Home video shows off huge changes to the beta

by Nick Doerr { Sep 18th 2007 at 2:00PM }

Wow, a lot has changed in Home since we last reported on the beta's progress. There's not much for us to say except "watch the video, it's the bee's knees" and all that cutting-edge jargon kids today use, but we'll blab about it anyway. You start off in your room with a nice oceanic view, sit in your chairs, stare at pictures, then head out into the big open square. The square, as far as we can recall, has always been an indoor arena with trees, but this area (which may or may not be a new addition, just new to non-beta-ers) is very nice. Sort of like a shopping arcade you'd find in a Florida resort. You get to check out the games available (chess, pool, arcade games, bowling, etc), then see the movie theater briefly. That's really the nuts and bolts of it, so give it a watch and get pumped to find Home on your XMB in the coming months.

Tags: beta, home

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mark Perkins @ Sep 18th 2007 2:10PM

What's with all the relocating load times any possibility it'll ever be one huge space?

Egster @ Sep 18th 2007 2:19PM

Doubt it, once Home goes public alot of characters will need to be rendered. Having everything open would mean alot of strain on the system. I hope they get around to improving those reloacating times somewhat. But it's possible to easily transfer to places without having to walk there.

ruibing @ Sep 18th 2007 2:21PM

I like the new look and everything. The load time will hopefully be something they improve upon in the final release.

But one question, how they do support thousands of people on Home all at once in that play room?

Justin @ Sep 18th 2007 2:23PM

i heard that you have to download the sections you want to participate it.

supposedly, if you KNOW you'll never go into the bowling alley...just don't download it.

Darayz @ Sep 18th 2007 2:32PM

This just screams 2nd Life to me and I found it boring. But I have to admit, Home looks pretty sweet. I like how the girl was in the bowling alley with 30 guys and she ends up running out of there =)

jadedcritic @ Sep 18th 2007 2:45PM

Maybe someone can help fill me in here - I've only really been paying attention to the PS3 scene for a couple weeks; and I JUST got my PS2 hooked up and working and my PSN account going yesterday. Didn't even have time to play it before I went to bed, so I'm gonna plead ignorance as my defense.

What is the purpose of home? What is it? What are they trying to accomplish, and why are people excited about this? Looks like second-life meets consoles to me, I don't see the appeal.

never$$hort @ Sep 18th 2007 2:48PM

I will be using Home mostly to play all the mini games scattered around like bowling and the arcade...

KiraXD @ Sep 18th 2007 3:04PM

for gods sake stop with the second life comparison bullshit. secondlife isnt original eiher you know... MMO's have been around for a long time... so stop already.

Anyways... this looks visually better than the previous videos ive seen. did they enhance the graphics?

MYPS3KilledMy360 @ Sep 18th 2007 3:06PM

@6
its sonys answer to XLIVE they say the 360 has a great if not the best user online interface which is true but sony wants the same to be said for them but taking a completely different route. to me its more like the Miis meets XLIVE with a dash of second life. instead of looking at pictures move while you speak to your friends on PSN why not enter a 3D world where you can just run around play some arcade games and when your ready jump on to warhawk. Its not that where just getting home, with it where getting what we have been wanting since launch in game music, cross game invites, cross game chats, ingame xmb access , maybe not all of it but with home we will gain new features to further make your PS3 experience better even when your not playing the game you want so much. SONY is trying to get back up to speed from there fall from grace, and when it does....... BAM war done sony rises back up to its former glory and takes the world by storm with or without blu ray being the winning format.

Neil @ Sep 18th 2007 3:07PM

It looked cool, but I'm not sure I would say it looked fun.

ShadowHawk01 @ Sep 18th 2007 3:06PM

I am sorry, but I am not interested in HOME at all. Second Life was extremely boring and I could not see what the point of the game/environment was. Sony's Second Life 2.0 (sorry.. I mean HOME) looks to be along the same lines with better graphics. I guess I prefer to play games with what little time I have available for gaming. I prefer a lobby system where I can instantly join a game and start playing right away instead of warping to a bowling alley and waiting for someone who wants to play pool or bowl.

What is the point of having a virtual appartment? So I have some place to hang a picture of a rabid dog? eh... I am obviously in the minority since Second Life has been so successfull.

I am not new to MMO games. I played SWG before they completely ruined the game. In SWG I used to enjoy creating a 20 player group (19 others plus myself) and completing quests or taking on some of the harder challenges. SWG was 95% open world environments with only a handfull of Instanced environements. I also played Guild Wars which is 98% Instanced environments. I even found Disney's ToonTown fun while I was in the beta for that childrens based MMO.

