Official Sony E3 press conference thread

[liolio]

I don't want to hinder Sony efforts but on the "second life / home " front, I wouldn't be surprised if new google application (depending on how it's accessible) will be "the" tough encounter and manage to grab a lot more attention than Sony best efforts.

 

[assen]

Probably not mentioned because it will have no impact on the next 2 years.

Of course it will - in the form of influencing other publishers' decision on target platforms, and buying decisions of gamers.

 

[Carl B]

Of course it will - in the form of influencing other publishers' decision on target platforms, and buying decisions of gamers.

I'm not sure why publishers would be influenced at all; the same thinking that has S-E releasing the game multiplatform is the same thinking that guides them all. I'm not sure how this singular event changes anything for any of them.

As for gamers, some will indeed be effected, but it's a very specific subset.

Anyway as the months roll by we can track the NPD numbers, and should we see marked shifts, then to try and discern what caused them, rather maybe than trying to call in advance the extent to which we think certain news items will change them. I think FFXIII is a massive sound-bite/news piece as far as the daily console wars of the Internet are concerned, but on selling hardware it's still an unknown the level to which it will be detrimental to Sony.

That said, on the topic of Edge, they should have mentioned it.

 

[catisfit]

Of course it will - in the form of influencing other publishers' decision on target platforms, and buying decisions of gamers.

Really?

I can't see publishers making business decisions based on whether Final Fantasy XIII is exclusive or crossplatform, any more than making them based on what they had for breakfast.

The only gamers to be influenced are FF fans who haven't bought a next-gen console yet, will be buying one for FFXIII, and don't care enough about Fabula Nova Crystallis to want Versus XIII. So not a lot really

Great news for current 360/non PS3 gamers though.

 

[Carl B]

... and don't care enough about Fabula Nova Crystallis to want Versus XIII...

Careful with the Versus talk; no guarantee it'll be exclusive when (if?) it actually releases.

 

[-tkf-]

I don't want to hinder Sony efforts but on the "second life / home " front, I wouldn't be surprised if new google application (depending on how it's accessible) will be "the" tough encounter and manage to grab a lot more attention than Sony best efforts.

A new google application?

 

[liolio]

A new google application?

Yes I heard that google is about to launch its own "second life/3D world"

 

[Xalion]

my friend is in the beta and i'm able to log in once a week or so (he is on vacation though so i haven't logged in since the 28th of june.

Just so you know, that is a violation of his terms of service. So is mentioning you are in the home beta - which is why for the past year I haven't done so. I've struggled a bit with wanting to answer your comment at all. In the end though, I decided that a counter opinion of someone who has more experience was needed here. I would suggest that the mods delete such comments as they would be a violation of Sony's ToS anyway and generally have little merit, but I can see that from their point of view such small leaks are harmless enough.

Home has not had frequent crashes and long loading times for some time now. It takes a while only the first time you move to areas, so if you only visit once every now and again between updates I can see how you would think that. After that the areas are cached and loading times are fairly low. The number of crashes is also been reduced to a small number. As a matter of fact, Sony could have probably released home about 6 months ago and it would have been viewed as having only the normal bugs that an online service has. Home has undergone frequent updates, but that is far more a function of Sony listening to the feedback beta testers give on the forums and trying to tune the system to match that feedback. That will stop once a full public trial begins.

The big problem with home right now is content. The game launching system needed work and everything else there was just a glorified chat room - that no one used to chat with. The stores with clothes and such were cool for about 5 minutes, then got a bit old. I do like the online conferences and such, but really there wasn't enough draw for people to be in home. Those have been the major focuses of fixes. I would still like to see a few things fixed, but in general the beta right now is not all that far from release in my opinion.

I've tried to avoid specifics because I take the agreement I made with Sony on the matter pretty seriously - and think I have avoided anything that would be a gross violation. But Home right now could be released either in a couple of weeks or another year. It all depends on how much time Sony wants to spend focusing on the suggestions of the beta testers.

 

[patsu]

Just so you know, that is a violation of his terms of service. So is mentioning you are in the home beta - which is why for the past year I haven't done so.

In that case, they should blank out the Home beta application name... coz most of the time I log in to PSN now, I see who's using it.

I don't want to hinder Sony efforts but on the "second life / home " front, I wouldn't be surprised if new google application (depending on how it's accessible) will be "the" tough encounter and manage to grab a lot more attention than Sony best efforts.

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1190443&postcount=214

It is imperative for Google Lively to succeed. Playstation Home offers more gamer specific features. The crowd is all gamers. Once people like the general virtual world experience, they will also embrace Home, assuming it's a good implementation.

 

[Xalion]

In that case, they should blank out the Home beta application name... coz most of the time I log in to PSN now, I see who's using it.

It is a little frustrating for those of us in the beta. You have to remember that Sony can release whatever information they want. That doesn't however mean they didn't make us promise to release any information whatsoever. For example, they have released several screen shots of in home places. I know you know what they look like and their basic function, but if I were to do the same thing it would cost my my place in the beta. It is a double standard, but it is a double standard every beta tester agreed too.

 

[Carl B]

It's not a double standard, it's just their place to control the release of information. Home Beta NDA is light stuff compared to the restrictions developers place themselves under.

