The PlayStation 'HOME' Information Thread!

NokkonWud said:
It's still beta, a lot of users (more than they have) would likely knacker the servers. I'm happy waiting for a better final product.
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thing is though i have been waiting for a decent online system from sony for about 7 years now, its about time they launched it, xbox online owned ps2 online but ps2 got much more sales, 360 online owns ps3 online and their sales are climbing faster now, you would think with the 120 million ps2's they sold, they would have been ready for this, xbox online has been about for 8-9 years and it hasnt changed much in those 8-9 years, its always had the same sort of layout, same friends system, etc. but with the playstation their online system hasnt improved much in 7 years, it still the same crap.

is it so goddam hard to copy someone else?

car manufacturers and clothing retailers do it all the time.

Sony Team Member 1: oooh look xbox online is much better than ours what shall we do?
Sony Team Member 2: nothing
Sony Team Member 1: yeah we will do nothing until the new console has launched then start developing a new system, and then it will hopefully be made by the time the ps4 is.

i have been playing ps2 online since i was 15/16 if i remember correctly
been playing xbox online since i was 16/17

the best online game ever made on a console was socom 1 for the ps2, they ruined it when they made socom 2 and 3, the game that comes a close second to socom would be return to castle wolfenstein on xbox

but with todays games, warhawk should pip wolfenstein but socom was legendary, just imagine counterstrike source, but a hell of a lot better

but their system hasnt improved much in terms of online services since their first games that were launched, hell half of their games on ps2 online didnt even let you communicate by either keyboard or voice, socom was the only memorable one that did, destruction derby only let you talk in the lobby

in the 7/8 years i have been playing consoles online, all i have had is shoddy service from sony and a perfect service from xbox, i want things to change but its taking far too long

when will it actually be launched?

im guessing at next year sometime, or they may push for an early release for christmas
 
Psycho Sonny said:
in the 7/8 years i have been playing consoles online, all i have had is shoddy service from sony and a perfect service from xbox, i want things to change but its taking far too long
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So your fed up with a shoddy service but you want them to release Home in its beta state for all to use? Cause that'll really improve your experiance :p

Home will be out this year that is without doubt, I'm not quite sure its going to be what you seem to want though. Its not going to be reinventing the wheel when it comes to online play. The core multiplayer systems are not going to change.
 
andshrew said:
So your fed up with a shoddy service but you want them to release Home in its beta state for all to use? Cause that'll really improve your experiance :p

Home will be out this year that is without doubt, I'm not quite sure its going to be what you seem to want though. Its not going to be reinventing the wheel when it comes to online play. The core multiplayer systems are not going to change.
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having a beta is better than nothing, plus its optional download, you dont need to use it if you dont want to, i just wish they would have put more thought into their console, it cant even do AA in half of its games because it has to share memory, the design flaws are extremely poor especcially when they have made 2 previous best selling consoles, i dont know who came up with the ideas for the new console but they are extremely poor
 
Psycho Sonny said:
having a beta is better than nothing, plus its optional download, you dont need to use it if you dont want to, i just wish they would have put more thought into their console, it cant even do AA in half of its games because it has to share memory, the design flaws are extremely poor especcially when they have made 2 previous best selling consoles, i dont know who came up with the ideas for the new console but they are extremely poor
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They have nothing to gain from having an open beta at this stage but everything to loose. It will be much better for everyone if their first experiance of Home is the fully completed product rather than drip feeding it to the public over several months as updates and bug fixes.

As for the AA issue, your issue is with lazy developers who just want to make a quick port to cash in on their game. If the Sony developed games can manage AA and multi platform games developed togeather for both platform's can do AA then I can't see the issue as being anything but lazy developers.
 
A bit more info from Sonys Home talk today, notr no info on beta just updates and info for developers and current testers

Home Beta gets a significant update next week

Posted Feb 21st 2008 2:15PM by Jem Alexander

Wow, where to begin. We've just received an email detailing a huge update to the Home beta next week. The update will bring the version number to 0.8.3 (taking us ever closer to its release at v1.0.0) and the information comes from the beta message board on the official PlayStation site, so we're certain it's legit. There's a lot of stuff to go over, so we'll pick out the most interesting bits and paste the full patchlist after the break.

