Sony Home - The official thread*

[-tkf-]

So here is a real life story about a friend of mine who bought a PS3.

1st Call "Dude, you i just got a PS3!, Me: First thing to do is to register on PSN and get a lot of free stuff"
2nd Call "So.. tell, this thing wont play my PS2 games?, Me: No, sucky internet bitches whined so much about the price that Sony scrapped everything they could to make it cheaper" Him: This sux so much, i am not happy.
3rd Call "You know i said this PS3 sucked?, i was WRONG, Blu-Ray looks so amazing good and that Sims thing, OMG it looks amazing"

Nope, he will never ever read this Forum but he is a real life Average Joe

Personally i really like the look and feel of home, today i played around with creating the best looking chick i could with the Charater control, i think it´s pretty nicely done. Then i ventured down to the plaza and found the same stuff that i did in the closed beta. Not that exciting. But there were alot of people and it seemd very busy, but not alot to do yet. But i hope that Sony got a solid platform during the first Beta stages that we will reap the rewards from.

 

[patsu]

-tkf- it can be even better than that. The hard core gamers don't have to be left out.

 

[Arwin]

As far as I know, most of the things being discussed here are already happening. Exception to that is user created content - I don't see that happen very soon just yet, for various reasons. By far the most important thing that's happened today is that Home is available to all users. This means that publishers can now start to make advantage of it to reach all PS3 users, which is the key to making it worthwhile for them to do so. Now it's a matter of waiting and seeing how far developers will go in making their games compatible from Home and maybe even build lobby spaces in Home rather than in their own game.

On a personal note, I noticed that as of now you can buy stuff in the Home stores for real money. This to me means that Home has really officially launched, beta denomination nothwithstanding. I took a peak in the U.S. region at the Uncharted and Far Cry 2 spaces - the Far Cry 2 had one had an interesting interactive map of an area in the game detailing the locations of all the important stuff. It will be interesting to see if something similar can also be used for starting multiplayer matches on such a map from within Home and returning there as a lobby feature, to discuss strategy with other party members as was talked about previously in the context of the Warhak space. I've ordered Far Cry 2 as it was on sale at play (25,49 euro) so if they do get some more integration going from there, I'll be able to try it out (of course it won't work anytime soon with the user created maps from the game's map editor I suppose but for other maps it could work).

First priority should be for gamers to be able to jump in and out of games from and back into Home, as that's a feature that I think will make Home something attractive to me that I'll be using a lot. Then I can go into Home and chat and muck about with friends and then decide to say play some Motorstorm 2 or LBP or Far Cry 2 or whatever with them.

I'm just thinking that online leaderboards in the game spaces would be great if they could make them so that you can filter them to show the scores of all the players present in the Home space instance you're in. Home spaces are also good places to put spoilers in. And I'm sure we'll get clothes that make you look more interesting soon enough as a reward for god knows what (linked to trophies or Arcade games, etc.) like the Ratchet & Clank costume/rucksack thingy, which is basically already demonstrated by the Echochrome suit that you can win in that game.

Tonight though, almost noone (including me) could even get into Home over here. So people are definitely trying - and this showing up on the XMB thing above the store is clever, ensures most people will try it. The hard part was getting it out there. It is now, and people know what it is more or less. Good first start, despite the complaints - it's there, it's free, and if someone puts something cool in there, the biggest Home haters will still jump in to check it out.

 

[patsu]

First priority should be for gamers to be able to jump in and out of games from and back into Home, as that's a feature that I think will make Home something attractive to me that I'll be using a lot. Then I can go into Home and chat and muck about with friends and then decide to say play some Motorstorm 2 or LBP or Far Cry 2 or whatever with them.

I'm just thinking that online leaderboards in the game spaces would be great if they could make them so that you can filter them to show the scores of all the players present in the Home space instance you're in. Home spaces are also good places to put spoilers in. And I'm sure we'll get clothes that make you look more interesting soon enough as a reward for god knows what (linked to trophies or Arcade games, etc.) like the Ratchet & Clank costume/rucksack thingy, which is basically already demonstrated by the Echochrome suit that you can win in that game.

Tonight though, almost noone (including me) could even get into Home over here. So people are definitely trying - and this showing up on the XMB thing above the store is clever, ensures most people will try it. The hard part was getting it out there. It is now, and people know what it is more or less. Good first start, despite the complaints - it's there, it's free, and if someone puts something cool in there, the biggest Home haters will still jump in to check it out.

Wahaha ! I got in and refuse to let Home kick me out by twitching the controller every now and then.

Yes, I am interested to see some scalability numbers. How good is the P2P infrastructure compared to something like SecondLife ?

