Despite creeping me the f*ck out PlayStation Home is growing, and growing quickly. At GDC this year Jack Buser kicked off Sony's final day at the convention talking about PlayStation Home. This is an area he should know plenty about since he is Home's director. He opened the talk by telling the crowd that Home now had 12 million users, and that 85 percent of them returned more than once to the game program MMO thing. In fact that number means that the userbase for Home has doubled since last year and grown by 2 million since December. Guess those PS3 sales really are up.
The rest of Buser's talk was primarily about how developers can make better in-Home games, but he did mention that we would be seeing a lot more Home/game interaction like inFamous had. "It's [Home] an Incredibly important part of [Sony's] strategy," he noted.
I've accessed Home twice since I got my PS3, so I suppose I am technically in that 85 percent of people who are not one-offers. It was creepy and strange and I didn't go back. However, if this is going to be a truly big part of the Sony platform I may have to force myself to enjoy it more, but until the time I feel I'm actually missing something I'll be steering clear.
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife.
Likes
Games! Movies! Hats!
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
38 comments | showing # 1 to 38
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
In paraphrasing of Jon Stewart's Daily Show, the internet is like Mexican food. Its the same stuff in different proportions. Home is nothing more than the net, which is a mix of creepy perverts, trolls, and those unlucky enough to go on expecting something different.
Basically, Home is stupid.
Now I kinda miss it. ;(
They really need to re-examine the clubhouse aspect of Home and make if functional for large gaming groups - for GAMERS. The clubhouses if tweaked would be ideal for large clans, groups (such as Dtoid) or other gaming websites if they were geared more towards functionality... a game calendar, unlimited memberships, game launching, etc. A space where people could gather, break up into MAG squads and launch directly into the game. A starting point for people that actually play games.
Instead... it's a virtual bar for 14 year olds that have apparently never talked to a "real" girl.
Haven't removed it in case other people in my household want to use it, but I can't see me going back there.
I've never been back.
Like others have mentioned, this describes me perfectly. I logged in once when I first got my PS3, and then again a few weeks later to show my friend how ridiculous it was.
They have that for Warhawk, though I haven't actually launched the game from there myself.
That does sound like a good idea though for a meet and play. With MAG's numbers who knows how crazy that could get (maybe Home couldn't support it) but it'd be neat for an alternative meetup before play.
They have that for Warhawk, though I haven't actually launched the game from there myself.
That does sound like a good idea though for a meet and play. With MAG's numbers who knows how crazy that could get, maybe Home couldn't support it.
For the life of me I couldn't find anyone who was active and talkative at the same time. Then there were the people blaring music over their mics while dancing (and idle). There wasn't really much to do, despite people telling me otherwise. And having to download every chunk of Home as I traveled got severely annoying, especially if the wifi dropped or my net started chugging. Plus, with all the customization I couldn't make my Home avatar look even remotely similar to me. It's pretty bad when my XBL avatar bares more of a resemblance to me than a realistic one.
So now that HDD space is being used by my permanent install of MGS4, just in case I ever have a sudden urge to play it again.
The clubhouses also have a limit (I believe it's 32) and this is fine... but they limit membership also to 32... even though the chances of all members using the clubhouse at the same time is minimal. If they opened the membership to as many members as you wanted... but still limited the "instance" of the clubhouse to 32 (basically 32 seats... first come, first serve) this would work MUCH better.
... for example, this way any Dtoid PS3 owner could be a clubhouse member... and if they chose to drop by the clubhouse to get a game of whatever going, the clubhouse would be limited to 32 people... but at any point in time there likely would be room. This would work out great for say the Friday Night Fights (better yet if they could expand the clubhouse to encompass a full 64 person instance).
Meh... the point is that as a gamer I can't meet up with my own clan without jumping through hoops and barrels. It should be easier.
You guys deserve better than Home. Even Sony knows that much. Sadly, it ain't willing to change a damn thing.
If my buddies can come to my space and watch an episode of something off my PS3 HDD, we will all use home a whole lot more, combined with the PSeye directional mic, we could literally watch shows together and chat as if we were in the same room!
That would make Home a viable app for me, as it stands I've removed it to save space.
But if they add TV's i'll redownload it for sure.
The tv's would be awesome. They do have the picture frames, (added them a while ago). I'm pretty sure you just download it when you are in the mall.
wastewater treatment