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PlayStation Home on the Xross Media Bar

Global lounges allow you to chat and interface with others
A developer Q&A reveals new details on PlayStation Home

Phil Harrison revealed to the world last week PlayStation Home, which Sony describes as “a meeting place for PlayStation 3 users from around the world, where they can interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share content, and even build and show off their own personal spaces.”

At his GDC keynote, Harrison revealed that PlayStation Home will be a free service going into beta starting April will a full scale launch in the fall. Through a Sony developer document (PDF), however, we have learned that there will be three phases to rollout of PlayStation home.

A closed beta will run from April to August with approximately 15,000 users. In August, the beta will then open to accommodate an additional 35,000 users and will run until October, when the service is expected to officially launch. Sony has not yet revealed how it will select users to be a part of its beta test.

Sony developers are aiming for the initial download to be under 500MB, and that subsequent downloads will “hopefully integrate a streaming method that makes [downloads] negligible.” It’s unclear at this point if other downloads, such as software updates and game demos will also make use of streaming or background downloads.

PlayStation Home is touted as a dynamic environment, where users have a great level of control over content. Sony says that it plans to update Home on a weekly basis with content from first and third party publishers, non-game brands (likely to be ad sponsors) and users themselves.

Additional items to customize Home Spaces and avatars will be “developed continually” in a flow of downloads and updates for users. Seasonal items for special events such as Christmas and Halloween will be made available for a limited time.

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What am I missing?
By Snoop on 3/12/2007 11:15:27 PM , Rating: 1
3d chat for a video game console.... Does anyone else think this sounds really stupid? What is the point of this? Maybe guys in Japan like 'hanging at the virtual bar' talking shit, but in the US that is really gay.




RE: What am I missing?
By Mithan on 3/12/2007 11:33:43 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, but people seem to like gay things these days.


RE: What am I missing?
By giantpandaman2 on 3/13/2007 12:33:57 AM , Rating: 3
Actually, this is a way to bring people from the mass market into Playstation fold. What do I mean? Get a woman to play on the Wii, or Second Life, or The Sims, what do they do? Build things. Make Mii's. Buy outfits. Build houses. That sort of thing. While guys tend to prefer straight up functionality (a la XboxLive) women tend to prefer a place to congregate, chat, etc. Just look at how much time girls spend fixing up their MySpace sites. Hell, look at how womencentric stores/places are laid out compared to mancentric spaces.

Does that mean this is going to be successful? I doubt it. The price is far too expensive for casual gamers. It's a ridiculously high price of entry as well as the PS3's natural "only hardcore guys" use it.

Ultimately, if Sony were to port this to PC, if Sony were to target women and men try it (pack ins with electronics or partnerships with fashion vendors etc.), if Sony were to see this as a way to create a larger marketplace than the PS3 only, it might work, and work big. I mean, could you imagine, say, the GAP having storefronts in a virtual space, the ability to use real measurements, dress up a mannequin or even use your own picture and the power of the PS3 to "dress yourself" online? Now, as a guy that means nothing to me, but if you have a significant female other, suddenly $100's of dollars on a PS3 might not be as bad. Playing on "home" with a pc, checking out stuff, and then getting the idea that one could do the same thing on a PS3 on a big screen tv, might make it easier for guys to convince their ladies to buy a PS3 as a joint buy.

Ultimately, though, all those if's add up to Sony not doing any of that. Home won't mean squat to 99% of hardcore gamers-and, at the current price, that's the only audience that is buying a PS3.

Good idea, wrong company. If MS decided to try this, combined with MSN, LiveAnywhere, and their domination of computers, it might work. But Sony? Unfortunately they don't have the right connections or resources. (By resources, I don't mean money, talking programmers, PC market penetration, etc.)

What do I know, though, maybe Sony's got it all figured out. For now, however, I'll stick to just having fun on my Wii.


RE: What am I missing?
By ElJefe69 on 3/13/2007 11:02:50 AM , Rating: 2
yeah, the Sims outsell and shit that men buy. Women play more video games than men, been shown for years now to be true. THey just dont play fancy games. Mostly web free games + things like the Sims.

this will be huge.


RE: What am I missing?
By rabbitfury on 3/13/2007 3:47:55 PM , Rating: 2
Man for gamers you sure are ill informed. The idea is not revolutionary in any means. There's an online community called Second Life. Look into it and I GUARANTEE YOU, you will see "Home". Impossible you say? Linden Labs open sourced the code for Second Life in February and NOW PS3 is coming out with this "gaming revolution" home? Hey Sony next time change the colors and button scheme to interfaces you try to claim as your own


RE: What am I missing?
By giantpandaman2 on 3/13/2007 3:56:18 PM , Rating: 2
You did notice I actually mentioned Second Life in my post right? I actually have friends who play it.

*shrugs*


RE: What am I missing?
By Ralph The Magician on 3/12/2007 11:36:10 PM , Rating: 3
Actually, if done *right* it could be really cool. It can serve as a lobby for finding multiplayer games. The idea has the potential to offer something that we haven't seen in a long time...since the days of the MSN Gaming Zone. A centralized gaming service with lobbies.

Think of it as a very updated version of the MSN Gaming Zone, with some aspects of The Sims. It really could be great.

Hopefully they take the time to fix some of the other broken aspects of the PS3 online experience with their 500MB download.

The question is, has Sony been working on this all along? Is there some substance behind this idea, or is this something they threw together at the last board meeting? Can they actually pull it off and do it right, the first time? Personally, I have my doubts, but if they can pull it off, and keep it free, it could be awesome. Sadly, I suspect this is something that they just threw together at the last board meeting, and the video we saw is nothing more than concept art created by some art studio. I hope I'm wrong.