 

[obonicus]

First priority should be for gamers to be able to jump in and out of games from and back into Home, as that's a feature that I think will make Home something attractive to me that I'll be using a lot. Then I can go into Home and chat and muck about with friends and then decide to say play some Motorstorm 2 or LBP or Far Cry 2 or whatever with them.

I wonder if/when they'll get the clubhouse functionality, the game-launching part out and put it in the XMB.

 

[oramay]

http://streetskaterfu.blogspot.com/2008/12/home-release-special-home.html
Anyone knows anything the "exploits" listed in this link? Hopefully, no one have their credit card information stolen.

Regarding the Home experience, I actually quite like it, to my own surprise. It's especially useful for someone like me, whose friend list is almost bare. The nice thing about Home is it can act like a natural filter for PS3 users who can play games around the same time of the day as I can, and not too far away geographically which should help reduce lag in online games I play with them. I'm thinking I should try to gather people in Home to set up a FIFA 09 team to play together.

My main complaint so far is the free customization options are rather limited. I don't want to see so many people wearing the same clothes. At least let me choose colour of any given clothing style. I want users to be more easily distinguished. It'd be better if they allow pasting a picture on clothes. If user provided pictures are considered "dangerous", then provide a wide array of basic pictures.

My other suggestion is Sony should hire some real girls (can be verified with mic) to spend a lot of time in Home. I'm serious.

 

[patsu]

http://streetskaterfu.blogspot.com/2008/12/home-release-special-home.html
Anyone knows anything the "exploits" listed in this link? Hopefully, no one have their credit card information stolen.

Woah those are really serious exploits ! They need to fix it pronto.

Now I know Home is actually very easy to customize and extend. ^_^
Here's hoping to more packages from the developers !

Regarding the Home experience, I actually quite like it, to my own surprise. It's especially useful for someone like me, whose friend list is almost bare. The nice thing about Home is it can act like a natural filter for PS3 users who can play games around the same time of the day as I can, and not too far away geographically which should help reduce lag in online games I play with them. I'm thinking I should try to gather people in Home to set up a FIFA 09 team to play together.

My main complaint so far is the free customization options are rather limited. I don't want to see so many people wearing the same clothes. At least let me choose colour of any given clothing style. I want users to be more easily distinguished. It'd be better if they allow pasting a picture on clothes. If user provided pictures are considered "dangerous", then provide a wide array of basic pictures.

My other suggestion is Sony should hire some real girls (can be verified with mic) to spend a lot of time in Home. I'm serious.

I agree with your suggestions.

Listening to girls chatting is rather interesting.

 

[patsu]

Cool ! I found a new friend who can help me with The Bunker in LBP !!! He'd completed the game and volunteered to help me out after my b*tching. We will co-op to clear it. Also made a few other new friends. Not a bad service for looking for gaming partners. ^_^

I found out that if we enter a new space together, we will all stick together in the new space. This worked even if some of us had to download the space for the first time (while the rest of us waited in the new area). Now I can not only see the potential, but I am realizing it bit by bit.

Also, got invited by jonabbey to one of the locked rooms in the Uncharted Space. First time for me to enter that room since I was too lazy to break the keycode. Also first time to met jonabbey "in person". Hi jon !

I also saw some girls voice chat in the Uncharted Space. Hope to see more of them.

 

[gongo]

Home is whats wrong with Sony...putting eggs in the wrong basket...If Home is their idea of attracting the Web 2.0 crowd then they are in for a surprise. Its boring...and i cringed that the amount of micro-transactions they are planning to hit us with... after 20 mins i just logged off in frustration because the character collisions with the environment is crap....Small wonder the media had another field day bashing a PS3 product...it has been a long while since we hear good words for PS3....

 

[-tkf-]

Home is whats wrong with Sony...putting eggs in the wrong basket...If Home is their idea of attracting the Web 2.0 crowd then they are in for a surprise. Its boring...and i cringed that the amount of micro-transactions they are planning to hit us with... after 20 mins i just logged off in frustration because the character collisions with the environment is crap....Small wonder the media had another field day bashing a PS3 product...it has been a long while since we hear good words for PS3....

It´s obvisouly not for everyone, your not forced to use it. And neither is your money needed, unless you want a fancy apartment and some sweet threads. Not sure how i should intrepret your last line, i hear nothing bad about the PS3 unless your talking about Sales numbers?

 

[zawarudo]

It's funny that you so called hardcore gamers despise Home, but even during the closed beta I saw it ram packed with people from my region and others CONSTANTLY.

There are people just using it to meet up virtually and chat. They like it as a communication device. It's not a game...

