Playstation Home, Wii Weather, XBOX Live Video = Extra Fluff?

[jkam]

Does anyone else feel that playstation home adds up to nothing more than extra fluff? I agree with Wombat on the CAGcast when he talks about having a gaming machine being a game machine and nothing more hardware wise. Home looks (to me) to be the software equivalent to our extra media features with our new consoles. Although some would argue that added functonality is a good thing and doesn't take away from anything....I see it more as a distraction and misplaced energy.

It could also be because I've never been intrested in the Sims, Animal Crossing, or Second Life but it doesn't really seem all that amazing to me. I think there is also something to be said about the ease of use of XBOX LIVE. It's straight and to the point and it works the way it should (well most of the time :))

So do people really look for human interaction in a virtual world over the real thing? I just want my console to play good games and my online games to work the way they should. Thoughts?

[derder]

no, stop bashing free stuff

[jkam]

no, stop bashing free stuff

I'm not bashing, but in my opinion I'm not excitied for it...and if you do think its great give me some reasons why you think it is.

[Apossum]

Not at all.

It's functionality isn't extraneous, though maybe the whole look is. have you read about it much? it's really there to be an interface for games like Xbox Live, but with more features. Sure, you can run around in main part, but that's also where you meet up with friends, pick PSN games to play, view achievements, watch movies etc. It's basically an MMO lobby with a lot of extra features. I don't think it has anything to do with interacting in the virtual world vs. the real world (just like xbox live friends sometimes aren't your actual friends that you'll meet in the real world.) It's just a very cool menu.

I think it's great and it looks like a lot more fun than a text menu interface. It's not going to be complicated to figure out, since everybody who owns the system has to use it. It's also very stylish and alive, rather than Xbox Live's interface. It'll evolve over time, so it'll be interesting to see what all they put in there over the next few years. I'm sure they'll incorporate a lot of minigames right into it to play with your avatar in addition to what's already planned (pool, bowling.) hopefully those will be free.

Sure, a normal "Xbox live" type interface through the XMB would be functional, but with all the horsepower in the PS3, might as well put it towards something that will really blow people away. it'll be a great change of pace that really elevates the PS3's interface above the others. I guarantee the next Xbox Live set up (next gen) will be in response to and heavily influenced by Home.

[gaelan]

Sony has a great reputation for quality electronics hardware.

software and its integration? not so much...

i'll admit its quality when its in the living room delivering the experience. i'm not going to fall in love over a tech demo given at a keynote.

[Apossum]

Sony has a great reputation for quality electronics hardware.

software and its integration? not so much...

i'll admit its quality when its in the living room delivering the experience. i'm not going to fall in love over a tech demo given at a keynote.

good point. I should add that my post falls under the presumption that it's not going to suck somehow :lol:

[Roufuss]

Why is this JUST targeted at Playstation Home? The Wii adds more extra fluff to a console then I've ever seen, yet no one is complaining there? I mean, I love the weather channel, but do we really need it, and a news channel, and an everybody votes channel? Those things are praised and anticipated.

I get what you're writing, which is "I want my consoles to be consoles", but why just target the Playstation 3?

Hell, even 360 and Xbox Live has a lot of extra fluff to it, if you look at the downloadable movie aspect of it.

Extra fluff is something real on all three consoles... I kinda get the vibe the title is just to get more replies and more people looking since these boards are largely anti Sony (I'm not saying you are, though).

[saadman]

At least you can sort of do stuff with the Wii "fluff". I mean Playstation Home is like.....great lets go look at Jimmy's high score........do I really care? No.

[ArthurDigbySellers]

While I'm not going to knock free stuff, fluff or not fluff, I will say this. This better not be the only way to interact with other players and meet up to play games. There better be a XMB interface that does the same thing. "Walking" around a virtual world might be cool to just dick around with, but I sure as hell don't want to have to repeat it everytime I want to play multiplayer with some friends.

