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How did PlayStation Home end up the way it is now?
- Thread starter Slavik81
- Start date
Elan tedronai
Banned
Home is a prime example of too many middle managers ruining a brilliant concept. Too often sony comes up with superb ideas only to have dumb clueless and often useless middle men ruin it with poor execution.
The fact that sony makes money of home is besides the point. It should be classified as a failure for now because of it's massive potential. Whether home ever becomes what it was meant to be depends on sony being more proactive than simply adding game spaces
The fact that sony makes money of home is besides the point. It should be classified as a failure for now because of it's massive potential. Whether home ever becomes what it was meant to be depends on sony being more proactive than simply adding game spaces
TheFallen said:
Well if it is an hobby, isn't the efficiency thought kinda wrong then because it makes it in a way, like a job. For example the last game I finished was GoW2. I needed about 14 hours to finish the game, well maybe 18 if you count the time which was not counted by the game and it took me about 4 weeks to finish it. The experience might be the same, but you know the thought of there is something you can look forward to when get home lasts much longer. The next game I will finish will be GoW3 and I hope that game takes even longer.
But why do you think I do not enjoy my time while I am visiting Home?
As a side question to this, did Sony actually make any Avatar based games like Nintendo?
Home would be pretty awesome if you could have games of Baseball with people roaming Home. Though the chance to hit 3rd base with a female Avatar might just be too much for many Home users. :lol
Home would be pretty awesome if you could have games of Baseball with people roaming Home. Though the chance to hit 3rd base with a female Avatar might just be too much for many Home users. :lol
Home is an example of what happens when you let a committee of marketing folks design something. The bloody thing is just a wretched usability experience from the moment you start it and have to click through multiple messages over the course of several minutes to get into it.
My top annoyance is when you click on a zone you've never visited before it just sits there forever asking if you wish to download the zone in the foreground or background. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST START DOWNLOADING FFS! I've just clicked on the zone so therefore I want to go there - why are you asking me again? So many times I've clicked on a zone and walked away only to return ten minutes later to discover I'm stuck at that fucking dialog.
The whole experience is filled with annoying little "features" like that. Even starting the thing is an example of how not to design an app. I click to launch Home and then after a while loading I have to click again to *actually* launch it.
Home has a lot of potential, but the experience is just awful. The sad part (for Sony) is they'd probably get a lot more visitors (and therefore revenue) if the thing started in a reasonably short space of time and had a complete usability makeover. Such a missed opportunity.
My top annoyance is when you click on a zone you've never visited before it just sits there forever asking if you wish to download the zone in the foreground or background. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST START DOWNLOADING FFS! I've just clicked on the zone so therefore I want to go there - why are you asking me again? So many times I've clicked on a zone and walked away only to return ten minutes later to discover I'm stuck at that fucking dialog.
The whole experience is filled with annoying little "features" like that. Even starting the thing is an example of how not to design an app. I click to launch Home and then after a while loading I have to click again to *actually* launch it.
Home has a lot of potential, but the experience is just awful. The sad part (for Sony) is they'd probably get a lot more visitors (and therefore revenue) if the thing started in a reasonably short space of time and had a complete usability makeover. Such a missed opportunity.
yurinka
Member
I also really miss the video (plus video and pics) streaming and the tropy gallery (even there are a lot of games with Home Rewards that are like 3D trophies, like the SFIV or RE5 figurines), they are my biggest complains in addition to the loading times (recently have been improved a lot) and more 3rd party support for PS3 game specific related spaces and Home Rewards. I think Resident Evil 5 or Street Fighter IV are great examples to follow.
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1221775_1124.html
I regularly visit Home when there is a new space or new freebies (there are a lot available, and they add stuff regularly), when I unlock a Home Reward in a PS3 / PSN game, and sometimes to play a Home minigame to unlock some freebies. There are some really cool freebies, like the Batcave apartment (Batmobile included) or the Namco arcade cabinets (I have the 4 Namco museums ones, I don't have the Tekken 6 one because I don't have the game).
http://playstation.joystiq.com/2009...me-batcave-comes-on-batman-arkham-asylum-dis/
I think they started with a really poor content and features, but now it's becoming interesting because they improve it regularly fixing, tweaking and adding content regularly, and more personal friends are buying PS3s, so I think and in a couple of year or so can be something really cool.