Improvements to the UI and graphics engine mean that Home will look much prettier and be more functional from here on out. You will be able to check who's online from your friends list as well as who is in Home right now. A bubble machine has been made available to all beta testers, to test the new "Home Items" system. Video streaming is now made possible too, so you don't have to wait for a video to download completely before watching it.

The most exciting part of the update is the unveiling of the Marketplace in the main square. The Marketplace is stocked with clothes and furniture as well as other, undisclosed, content. We can't wait to see what's there. Game launching is also now available, though it is currently limited. Games can be started within Home, however the party will not be automatically generated within the game. Also, players with different versions of a game (such as American or European) won't be able to start a game together. The patch notes clearly state, however, that this is only temporary and will be fixed before launch.

There's so much more included in the update, but we're running out of room! Check after the break to see the full patch list.

[Thanks John!]

New user interface

The UI has undergone a major change (our graphical artist calls the new interface "Home CS" [Home Chip System]) and it's not just there to look good; we also believe it improves the logical flow of your interactions.

Other UI changes include a new vector based font system that improves text clarity and improvements to a range of different icons (for example the loading icon under your character's feet now gives a sense of something happening).

Another nice addition is that people on your friends list in the virtual PSP are sorted by three different states: "Offline", "Online" and "Online in Home" - these are colour coded too.

The Virtual PSP has undergone considerable changes. We have changed the structure of the menus to try and make it easier and more logical to navigate. There are also new icons for all of the options and new backgrounds available to customise the look. In the past an option that was unavailable to you was simply invisible; but now the option will remain visible but be greyed out instead.

Finally when people on your friends list send text chat their name will appear in green in the chat log.

Major graphics engine changes

We now use an HDR approach to lighting and bloom so the glowing halos around bright objects have been toned down and things should look sharper overall. We've also improved the water shader so all of the water should look noticeably better. The new engine also provides more stable frame rates in very crowded areas.

Support for 1080p is also back.

The wardrobe

Character customisation has been unified under a new wardrobe system where both clothing and physical characteristics can be modified from the same place. Some of the key changes in this area include:

- The wardrobe is accessible from any location, not just your Home Space.
- A selection of pre-set characters is available with more coming.
- Jewellery is now available for both sexes.
- Improved the look of skin on all characters.
- Your avatar is well lit and has a mirror behind to make customisation much easier.
- The standard list of clothing has been reduced to our intended starting pack.
- More clothing is available from the new Marketplace (see below!).
- Save & Load! You can now save your character in 9 different setups.
- Extra clothing will be added soon to test our update system.

The Marketplace

The mystery building in Home Square can now be revealed and it's not a Flamingo Factory as US tester NO FEAR!! recently guessed.

In the Marketplace you'll find stores with all sorts of things for you to add to your character and Home Space such as clothing, furniture and even... well, why not explore it yourself.

Home Space

Not only have we improved the view from your balcony but we have also added a whole new Home Space for you to test - it is available from the Marketplace. Welcome to your very own summer house.

Another change is that our intended starting pack of furniture is now available for your Home Space. This is quite different from what you had available before. More furniture is available from the Marketplace and extra furniture will added in the coming weeks to test our update system.

Both the lamps available as furniture for your Home Spaces now have working light switches. These dynamically light your space and guests in your space can also turn your lights on and off.

Finally we've moved the entry point to your Home Space in Home Square back inside the building in front of the lifts so you have access to the seating areas either side.

Game Launching

Many of the problems that stopped Game Launching from working properly have been fixed; however there are still some temporary issues that you need to know about before you try it:

- Groups formed in PLAYSTATION® Home for Game Launching are not currently preserved into the game. This means that you can all get together and form a group but when you launch the game you will not arrive in a session together. It will not stay like this - we are working with game developers to integrate full support for Game Launching into a range of games. However as stated before, we really wanted to get an early version of Game Launching out so that you could test the menu functionality and see how it works for you within PLAYSTATION® Home.