I guess, to make a long story short, I do not see the point in wasting time in a virtual environment. I do enough of that in real life. I think the arcade games, pool, and bowling look interesting. However, having to deal with HOME to get to those will probably cause me to stay away from them. I would rather select the game from a simply menu and start playing instead of walking around a bowling alley looking for the game I want to play.

KiraXD @ Sep 18th 2007 3:19PM

@#10 well Home is basically the same thing as posting on blogs... or hanging out on forums... so... hypocrite much?

upz @ Sep 18th 2007 3:30PM

The appeal is that it's free.

NATO_Duke @ Sep 18th 2007 3:33PM

Bummer people in the beta cant talk about it w/out breaking the rules.

Fartbox 9000 @ Sep 18th 2007 3:34PM

It looks good. I wish they showed the ability to steal cars and punch hookers.

Broken Haiku @ Sep 18th 2007 3:41PM

Two things struck me:

- That ding-noise is going to drive me bonkers.

- That is SO not how most people sit in a recline chair, that bodylanguage screams "I am uncomfortable and/or bored at this party".

upz @ Sep 18th 2007 3:43PM

You're basically getting an additional feature for no extra cost, that you can choose to use or not to use. Does it matter if you use it once, find it hopelessly boring, and never touch it again? It was FREE anyway!

Look, if Nintendo offered to upgrade your Wii to play DVDs at no cost to you, would you turn them down, even if you already had another DVD player?

chris.westermann @ Sep 18th 2007 3:46PM

Wow, load times, grrrrreat!

Kxpuc @ Sep 18th 2007 3:50PM

meh who cares about the load times if it's shorter then the time it takes me to get up goto my kitchen and slap a midget it's not long

Fartbox 9000 @ Sep 18th 2007 3:53PM

Ha, I like all the people complaining about load times. Like you've got anything else better to do.

Kurac @ Sep 18th 2007 3:59PM

Home looks rather cool tbh. Nothing I would ever buy, but since it's free. I'm game!

Brian Spence @ Sep 18th 2007 4:05PM

What was the second video they showed in the bowling alley?? It sounded like God of War, didn't it!?!?

Livi70590 @ Sep 18th 2007 4:14PM

STILL just a rip-off of Second Life.

Larz @ Sep 18th 2007 4:16PM

It's surprising that people complain about load times. Are you new to gaming?

It's really neat when they hide load times but you're still wasting time waiting to get to another area no matter what. GoW made you spend 30 seconds crossing a long bridge for example while it loaded the next area. Some games have smaller segmentation and load connecting nodes while in the current node. With an MMO experience that's a problem. There is A LOT more content and it's not dictated to you by the game's story line. You could have a travelling-loader like GOW or WoW, but not in a city like this where there's lots of buildings in close proximity with lots of content inside.

Larz @ Sep 18th 2007 4:23PM

"STILL just a rip-off of Second Life."

I doubt it's going to be anything like Second Life. Second Life is unique in that you can truly do ANYTHING. It's a big commercial melting pot too. Lots of real life cash flows through Second Life between third parties. You can create your own clothing, furniture, vehicles, guns, even character animations. Those things are what distinguish Second Life from anything else.

I doubt Home will be anything like that... plus Second Life was chock full of p0rn.

minimalniemand @ Sep 18th 2007 5:04PM

wtf went on in her appartment last night?? Look at all the furniture spread across the room ...

Byron517 @ Sep 18th 2007 4:29PM

Home has potiential I'm sure Sony know's exactly what it wants to use it for, I'm looking forward to it

learnedhand @ Sep 18th 2007 4:52PM

What will be cool is when game developers start adding locations. Imagine going to a Final Fantasy location and walking through one of the games actual locations, while watching trailers of the game and/or buying gaming gear.

The possibilities......

LH

Byron517 @ Sep 18th 2007 4:50PM

WOW this was in the Washington Post today!!! What politicians will do for attention!! Crazy world we live in!

Gingrich In Second Life
As Newt Gingrich continues to flirt with a presidential bid, his group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, is hosting workshops in Atlanta later this month, in real life. But now the former House speaker also plans to host some sessions in Second Life.

Second Life is a "3-D virtual world" that boasts a population of more than 9.5 million "residents" worldwide. Users create a "persona in the virtual world," called an Avatar that can create anything, buy property, and have fun, among other things.