Buzz "MMO Quiz" http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/05/buzz-comes-to-playstation-home/
Air race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZLkisLapfE
Bowling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOgnv-suqj4
EA complex (minigolf, poker...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YmLIrYzCdE
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1221775_1124.html
I regularly visit Home when there is a new space or new freebies (there are a lot available, and they add stuff regularly), when I unlock a Home Reward in a PS3 / PSN game, and sometimes to play a Home minigame to unlock some freebies. There are some really cool freebies, like the Batcave apartment (Batmobile included) or the Namco arcade cabinets (I have the 4 Namco museums ones, I don't have the Tekken 6 one because I don't have the game).
http://playstation.joystiq.com/2009...me-batcave-comes-on-batman-arkham-asylum-dis/
I think they started with a really poor content and features, but now it's becoming interesting because they improve it regularly fixing, tweaking and adding content regularly, and more personal friends are buying PS3s, so I think and in a couple of year or so can be something really cool.
It doesn't have Baseball, but it have a lot of other mini-games where you play with the avatars where you unlock some freebies, like bowling, the Redbull airplace race, golf, board games like chess, poker, etc and other things like Sodium, Xi, or the Gravity Crash maze. There are also some arcade machines. The one I enjoyed the most is the Buzz minigame, it's really fun. Some examples:Raide said:
Buzz "MMO Quiz" http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/05/buzz-comes-to-playstation-home/
Air race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZLkisLapfE
Bowling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOgnv-suqj4
EA complex (minigolf, poker...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YmLIrYzCdE
Baron
Member
yurinka said:
I'm sorry, are you trying to say that you feel loading times have improved now as compared to past Home iterations? I must take issue with this statement, good sir. The last time I logged in a few weeks ago the loading times were about five times worse and longer than the previous experiences I have had. Loading times are getting worse as Home ages. How recent is this improvement you claim in load times? Like, this week? or last month or two?
Some of you act like Home is meant to give you an awesome gaming experience. Its a social networking app. WTF do you expect to be playing an FPS once you log in??? Even if the concept of Home came to be, this wouldnt be the case either.
Yea Home is not what it was meant to be but in reality it does what it was meant to, to some extent. Its for gamers, casual gamers , to hang out, chat and possibly buy virtual goods and be engulfed in Sony's PS world. Since that worked, Sony are going full force with that now. Believe it or not, Home's support has increased over the months since they now need to please that demanding community that has developed. Its like the Store updates for gamers.
Sometimes Home users brag how much they spend on Home. $100+ they've spend there. Sony has captured this audience and will cash on it but they are not to blame. If demand is there, you better take advantage on it.
Now all you hardcore gamers are pissed at Home. Hate the thing and mock it to hell. I agree with the complains and so do the Home regulars but not because of what Home didnt become but rather they want more and more content. From either improvements to the core Home build(faster loading), more spaces, events and virtual items.
In reality though, Im glad that Home became what it is since Home was probably meant to somehow replace thr XMB and that idea went to the garbage. Thank god. I do visit Home but I would not enjoy having to boot to it or something.
Lastly, even though the "Trophy Room" sounds cool. To me its a lame idea and it baffles me that some of you (hardcore) gamers still want that. Like really? Would you log into Home to see your virtual trophies yet would mock anyone logging into Home just to chat with friends and play mini games etc??? On the other hand streaming content and inviting friends is still a very sought out feature and maybe one day we'll get it but its not something that I really care about. There are so many better features we gamers should look forward to not something that is not really important such as a remaking of the In-game XMB which would remove useless categories(movies/network/users) to make it simpler and more efficient and less laggy.
Yea Home is not what it was meant to be but in reality it does what it was meant to, to some extent. Its for gamers, casual gamers , to hang out, chat and possibly buy virtual goods and be engulfed in Sony's PS world. Since that worked, Sony are going full force with that now. Believe it or not, Home's support has increased over the months since they now need to please that demanding community that has developed. Its like the Store updates for gamers.