- Game Launching currently only supports grouping up if you have identical versions of the same game. For example the EU and US versions of Motorstorm may not work together at the moment and there may be problems between the installed and disc version of Warhawk. Again it will not stay like this and eventually all versions of the same game will work together properly.

New streaming video system

Previously to watch a video you would have to download the whole thing before it would start to play. We've now changed to a streaming video system which allows you to start watching almost straight away. Additionally the Home Theatre has some new streaming video channels in it courtesy of Crackle. Once inside an auditorium here you can get more information on what you are watching and control playback by pressing the SQUARE button.

Regional support

Whilst the legalities, policies and practicalities of regional travel are addressed we have temporarily disabled the ability to switch between the European, US and Japanese regions via your virtual PSP.

Support for more languages has been added bringing our complete list up to: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, traditional Chinese and Korean.

Home items

We needed a way to test our new Home items system and therefore we are proud to present our first one... (Drum roll)... the bubble machine! You can find it in your virtual PSP under Personal> My Inventory�. Place it down anywhere you like and blow some bubbles.

Sound system update

A lot of new sound effects have been added throughout PLAYSTATION® Home and we have also made some changes to voice communication so that it should be more stable with large groups of people.

Bug fixes

- Fixed the problem where you could appear in a location and some other characters there would be invisible.
- Fixed the floating pool balls.
- Fixed the levitating avatars.
- Fixed the issue that led to C967 errors.
- Fixed the inconsistencies between the view inside and outside different locations.
- Fixed the positioning of the PSP in your character's hand
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For a quick update, one key feature that the new PlayStation Home tools will allow for is the ability for developers to create custom clothing, furniture, and avatar heads for Home users. An example could be having an unlockable Sweet Tooth head from Twisted Metal for your Home character. Although, any heads created by developers will be static and will not be customizable by users. Other features shown include scene tools for creating private and public spaces and how to create a menu system for Home users to jump from Home into multiplayer games.


Update #2

Developers will be allowed to create Home Interactive Items. The first item shown was something called a "Bubble Machine" which users can pull out using their in-game PSP menu and drop on the ground. Other items talked about included a virtual camera, tv remotes, and footballs. Developers can produce items to both sell or giveaway. Also items in the game can be interactive (such as the football which uses Home physics) and be picked up and dropped. Items can have animations, collision, and audio. (Developer shows images, inlcuding a scene with 20-30 Home users dancing with Bubble machines all around)
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more info and fuzzy images (lol) in the link
http://www.psu.com/GDC--PlayStation-Home-Tools-and-Details-News--a0002832-p0.php
 
Psycho - You realise of course that the original Xbox was launched 4 years before the X360 - so by my reconning thats around October 2001

This means according to you, you were using Xbox online before the xbox was launched - thats pretty clever , you must be a remarkable chap:D
 
Nanoman said:
PSN is also a free service. If youre happy paying M$ £40 for in-game messaging then I can see the advantage.
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I promise not to do my usual tirade..

IMO, that is in my opinion, not fact, :)

I think MS should 'learn' from Sony and attempt to make Live free, or certainly reduce the price.....

And I think Sony should learn from MS and provide what to me are the basics of 'LIVE'

From my personal perspective, again, I stress the word 'personal', it feels like both sides have this stupid 'pride' thing going on..

For example SONY refuse to pay up and allow rumble on the controllers saying it's because gamers don't want it, yet we all know it was the law suit and they caved in the end.
MS refuse to put a HD media drive in the 360, saying customers don't want it, but then bring an add-on out..
Sony refuse to just copy only the basics of Live
MS refuse to give us live for free..
MS will no doubt refuse to do 'HOME' if it takes off as people are suggesting.