 

[patsu]

Xalion, it's in their interest to control information flow tightly. They have to manage user expectation, prevent idea copying, verify info accuracy and keep surprises under-wrap for maximum PR effects.

EDIT:
Life with Playstation on video...
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/tag/life-with-playstation/

 

[-tkf-]

my friend is in the beta and i'm able to log in once a week or so (he is on vacation though so i haven't logged in since the 28th of june.

That doesnt sound good, at least it explains why it´s taking them so long

 

[patsu]

Doesn't sound too bad: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1190673&postcount=248
His comments are similar to what I learned from others. They seem relatively happy with it. Understandably, there are still room for improvement.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This is 'dangerous' talk. There is no way of verifying anyone's comments, nor validating anyone's opinions, which turns any comments into potential rumour mongery etc. That is, what's to stop some random person making claims that they've tried 'Project X' and 'Project X was a pile of poo', leaving everyone else guessing whether they are or not? As Xalion rightly points out, no-one should be leaking any info. If you are round your friends house experiencing Home, your friend is in violation of the ToC - no Beta tester experiences should be being leaked at all...at least if people were to adhere to their contracts!

Regardless, discussion of the current state of Home isn't going to do this thread any favours, so should stop here, with a couple of unconfirmed insiders claiming Home is both a reasonable product and an unstable mess, and the public being none the wiser.

 

[eastmen]

This is 'dangerous' talk. There is no way of verifying anyone's comments, nor validating anyone's opinions, which turns any comments into potential rumour mongery etc. That is, what's to stop some random person making claims that they've tried 'Project X' and 'Project X was a pile of poo', leaving everyone else guessing whether they are or not? As Xalion rightly points out, no-one should be leaking any info. If you are round your friends house experiencing Home, your friend is in violation of the ToC - no Beta tester experiences should be being leaked at all...at least if people were to adhere to their contracts!

Regardless, discussion of the current state of Home isn't going to do this thread any favours, so should stop here, with a couple of unconfirmed insiders claiming Home is both a reasonable product and an unstable mess, and the public being none the wiser.

I think home is great. It plays well but its not perfect and isn't ready for release. It still crasshes and freeezes. yes not as much as 6 months ago , but it still does . Yes there is also alot of content missing or not yet ready.

thats what happens when you try to make the biggest online thing out of the whole group and you were already late in starting it .


but I will drop the talk of Home and it being ready sony itself has only talked about a public beta test later this year anyway

 

[patsu]

As Shifty mentioned, the discussion is moot.

For one, the information cannot be verified. In addition, none of us are the authority on Home. 2.40 bricked some systems but they could fix it in 1 week. No one here can say how long those remaining problems can be fixed.

As for content build up, they have started months or a year ago... based on Kaz's comment. If the beta users don't even know about 2D Home, then regretably I don't think any conclusion can be drawn from your limited exposure.

 

[Vic]

patsu

1) Home beta may be avalible , but avatars will be a full serivce offered to everyone in the fall , that is a huge diffrence

2) Not sure but my friend is in closed beta and I was on it the last week of june at his house.

3)There is alot of stuff to still work out , which is why i don't see it launching before next year and the public beta will (as it is now ) turn alot of people off because of load times and crashes .

4) Yes xbl has a multi year head start , but that isn't xbl's fault or gamers faults . The point isn't that hte xbl enhnacments aren't out or are out , its that ms has constantly delievered on the online experiance and sony hasn't. MS says it will be avalible in the fall and it will be . thats what 3-5 months after its first announced. Home was announced how long ago and we still aren't given a release date ?

5) gamer tags did not exist before xbl . At least not a name that carried over from game to game and allowed you to be acessible by people on other gmaes while you were playing a diffrent game . That is an ms thing with xbox and no one can take it away from them.

You say avatars is inspired by mii and home , however mii's and home were inspired by xbox live and by mmorpgs and second life . the question is which of these do we want .

Mii's are great but there is barely any pressence outside of first party apps and the online system is horrid . Home is interesting and seems to offer a really good second life experiance but its very complex for most . Avatars is a middle ground .

Who knows which of the 3 is the best way to go , mabye all 3 will end up suckin hard in the long run and next gen we all go back to gamertags only .

Avatars looks so basic that its hard to even compare with Home. Regardless of who copied who, virtually everyone thats seen Avatars considers it Mii-lite.

As for the public beta, there are still months to work on fixes for load times and crashes. Bit early to be panicking IMO.

 

[AzBat]

Hadn't seen this posted yet. Jack Tretton's full E3 roundtable report from Gamasutra.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19447

Tommy McClain

 

[BadTB25]

Avatars looks so basic that its hard to even compare with Home. Regardless of who copied who, virtually everyone thats seen Avatars considers it Mii-lite.

I think the avatars are more detailed than the simple shape of the Miis and wouldn't consider a Mii-lite. I think it is also possible that they'll allow unlockable/downloadable clothes and accessories for the avatars. You can see some of it on the Dashboard preview vids.

The latest interview on 1up suggest that this is a Rare initiated product, but maybe open to other companies to make additional avatars. Out of the things announced for the new interphase, this is the least exciting.