Sometimes Home users brag how much they spend on Home. $100+ they've spend there. Sony has captured this audience and will cash on it but they are not to blame. If demand is there, you better take advantage on it.
Now all you hardcore gamers are pissed at Home. Hate the thing and mock it to hell. I agree with the complains and so do the Home regulars but not because of what Home didnt become but rather they want more and more content. From either improvements to the core Home build(faster loading), more spaces, events and virtual items.
In reality though, Im glad that Home became what it is since Home was probably meant to somehow replace thr XMB and that idea went to the garbage. Thank god. I do visit Home but I would not enjoy having to boot to it or something.
Lastly, even though the "Trophy Room" sounds cool. To me its a lame idea and it baffles me that some of you (hardcore) gamers still want that. Like really? Would you log into Home to see your virtual trophies yet would mock anyone logging into Home just to chat with friends and play mini games etc??? On the other hand streaming content and inviting friends is still a very sought out feature and maybe one day we'll get it but its not something that I really care about. There are so many better features we gamers should look forward to not something that is not really important such as a remaking of the In-game XMB which would remove useless categories(movies/network/users) to make it simpler and more efficient and less laggy.
BolognaSoup
Member
Home still exists?
IonicSnake
Banned
Baron said:
Nope, it's still there and I really hate that smile. I want the old model back.
CircleOfFire
Member
I remember suggesting to the Home community guy at the time that it would be awesome if there could be web style links into Home. So say if you went to the Uncharted 2 site in the browser it would allow you be linked straight into the Home area with a link like home://uncharted2. In the same way you could get links from friends, from Twitter and whatever else.
It would've been pretty simple to implement in the browser at the very least and I can't see any reason why it would be difficult to implement into Home itself and would've helped extend the reach of Home outwards.
It would've been pretty simple to implement in the browser at the very least and I can't see any reason why it would be difficult to implement into Home itself and would've helped extend the reach of Home outwards.
WasabiKing said:
well I agree with you that SCE Europe are biggest idiots in this industry, it took them over 1 and 1/2 year to fix the european stores (make them more organised, but it's still FAR away from being good, still total crap in comparison to others)
You guys should also know that the european/rest of the world (share the same stuff/server) home europe has much less stuff than the north american one ... even though it's developed by an european team ...
In general is SCEE nothing but a huge mess, no wonder Phil Harrison and Paulina Bozek left SCEE for Atari
It sickens me that these guys get paid for work they don't do or do it really really bad
but generalising and insulting the whole european development community (me included) make you look like ... well a huge american c***
just take a look at our bad artists, programmers/coders etc.
Crytek, german (Crysis is for some the best looking game to date)
Guerilla, dutch (KZ2 is for some the best looking console game)
Critieon games , british (their open world online structure is outdated and done a 100 times before)
Rockstar North, scottish even though they work in NY, just ask Dan Houser if he feels american (and GTA4 sure was technical failure)
Media Molecule, british (their first game LBP was so uncreative and worn out)
now in comparison to the NA guys
Naughty Dog, (the Co-president Christophe Balestra is french, also the pre recorded cutscenes were great and totally showed the potential and horse power of the ps3)
3D realms (Dukem Nukem Forever, awesome game)
Valve, they sure do a fantastic and fast job with the episodic content
Sony Santa Monica Studios (promised GOD3 to be 1080p native ... on the ps3 ... we had a good laugh)
Epic Studios, known to make the best optimised bug free games
See I can also look like a moron and change the facts, making stupid comparsions. I know you didn't say that but what you did is take one incompetent developer and blame and assume that everyone in this continent sucks and that we do all terrible jobs.
Sorry not everyone can build such fine cars and reliable electronic devices as you awesome US people
(that also no one buys outside of North america)Really most of you neogaf guys (especially the admins) are so full of yourself, you think you''re so known and accepted, the only thing we get out of you is a good laugh
Anyway, afterall it doesn't make any sense since pretty much every big company is multicultural nowadays ... (microsoft has more foreigner than locals)
the next thing will be a smart ass comment to play me down and probably a ban afterwards ... see if I care !
