This is tech that's been around for years, EyeToy Play on the PS2, EyePet on the PS3, my kids have been using it since the beginning.
But now that it's on the PS4, pre-installed on every unit, along with the ability to stream your antics to the rest of the world.... it's pretty obvious that it was about to take off in a major way, as was evident by Neogaf's participation in it.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=720512
Unfortunately, with this early popularity came the idiots. The ones who were only interested in breaking ToS and broadcasting nudity to the masses. Never stopping to think who might be watching, not giving a care in the world that children are on here.
Then came the trolls. Jumping from stream to stream, hurling insults, obscenities, racial slurs and anything that might potentially do someone harm.
Twitch responded in kind, removing The Playroom from its directory of games. Despite hundreds, if not thousands of streams being live at any given moment, a search on Twitch results in 0 streams found. This certainly keep the trolls away, but limits the potential viewership of these broadcasts, which sucks for the folks anxious to try out the new feature, but is likely a blessing in disguise as children are being kept from having to be cyber-bullied when they jump on their shiny new toys.
A few sneak through now and then, only to disappear from the search results a few moments later, despite the fact that they continue to broadcast.
http://www.twitch.tv/search?query=the+playroom#stq=the playroom&stp=1
Over on uStream, The Playroom is still live, but not many people are actually using it.
http://www.ustream.tv/search?q=THE+PLAYROOM&type=live
This is due to the fact that while the visual quality is fine, there is a 1-minute delay for comments being made to actually appear on the broadcasters screen, which makes communicating in real-time, difficult to say the least.
The Viewer counter is also broken on uStream, consistently failing to show the actual viewer count, often showing 0 viewers when anyone viewing from the site can see that this is incorrect.
So here we are today, and The Playroom has effectively been neutered completely through an internet browser. The only hope now lies in the fact that eventually, Sony may unlock the interact feature on the PS4 itself, which will allow you to comment and respond through the PS4, where all of the broadcasts can still be found.
Sony has already released free DLC in The Toymaker. This allows you to create your own objects for the characters on-screen to interact with. All in all, everyone that uses it seems to adore The Playroom. It's certainly succeeded in bringing the casual and hardcore gamers together in a way many of us didn't expect.
What are your thoughts on the software? On Twitch's decision process? On uStream's tech futility? Do you believe Sony is pleased with the result of this experiment? How do you think this will affect Microsoft's plans?
More importantly, why do people have to be such arseholes and ruin the fun for everyone else?
But now that it's on the PS4, pre-installed on every unit, along with the ability to stream your antics to the rest of the world.... it's pretty obvious that it was about to take off in a major way, as was evident by Neogaf's participation in it.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=720512
Unfortunately, with this early popularity came the idiots. The ones who were only interested in breaking ToS and broadcasting nudity to the masses. Never stopping to think who might be watching, not giving a care in the world that children are on here.
Then came the trolls. Jumping from stream to stream, hurling insults, obscenities, racial slurs and anything that might potentially do someone harm.
Twitch responded in kind, removing The Playroom from its directory of games. Despite hundreds, if not thousands of streams being live at any given moment, a search on Twitch results in 0 streams found. This certainly keep the trolls away, but limits the potential viewership of these broadcasts, which sucks for the folks anxious to try out the new feature, but is likely a blessing in disguise as children are being kept from having to be cyber-bullied when they jump on their shiny new toys.
A few sneak through now and then, only to disappear from the search results a few moments later, despite the fact that they continue to broadcast.
http://www.twitch.tv/search?query=the+playroom#stq=the playroom&stp=1
Over on uStream, The Playroom is still live, but not many people are actually using it.
http://www.ustream.tv/search?q=THE+PLAYROOM&type=live
This is due to the fact that while the visual quality is fine, there is a 1-minute delay for comments being made to actually appear on the broadcasters screen, which makes communicating in real-time, difficult to say the least.
The Viewer counter is also broken on uStream, consistently failing to show the actual viewer count, often showing 0 viewers when anyone viewing from the site can see that this is incorrect.
So here we are today, and The Playroom has effectively been neutered completely through an internet browser. The only hope now lies in the fact that eventually, Sony may unlock the interact feature on the PS4 itself, which will allow you to comment and respond through the PS4, where all of the broadcasts can still be found.
Sony has already released free DLC in The Toymaker. This allows you to create your own objects for the characters on-screen to interact with. All in all, everyone that uses it seems to adore The Playroom. It's certainly succeeded in bringing the casual and hardcore gamers together in a way many of us didn't expect.
What are your thoughts on the software? On Twitch's decision process? On uStream's tech futility? Do you believe Sony is pleased with the result of this experiment? How do you think this will affect Microsoft's plans?
More importantly, why do people have to be such arseholes and ruin the fun for everyone else?