RE: What am I missing?
By vtohthree on 3/13/2007 3:24:03 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
3d chat for a video game console.... Does anyone else think this sounds really stupid? What is the point of this? Maybe guys in Japan like 'hanging at the virtual bar' talking shit, but in the US that is really gay.


No offense, but that's a really absurd comment, "but in the US that is really gay". Taking into your context, haven't you heard of the SIMS??? And all of it's derivatives, you speak as if the Japanese are into hanging in virtual rooms, but here in the US, we've been hanging out in virtual "bars" longer than the Japanese have, sadly to say.


RE: What am I missing?
By absorboloff on 3/13/2007 3:39:37 AM , Rating: 2
It has the possibility of working.. but I want to know how they intend to do all this chatting.. voice will be hard to co-ordinate with so many people, it will just be a load of noise, unless they can sort it so that you can only hear people in your immediate area, but then you have to walk around the room ear wigging to find out if you want to talk to anyone... and typing with a controller is just insulting!

In reply to the fact this isn't popular, have you heard of secondlife? They have over 4.5million residents, of which about half are from the US! and a NOT all female!

But that said, adding Home to PS3 does not making it more appealing. The PS3 is just too expensive, and has the posibility of being so poor that I'm going to wait and see for a few years... if it bombs, I win! if not.. there are loads of games available, all the bugs are sorted, and it will have dropped in price... I win!


RE: What am I missing?
By Funksultan on 3/13/2007 8:23:05 AM , Rating: 1
Use just a little imagination. You can filter chat, state parameters for who's chat you want to see (friends, people who have 'xxx' game, all, etc). Hell, for that matter, I'm sure a wireless headset and 'voicechat with this avatar' option are already in the works.

Don't be fooled into looking at a screenshot and thinking that's the end product. Trust me, this is only the beginning. There are huge possibilities that this opens up down the road.

Email client
Integrated computer IM for chatting with PS3 users
Shopping on a different level
...

<rant>
Demand for the PS3 is just warming up, everyone just needs to relax and let it happen. Christ, it's like when the Apple II came out, with it's 3 programs, and everyone couldn't understand why it was so great. The PS3 is a PLATFORM. If they were to release another great feature for it via free download and update every month, how long before people would start to think it's a good deal? NEVER?!? Investing in a long term platform for -some- people, is looking towards the future, instead of the present. There's nothing wrong with the people who can only see what's in front of them. If the PS3 (or 360, Wii) reach that point where the software is enough to tip the scales, then they'll buy it.

The PS3 is still a little kid. Stop bitching that he can't dunk a basketball. Give him the same year that the 360 had, and he'll be soaring like... er... (who's good nowdays? Kobe? T-Mac? Whatever.. you get the point).
</rant>


RE: What am I missing?
By Chaser on 3/13/2007 10:17:56 AM , Rating: 1
Thank you.


RE: What am I missing?
By ElJefe69 on 3/13/2007 11:05:35 AM , Rating: 2
there is no way that adults find xbox appealing. I mean real adults who dont game. A ps3 that opens a universe when they come from work or that plays their blu-rays on their 5 thousand dollar tv set, that is appealing.


Price....
By isorfir on 3/13/2007 7:51:21 AM , Rating: 3
All I ever hear about the PS3 is its price, but when I compare it to its closest competitor, it’s not a bad deal. After attempting to make the Xbox 360 capable of what the PS3 can do, it’s more expensive ($399 System + $99 wireless + $199 HD Player = $697). Add on a year of Xbox live and you’re even more over budget.

So that being clarified, stop using price as an argument concerning PlayStation Home. Will people buy a PS3 just for a 3D chat room? I wouldn’t think so, but considering it’s free it’s not a bad addition.




RE: Price....
By BMFPitt on 3/13/2007 8:18:05 AM , Rating: 2
You can put a $10,000 sound system into a $5,000 car. The point is, you shouldn't go to a dealer and only have the choice of cars that have one preinstalled. I strongly prefer to game on a wired connection and don't feel any need for Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) until I can buy movies for $20-25 or less.

Add on the cost of XBox Live and I won't disagree in any way, but it'll still take 4 years to make up the difference in initial cost. And I'm not so confident the PS3 will be ain a good market position 4 years from now.


RE: Price....
By bplewis24 on 3/13/2007 10:14:15 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
and don't feel any need for Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) until I can buy movies for $20-25 or less.


High Def movies can already be had for $20-25. Not all, mind you, but for example if you go to bestbuy.com right now you'll see that roughly 40% of their stock of blu-ray movies is $24.99. If you go on amazon.com they're even less.

Brandon


Sony BMG Spyware
By Ranandar on 3/13/2007 12:34:02 PM , Rating: 2
I'm sorry, but isn't this the same company that destroyed many home computers with their copy protect CD rootkit software? How soon we forget! Excuse me while I avoid all Sony products like bulldogs with aids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy...




RE: Sony BMG Spyware
By michal1980 on 3/13/07, Rating: -1
RE: Sony BMG Spyware
By Teletran1 on 3/13/2007 2:00:59 PM , Rating: 2
Vista anyone?


sweet
By michal1980 on 3/12/07, Rating: -1
RE: sweet
By michal1980 on 3/13/07, Rating: 0
RE: sweet
By Flunk on 3/13/2007 9:38:22 AM , Rating: 2
It's because it adds nothing to the topic. You're supposed to express an opinion or reveal additonal information in these comments. A "me too" post like yours above is just a waste of space.

Note that this post is not as big a waste of space because I am expressing my opinion on worthless posts.