// I actually feel kinda stupid after reading this since we work close with some NA studios and they're so helpful and friendly ... only took one little wannabe smartass to get me that angry
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
They convinced people that paying $5 to buy more clothes for their avatar was a good idea. They don't need anything more out of it.edgefusion said:
yurinka
Member
I am comparing actual loading times vs release loading times. I joined Home when in one of the non-public Closed betas, before the public release.Baron said:
I'm talking about the loading times of when launching Home / log-in and when going from a space to another (already downloaded in your HDD). I think the improvement it's pretty noticiable. Not sure about dates or versions of these improvements, but I remember to see it mentioned in several of their Home version changelogs (when booting Home).
I supouse the difference between users would depend of severall things like user Internet speed / connection quality, if the servers are busy or not, the HDD size assigned to the Home cache, the quantity of (purchased / freebies) items downloaded to be verified, etc.
In my case I have a 20Mb/s DSL connection, and typically download at 1MB/s from the Store.
ItAintEasyBeinCheesy
it's 4th of July in my asshole
Not having 3D trophies is probably a good thing.......... i mean i got 500 or something without being a trophy whore, imagine the load times. Trophy whores would be so fucked.
LyR said:well I agree with you that SCE Europe are biggest idiots in this industry, it took them over 1 and 1/2 year to fix the european stores (make them more organised, but it's still FAR away from being good, still total crap in comparison to others)
You guys should also know that the european/rest of the world (share the same stuff/server) home europe has much less stuff than the north american one ... even though it's developed by an european team ...
In general is SCEE nothing but a huge mess, no wonder Phil Harrison and Paulina Bozek left SCEE for Atari
It sickens me that these guys get paid for work they don't do or do it really really bad
but generalising and insulting the whole european development community (me included) make you look like ... well a huge american c***
just take a look at our bad artists, programmers/coders etc.
Crytek, german (Crysis is for some the best looking game to date)
Guerilla, dutch (KZ2 is for some the best looking console game)
Critieon games , british (their open world online structure is outdated and done a 100 times before)
Rockstar North, scottish even though they work in NY, just ask Dan Houser if he feels american (and GTA4 sure was technical failure)
Media Molecule, british (their first game LBP was so uncreative and worn out)
now in comparison to the NA guys
Naughty Dog, (the Co-president Christophe Balestra is french, also the pre recorded cutscenes were great and totally showed the potential and horse power of the ps3)
3D realms (Dukem Nukem Forever, awesome game)
Valve, they sure do a fantastic and fast job with the episodic content
Sony Santa Monica Studios (promised GOD3 to be 1080p native ... on the ps3 ... we had a good laugh)
Epic Studios, known to make the best optimised bug free games
See I can also look like a moron and change the facts, making stupid comparsions. I know you didn't say that but what you did is take one incompetent developer and blame and assume that everyone in this continent sucks and that we do all terrible jobs.
Sorry not everyone can build such fine cars and reliable electronic devices as you awesome US people
Really most of you neogaf guys (especially the admins) are so full of yourself, you think you''re so known and accepted, the only thing we get out of you is a good laugh
Anyway, afterall it doesn't make any sense since pretty much every big company is multicultural nowadays ... (microsoft has more foreigner than locals)
the next thing will be a smart ass comment to play me down and probably a ban afterwards ... see if I care !
// I actually feel kinda stupid after reading this since we work close with some NA studios and they're so helpful and friendly ... only took one little wannabe smartass to get me that angry
wtf?
SolidusDave
Member
Actually they already combined the achievement-like Trophy-system with the idea of the trophy room. They ditched the endless room containing your trophies (instead we have the lists outside of Home now), but you get 3D awards for selected achieved trophies (wasn't supposed to be for all anyway).
Not many games have done this yet, but it's also not limited to some little figurines but can be furniture, clothing and even apartments.
Shared videostreaming on the other hand was also my main feature to be looking for in Home. Basically something like justin.tv integrated in a 3D place to meet.
