Sony Home - The official thread*

Just completed the e3 booth tour and quests (for the second time, more on that later). I think I can see what they're trying to go for with their e3 booth and I think the vision is wonderful. The execution, however, is a bit of a mess. First, let me note that with one exception (noted below) you could potentially walk through the whole thing with no issues and find it enjoyable.(to a certain extent). Particularly if you're the social type and enjoy the social aspect of Home in general (I am not). That said there are some fundamental issues with not only the presentation but the quest execution as well. I suspect many of these issues may derive from technical limitations. For example:

Presentation:
  • The vast majority of the game content is presented as static screens with overload text.
  • Character animation is quite poor and very limited (general Home issue).
  • The total play area is quite limited.
  • Content often loads a bit too slowly and doesn't seem to be pre-cached to help hide this (general Home issue).
Execution:
  • The variety of quest types is quite limited. Mostly "consumer education" type quizes and a subsets of different fetch quests.
  • Your e3 quest progress is completely lost when you leave the area.
  • Your prizes for tasks/sub-quest completion are presented in the form of voucher codes (for any non Home items) instead of automatically being redeemed as items and added to your account.
Combine the presentation issues (primarily static images overlaid with static text and slow loading) with the execution issues and what you end up with is a potentially frustrating experience. As soon as you leave the area (for example to complete one of the final tasks), you lose your progress as well as your voucher codes. So, you can only get those codes back by starting the entire e3 quest over from the very beginning. Add onto the fact that one of the quest objectives requires that you have spent time in another area and you could end up working your way through the entire quest, only to come to last task which requires you to leave, do so, and then come back to find that your progress has been lost.

So, what I recommend to anyone interested in checking this out and completing the quest, first go to the e3 Theatre. Spend the required 30 minutes there watching their coverage (the completion of this task for the e3 quest is permanent across all quest sessions). Then go to the e3 booth area and then start the quests. You need to go to the Quest Station first and complete the first PSV task before doing anything else. I wouldn't bother looking around much initially as you'll have to go through all of the booths anyway later. Please note that all tasks are completed in the order they're presented and only in that order (no jumping ahead for the content you want). I recommend having a mobile/portable device with you opened to the SEN storefront's redeem code page. That way you can type the voucher codes in directly and redeem them then and there. You can download the actual content later from your download list. There's one code you can't redeem from the PC store and that's the PS Plus 30 day trial. You'll have to write that one down.
 
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-home-updates-to-cease-in-japan-uk-unaffected

There's no end in sight for PlayStation Home in the UK, despite an announcement today that Sony will discontinue updates for the service in Japan.

The PlayStation 3 virtual gaming hub will receive its final drop of Japanese content in September 2013. Other Asian regions will see support for new content withdrawn in March 2014.

However, Sony made no mention of retiring PlayStation Home altogether.

Europe and North America will continue to receive new PlayStation Home content "weekly", Sony added.

Will be interesting to see how Sony migrate the PS3 Home people to PS4.
 
Source is your friend ?

Aw... not even a replacement avatar service ?
or at least a Home world in the free-to-play LBP Hub ?
 
There are developers of Home content who have asked about Home on PS4 and been told there isn't any. Sony haven't gone into any other details, but given two international shows and absolutely no hint of Home or any avatar system, unless they intended to announce and reveal a replacement a year or three down the line, I consider it effectively dead.

I was kind of expecting/hoping for a Home based system as standard on PS4, especially considering some of the supposed developments regards the platform, but it would appear that Sony intend to pull the plug instead. Given the current very-strong focus on the core gamer, that's understandable. PS4 as it is at the moment is very much a console for core gamers and not much more to anyone else other than a media box. The Home demographic really isn't peaking on Sony's radar.
 
Yap, besides the core gamers, it would be more for friends and family members of the core gamers.

When I visited Home, quite a few people I chatted with were not the console owners.

I suspect the F2P LBP Hub would be a good replacement, given that it has significantly better art, more tools and content. It's the same business model.
 
I suspect the F2P LBP Hub would be a good replacement, given that it has significantly better art, more tools and content. It's the same business model.
It comes with a predefined art-style though, no? I'm assuming it's LBP-like. If everyone has to play a Sackboy/girl, that'll detract from the appeal for a lot of the potential customers who like the real-life similarities that Home has.
 
Yes the "real life" look will go away but Home's "real life" look is ugly and unrealistic. I suspect people won't mind a LBP look with all the extra functionality.

I have also seen a few racist remarks in Home. The black girl took it rather well. It got me thinking if the real look was helpful at all.
 
It comes with a predefined art-style though, no? I'm assuming it's LBP-like. If everyone has to play a Sackboy/girl, that'll detract from the appeal for a lot of the potential customers who like the real-life similarities that Home has.
Who doesn't like sack boy? Who are these monsters of whom you speak!?!?!

Style is always a subjective thing and you can't please everybody.
 
Some people like to walk around with a grotesque Home avatar. They are there for laughs and self expression.

There should be plenty of ways for people to express themselves in LBP.
 
Some people like to walk around with a grotesque Home avatar. They are there for laughs and self expression.

There should be plenty of ways for people to express themselves in LBP.

So like "real life" then...........:p

It doesn't neccessarily have to be sackboy like even in an LBP art style, it could also be Tearaway-esque or Knack-ish or even a mashup of several different styles.
 
It wasn't a bad mistake. It was an idea that Sony never fully developed, but it had a noteworthy audience; Sony just couldn't monetise it. The stupid thing is, they had Home working on PC and mobile. They could have extended it to a huge audience, but didn't. They faffed about cluelessly. A Home+ for PS4, properly integrated as we hoped Home was going to be for PS3 (before we tried it and it was crap), would be spectacular as an interface, even more so with Morpheus. They just couldn't wrap their heads around it.
 
Well, I have been asking for a 2D Home. ^_^
As it stands, the PS4 community services (e.g, What's New, video recording + Playstation live streaming stuff) are pretty good community building tools.

Don't think the Home idea is entirely dead yet until we see the services for that VR goggles and perhaps future LBP titles. ;-)

LBP was introduced together with Home and got a lot more traction in terms of selling costumes, gears and levels.
 
Pardon the necro-bump but I've been thinking lately, wouldn't HOME be a great addition to PSVR? Am I completely wrong or did Sony miss the boat on this one?

I spent a little time in HOME and have never used any VR so maybe I'm, um, on meth.
 
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