Sony: Home Will Be "Essential" For All PS3 Games

[Keane Ng]

Sony: Home Will Be "Essential" For All PS3 Games

PlayStation Home might not be more than a blip on the radar of many gamers at the moment, but Sony is still committed to making the service an integral part of the PS3 experience, calling it the "starting point" for PS3 online.

PlayStation Home has yet to really take off the way it was supposed to, but Sony still sees the service as a central part of the PS3 online experience. "Home is the starting point for PlayStation 3 online, and that's something that gamers are going to expect as more games support Game Launch from within Home," Sony Europe's Peter Edward said. "This will become an essential component for all PS3 games."

The Game Launching feature, which allows you to, well, launch a game directly from within Home, currently only supports a handful of titles, including some major ones like Street Fighter IV and Warhawk.

Last month Edward reported that Home users are on the rise [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91971-PlayStation-Home-Users-On-The-Rise] and argued that the service is at a tipping point of sorts, where everything is looking up from now. The service certainly has users: 7 million total, with 3 million in Europe, according to Sony. Those are big numbers, but keep in mind that there have been over 21 million PS3s sold worldwide - which means that only a third of them are plugged into Home.

Regardless of how many people are in Home, those who are using the service seem to be doing a lot more than just milling around and making their avatars dance. According to Sony, Home-bodies (this is what I'm calling them now) have downloaded over 6 million virtual items, including plenty of promotional gear for things like the Star Trek movie.

Making dough, however, is not the point of Home, says Edward. "For Sony, revenue isn't the main driver for Home," he said. "We're in this for the long term."

[Via MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34860/Home-to-be-essential-for-all-PS3-games]]

Permalink

 

[nimrandir]

When anyone else hears 'everything is looking up from here,' does that not sound like the speaker is in a pretty deep hole?

 

[JaredXE]

So by "Essential Component", do they mean that if you DON'T have high-speed internet, you be fucked for games? Wait.....Oh yeah, they already started that with all their random updates to play new games.

 

[Jumplion]

I like HOME for what it is; cominicating with other people online. It does what it's supposed to, and it doesn't ask alot in return. It's not meant for you to invest hours upon hours into it, it's supposed to give you soemthing to do and check up on every now and then to enjoy.

I'm glad Sony is being commited to HOME and not letting it fall in the dust, though I'd prefer if they made some actual announcments to their support for it. Still, HOME has a lot of potential and anyone who says otherwise [sup]*coughcoughAceDiamondcoughcoug* [/sup] is being blind.

 

[Jumplion]

Too little too late. People are already banking on the 8th Gen consoles, ramping up popularity for a 7th-Gen console's online service is like releasing a new multiplayer mode for Doom 2.

What? I have to say, that makes absolutely no sense to me. When is this mythical 8th-gen console coming out? 2013? 2016? And who says Sony is the one making this 8th-gen console, so what if one comes out anyway? Does the PS2 ring any doorbells? Besides, HOME has only been out for, what, 6 or so months (came out December 2008) and it's still (annoyingly) in Beta, give it some damn time.

I'm sorry, but your statement makes no sense to me, what the hell does 8th-gen consoles have to do with anything here?

 

[TsunamiWombat]

8th Gen consoles aren't coming for years, I hope. So I say BLAH to that. We've barely scratched the surface of what the hardware can do.

 

[AceDiamond]

I like HOME for what it is; cominicating with other people online. It does what it's supposed to, and it doesn't ask alot in return. It's not meant for you to invest hours upon hours into it, it's supposed to give you soemthing to do and check up on every now and then to enjoy.

I'm glad Sony is being commited to HOME and not letting it fall in the dust, though I'd prefer if they made some actual announcments to their support for it. Still, HOME has a lot of potential and anyone who says otherwise [sup]*coughcoughAceDiamondcoughcoug* [/sup] is being blind.

Hey I can read tiny text, you jerk

Anyway, you're trying to convince me a badly done rip-off of Second Life is somehow better for communication than anything else any console has ever had ever. Penny Arcade didn't buy that snake oil and I don't see you going after them for it. But enough about that, I guess text messaging is the wave of the future after all

And as a counterpoint, if Sony hadn't treated this like it was somehow going to tip the balance in the console war (like just about everything they make), then maybe people would be less harsh on it.

There is no need or point to a virtual world that takes text chat and arcade experiences when that's already being done in less complex forms elsewhere.

Also, thank you very much for generalizing that apparently, since I don't possess the clairvoyancy that you do, I cannot see that in 5 years PS3 Home will be the biggest deciding factor in people buying a PS3 for cybersex so they can have a GUI to wave their e-peens about their gamerscore or trophy amounts or whatever it is Sony calls it these days.

 

[KDR_11k]

From what I read the current problem with Home is that it doesn't do anything the user wants. A virtual world sounds nice in theory but after that you realize that regular GUIs can offer the same functionality with less clutter.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

i do like home, tho i don't spend much time in it but it really does have some potential to be really cool

it's better than the xbox live dashboard, that's for sure

 

[nova18]

HOME does its job, its second life with a lot of Sony marketing potential that allows the casual gamers that ENJOY using HOME to see all the games they could be playing.

Which is why saying:

"For Sony, revenue isn't the main driver for Home," he said. "We're in this for the long term."

confuses me. HOME is obviously a marketing tool, wherever you go in HOME there is video screens showing the latest PS3 news/games, the digital items cost a ridiculous amount for an intangible digital accessory and the whole world is like Sony's ideal utopian society where everyone worships their name.

Now, I can live with this, but not if Sony is going to pretend that HOME isnt their ever growing source of pocket money.

 

[Lord Krunk]

I'm sorry, but your statement makes no sense to me, what the hell does 8th-gen consoles have to do with anything here?

He means that time's running out for the PS3 to make a comeback.

 

[Blackadder51]

LOL home is a piece of shit, Sony is going to have a hell of a time trying to make it "essential" to gamers

 

[Pendragon9]

I really doubt they will attempt to make an 8th generation yet, so Home's expansion will be a great idea.

Really, what are they going to do? Make virtual reality? That's the only way to go. You can't go any other way.