Sony Home - The official thread*

[tha_con]

Well, if it proves to be real, that is a huge improvement over home as it is now.

I'm honestly waiting for folks to get into this beta so we can start partying up in Home prior to R2 games. I'm trying to recruit for my Clan, but it seems GAF has taken all the talent, lol. I have a whopping two members! YES!

 

[obonicus]

What's clubhouse? As to the PSP, if this is true, I sorta hope it still shows people holding the PSP when using the menu. It was cute.

 

[Asher]

So when will I finally be able to test this out? Any firm dates yet?

For all the time they're taking it'd better be gorgeous and slick as hell.

 

[patsu]

What's clubhouse?

It's a persistent room with up to 32 users (at the same time ?). In comparison, personal apartments are only available when the owners are online.

According to the document, Clubhouse also supports the notion of membership. The basic Clubhouse has a simple bulletin board for the leader/subleader to leave messages. They will add more features later on.

EDIT: I think it is a big mistake for clubhouses to accept leader/subleader messages only. Every member should be allowed to post, or leave voice messages.

So when will I finally be able to test this out? Any firm dates yet?

For all the time they're taking it'd better be gorgeous and slick as hell.

No official dates yet. The leaked document mentioned this Thursday for 1.0 closed beta.

The meat is under-the-hood (64 concurrent players with assorted streaming media from server and online gaming). The look is as seen in previous Sony events, but apparently the UI has been refined a little.

Not sure how extensive the customization will be. The closed beta really doesn't offer a lot of options. The open beta may or may not.

 

[patsu]

Without a focus, Google Lively is going down the toilet: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/20...shut-down-service-at-the-end-of-the-year.html

Good thing Sony refocused Home for online gaming. However, since the underlying infrastructure supports XML game launching, most of the 14 million PSN users may not need to go Home to enjoy party gaming. Would be interesting to see how Sony and PS3 owners choose to partition the service.

Personally, I look forward to clubhouse expansions, social game lobbies (with text chat !), and simplified abstract/2D interfaces to make Home more attractive to gamers at large. OTOH, the virtual world interface seem to stick with some people immediately (Well... until they use it heavily, that is). A colleague saw Playstation Home 2 weeks ago and declared that it might push him to buy a PS3 finally for Blu-ray (He'd been procastinating his Blu-ray player purchase).

Don't know what to make of it yet. His siblings and relatives already bought 3 sets of Wii, but they are all too afraid to hook Wii up to the net because of bad PC experiences. He is a techie (an experienced release engineer) and a big Unreal Tournament fan. Yet he seems to be very eager to try Home (Strange !).

Will see if he ends up buying anything this Christmas.


EDIT: Also just received an email from Sony. They are closing down "Playstation Underground". Essentially, all Playstation.com sites will use the Playstation Network ID for single sign-on.

EDIT 2: Ah, more info on the official blog: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/11/19/playstationcom-continues-to-evolve/

In addition, we are making enhancements to the gamer profile features. Your profile will include your PSN online ID, your avatar, and a short “about me” section. You’ll also be able to display your friends list and, on the game detail pages, you’ll be able to include ratings and reviews for all of your favorite games. These features were created so that you can make new friends, learn new tricks and tips, talk trash, offer advice, console the defeated, praise the winners, and more.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Wow. Google sucks at advertising their services. I didn't think Lively was even out yet.

 

[tirminyl]

Good thing Sony refocused Home for online gaming. However, since the underlying infrastructure supports XML game launching, most of the 14 million PSN users may not need to go Home to enjoy party gaming. Would be interesting to see how Sony and PS3 owners choose to partition the service.

I remember Phil talking about a XMB version of Home that will give users the basic gaming features if they don't want to enter Home. This has never really been shown but I believe using XML for alot of the features allows it to be really flexible so give me my XMB Clubhouse!

I look forward to the added users and upcoming features.

 

[patsu]

Bah... XMB Clubhouse sounds limited (although it'd be very quick to access, which is a big plus). Home's worst enemy might be speed. It's too hefty and sluggish for not enough value at the moment.

I'd love it if they roll PSP Ad Hoc Party feature into the Home lobby and game launching service somehow.

EDIT: Home 1.0 has been released to closed beta testers: http://asia.playstation.com/hk/promo/home_closebeta/eng/eventinfo/important_update.html

 

[tha_con]

From what I hear, the servers still aren't up, just the patch, correct?

I don't know, Club House sounds really awesome to me. For something like GAF, or a big B3D clan, it may be limited, but for something more intimate, say, a small and personal clan, it is perfect. I have a small clan in R2 (Project Abraham) and the Club House sounds awesome. Honestly, promoting members to officers in the clan, and giving them a dedicated Club House would work just as well as one larger room. Separate factions and what not.

