Sony Home - The official thread*

[Arwin]

Hmm, that's pretty good! Thank god for that update to the shop, previewing the items in 3D is a huge help and something I really wanted.

@deathindustrial: I don't know if you're in Europe, but the gamescon bit is in the Presentation Podium space in the main Home section, so in the same location as the theatre and bowling areas but it's a separate space. The space contains new streaming support and video playback there is much more convenient than in the Theatre.

 

[patsu]

Considering the current state of things versus how long Home has been around, I am *very* skeptical that this update will solve the glaring issues in Home.

I gave up today trying to find where the streams from Gamescom were located after waiting through what seemed like endless loading screens in the theatre - surprise, surprise you have to download each of the 10 theaters separately and apparently each include the same anoying initial trailer for neon Home furniture (I gave up after the third loading dialog). That was after finding nothing in the Home events space or mentioned in the 3 different "news" slots of the PDA.

See Arwin's post. You went to the wrong place to look for the conference video. I am not sure if it is up in US Home.

I may have asked you this before Patsu but where do you find your never ending enthusiasm for Home?

By avoiding mistakes and trouble spots. After visiting Home for so long, you should know what to stay away from. I have not downloaded the 10 screen theater yet. XD
The Buzz! space gets the most use from me. ^_^

I also haven't tried the Siren mini-game because it's always full when I got there. Hopefully the new queueing system will help.

 

[patsu]

Home patched to 1.23 today (probably corresponding to v1.3 HDK).

Also, they have released SingStar Home Space trailer:
[gt]54627[/gt]

EDIT:
Gundam costume (Federation army) in Japan Home:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/08/20/gundam_clothing_in_home/

Don't know if it's available for other Asia Home regions.

 

[patsu]

Over 100 New Pieces of Content Releasing Tomorrow in PlayStation Home:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009...-releasing-this-thursday-in-playstation-home/

New content include:
* New Personal Space: Killzone 2 Visari Throne Room (Video in the link)
* New Personal Space: Post-Apocalyptic Apartment. This space is supposedly a bundle with 70 or so items.
* Animated T-Shirts

 

[whome0]

@deathindustrial: I don't know if you're in Europe, but the gamescon bit is in the Presentation Podium space in the main Home section, so in the same location as the theatre and bowling areas but it's a separate space. The space contains new streaming support and video playback there is much more convenient than in the Theatre.

Yes, a new videoscreen at Presentation Podium works really good. They should use a similar streaming technique in a movie theatre rooms. As bonus they had a nice cannon minigame at Podium space, while watching a video screen I run from one cannon to another shooting targets. I won a reward althought don't have a foggiest idea what it was, I confirmed a text too fast. I see nothing in an inventory.

Same happened in a minigame within Fat Princess space. I won a reward but see nothing in an inventory or somewhere else.

 

[Arwin]

The two things you won in those minigames are ornaments that you can put in your personal space. To use them, go to your personal space, select decorate personal space from the start menu and go to the ornaments category. There you will see the princess' throne and the shooting minigame trophy.

 

[Arwin]

Looks like if you want to try the Fat Princess event space you have to hurry, as tomorrow it will be replaced by the Buzz tomato challenge:

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2009...hallenge-makes-its-way-into-playstation-home/

EDIT: interestingly, Diesel is offering more stuff besides clothes these days, among which a big teddy bear and new hairstyles. Crazy.

 

[patsu]

The FatPrincess Home Space is my #2 favorite.

The new Batcave apartment looks like this:
[gt]55022[/gt]

It's completely unacceptable if all I can do is to stare at the awesome equipments.

 

[patsu]

Sony Shows PlayStation Home Virtual Pet at CEDEC

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/09/04/ps_home_virtual_pet/

As a glimpse of what's to come for the service, Kando said that a future update will allow users to load up the PlayStation Store directly from Home. This, he said, will allow you to do such things as download demos from PlayStation Home via PlayStation Store and play online with friends.