 

[tha_con]

Home is whats wrong with Sony...putting eggs in the wrong basket...If Home is their idea of attracting the Web 2.0 crowd then they are in for a surprise. Its boring...and i cringed that the amount of micro-transactions they are planning to hit us with... after 20 mins i just logged off in frustration because the character collisions with the environment is crap....Small wonder the media had another field day bashing a PS3 product...it has been a long while since we hear good words for PS3....

gongo
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 32

Seems when I log into PS Home, there are a lot of folks who seemingly enjoy sitting around doing...well, nothing. I don't think there's anything wrong with the Home initiative, it just hasn't grown much, and that problably has more to do with Phil Harrisons departure more than anything else.

Also, since when do we have to hear media praise to enjoy consoles or games? Just curious.

 

[DJ12]

The thing is no one forces you to use or even download home, so if you don't get it, don't use it. It really is quite simple.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Still getting a C-931 here...

 

[Arwin]

Yeah, that's the one I"ve been getting most of the time. It's either try again a couple of times, or go to the U.S. server (if you have a fake U.S. account) as it seems to be much eaier to get into that one (haven't had any trouble so far). (It also already has a fair bit more content)

 

[wco81]

Regarding the Home experience, I actually quite like it, to my own surprise. It's especially useful for someone like me, whose friend list is almost bare. The nice thing about Home is it can act like a natural filter for PS3 users who can play games around the same time of the day as I can, and not too far away geographically which should help reduce lag in online games I play with them. I'm thinking I should try to gather people in Home to set up a FIFA 09 team to play together.

It would be great if you can bypass the very limited EA interface for gathering BAP multiplayer online games in FIFA 09 and launch directly from Home, with exactly the players you want to play with and exactly when you want to launch, instead of waiting for that stupid 5 minute counter or waiting for ever moron to click in.

That is about all I want out of Home.

But there's no sign that's going to happen this year.

Now would be the time for Sony to evangelize with EA, which has put multiplayer support in some of its sports games, to get them to support Home game launching of those multiplayer online sports games, so that the support is there when the next sports games launch next fall.

Or better yet, see if you can get them to support it with current games, even if EA would have to patch their games.

But with Home being only in beta, how likely is it for interim support or for having support for FIFA 10 for instance?

 

[2real4tv]

The thing is no one forces you to use or even download home, so if you don't get it, don't use it. It really is quite simple.

Ive been saying this for a long time to people who say they have no interest in HOME. Look at it as a free optional service. Isn't it still a beta anyway? I agree with alot of the complaints though as it stands now its just a social network and they haven't bridged the gap with gaming yet.

 

[DemoCoder]

Woah those are really serious exploits ! They need to fix it pronto.

I don't see the exploit yet. So there is a URL that allows files to be uploaded/downloaded/deleted. It's only an exploit if you can access global data or delete or modify other users files, or upload files that can be downloaded by other users which are somehow corrupt and trigger an exploit.


Take any sharing service, like youtube, flickr, etc. They too have urls for uploading/downloading/deleting files. The mere existence of these does not mean an exploit, it just means people can develop programs to interact with the datastore other than the web site, and this is a good thing for youtube/flickr/etc.

Sony could allow third party websites in the future to interact with HOME through the web, like pushing or pulling photos from flickr/picasa/iphoto or mobile phones.

This guy sounds like he has a serious grudge against Sony and is an incompetent hacker. Wow, he hooks up a network monitor and sees some HTTP requests, and declares there's a serious flaw/exploit.

 

[deathindustrial]

I don't see the exploit yet. So there is a URL that allows files to be uploaded/downloaded/deleted.

I believe that the potential exploit here is that you if you can hijack DNS at all, you can access what is on the given user's PS3 (since you can emulate Sony's server side stuff and send your own responses to Home). The implied I think suggestion is that this includes client side scripting (Java and / or Javascript).

On the surface though this looks more useful for messing with your own PS3 than someone else's. Not sure whether economies of scale would actually make this a worthwhile thing to go after versus the traditional malware gang targets. If DNS is hijacked I would think gmail and bank account details would be more lucrative but who knows, maybe the fact people see the PS3 as a black box appliance might make it easier to escape detection.

I know that personally I will NEVER put my credit card on the PS3 and until Sony gets off their but and releases PSN cards in Canada, no paid downloads for me.

=)

Cheers

 

[DemoCoder]

Well, if you can hijack someone's DNS, there's alot more you can do that mess with someone's PS3. That exploit presupposed a mega-exploit as a prerequisite. It's like saying "if I could tap your phone first, then I can exploit the fact that your conversations aren't encrypted." Then proceding to trash you for using non-encrypted voice calls.

You can hijack your own DNS and mess with your own HOME client, but I consider true exploits to be those that can steal or infect info from the server and other people's machines.