Sony: “Fully Robust” Home Coming This Fall

[chaz]

chaz.. over at my site.. we have a member who is in the beta too. he/she puts up pictures and little videos over there. says it ain't much to brag about right now.

lol.. HOME has been lagging for ever.

Fanboys need to learn from the past, with 2.4 being the latest flop, and let this come out on its own. No hype needed.

[miDnIghtEr]

what are you talking about. 2.40 saved my marriage!

[chaz]

what are you talking about. 2.40 saved my marriage!

2.40 SAVED MY LIFE! As an addict, I was on the road to ruin until 2.40 came along. Do you have a 2.40 story to tell?

[Martycrane]

I'll believe it when I see it.

[Onslaught X]

Lol Home.

The upscaling BC firmware didn't disappoint at least!

[spaceghost4284]

I'm a home beta user and I won't give you details, pictures, or video. I will tell you that Home is empty. I'm surprised they haven't programmed tumbleweeds for the beta...I personally think this will be Sony's biggest failure and a huge drain on resources that could have gone into improving other games or the XMB.

[Onslaught X]

Well I imagine playing a beta for a year or so gets old pretty quick. If and once there's an open beta, I'm sure plenty of people are going to use it, although the lasting power totally depends on what integration they use with it regarding to games and movies. Seeing as this is a casual type of thing, it's sort of a response to the demand of casual gaming that the Wii has ushered in, so I don't think of it as a complete drain on resources if I worked at Sony, however, I'd personally prefer it if they just spent it on buying exclusives.

[Shoeless]

Seeing as this is a casual type of thing, it's sort of a response to the demand of casual gaming that the Wii has ushered in, so I don't think of it as a complete drain on resources if I worked at Sony, however, I'd personally prefer it if they just spent it on buying exclusives.

I don't think is much of an option anymore. As much Microsoft and Sony would both like to say they're not in competition with the Wii, the fact is, the Wii is a game console and it's selling very well. Investors for either company are going to be looking at all the dollars pouring into Nintendo and they're going to want the 360 and PS3 to do similarly. I'm sure neither Microsoft nor Sony would mind either if their respective pieces of hardware were pulling in those kinds of numbers as well. They both need to get at that casual market just because they know it's out there now.

I don't think Home will do much for hardcore gamers, and I expect most of that particular demographic will ignore it, except for maybe the virtual trophy room feature. But if Second Life has proved anything, it's that there are people out there that see socializing in and of itself as rewarding, and if enough of the casual gamers--or even just people in a household that ordinarily ignored the PS3 because they thought it was just a movie or game player--actually see some appeal to it, then Sony will have enough leverage to move in on microtransactions and advertising within Home itself to justify its existence.

Of course if you want gamers to get into it, then that'll a little more tricky, but then there are those hypothetical "war rooms" for Warhawk which add some appeal. I also read on another forum an interesting hypothetical, I have no idea whether Sony would incorporate it or not, but some were suggesting things like Home Avatar equivalents to "wearable trophies," like for people who get the Big Boss emblem in MGS 4, their Home Avatar would be rewarded with an MGS bandana or sneaking suit to wear.

I could see that kind of thing making inroads towards taking Home off the strictly casual list and start giving it some snob appeal to gamers.

[diggumsmax]

Although not necessarily console related Google has launched their own version of Second Life and have managed to get it out before Home. Although this does not appeal to me there appears to be a market for it even though personally I think its lame.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/08/tech...ion=2008070819

The Mountain View-based company unveiled a free service Tuesday in which three-dimensional software enables people to congregate in electronic rooms and other computer-manufactured versions of real life. The service, called "Lively," represents Google's answer to a 5-year-old site, Second Life, where people deploy animated alter egos known as avatars to navigate through virtual reality.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) thinks Lively will encourage even more people to dive into alternate realities because it isn't tethered to one Web site like Second Life, and it doesn't cost anything to use. After installing a small packet of software, a user can enter Lively from other Web sites, like social networking sites and blogs.

The Lively application already works on Facebook, one of the Web's hottest hangouts, and Google is working on a version suitable for an even larger online social network, News Corp.'s (NWS, Fortune 500) MySpace.

[TheHeadFL]

God I hope Sony cancels this piece of crap and redirects resources somewhere more useful...

[BladeofTheImmortal]

It's probably going to be like G-mail. That shit is still in Beta.