The presentation also offered a look at a variety of Home technology demos. One demo focused on synchronized playback of multimedia content. The player was able to access a virtual media player whose menu contained listings for real net radio and pod casts. Additionally, the player's virtual Bravia set was made to show commercials. In both instances, users were able to enjoy the content with their friends.

Another demo, which was developed in five days, showed a cute pet robot walking about a player's room. The player could scold the robot to make it calm down (and then get angry), call out to the robot to make it come close, and do other activities that one might do with a pet. Kando pointed out that this system allows for single players to enjoy themselves and does not require a keyboard.

Both of these demonstrations were just tech demos. There's no guarantee that they will make it into the future PlayStation Home experience.

 

[tirminyl]

Synchronized playback is definitely wanted!!!

Now that they are streaming tv shows, conference events and pledging to stream movies, nothing would be better than having a set time where they show a movie in Home and it is synced across all users in the theater. Anyone who enters later pick up right where everyone else is at.

I must say, I watched the Gunslinger Girl tv episode in Home yesterday and the quality was good. No hiccup in streaming at all. I enjoyed the experience but didn't enjoy the show all that much

 

[patsu]

Huh ? What is Gunslinger Girl ? Is it an anime shown in the 10-screen theater ?

Synchronized media and bots are indeed wonderful additions. I just hope we don't have to get stuck in one space doing only one thing.

I heard they are in the process of developing Clubhouse update at the same time (Yay !)

 

[Asher]

Checked out Home again. Every time I sign in I need to re-download every zone. And why is each auditorium a different zone to download? And why does it take a minute to download + load, even though the download itself is usually done within 5 or 6 seconds?

I also couldn't see how anyone could use this to socialize. Most people talking were spamming presets "Where are you from?" every second or two, others were saying things like "lesbian" and "i dont have headset"

 

[patsu]

Checked out Home again. Every time I sign in I need to re-download every zone. And why is each auditorium a different zone to download?

That means those zones have been updated with new features/content since you last visited them.

And why does it take a minute to download + load, even though the download itself is usually done within 5 or 6 seconds?

I noticed that the install usually takes time too. My only guess is some sort of security processing was needed to validate the integrity of the downloaded content, and to authorize the install.

I also couldn't see how anyone could use this to socialize. Most people talking were spamming presets "Where are you from?" every second or two, others were saying things like "lesbian" and "i dont have headset"

It's easy. You talk to those who are not spamming. Why should you bother with the spammers (just block or report them if you feel disturbed) ? The invisible mods will take care of them eventually.

In my own experiences, most people don't talk. Some are asking for help. Some play mini-games. Some like to spam, but some don't mind socializing.

 

[tirminyl]

Huh ? What is Gunslinger Girl ? Is it an anime shown in the 10-screen theater ?

Synchronized media and bots are indeed wonderful additions. I just hope we don't have to get stuck in one space doing only one thing.

I heard they are in the process of developing Clubhouse update at the same time (Yay !)

Yes. It is an anime that you can watch in Home until 9/10. You can also download it for free from the Video store until 9/17. I should clarify that this is in the US.

Checked out Home again. Every time I sign in I need to re-download every zone. And why is each auditorium a different zone to download? And why does it take a minute to download + load, even though the download itself is usually done within 5 or 6 seconds?

Usability issue? My first visit to the theater I was presented with a download of each auditorium I visited. I have yet to download them again. Honestly, if I download the updated theater, all the auditoriums within should be downloaded. Just like downloading Buzz space for example. I download the lobby, only to download the actual game. Did they not realize I wanted to download the entire space?

It an definitely be too much for a first timer or for someone who hasn't visited in a long while. I would love for silent updates or something where I didn't have to download updated spaces all the time.

I also couldn't see how anyone could use this to socialize. Most people talking were spamming presets "Where are you from?" every second or two, others were saying things like "lesbian" and "i dont have headset"

I have only had one negative encounter. Someone walked up and told me to "Go eat hit". They ran away before I could give them a spelling lesson. I should have messaged them instead.

