Free Realms (PS3, PC)

[patsu]

I agree wholeheartedly that the info bar is butt-ugly. Sony claimed many people use it, but I think it's because they don't know how to turn it off. People may click on it to try to find out how to turn it off.

For general notification, they are using the following ways:
* The Playstation Blog
* The Playstation newsletter
* Gaming sites and magazines
* Pulse and Qore (argh !)
* Word-of-mouth via forum
These should hit the hard core people pretty well.

For the casual crowd, I'm afraid they'd have to find other channels. Since it's free, I'd say just bundle it into every Vaio (Home model at least), or find co-marketing opportunities.

EDIT: I still think the best way is to play a video in the XMB background. The XMB is a TV interface. Playing changing marketing material in the background is like watching TV commercials (e.g., Home user activities, short blurbs from Christina and that Qore gal, etc.). It doesn't even have to be full screen.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Yes, I think they need something stylish on the XMB. But not intrusive. Maybe just a news icon in the XMB that while you're over, changes the background to some media news feed?

 

[patsu]

... plus the concept is compatible with PSP too. The new Media Go software should be able to handpick relevant material for the user. The SenseMe feature is supposed to understand our taste in music for a start.

 

[deepbrown]

The last I read, it will be a free PSN download:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/free-realms-to-launch-in-early-april



They don't know if there will be cross platform play either, I hope so.

they said it's possible

 

[Zassk]

Ok, this game is pretty awesome. I'll stick my neck out for flames and say what I was thinking when I played Free Realms:

This is what Home should have been.

This would have been a total game changer for the PS3 if it had been released early in the console cycle. It's cute, it's accessible, it's friendly. It would have gotten big press. Kids would have wanted it instead of a Wii.

 

[patsu]

Hmph, looks like I should take a look at this. It's time consuming to load right ? and it may be harder to switch between 2 full 3D games (Free Realm and whatever you want to play). Right now, I'm still thinking along the line of 2D and 2.5D Home (like Mainichi Isshyo). Home is definitely too sterile.

 

[Zassk]

No, it's not time consuming to load. It takes about 5 minutes total to create an account, accept the EULA, download the tiny client, and start it up. If you ever had an Everquest or SWG account in the distant past, you can use that to login, which speeds up the process by about 2 minutes. The world data is streamed and, on my 7.5 Mbit connection at least, gave no loading delays at all.

 

[obonicus]

Ok, this game is pretty awesome. I'll stick my neck out for flames and say what I was thinking when I played Free Realms:

This is what Home should have been.

This would have been a total game changer for the PS3 if it had been released early in the console cycle. It's cute, it's accessible, it's friendly. It would have gotten big press. Kids would have wanted it instead of a Wii.

Maybe we'll see something of the sort next-gen -- will a more fleshed-out Free Realms have a draw still, or will have kids moved onto the next big thing?

 

[patsu]

No, it's not time consuming to load. It takes about 5 minutes total to create an account, accept the EULA, download the tiny client, and start it up. If you ever had an Everquest or SWG account in the distant past, you can use that to login, which speeds up the process by about 2 minutes. The world data is streamed and, on my 7.5 Mbit connection at least, gave no loading delays at all.

Bah... need more details. Due to memory constraints, we'll probably need to throw out everything when launching the real game. And then stream everything back again when we exit from the game. From what you say, it sounds promising.

I'll load it up next week.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

On my slower connection, there are loading times of course, but still exploring the world feels really good.

I am also somewhat agreeing. If this was HOME, I would have been in there all the time maybe !

 

[Enzyme]

I've played this game for about an hour or two yesterday.
It's a very nice game. The only thing I didn't really like is that it takes a lot of HD space.
After those two hours, the total space taken up was around 800MB (which was a pain since the disk was full).

 

[patsu]

Hmm... Free Realm got a mentioned on USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-07-14-free-online-games_N.htm

They will hit 5 million registered users by end of this month.

Free Realms (freerealms.com; ages 10-up). Sony Online Entertainment's family-friendly, role-playing virtual world, which launched in April, will reach 5 million registered players by month's end. Explore a vast 3-D map of villages, snow-capped mountains, forests and a mysterious netherworld. Accept quests from characters, take on fun jobs (miner to ninja), fight hobgoblins, adopt pets and play mini-games — including a trading card mini-game with a real-world version in partnership with Topps. An optional premium account for $4.99 a month grants access to exclusive jobs, extra items and quests.

 

[Nesh]

Ok, this game is pretty awesome. I'll stick my neck out for flames and say what I was thinking when I played Free Realms:

This is what Home should have been.

This would have been a total game changer for the PS3 if it had been released early in the console cycle. It's cute, it's accessible, it's friendly. It would have gotten big press. Kids would have wanted it instead of a Wii.

Where did you download it from?

Is it available for the PS3?

 

[patsu]

http://www.freerealms.com/


PS3 version not out yet.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Finally tried it out. VERY kid friendly and kid oriented. It's cute and I'll probably keep it bookmarked for when nieces and nephews come over.

Didn't play it much but are there controls in game to control who they can talk to and whether chat is filtered or not?

Regards,
SB

 

[patsu]

Free Realms comic coming July 29, includes in-game bonuses

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/23/free-realms-comic-coming-july-29-includes-in-game-bonuses/

What's with all the anime and comics tie-in recently ?

DC Comics brand WildStorm and SOE are teaming up to publish a comic book series based on the popular online game. J.S. Lewis, the author of the Grey Griffins children's book series, will be penning the story.

...

The first issue, which drops July 29, includes the "Spider Bite Sword." We imagine the following 11 issues will include equally enticing armaments. If you are interested in the story, you can check out a brief preview of Issue no. 1 right here.

 

[DrJay24]

Wow, this game is pretty well done. It's like WoW for casual folks. My five year old made a girl char and I ran here through missions. The graphics look good at 1080P. They really need to release the PS3 version, the keyboard+mouse is a bit much for little kids.

 

[patsu]

SOE gave an update on Free Realm. They have indeed passed 5 mil registered users in August, albeit slightly slower than analysts projected: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/09/free-realms-tallies-5m-users-no-really.html

Looks like they are taking this project very seriously. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the young folks may switch services like adults changing nightclubs.

"Because kids' mind hare is so constantly inundated with new games, new things on TV, it's literally necessary to remind them [about the game] on a daily or weekly basis," Smedley says.

The competition for mindshare, which he is says is on the rise, is mostly other games.

Smedley updated some of the game's demographics, stating 67 percent of players are male and 33 percent are female. "We were shooting for more females, but that's way better than the MMO audience which is [typically only] 15 percent female," says Smedley. He added that Free Realms stats show females outpurchase males by a 30-40 percent margin, and that 51 percent of Free Realms gamers are under 13, with around 75 percent under 18.

 

[Arwin]

That's all fine and good, but where is the PS3 version?

 

[patsu]

The official word is "Still in development". No target release date announced yet.