If it is just a 3D alternative to a more traditional system, I'm all for it. If it is going to be mandatory, screw that. You know that it is going to be an ad filled, non-stop commercial.

[jkam]

Why is this JUST targeted at Playstation Home? The Wii adds more extra fluff to a console then I've ever seen, yet no one is complaining there? I mean, I love the weather channel, but do we really need it, and a news channel, and an everybody votes channel? Those things are praised and anticipated.

I get what you're writing, which is "I want my consoles to be consoles", but why just target the Playstation 3?

Hell, even 360 and Xbox Live has a lot of extra fluff to it, if you look at the downloadable movie aspect of it.

Extra fluff is something real on all three consoles... I kinda get the vibe the title is just to get more replies and more people looking since these boards are largely anti Sony (I'm not saying you are, though).

No No I definitely agree...I don't need the Wii Weather, Everbody Votes, or News Channel either. As for XBOX Live I agree too...its ususally the console Wombat mentions when he says he wants just a game console :) so I indirectly pointed to that. Topic changed.

[jkam]

Not at all.

I think it's great and it looks like a lot more fun than a text menu interface. It's not going to be complicated to figure out, since everybody who owns the system has to use it. It's also very stylish and alive, rather than Xbox Live's interface. It'll evolve over time, so it'll be interesting to see what all they put in there over the next few years. I'm sure they'll incorporate a lot of minigames right into it to play with your avatar in addition to what's already planned (pool, bowling.) hopefully those will be free.



See but this is exactly what I don't like about it. It puts more in the way for me. I just want to get in play a game and bypass all this.

[lordwow]

I think some things are, for example, Wii Weather and News are extra fluff.

But other extra stuff isn't bad. I mean, as far as Live Video goes, nobody's really forcing you to buy it. Just like you don't have to use a headset. If people want to see people when they play, then it's not extra fluff, it's something they can buy the cam for.

Playstation Home does seem fluffy to me, I think it's a marketing ploy to get more people interested in the console.

[Apossum]

See but this is exactly what I don't like about it. It puts more in the way for me. I just want to get in play a game and bypass all this.


I'm sure it won't completely overwrite the XMB. so I guess anything but a basic text interface is unnecessary? should there even be a menu or should systems go back to "pop in a disc and play" in your opinion?

for people who like extra stuff, PS3 seems like it'll be the best "fluff" of the three consoles, especially if you include the blu-ray player (which will become more relevant as the system ages...)

[Vinny]

Sony has a great reputation for quality electronics hardware.


They do...?:O

I don't think those ideas are necessarily bad. But if they think that'll help their chances in the console race, they're nuts.

[daroga]

While Home seems like it could be cool, I can't imagine why people during GDC were saying, "YES SONY IS BACK!" It has about as much mass-market appeal as the Everyone Votes Channel on the Wii or the news channel. I've been getting my news in an easier format for years via the web; I jumped onto a 3D Chat program when I first got the internet in 1994, which looked remarkably similar to home.

Some people may enjoy Home and that's cool, but for me I know how it would just become completely cumbersome in about 10 minutes. Give my a slick OS like the Wii's channel system any day (the 360 OS is alright, though a little clunky too).

But yes, it is all extra stuff that we don't need. However, as long as it's actually extra and not taking away from game development I don't see a problem. And as long as the consoles are built and used as a game console first and as the extras a distant second (something Sony really botched with the PSP), I think everything will be fine.

[Apossum]

While Home seems like it could be cool, I can't imagine why people during GDC were saying, "YES SONY IS BACK!" It has about as much mass-market appeal as the Everyone Votes Channel on the Wii or the news channel.



