Sony Playstation Home - Gen. Discussion & Info - Open Beta Available Now

I realize that HOME is not a stab at Xbox Live feature parity, but I can't help but thinking that the things that everyone really wants (in-game XMB, accomplishments) have been ignored for far too long in favor of the feature creep behemoth that is Playstation HOME.

Sony effectively put the real features on the back burner so they could stick this thing in the oven for 10 hours and have a unique bullet point to put on their feature list.
 
Wow! What to say? I have also been a staunch defender of Home, but this is getting as bit ridiculous. Fall 08?? If LBP comes out b4 Home that will be an absolute joke. With all the resources Sony has you would think they could put another 50 people on Home and get it out by summer. I really feel like Sony has let me down, along with a bunch of other fans..

In-Game XMB has nothing to do with Home, that should still be out this summer.
 
[quote name='NTolerance']I realize that HOME is not a stab at Xbox Live feature parity, but I can't help but thinking that the things that everyone really wants (in-game XMB, accomplishments) have been ignored for far too long in favor of the feature creep behemoth that is Playstation HOME.[/quote]

Too true. I would REALLY like to see in-game XMB match the features of the 360s. Music alone, for when the game has a crap soundtrack.

How is that so difficult?
 
In-game XMB was specifically stated by that Sony exec (forget the name) to be in FW 2.4.
We have 2.3 right now right?

We'll see.

We get in-game XMB and I won't care about Home as much.
 
Just finished the article that dallow posted a while ago, good read.

Makes me imagine home as a giant theme park we can roam around. Which I like, we can take a vacation to WarhawkLand!
 
Dam, by the time this comes out will anyone still care? Home has been supposedly coming soon since I got my PS3 a year and a half ago.
 
People will care.

FFXIII has been teased about us for the same time, or longer and I'll care when it comes out.
I'm just gonna stop expecting it.
 
[quote name='zengonzo']Too true. I would REALLY like to see in-game XMB match the features of the 360s. Music alone, for when the game has a crap soundtrack.

How is that so difficult?[/QUOTE]

Agreed about the music player. Unfortunately when in-game XMB discussions come up most people only talk about friends list/chat stuff, so the official word from Sony is that some future firmware will have "in-game communication". I've yet to see official confirmation of full-fledged XMB features. :bomb:
 
[quote name='NTolerance']Agreed about the music player. Unfortunately when in-game XMB discussions come up most people only talk about friends list/chat stuff, so the official word from Sony is that some future firmware will have "in-game communication". I've yet to see official confirmation of full-fledged XMB features. [/quote]

If, after all this, they update the XMB without adding in-game music ..
 
Well all i got to say it..well Sony never really gave an announcement of home and well whatever i realy dont care about it all. All i care about is games, whoop-di-do on this home stuff now. If this makes you hate sony, welll screw you i guess. And besides..if they feel the product aint ready, then wtf complain do you want a shitty home to launch?? so best advice i can give to you guys is;Play games. I officially today dont really care about home.
 
[quote name='Nephlabobo']As a proud PS3 owner, I have to say:

Sony really needs to get their shit together.[/QUOTE]

if they didn't delay it and Home was buggy as hell, you'd probably say the same thing
 
I don't really care for Home, when it comes it comes.

That being said, I don't really care for in-game XMB or "Accomplishments". I play games to beat them, not to show some score to some guy on the internet.

What the PS3 needs is more games, in-game soundtrack, and better implemented voice chat.
 
Here's sarcasticgamer's take on the Home delay. And is basically my response to people going overboard on their reactions.

http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/04/theres-still-no-place-like-home.html

Yeah, Sony does need to get their crap together, but a delay isn't a big deal when it makes the final product better.

I also just read their prior article (linked several posts back) detailing what home is and isn't. Of key interest to me is a game independent place to meet up online where games can then be started, come back to once the game is over, and hopefully tracked in some way. There's IRC, chatrooms, message boards, etc... but none with this kind of integration.

So say, if we had a general CAG PS3 game night, we wouldn't need to all coordinate too much before hand other than meetup time and general games we wanted to play. Instead, we all jump in Home, meet up in someone's apartment, then talk while waiting for others, then fire up a game with friends, or maybe form a party within a game directly from within Home. Anyone who doesn't want to play that particular game, or if the game is full can still hang out, or launch their own games.