In his weekly column published today, Gingrich states Second Life, "is so compelling that people actually spend real money to buy real estate in this online reality. The Swedish government actually has an embassy in Second Life."

So as Gingrich gets set to potentially begin his second life in American politics, he will rent the West front of the Second Life version of the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 27 for some of his workshops.

There's symbolism in Gingrich's decision, since Sept. 27 is the 13th anniversary of the Contract With America, which Gingrich and other GOP lawmakers signed on the West front of the real U.S. Capitol.

The Second Life workshop will begin at 2 p.m. ET on Sept. 27. Folks interested in participating should first check your computer to make sure it's compatible with the virtual world, then create an Avatar and join up.

There's some political precedence in using Second Life. TechPresident.com has reviewed the Second Life efforts of Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, and Ron Paul, while former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, now running for U.S. Senate, says he was the first "major politician" to enter Second Life when he did so last year.

JackMichael- @ Oct 8th 2007 4:48PM

i carnt wait for this, the main thing im looking forward to is meeting up with friends on it, planning what we are going to do on say warhawk then actually doing it.
or if we watch a movie trailer or game trailer on HOME, we can discuss it and stuff, sounds stupid but i really enjoy talking to my mates about games, and we never get to do that in real life.
HOME FTW X 100000

Thomas @ Sep 18th 2007 5:08PM

was that God of War in the background... 2 or 3 perhaps?

navstar @ Sep 18th 2007 5:50PM

I'm still not sold on it. Who wants to hang out with a bunch of Von Dutch / Aberzombie wearing douchebags? I avoid people that look like this in real life. Why would I want to consort with them online?

Kevin @ Sep 18th 2007 5:37PM

@29

THANK YOU!
haha
I was hoping somebody would comment about the ridiculous furniture lol.

I was glad to find this video.
I cannot log into the HOME Beta anymore but I have it downloaded, and a few days ago when I started it, it updated :]
So I really wanted to know what was in the update

thanks.

doug @ Sep 18th 2007 5:55PM

it is optional at the moment you goofballs dont even have to go into home you can just use the sexy xmb

finelicker @ Sep 18th 2007 6:24PM

hope they sort the running animation, looks like she's shat herself.

James @ Sep 18th 2007 7:20PM

If you can realize the appeal of MySpace, Second Life, or this very comments thread, then you can realize the point of Home. It's a social network (MySpace) with a incredibly detailed avatar system (Second Life) organized around playing casual games (bowling, etc.) and meeting up with people to join in more complex multiplayer games (Warhawk, etc.). Instead of a web page you get an apt. and instead of achievements you get trophies to put in your apartment.

Each individual piece is nothing really new, but the whole package is unique and definitely at least *seems* light years beyond Xbox Live's community, which is mostly based on text/voice chat which was state-of-the-art a decade ago.

Easo @ Sep 18th 2007 7:50PM

Not my thing, but it is pretty. Also I noticed that they addressed a problem that a lot of reviews were talking about, the fact that you had to slowly walk everywhere.

As for people complaining about the load times, if your the type of person that will use home, then you dont have much else to do with your time, do you? The load times arent even bad either. They seem to take about the same amount the ones in Oblivion, although they do seem to happen more frequently in Home. All in all its a nice addition, but lets hope that the social aspects of home are also implemented into the cross media bar.

Easo @ Sep 18th 2007 7:53PM

that should read
* They seem to take about the same amount of time as the ones in Oblivion.

Sometimes(actually, most of the time) my fingers cant keep up with my thoughts.

John @ Sep 18th 2007 9:13PM

http://playstation.joystiq.com/2007/09/18/home-video-shows-off-huge-changes-to-the-beta/

John @ Sep 18th 2007 9:13PM

oops.

Here:

LOVE the look of this, and the ambient sounds outside that are not too loud. Great environment.

Now inside, what I expected to see at first, was she would dim the lights and put on some music, for mood, which should pulse out of a nearby stereo, with cheezy woofer effects (or not), and of course it would be something on your hard drive, your own music. What would really be cool is if when people come to your house, they hear you're music playing and it gets quieter or louder the closer you get to the stereo. It would also be super cool if one of your online friends could be the dj, just setting mood, if you wanted to go there.

Also, that chick is hot. I'm gonna be a chick, in Home.

Love the bloom, love how smooth the panning is, and various background sounds, like the jet flying by.

