users use Home actively ?

Not sure about Home moving past the stage of a social gaming network. FaceBook's social gaming has hundreds of millions of registered users. PS Home is limited by PS3's footprint. It is further constricted by additional hassle in entering and using Home.

It is good that Home is profitable due to the high margin. But where exactly is Home heading ? The 14 million registered users have been reported in June. It was 12 millions in May. So no growth from July to October ? Any increase in active users ? There should be proportionally more users, or even a hockey stick growth.

Perhaps the poster child for Home as a platform is Sodium One. A futuristic vehicle shooter which looks like a cross between Wipeout and Twisted Metal, this offering provides incentive to gamers who think Home is just for dancing with avatars and waiting for videos to buffer.

Sodium One is indeed a solid shooter in Home. I was and am impressed. However, most of the mini-games in Home are not so great. These games are also scattered, requires tedious effort to get in. To go from Game A to Game B in XMB, I only need to press the dpad a few times. I can navigate to a game within 2 seconds. To get from Game A to Game B in Home, I need to bring up the virtual PSP, choose the space, enter space, then walk to Game B (may be 1 minute total ?). Now if I want to go from Game B to Game C, I have to repeat the whole process. Not to mention, selecting a game in a crowded space is tedious/unreliable. I have to press X to bring up the selection dialog, then left/right arrow to cycle to the game icon. The UI is not scalable.

The default avatars lack art direction.

All in all, PS Home is supported by enthusiastic gamers who are bored. It is one huge missed opportunity.

With Home still in open beta, it makes one wonder what the team is waiting for until there is an official release

Don't use "beta" as an excuse. Accept the less than satisfactory growth, and solve the fundamental problems. There are many web communities that stagnate. Small "success" may be a curse. Given the captured audience, Home is under performing. Honeymoon is long over.

 

[patsu]

Posting this here because Home wants to be a mini-MMO (or a network of mini-MMOs):
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...growing-tired-of-the-monotony-in-chinese-mmos

"We believe that the Chinese market has taken up SNS (social networking site) gaming in earnest, and that the hard-core gamers have shifted their preferences to include these games alongside the casual gamers who naturally appreciate them, " Niko Partners' Lisa Cosmas Hanson told GamesIndustry.biz.

"The hardcore gamers are growing weary of the monotony of themes in the Chinese MMORPGs, and they want to extend their social interactions to games that attract a more diverse user base. People want to play games that enable them to have something to bond over when chatting with schoolmates or colleagues at the water cooler. "

I suspect the behaviour is not specific to Chinese gamers.

 

[patsu]

http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/20...-for-new-project-may-be-looking-for-more.html

The rumor that Microsoft is bidding on troubled virtual world Second Life just got a bit more interesting. It turns out that Microsoft is the previously unnamed company that acquired Vivaty, a virtual world competing with Second Life that went out of business in April.

...

The acquisition was confirmed by Vivaty founder Keith McCurdy, in an email to paidContent.org. When Vivaty closed earlier this year, McCurdy said that the company acquiring Vivaty intended to use it as the foundation for an unnamed new project. Given the details that have just emerged, it seems like Microsoft is working on some sort of virtual world or possibly a game-like service with a persistent 3D world.

Vivaty did monetize through sales of virtual goods and its own virtual currency, VivaBux. Xbox Live sells both virtual goods and a broader range of digital content, but has users make all purchases using a virtual currency called Microsoft Points. Microsoft's competitor Sony has a virtual world for its PlayStation 3, Home, and reports virtual goods sales that are "quite profitable" despite pricing all items in real world denominations (which is generally believed to depress sales).

If all goes well, we should be able to see how much time Sony wasted fumbling around with Home. In my view, it should be relatively easy to surpass Playstation Home in terms of usability, active users and revenue -- especially when casuals are familiar with social network games these days. SOE is largely a non-action on PS3 so far anyway.

IMHO, the abstract 3D world is a powerful way to consolidate all the online services together seamlessly, including user created worlds and "real world" entities. It also has inherent network effects. Many previous efforts failed because they are not focused enough (experience is too geeky, art sucks), and they put the "3D world" cart in front of the "community building" horse. Would be interesting to see Microsoft's take on this. I believe the mixed 2D and 3D approach is the way to go because the environment can use the bests of both worlds to connect with the users.

EDIT: Building Home on top of Internet and Internet technologies was a good start though.