I wasn't too keen on Home before, seeing it as little more than achievements and such, but that functionality above could be worth it. I can see a group meeting up in Home to play a few rounds of CoD4 multiplayer while they wait for a friend to get home from work. Once that friend gets online they all drop back to the Home room to chat, then hop in Resistance 2 8 player co-op or adversarial multiplayer. It doesn't seem like much but it's very convenient, a bit more than having to fire up the games individually and send out a bunch of messages and invites back and forth across a large number of people.

In another case, Eye of Judgement anyone? Imagine meeting up in a Home space similar to a local game store where not only can you setup matches, you can also talk with other players while you wait. Maybe even have tournaments within home, and if there's ever a good case for integration, EoJ could allow Home users to view finished or in progress EoJ matches. All this without EoJ's funky multiplayer system. Heck, you can join a room just to chat and discuss decks and stuff. Card games aren't my thing so I won't be doing that, but you can imagine what kind of online community that can create for a card game.

I'm actually hoping that something similar will be patched into xbox live and all future consoles as it's a good concept. It works much like in real life where a group my meet up in a place with just a general goal in mind to have fun.

CAG specific, just imagine a CAG space in Home, no need to fill up precious friend list spots with CAG acquaintances, instead, just hop in the CAG Home space and start games with fellow CAGers.

My only concern right now is with Phil Harrison's departure from Sony, the word is he was a champion of this kind of community stuff so without him there they may not utilize it as well as they could.
 
okay question!

how does HOME track your in game achievements/accomplishments? is it via game saves? For trophies etc. I wonder this b/c I've just kept my game saves from all my games so far, even if I've sold/traded them, just to make sure they'll be available to show off in HOME. Any ideas? I figure this is the only way.

BTW Vanigan.. you brought a new light for HOME to me. wow thanks amazing insight. I hope all others will use it to that degree.. as in a hang out/meeting place rather than waiting around on web forums =)
 
Well actually PS3 achievements aren't actually handled by Home. They're built into the PS3 firmware and you will never have to go into Home to look at achievements, it's just part of the XMB. The only thing Home adds is the Trophy room, which has stuff you can show off attached to any achievements you earn. One hypothetical example is say you get a bunch of achievements in Uncharted. Remember how every one of the treasures you found had a 3D model? Well each achievement in Uncharted could easily have some of those treasures as Trophies in the Home Trophy room. Not sure if you can place trophies in your normal home space though, but it'd be cool to decorate a home space with trinkets from games.

Heck, if Sony's smart they'll allow some achievements to give you actual furniture and clothing for home.

No one knows how they plan to handle retroactive achievements, but I assume they can just parse old save files. Save files still have PS3 system and user info attached to them, nothing identifiable, but it just makes sure that the save file is yours, not downloaded online.

The uncharted crew planned to make every one of their medals an achievement. More recent games like Dark Sector actually already have generic PS3 achievements working.

I'm sure the PS3 crowd here will have general CAG meetup nights in home. Heck, they could easily turn any of the game specific nights into a general night, or all of them. It could make game night organizers' jobs a bit easier as now he can just tell everyone to meet up in a Home space at certain times, instead of having to pick and choose which games are played on which days, which, as I said above, leaves some people out in the cold if they don't want to play that game.

I know I'll be hosting game nights for another forum I go to. Already we've got plans to play a variety of games like Hot Shots Golf, then CoD4, and especially Resistance 2 co-op.

It's still too early to be excited about the program itself, because they still have to get it working and released. But the potential is there, we just have to see if they can pull it off. If they do, then the prospects of the PS3 getting close to the same friends and community aspects of the 360 goes higher.
 
Not sure if this is news because I don't follow HOME much, but this was sent to me from Sony Japan...

2emzhg3.jpg
 
Sounds like they're letting more closed testers in for the summer, then the open beta test this fall.

Sounds about right to coincide with some of the big fall games.
 
vanigan, so you say achievements will be handled in XMB.. so we're just waiting on a system update for it rather than for home? I wonder how long that will be considering we're still waiting on in game messaging and other xmb goodies..
 
Well here's the thing, yes we're waiting for them, and yes it's stupid for Sony not to have had them in the beginning.

But it's also more than just adding it in, especially for a feature like in-game XMB. The XMB interface needs to pull memory and processing power from the game so that it can load up messages, your friends list, handle invites, and even process custom soundtracks. Unfortunately any game or developer working with an older dev kit that didn't have the in-game XMB code in it has to go back and make their stuff compatable with the new memory requirements.