Was that a live game she was watching, in the lounge? That would be super cool, walking in and being able to watch other people play, it would be a lot like being in a bar where you can see sports, and if it shows live games, maybe I'm cheesy but I think this would be really cool. It would be really neat to see the most recent games, live. So for instance, I might get to watch a live Warhawk game? (starting to realize how impossible this is-- WHO's game? When? Where? Or maybe it picks one at random and you can scroll through different games happening-- however, there would have to be some sort of engine able to translate this on the fly, this alone would probably require it's own servers, therefore not worth it... or am I making it too complex?)

The arcade room is especially tite (as is her butt-- I can't get over how hot that chick's butt looks-- maybe I should see a doctor)

What I come away from this is a supreme chill-fest potentiality, something functional for those who need that, but if you are in a total chill mood and there's no new games or you're waiting for your paycheck to get more... I could totally see hanging out here for a decent time.

The neat thing about this, is it easily provides group entertainment, just like if you were in a complex like this with all your friends. You can play traditional bowling/chess/pool, etc., you can play arcade games, you can chill and watch movies.

I know what time I'll be turning on Home: 420 o'clock, baby!

John @ Sep 18th 2007 9:36PM

James totally called it. Also Easo mentioned load times, and I agree. They're not bad at all, and most people hanging out here are going to be doing it alone, anyway (virtually alone, that is).

navstar has a point, in that I hope to GOD they make avatars that are at least not looking like white yuppies. We need some serious ranges of skin-tone and styles here.

In fact, a GREAT addition would be a custom avatar generator, like Wii. What if I wanna look like a hairy old homeless guy? What if I wanna look like Cher (how those came out in two sentences back-to-back, I have no idea)?

I thought the furniture was funny, interesting-- obviously showing it can be moved around all over the place.

@Byron517: if Gingrich is in home, then my avatar better have some sort of b*tch-slapping function...

John @ Sep 18th 2007 9:38PM

James totally called it. Also Easo mentioned load times, and I agree. They're not bad at all, and most people hanging out here are going to be doing it alone, anyway (virtually alone, that is).

navstar has a point, in that I hope to GOD they make avatars that are at least not looking like white yuppies. We need some serious ranges of skin-tone and styles here.

In fact, a GREAT addition would be a custom avatar generator, like Wii. What if I wanna look like a hairy old homeless guy? What if I wanna look like Cher (how those came out in two sentences back-to-back, I have no idea)?

I thought the furniture was funny, interesting-- obviously showing it can be moved around all over the place.

@Byron517: if Gingrich is in Home, then my avatar better have some sort of b*tch-slapping function...

jaerisk @ Sep 18th 2007 10:22PM

sony is gona own microsoft hahaha google ron paul

Nick @ Sep 19th 2007 3:37PM

@5, Yes, it does scream 2nd Life. Improved in a lot of way, and yet not as good in other ways. The bottom line is that it gives Sony the option to continually expand the locations with new areas, in door and out door, and special shops, or shops specializing in marketing a new game. Consider a Killzone 2 room in the mall where you could go in and purchase KZ2 gamer pics, soundtracks straight to download to your system, or shits you could order and have sent to you in the mail, or even pre-ordering the game at your favorite game store hotspot. The best thing about this is that it is completely open ended and Sony could do some great things with it. Can't wait!

Hunter X @ Sep 19th 2007 3:26AM

ok...check this video, same thing, explained and way better...just have a look it has 3 parts is PS Home updated and is funny! check it out

http://thex-xik.blogspot.com/2007/09/enjoy.html

Volomon @ Sep 19th 2007 6:12AM

Didn't see a single new thing, why was this considered to show new changes?

ill trooper @ Sep 19th 2007 8:29AM

Those 'relocating' load screens are taking away any magic I had felt.

Sauvage @ Sep 19th 2007 9:03AM

Surely they can work out some clever streaming system that can be fobbed off to the SPUs to avoid all those load screens. Load screens are so last 15 gens!

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Sep 19th 2007 11:59AM

She sits like an anime chick.

This looks pretty good.

Can you grief people who are bowling by running up and down their lane while they're trying to line up?

This shows no integration with actual games yet, until I can have all my friends in a room (lobby) between playing games, it's not doing what I really need.

Popfrogs @ Sep 19th 2007 12:10PM

@32: I'm sure there will be some goth/hesher/stoner/what-up-G models available for you guys. Character customization is the least of my concerns with Home. I wanna see those Relocating screens disappear or at least entertain me with an animation of a midget juggling flaming hamsters.