Also, most games do not support more than 32 players at a time, let alone parties that large, so I think 32 players isn't a bad number at all, for 'normal' players. I can see why GAF would be upset, since the typical GAF clan is huge, but it'll be awesome to set up your own little clan and have your own Club House for clan members to meet up and lounge waiting for someone to game with. It seems more intimate than the huge mess that GAF clans typically end up to be (not to mention they generally dwindle in size within months).

 

[tirminyl]

Bah... XMB Clubhouse sounds limited (although it'd be very quick to access, which is a big plus). Home's worst enemy might be speed. It's too hefty and sluggish for not enough value at the moment.

Limited but it will allow you to have a Club (clan) list at least where you can quickly tag certain members of the group, etc.

I agree, speed can be an issue.

 

[Jaeyden]

From what I hear, the servers still aren't up, just the patch, correct?

Yeah, hope they get em up soon. I'm really excited to see the new changes. The only thing I know so far is that the Icon moved from game to network.

 

[Arwin]

Instead of the message I wanted to type about how I'm still excited about Home and meeting my friends and colleagues there in environments like Far Cry 2's, I'm going to bitch about shift-Enter being delete all in the text editor. I've accidentally deleted everything like a thousand times already and it sucks.

 

[tha_con]

Instead of the message I wanted to type about how I'm still excited about Home and meeting my friends and colleagues there in environments like Far Cry 2's, I'm going to bitch about shift-Enter being delete all in the text editor. I've accidentally deleted everything like a thousand times already and it sucks.

THIS. Shift Backspace ALSO gets rid of all text. WHOS FREAKING IDEA WAS THIS!?

So ridiculous. Why treat it any different than a PC? I don't even see what purpose it serves!

 

[obonicus]

Instead of the message I wanted to type about how I'm still excited about Home and meeting my friends and colleagues there in environments like Far Cry 2's, I'm going to bitch about shift-Enter being delete all in the text editor. I've accidentally deleted everything like a thousand times already and it sucks.

Well, you should buy one of SONY's Official PlayStation Keypads™ and you wouldn't have that problem!
Maybe. I don't really know.

 

[patsu]

From what I hear, the servers still aren't up, just the patch, correct?

I don't know, Club House sounds really awesome to me. For something like GAF, or a big B3D clan, it may be limited, but for something more intimate, say, a small and personal clan, it is perfect. I have a small clan in R2 (Project Abraham) and the Club House sounds awesome. Honestly, promoting members to officers in the clan, and giving them a dedicated Club House would work just as well as one larger room. Separate factions and what not.

Also, most games do not support more than 32 players at a time, let alone parties that large, so I think 32 players isn't a bad number at all, for 'normal' players. I can see why GAF would be upset, since the typical GAF clan is huge, but it'll be awesome to set up your own little clan and have your own Club House for clan members to meet up and lounge waiting for someone to game with. It seems more intimate than the huge mess that GAF clans typically end up to be (not to mention they generally dwindle in size within months).

I think teh GAF folks b*tched about the number of registered users. 32 concurrent players is fine although future games like MAG surpassed it.

Clubhouse is a paid feature. The initial Clubhouse features sound anemic. They will have to work harder to earn it.

 

[tirminyl]

Clubhouse is a paid feature. The initial Clubhouse features sound anemic. They will have to work harder to earn it.

That is a big question mark to me. Everything I've read mentioned a basic club house and a premium clubhouse. Many are saying it's free now but in the open beta is pay, while others go back to my thinking. They will treat it like your apartment. Basic styles for free and more impressive ones for pay.

 

[patsu]

Clubhouse consumes server resources because it's persistent. They are paid features in the Asian Home, according to the link I posted above. Not sure if the same holds true for European and US Home.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What does clubhouse provide over visiting at an apartment and forming a party?

 

[tha_con]

What does clubhouse provide over visiting at an apartment and forming a party?

It's open to all members of the club at all times, even if the leader is not there.

The apartment is not open to anyone unless you are there and (I think) invite them. Basically one is a private space for a club (clan) and one is a private space for you and whoever you chose to invite while you are online.

Think of it like real life, the "club" would be the Elks Lodge, and the apartment would be your house.

 

[patsu]

Yes, and you can resign from a club (someone else can take over), but you can't disown your own apartment. I believe a clubhouse can also take more concurrent users.

btw, the Home servers seem to be up. Too bad I'm not near my PS3 now.