(and also not in the spirit of all users having to buy a movie to watch, that basically can be done with Blu-rays anyway which allow you to create your own screening with online friends who have the movie as well)
Seeing that picture-frames are only available in the US home (and you have to pay for them) even though you can send (large) images as an attachment in PSN mails (or show them in PSN chatrooms) since the PS3 launch, I don't think this feature (as well as audio-streaming with a virtual cd player) will ever come to Home...
Not many games have done this yet, but it's also not limited to some little figurines but can be furniture, clothing and even apartments.
Shared videostreaming on the other hand was also my main feature to be looking for in Home. Basically something like justin.tv integrated in a 3D place to meet.
(and also not in the spirit of all users having to buy a movie to watch, that basically can be done with Blu-rays anyway which allow you to create your own screening with online friends who have the movie as well)
Seeing that picture-frames are only available in the US home (and you have to pay for them) even though you can send (large) images as an attachment in PSN mails (or show them in PSN chatrooms) since the PS3 launch, I don't think this feature (as well as audio-streaming with a virtual cd player) will ever come to Home...
There is definitely a demand for Home there, as shown by the many people using it. I just don't see how though; lots of things promised that weren't there (for whatever reason), the obscene amount of pervert and the bowling alleys are constantly full
I think the most likely explanation is the massive change in focus from Yoshida deciding Home was not worth the resources used or simply diverting support to other departments.
Also, do we have any current figures for how well it's doing?
I think the most likely explanation is the massive change in focus from Yoshida deciding Home was not worth the resources used or simply diverting support to other departments.
Also, do we have any current figures for how well it's doing?
Cruzader said:
Read Wasabi's comment. Wasabi makes a smartass comment about Home being from EU developers. poster your quoting takes offense as he's a EU developer and thinks Wasabi is painting a large brush with his smart ass comment.
Which, if you look at it, could be interpretative that way instead of being a jab at SCEE itself.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
What happened? The only guy with any real vision and experience in online persistent worlds was forced out and eventually left to do his own thing. An amazingly smart, switched on guy who would have turned it in to something a little more worthwhile than an advertising front and store.
Thems the breaks I guess.
Shoulda kept it as Getaway Online in retrospect, coulda been a neat game.
Thems the breaks I guess.
Shoulda kept it as Getaway Online in retrospect, coulda been a neat game.
Home is not that bad, is a great marketing space. The only thing that kills home for me is the load times, they can be a pain, sometimes I don't want to leave the apartment place because I know I will have to wait a good amount of time to enter another space.
Reminds me to PS1 era games. :lol
Reminds me to PS1 era games. :lol
Tylahedras
Banned
I think the last time I tried to go into home I waited through something like 15 loading screens (upates, started in the wrong room, etc) then finally got into a bowling ally bowled like one game (which I did enjoy) and then closed home and deleted it forever.
SolidusDave
Member
see5harp said:
uhm.. what do you mean by not being successful
SolidusDave said:uhm.. what do you mean by not being successful
Worth using is what I mean. If I have 100 hardcore PS3 gamers on my list, and more of them use "Life With Playstation," I'm going to go out on a limb and say that less than 1% PS3 exclusive gamers use Home on a regular basis. Shit is worthless. It's not even worth blogging about because because it's impossible to fan flames in this area anymore.
"God's Beard!"
Member
At this point Home is nothing more than a virtual chat room with a few games to play, littered with dozens real time ads. It also exists as a decent revenue source for Sony, i.e. Advertisers pay money and gamers pay $2-$5 for "clothes" and "furniture"
Who are these people that care so much about Home as to actually spend money on it? It doesn't matter, but they do exist. And for Sony that's reason enough to keep Home EXACTLY where it is (well, maybe they will add a few new zones but nothing major).
Sad but true.
Who are these people that care so much about Home as to actually spend money on it? It doesn't matter, but they do exist. And for Sony that's reason enough to keep Home EXACTLY where it is (well, maybe they will add a few new zones but nothing major).
Sad but true.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
I wasn't referring to Phil, but his departure certainly hasn't helped matters.
DaBargainHunta
Member
Home is an obnoxious abomination. I'm about to delete it, in fact.
Shareable videos with friends would've been a hook for me too, but when you consider that it would probably be limited to movies/shows purchased from the PSN store (which are also gimped because you can't back them up), even that loses its appeal fast.
