Kaz Hirai, the Tekken character-resembling PlayStation boss, isn't satisfied. It's not because nobody else is as impressed as he is with Ridge Racer, it's because he himself isn't impressed with one of the PS3's biggest future hopes, Home.
The displeased Sony Computer Entertainment head confessed that he wasn't happy with the in-beta version of Home and is doubtless aiming for significant improvements to what he declares a big project for his company. This came out as he spoke of the feature's Spring 2008 delay:
"We believe the delay would have a positive effect. I personally am not satisfied with the current version of Home. This is a very big project for the PS3 and we want to make sure that we deliver to our hearts content. We hope everyone will look forward to its spring release next year."
Are the PS3 fans in the gamer community actually looking forward to Home at all? I think it's an interesting project, but I wonder how many people among Sony's main demographic will care enough to consider it a huge selling point. What do you think, noble readers? Will all the effort Sony's putting into Home pay dividends or not?
[With thanks to John McGovern, Easybake Oven]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
10:07 PM on 11.07.2007
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Honestly, just put it out already and patch in some later features. It's a connected world baby, and if you can download home now, you can download a bug fix later.
Home is a mess right now and I doubt many are looking forward to it. BUT, once it has become "satisfactory" to Kaz and Co., there will be an inevitably huge marketing push that will probably get people's hopes up again.
So no one cares about Home right now, but Sony doesn't really need them to, at least not yet.
Clockwork: Sony is trying to be honest now.
If they're going to make it more epic, like say, you can go to a games shop in Home and browse and download games and demos, or a music shop and check out tunes, or a movie theater and watch trailers and shows, if your "house" shows all the things you've downloaded, maybe it has your gamesaves with screenshots in a photo album. Now something like that could be cool. I wouldn't pay money for it, but it would be cool.
the success for home its very simple:
Make
it
Fun
Those realistic characters are BORING!!! Kaz hope you can read this... LittleBigPlanet is basically the supreme example for Home's success.
- Make fun characters instead of dull realistic ones. (disfigured like LBP, fantasy style, crazy monsters, medieval armored knights, Black Peter Parker Emo with his stuuupid dance as a emote)
- Have a giant arcade gaming room full of classics! (shit all old skool games, I wouldnt mind meeting people over the net to play old school arcades like: MK, Killer Instinct, Shooters, bomberman, digdug! ect)
- Have highly integrated PS3 games (Have a stage for people to play Guitar Hero 3 on! so people can interact as people play! Action Games showed on the big 3D screen, have a betting arena were people can bet whos gonna win the next race & win points.
Those are a couple of suggestions, but in all end, just make it fun. Funny how Sony invests so much in next gen technology and cant friggin think of simple stuff like f.u.n.
Sony should kidnap Shigeru Miyamoto for one week and see how he can turn Home into something worthwhile...
I'll agree with Crunshii on this one, you need to give it an appeal, games, assorted other fun things to keep people coming back after they've made their avatar.
this isnt a system seller...its a feature that keeps the light on the PS3 on...
But if Dwight Shelford was seen on Home, then I might become more interested.
as a virtual reality chat program, i dont think there is ever a state where its 'satisfactory' ,you'll have to be like, i dunnoe, an alien species more advanced than humans to be able to figure out every quirk and problem with programs like these... i'd expect them to just roll it out, then wait for reports of things they need to fix, and gradually it gets better and better... making a program like this is a commitment, its an endless cycle of hacks,bugs, new features, and whatnot
Now where's that damn open beta?
I could walk around the mall and talk to strangers, but I dont want to do that. That is home for me.
Here is what I would have done:
1. Home is the starting point for your PS3. When you boot, you see home.
2. Home has both on-line and off-line modes. On-line mode you see other people in your neighborhood. Off-line, nobody bugs you. You can interact (speak) to your neighbors.
3. Your downloaded games would be in your house's video game area. If you go on-line, you could let someone into your home and they could play your games without owning the same game. Maybe they could beat your high score and put their initials in over yours.
4. It would be a launch pad for all your games. However, this has limited value since DVD's are needed. This would require all digital content to really be effective.
5. Games could integrate into home. For example, after you got enough "points" from various games, you could buy a "home" and populate it with stuff. I think Test Drive Unlimited had this basic ability.
Basically, there would be no real boundary between home and other PS3 functions. Home would be not only the interface to the PS3, but it would also be an environment that games could access. I guess the "world" would have to be large enough for enough people to all be in, but not necessarily a single world for all PS3's. Again, for those that have played TDU, you know what I mean.
The downfall of your idea is that a great number of people do not want to interact with Home to play their games - they just want to play them as usual.
But, Idea #5 is really, really intuitive. If you had to play games in Home - why not give people an incentive to keep playing? Excellent idea!
Too bad it'll never happen...
Inviting random dudes to your house so they can "check out" your virtual shit? GAY! This is only for pedophiles so they can have kids one step closer to their REAL houses.
Sorry Kaz, this idea sucks ass. You better keep things IPOD simple ok?
---
Yeah... motherfucker looks like some Tekken character... creepy...
I dunno about home as system hub ala the XMB, if it was an option, that'd be cool, but it seems like that idea would be like the sixaxis controls in Lair, forced upon you with no other option, and that would make PS3 owners like myself quite bitter
Some people won't want it and that's cool, besides, loading home every time would be much longer than simply booting up the XMB.
It's a cool idea, but I don't think they should force a radical change in operation on us. Not unlike... Lair, man that game's crappy controls are so versatile.