Lots of people use it for socializing. There are tons of Home clubs, Home Committees (to discuss improvement, community managers sometimes join) and events going on every day. It just depends on what type of socializing you want to do.

 

[patsu]

Yes. It is an anime that you can watch in Home until 9/10. You can also download it for free from the Video store until 9/17. I should clarify that this is in the US.

Thanks. I avoided the theater because I didn't want to download all of 'em.

I have only had one negative encounter. Someone walked up and told me to "Go eat hit". They ran away before I could give them a spelling lesson. I should have messaged them instead.

Lots of people use it for socializing. There are tons of Home clubs, Home Committees (to discuss improvement, community managers sometimes join) and events going on every day. It just depends on what type of socializing you want to do.

Yes, the official Home forum has people who are really into Home. They form clubs and projects to coordinate activities in Home. They have their own Home websites. They also solicit original songs from song writers to showcase in Home (The project is still on-going).

 

[Arwin]

Coca Cola stuff coming:

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/09/06/coca_cola_home/

 

[patsu]

September 24th releases:

* SingStar Homespace: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009...r-24th-buzz-game-launching-support-announced/

dance floor reacts to the shapes you throw and that the music will change according to what style on dance the majority of avatars are partaking in.

...

There’s also an interactive jukebox in the space where you and your friends can vote for your favorite tracks and the SingStar Music Quiz (which will be accessible in a future update) is there to test the knowledge of the hardest of hardcore music geeks in Home. To top it all off, there will be tons of rewards to be earned and future events galore,

The EU blog has a video on the SingStar space: http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2009/09/10/introducing-playstation-home-singstar-rooms/

* Buzz! Game launching

v1.3 update is still outstanding. Supposed to arrive in September if it is on-track. That means it should be released on (or near) 24th too.

The EU folks get Robot Chicken in the cinemas:
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2009/09/10/robot-chicken-invades-playstation-home/

We’ve been asked by the guys at Playstation Home to tell you about our show, Robot Chicken, currently spooling its way across the screens in the Home cinema.

I saw the Darth Vader stop-motion segment in a party. It's very funny. At that time, we used it to break the ice in an awkward gathering


Overall, more and more interesting additions. But I'm still waiting (hopefully) for the basic fixes to the UI. As they add more and more spaces, the chance of meeting old friends becomes lesser and lesser; the UI will also become more tedious with the clutter. In short, Home will become even less tolerable in general.

 

[patsu]

This has to be a fake or a viral marketing of some kind right ? RIGHT ?
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/m4w/1364488119.html

We are 2 college educated men (23 and 25) living in the DC area. We both have good jobs (lobbyist, engineer). We are both tall (6'1") and athletic. We are drug and disease free. Looking for potentially LTR with college educated women around our same age, to meet initially via Playstation Home.
Likes:
Music - Indie rock, jazz, underground hip hop
Food - 2 Amys, Coco Sala, 1789, sushi, Ray's Hell Burger
Arts events, E-Street cinema, Ultimate frisbee, loose-leaf tea

Dislikes:
Girls under 5'5" (or avatars under 5'5")
bad taste in music
unintelligent, uninteresting girls (at least be able to hold a decent conversation without constant prompting)
Obese girls (try drinking water for a change)
Girls who want to hang out every Sunday night




Location: DC

 

[makattack]

This has to be a fake or a viral marketing of some kind right ? RIGHT ?
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/m4w/1364488119.html

More like a bad joke... at least, for their sake, I hope they're just doing it as a lark. If it weren't fake nor a marketing ploy, it's quite sad. For that matter, it's quite bad as a marketing effort if that is the case. It completely turns me off on the Home populace.

 

[deathindustrial]

Well with this coming from Washington and one of them supposedly a lobbyist, maybe Microsoft is combining their "screw Google" crew with a previously unknown "screw Sony" crew?

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/28/microsofts-secret-screw-google-meetings-in-d-c/

=)

Cheers