:lol: the news and everyone votes channels were probably the most left-field ideas of any of the 3 systems. you show someone the news channel and they'll wonder why the hell you'd go through the trouble of powering up a system for it. same goes for the weather channel.
I think the "sims" factor of home will attract a wide audience, as it's integrated with the system's features and not just tacked on and useless.

the "sony is back" stuff comes from the fact that home looks like a more robust and interesting offering than either of the other two systems.

then again, when it was just the XMB, the line was "the PS3 is so barebones" and now it's "Home is too much" :lol:

[Puffa469]

This extra fluff is not for me, or you, or any gamer.

Its for our girlfriends and wives, and parents, family, and friends.

[whoknows]

At least you can sort of do stuff with the Wii "fluff". I mean Playstation Home is like.....great lets go look at Jimmy's high score........do I really care? No.
You obviously have no idea what features HOME is going to offer.

[Rodimus]

I don't own a PS3 or 360 so I'm not 100% sure what features they have, With that said I do consider some of the Wii Channels fluff. The voting channel is weak, and the news and weather channels are nice, but I work at a T.V. station and I get all the news/ wheather I need there. Do the Wii owners here use these channels?

[rodeojones903]

Playstation Home does seem fluffy to me, I think it's a marketing ploy to get more people interested in the console.

EVERYTHING is a marketing ploy to sell systems. Nintendo didnt put the weather channel just because. They hope it appeals to a casual audience.

[Milkyman]

I think its too early to judge. Sony has a habit of over promising so it's best to wait until beta begins. hopefully development on home isn't taking away from fixing the psn issues and hopefully all the matchmaking and stuff will be able to be done from a menu based interface in addition to home so people who dont want to live the sony life dont have to.

[ryanbph]

it is added value to products that we already own...someone will like each one of the things listed in the topic title...some people will enjoy the ps home interface, some like the ability to DL tv shows on xbox live (cheapy has said he wanted it as he doesn't get the usa movie released at the same time, i haven't really heard him say if he uses it much after it took a long time to DL), and somebody will use the weather channel.

[crystalklear64]

I happen to like that extra fluff. Not for myself, but for other who use the Wii. My family (parents, grandparents) love being able to use the Wii remote from their comfy couches and check the weather, news, and they really enjoy the everyone votes channel. So, for some its a good thing to have. I, on the other hand, haven't played my Wii for about a month or 2 so that stuff holds no draw for me whatsoever.

The bottom line is, its free, it isn't limiting me in any way, why the hell would I oppose extra fluff?

This extra fluff is not for me, or you, or any gamer.

Its for our girlfriends and wives, and parents, family, and friends.
Exactly. Anything to get my GF and older relatives more interested in tech stuff is good for me.

[Rodimus]

Exactly. Anything to get my GF and older relatives more interested in tech stuff is good for me.

Video games is my hobby, I don't want my wife getting into games with me (Then we'd be just another nerdy couple, and I'm enough nerd for the both of us.) Plus it'd get too mainstream and then I wouldn't be a rebel. But I guess it's a plus if you have parents that are into games so they can foot the bill. But once you're outta the house and on your own, that fluff is just extra junk you'll never use, like right now...... for me.

[daroga]

:lol: the news and everyone votes channels were probably the most left-field ideas of any of the 3 systems. you show someone the news channel and they'll wonder why the hell you'd go through the trouble of powering up a system for it. same goes for the weather channel.
I think the "sims" factor of home will attract a wide audience, as it's integrated with the system's features and not just tacked on and useless.

the "sony is back" stuff comes from the fact that home looks like a more robust and interesting offering than either of the other two systems.

then again, when it was just the XMB, the line was "the PS3 is so barebones" and now it's "Home is too much" :lol:I just don't see anyone caring about Home, save for people who've already gotten a PS3 and want something new to play with. Home will be something neat for people who decide to buy one, but it won't be Home that sells it to them. It's fluff; it's not a killer app. I just doubt people plunking down $600 for Home when other (likely more robust) options exisit in The Sims, Animal Crossing, et al. Of course, I've been wrong before. I'll come in here and eat my hat if once Home takes off the PS3 destroys everything in its path. ;)

I'd have to imagine that the people saying "XMB is barebones" and saying "Home is too much" are not the same people. I've used the XMB setup in both the PS3 and PSP and think it's pretty darn slick, somewhere in between the Wii's OS and the 360's. The Wii's OS is so great in large part because of it's sleek design and the controller. Not having to click the analog stick through 3 pages and 16 options is nice; just point and launch. It works far better than I ever thought it would.