Shareable videos with friends would've been a hook for me too, but when you consider that it would probably be limited to movies/shows purchased from the PSN store (which are also gimped because you can't back them up), even that loses its appeal fast.
Not sure why people think this is a "massive failure" other than the fact they do not even like it or use it. Sony is making money on Home like it or not, Microsoft sees this and now they have their own avatars that you can buy clothing for and people are buying it, so is the microsoft avatar thing a "massive failure" as well? People will buy virtual clothing for their avatars whether it is in Home, NXE or even in a game, Sony is just jumping on the bandwagon.
I like HOME because it is different, maybe I want to turn on my ps3, but not just to play a game or watch a movie or listen to the song, HOME is just another OPTION that the PS3 provides. Its funny how people mock the PS3 having a web browser, but at least it is an option just like HOME. Maybe I'll check out the Pixeljunk space or the uncharted 2 space for some amusement, its not like I am forced to use HOME when i want to play the PS3.
I think HOME is just the stepping stones to an even bigger online experience in the future of gaming.
Be honest, nothing would have "hooked you" HOME isn't your thing and that's about it.
Facebook and myspace are not my thing, I do not see the reason why they exist but does that make them an obnoxious abomination if i do not use them? would they be massive failures because I do not log into those websites? Not really. I would call the WikiReader a massive failure since no one would ever use it, but not something like HOME.
I like HOME because it is different, maybe I want to turn on my ps3, but not just to play a game or watch a movie or listen to the song, HOME is just another OPTION that the PS3 provides. Its funny how people mock the PS3 having a web browser, but at least it is an option just like HOME. Maybe I'll check out the Pixeljunk space or the uncharted 2 space for some amusement, its not like I am forced to use HOME when i want to play the PS3.
I think HOME is just the stepping stones to an even bigger online experience in the future of gaming.
DaBargainHunta said:
Be honest, nothing would have "hooked you" HOME isn't your thing and that's about it.
Facebook and myspace are not my thing, I do not see the reason why they exist but does that make them an obnoxious abomination if i do not use them? would they be massive failures because I do not log into those websites? Not really. I would call the WikiReader a massive failure since no one would ever use it, but not something like HOME.
bobs...onGaf
Member
It did seem a little ambitious when it was first announced - even apparent little things like trophys require extra artists, whos going to provide that the game makers or sony?
Either way after looking at a trophy once you would be bored :lol
Either way after looking at a trophy once you would be bored :lol
DaBargainHunta
Member
In its current incarnation, you're right. But if Sony delivered on what was actually promised, I might be more enthusiastic. The "Second Life" aspect probably still wouldn't interest me, but shared experiences like watching a movie with friends (and whatever else they could do like that) would be very cool. Unfortunately, there's none of that and Home is just a bloated failure. Like someone else said, maybe it was just too ambitious for this gen. Hopefully PS4 Home will be better, if it even happens (I have my doubts).neojubei said:
I NEED SCISSORS
Banned
Having to queue to play games was an awful awful idea, and proof that a simple menu often works best. That was my problem with Home at least.
ScrabbleBanshee
Member
The only home feature I want is to be able to get rid of the home icon off my XMB. I still hate that the photo app and home reside there even if you don't have them installed.
2 Minutes Turkish
Banned
The trophy room was the ONLY thing that seemed ok and semi-worthwhile and they didn't deliver :lol
Seriously a joke.
But no one wnated to listen when others were saying it would be a useless waste of bandwidth, and yet here we are.
I think the fact that people spend money in there is the freakiest part. "Let's spend money in the PS3 Second Life!".
smh.
The whole project was very ambitious in terms of what Sony WANTED, and what they could realistically pull off. That's it in a nutshell.
Seriously a joke.
But no one wnated to listen when others were saying it would be a useless waste of bandwidth, and yet here we are.
I think the fact that people spend money in there is the freakiest part. "Let's spend money in the PS3 Second Life!".
smh.
The whole project was very ambitious in terms of what Sony WANTED, and what they could realistically pull off. That's it in a nutshell.