Likewise, more recent games like Dark Sector simply ported their 360 achievements into the patchwork PS3 achievements system that, I think, is already hidden within current firmware.

Then, besides the technical aspects, I think they're waiting to hit everyone with all these features at once so that they can make some press releases about it.

But they really, really need to get a working and stable version of something out soon because there's games coming out that could make good use of them this year.
 
Actually, developers shouldn't have to change older titles. Sony originally held back a much larger amount of RAM for the system than they currently do. I forget, it used to be something fairly substantial and it has been been decreased quite a bit. This was mostly because Sony wasn't sure what they would need originally for the system software. So, unless they end up needing more than that, in which case even current releases would have to be patched and Sony would basically render all software glitchy, Sony should be fine.

Or so was my understanding of their original development.
 
Actually I think you're referring to recent firmware updates that actually reduced the amount of memory the XMB OS used, but the XMB was using every bit of what they reserved.

If it was that easy, we'd have seen a release of the in-game XMB feature by now.
 
Home is one project where Sony can afford to take their time. It has to be good because its a way for Sony to generate revenue (advertisements).
 
[quote name='Thomas96']Home is one project where Sony can afford to take their time. It has to be good because its a way for Sony to generate revenue (advertisements).[/QUOTE]

and also push an interface that they believe to be stronger than XBL.
 
This is my first post and i was wondering when this game is going to become available? i can't seem to find any info on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
Jonas
 
I suggest you immediatley remove this post before nerds such as myself eat you alive... Sonys saying sometime this summer... Also check the Home thread~
 
Things I Prioritize Over Home
Getting (I guess I can't ask for 3rd party games, but at least 1st party) games out on time and not having numerous delays.

In-game XMB which the 360 has had since day 1.

Custom soundtracks in-game which the 360 has had since day 1.

Achievements which the 360 has said since day 1.
 
[quote name='mwynn']What is the point of achievements?[/QUOTE]

They add replay value. I would not be playing Dynasty Warriors Gundam any longer if it were not for achievements. They give you something to shoot for other than beating the game.
 
I have been in on the closed BETA for home for almost a year now....it has improved alot form its original state but it is still just 'meh'....

Don't get your hopes up for this, instead just play your GTA IV, MGS4, and GT5:p or whatnot....
 
[quote name='willardhaven']Getting people to play or replay awful games.[/QUOTE]

So wasting your time to get things that mean nothing?
 
I love 'achievements' that have actual in-game benefits, which Microsoft is ideologically opposed to apparently because it subverts their Achievements intrinsic value - by which I have to assume they mean none.
 
Well I can see collecting packages to get more health or weapons. Yet walking 10 miles to get some points next to your name, seems like work to me.
 
achievements = gimmick and soon we'll have our own Gimmick when accomplisments hit the table... but at least you get a virtual trophy.
 
[quote name='rodeojones903']Home is a waste of resources. Sony should focus on in game XMB and a real form of achievements.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='nyprimus4']Things I Prioritize Over Home
Getting (I guess I can't ask for 3rd party games, but at least 1st party) games out on time and not having numerous delays.

In-game XMB which the 360 has had since day 1.

Custom soundtracks in-game which the 360 has had since day 1.

Achievements which the 360 has said since day 1.[/QUOTE]


Even though this thread is a waste, gotta quote this just because it needs to be said over and over.
 
[quote name='mwynn']Can not be a waste of resources unless they are pulling people from other areas.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure it costs money to produce. Money that can be spent in other areas.
 
[quote name='Mr Unoriginal']I'm sure it costs money to produce. Money that can be spent in other areas.[/QUOTE]

I am sure they allocate funding to each project before it starts.
 
I don't think Sony is doing that much for home.. it seems to be a side project that they're not rushing... I know there's a dedicated team but the good thing is that they aren't under any time constraints, its a matter of getting right. Home is something that needs to be executed right the first time out the box. I dont' care if Home comes out next year... just as long as when it comes out.. it comes out fully functional and working. I love the fact that they got it set up where you can jump straight into gameplay from the home network.
 
I can't see that fixing in-game XMB would require a company-breaking expenditure of resources, so having not implemented it yet, in spite of owners begging for some time now, I have to assume it's either because they have a plan for the update, or they just don't give a fuck ..

The most likely way that Home could be the problem is if they were holding off all big updates for one SUPERBIG UPDATE (E3?), and simply delaying its update until then.
 
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