I can understand that there is an element of personal pride on both sides, that's clear, but it really isn't good business practise is it?
 
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wyrdo said:
Because that's all Live does, right?
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mostly :p - ingame message spam central, lol, just gone back on LIVE myself and 1st thing you noticed is the constant logging in and game invite messages. Not a bad thing as you feel part of the community all the time whilst on LIVE but can be annoying - where as with PSN it feels barren which hopefully HOME will sort out to some extent
 
I'll be the first to agree that I think Live is way overpriced these days but to just blindly say all it offers over the PSN is in game messaging is just ridiculous and naive.

I'm quite looking forward to seeing what Home has to offer but I'm still unsure about the whole sims/whatever thing they have going on. I'll reserve judgment till I can actually get my hands on it.
 
Some very cool new home news if true,

While Home for the PlayStation 3 may have generated plenty of buzz for Sony at last year's Game Developers Conference, its late arrival and the setting in of reality may have made it put a damper on the hype surrounding the service. We've had our doubts that Home may ultimately be nothing more than a prettier Second Life, a glorified 3D chat room, one that only makes getting to the games we actually want to play a bit of a chore. But we've recently learned some very interesting things about how three first-party published games will take advantage of Home's features that have us very excited.

One of the first games expected to shine in one of Home's series of game portals is Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man. Resistance is said to provide Home visitors with an interesting room to explore, one that will let PlayStation 3 owners visit unseen areas of the game and tap into bonus content in the form of "intercepted" radio communications between European and U.S. forces.

These hidden transmissions will help to flesh out the Resistance story, giving players a better understanding of the game's conflict. We hear that Home avatars will have free roam of unpopulated levels, not unlike a virtual Resistance museum.

As interesting as these plans are to Resistance fans like us, they're not as impressive as what we've heard about what Home in store for Warhawk and Uncharted. Stay tuned.
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While Resistance: Fall of Man's integration with Home should have bonus content fans excited, old school run-and-gun shooter fans should be pretty pumped about what they may be getting with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune's contribution. We hear that the Home portal for Naughty Dog's PlayStation 3 adventure will follow in Resistance's footsteps, allowing Home avatars to explore the game's levels without the threat of being shot at, a nice feature. But it's the Uncharted mini-game that has us far more pumped.

According to our sources, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune comes to Home armed with a side-scrolling 2D arcade game, described to us as reminiscent of both Contra and Out Of This World. Sounds kind of like Capcom's 2D remake of Bionic Commando in its execution, full of enemies and exploding barrels to shoot.

Sony is apparently pitching features like these to developers to extend the lives of their titles, using strong first and second party development showcases to prove that Home can effectively market outside of traditional means. We hope they take them up on their offer, because we're definitely excited about the prospects.
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Uncharted and Resistance may have wicked cool feature sets for PlayStation Home, it's actually Warhawk's planned game portal that has us most excited. According to our sources, the Home lobby for the Incognito dogfighter will serve as a "war room" where up to eight players can meet to discuss their strategy for an upcoming match. Sure, you could do that with text or voice chat, but it sounds like the developers have gone the extra mile to make planning your battles even cooler.

Using a three-dimensional "sand table" replication of the level, Warhawk players are said to be able to lay out their strategies in a properly scaled space. They'll even be able to place little army men avatars around the map to envision their formations, something we hope they can also do with teeny tiny Warhawk planes, tanks and Jeeps.

The Warhawk war room is said to also serve as a launchpad for games, thankfully, so jumping into a match shouldn't require leaving the Home interface.

This is one of the coolest additions, in my personal opinion, to come to Home and the kind of thing that we hope is replicated and improved upon by other developers for their team-based titles.
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Some quite different ideas there and i like them lol, some of the new vids for home look quite cool as well.
 
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3d replica of the map your about to play in warhawk sounds immense, clan can sit around the table in the ' war room ' and figure out the strategies for the upcoming game.


If this is an example of what Home can do and Sony's different approach to community and online play, they have begun to show a very different and exciting direction compared to live.
 
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