[jkam]

should there even be a menu or should systems go back to "pop in a disc and play" in your opinion?


Well actually that would be awesome. One of my favorite things about the DS is that its so fast to get into a game. You can make the game boot before the menu which is a great option....does the 360 have that? I should look at the options. It's all these little things that just take up time that aren't necessary.

It wasn't until the playstation generation that we even saw loading times too. That is one of the reasons I bought more 3rd party games for my CUBE than my PS2. My test for loading times was POP Sands of Time and the CUBE was much faster. Minimal to some but I don't have the time to wait around for my game to reload. I felt as if the PS2 version took me out of the experience because after dying the load screen would take forever.

Home (to me) is just a Sims type of game in a console that I'm not interested in anyway. It's nice to have choices but to me its extra fluff.

I realize to some it is a welcomed extra...that's why I wanted to hear what people thought :)

[Apossum]

I just don't see anyone caring about Home, save for people who've already gotten a PS3 and want something new to play with. Home will be something neat for people who decide to buy one, but it won't be Home that sells it to them. It's fluff; it's not a killer app. I just doubt people plunking down $600 for Home when other (likely more robust) options exisit in The Sims, Animal Crossing, et al. Of course, I've been wrong before. I'll come in here and eat my hat if once Home takes off the PS3 destroys everything in its path. ;)

I'd have to imagine that the people saying "XMB is barebones" and saying "Home is too much" are not the same people. I've used the XMB setup in both the PS3 and PSP and think it's pretty darn slick, somewhere in between the Wii's OS and the 360's. The Wii's OS is so great in large part because of it's sleek design and the controller. Not having to click the analog stick through 3 pages and 16 options is nice; just point and launch. It works far better than I ever thought it would.


I think this is where the comparisons are off-- it's less Sims/Animal Crossing than it is just another OS for the system. On the surface, sure, you get to choose your look and design your place, but I don't think you'll be doing any weeding or errands for Tom Nook in Home. i sure as hell i hope not :lol:

You mostly use the avatars for pre-game stuff. like instead of sending voice messages across XBL for a half hour just to organize and plan a game to meet up in, you just say "come to server blah blah and blah blah" and discuss it there. then there's the whole avatar minigame aspect, which I hope will offer a bunch of fun pick-up-and-play games and basic sports.

other than that, it's basically a very fancy menu that adds functions that make it on par or more full featured than xbox live. I have to disagree that it won't be a big selling point. Maybe it won't for hardcore gamers who can see it for what it really is, but normal people are taken by these kinds of things. I have a hard time imagining a huge rollout like this will slip through the cracks--they'll advertise the hell out of it, have it on kiosks, etc. it's basically the "real" launch of the ps3. I guess we'll see though.

Home (to me) is just a Sims type of game in a console that I'm not interested in anyway.

I think the distinction I made up there ^ is important. it's really not a sims-type game. it's just an OS in the style of the sims with some superficial sims aspects.

Other than that, I basically like it because it's a big step in the right direction for the PS3 (and will probably have a large effect on next gen OS' for other systems, if it's a big hit.) I'm definitely not an old school gamer. I like having an HD in my console and don't mind load times if it's a small trade off for advanced everything in a system. I like some older games and get on an old school kick every once in a while, I wish there were more 2D games with sprites being made, but I'm into the newer stuff mostly, so this is right up my alley. Things like Home are kinda like the cherry on top for staying interested in current gaming.

[daroga]

If it's less of a game and more of an actual shell of an OS, that sounds even worse than it did before. Why on earth would I want to wait for this extra stuff to load, and then have to walk my character upstairs to where the "game system" is just to launch the disc that's in the system already? You've taken a 2 second process and turned into quite the wait. It's the same reason I'm more than happy to buy the VC games rather than have them unlocked in Animal Crossing for the Cube. The cumbersome nature of that setup simply isn't worth it.

But that's just for me; certainly not saying it won't be a hit. I just can't imagine that it will. It's not that the setup won't be neat or have some cool aspects, but somehow I doubt either the Dashboard on the 360 or the Miis on the Wii really sold the system--something neat if you already had it, but certainly not a system seller. This seems to be no different. But I am anxious to see what the final product is like.

jkam: the 360 can indeed be set to boot up just to the disc rather than the dashboard. I forget where the setting is exactly, but it's in there somewhere. I boot it into the dashboard, though, just because I'd rather have to manually launch a disc game than boot the disc and then exit out if I wanted to play an XBLA game.

[dallow]

You don't need Home to launch an Online game, it's all completely optional.

[Apossum]

If it's less of a game and more of an actual shell of an OS, that sounds even worse than it did before. Why on earth would I want to wait for this extra stuff to load, and then have to walk my character upstairs to where the "game system" is just to launch the disc that's in the system already? You've taken a 2 second process and turned into quite the wait. It's the same reason I'm more than happy to buy the VC games rather than have them unlocked in Animal Crossing for the Cube. The cumbersome nature of that setup simply isn't worth it.

But that's just for me; certainly not saying it won't be a hit. I just can't imagine that it will. It's not that the setup won't be neat or have some cool aspects, but somehow I doubt either the Dashboard on the 360 or the Miis on the Wii really sold the system--something neat if you already had it, but certainly not a system seller. This seems to be no different. But I am anxious to see what the final product is like.

jkam: the 360 can indeed be set to boot up just to the disc rather than the dashboard. I forget where the setting is exactly, but it's in there somewhere. I boot it into the dashboard, though, just because I'd rather have to manually launch a disc game than boot the disc and then exit out if I wanted to play an XBLA game.


that's definitely a valid opinion--for some people it'll just be in the way. I know how much time I spent messing around on the 360 dash, so I'm sure I'll do the same with home. you aren't required to go through with it just to play a game though (the ps3 auto-boots whatever is in the slot if you don't press anything when the xmb is loading)

it's almost pointless discussing this though, as we have no idea how it's all going to come together...is it going to flow smoothly with a lot options and "revolutionize" the industry or will it just be a menu with characters...who knows.

the dashboard is definitely a selling point of the 360 since it houses all the features of the system and it's advertised at a lot of kiosks. but yeah, miis are useless.

[lordxixor101]

I'm always amazed by posts like this. I think there are 2 things to consider.

1) These systems are trying to sell to more than gamers? It's the odd thing, but for anyone who reads the stock page, every company needs growth. So, selling a bunch of stuff isn't enough, you have to sell more than you did last month and last year. Because of this, you have to expand the market. Many of these extras aren't for you, they are to appeal to new customers. Maybe someone who wants to easily download movies to their home (as the Xbox movie downloads), but, since it's here, maybe I'll pick up Gears of War and give it a try, or the new Madden game.

2) It's free. Right now, gamers aren't getting hurt by this. Even if it takes awhle to boot up, it'll just be like your computer. Mine takes forever to boot, so I just turn it on, run to the can, then it's ready to go when I get back. Game systems might go that direction, but it doesn't kill the games.

Overall, this is the future. It's really irrelevant if you like it or not, it isn't going anywhere. You can embracen and try to enjoy the triend, or complain, but it's here to stay. Only if it becomes so intrusive that it interferes with games, but honestly, that will likely won't happen anytime soon.

[mer71]

I like the fluff. Aslong as it's at no extra cost.