Home 'game spaces' being shown off later this month

by Jem Alexander { May 8th 2008 at 8:30AM }

Speaking to Daniel Hill at PlayStation Day we managed to gather a few tidbits of info about Home and where it's headed. Hill reiterated that the open beta will be happening this Autumn. He also added that the closed beta will be "extended" in July to include more gamers as well as, for the first time, European press. When asked whether Home would be fully functional for the open beta, Hill responded by saying that "Home will never be fully functional" and that it will continue to grow and evolve over time. The open beta will include all necessary features such as trophies and game launching.

Game spaces are slightly lower on the list of priorities, but not forgotten. Some are being shown off later this month to beta members and Hill stated that what he had seen of them is "really impressive." Game launching has extended beyond Warhawk to MotorStorm now, and this feature was demonstrated on the show floor at PlayStation Day. The feature allows you to select your option preferences, including track and number of laps, within Home. This allows you to almost immediately jump straight into the gameplay, rather than into another menu.

Hill also confirmed to us that trophies will be available in the XMB. "They have to be," he said. There's no word on when that will happen, but a 2D representation of your trophy list will be visible via the XMB at some point in the future. Obviously, the basic funtionality needs to be created within Home itself before being exported to the XMB, so don't expect it anytime soon.

Tags: daniel-hill, home, playstation-day-2008

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Eggy @ May 8th 2008 8:41AM

Some more AF would be nice. But I like how developers can take this as far as they want. When you give creative people the ability to do something like this the results will always be great for the gamer in the end.

JAH75157 @ May 8th 2008 9:04AM

i'm almost to the point of not caring about home, just release the damn thing.

Rick @ May 8th 2008 9:11AM

I hear ya JAH75157. All we ever seem to be getting with the PS3 is delay after delay, after delay. Although I can appreciate that the delays are caused by the developers wanting to give the best quality and product performance but even still its getting beyond a joke now.

Im just looking forward to MGS4. Sexy times.

Dave @ May 8th 2008 9:13AM

I am growing less and less excited for Home... I just don't know what how it's going to enhance my game experience. It just seems like a chore. If everyone jumps on though, and there's a lot of people doing it, it might be fun. If it has enough addicting features, a la facebook, I might just get hooked.

Alex @ May 8th 2008 9:16AM

Isn't the whole 2D trophy representation kind of backwards. Wouldn't a 2D be easier to create more accessible to the user. Therefore, shouldn't that part be released first, so people can begin getting their trophies. Sony does some asinine things.

Eggy @ May 8th 2008 10:45AM

They probably know a thing or two about what they're doing. Contrary to some know it all kids on a fanboy website.

drdre74 @ May 8th 2008 9:18AM

Im so tired of hearing about Home. Home this and home that! Home is a Urban Myth and is never going to come out. So stop reporting about it already. Sony is never going to release it since its a always growing product they'll never be happy with it to release it.

koehler83 @ May 8th 2008 9:28AM

That is the most significant picture I've ever seen of HOME.. and its pretty much the only thing that justifies its existence... except for the fact that it in fact doesn't exist.

James @ May 8th 2008 9:37AM

Home is a lie.

deusmecha @ May 8th 2008 10:04AM

I honestly don't even care about Home anymore. They delayed it too many times.

willxcore @ May 8th 2008 10:05AM

Unfortunately, I'm with the rest of you guys. I couldn't give a shit less about Home anymore. They should have just released it way back when and kept adding updates to improve it. Sony would probably have gotten shit for its quality right from the beginning but I'm sure now they're going to get even more shit for it being delayed so much if it ever even launches it won't fulfill the expectations of most people.

Da @ May 8th 2008 6:56PM

I almost wish Sony would charge for home.
It pisses me off to listen to dicks like ^^this guy^^ complain about home, and know that as soon as it's released they'll be downloading and using it (and having a great time).
Sony should make a list of the idiots who complain about free software and not offer it to them.

JoJo @ May 8th 2008 10:26AM

By the time sony launches Home.
I'll have an Xbox 720.

Popfrogs @ May 8th 2008 11:34AM

I can't wait to see how much faster the 720 red rings.

James @ May 8th 2008 1:04PM

With the 720, you get 6 blinking red lights, instead of 3. It's twice as broken.

JoJo @ May 9th 2008 9:34AM

yes indeed! the 720 will come with the new Halo 87.
Same characters and story line. Never ends.!

chris.westermann @ May 8th 2008 10:28AM

For the amount of effort going into Home, why not just turn it into an MMO version of GTA. All you need is a few baseball bats laying around (or cricket bats for you limeys), some cops and a few skanky hos.

stewartdk @ May 8th 2008 10:59AM

You guys are on crack. It is not a game, and you are not required to either use it or pay for it. So shut up already.

When it comes out, it is going to be amazing. As someone who works in IT, I can understand why they are taking their time. Fickle end users like the ones posting here are the first to crap all over something if it's not perfect.

Which is what y'all are doing right now too - see the pattern? You piss and moan no matter what, so your opinions become irrelevant.

G'night...

JAH75157 @ May 8th 2008 11:15AM

then maybe they shouldn't of said they were gonna release it a year ago.

i don't know about you but being a graphic designer, and telling my client that i'll have them a piece next monday, then that monday i'm like well it wasn't perfect so i'll have it the monday after this, they won't be happy.

yeah it's free, so what? they need it to be able to compete with the competition's online features.

quit giving us unrealistic release dates, we'll quit bitching.

Justin @ May 8th 2008 12:03PM

Jah, shutup, you're clueless. I'm a beta tester, and they decided not to release it a year ago because they scrapped it and started over with something better based on our feedback. It's idiots like you that would've b*tched and moaned about the current iteration to the point it was irrelevant. Better they get it right before releasing it to the wolves.

As for the competition, they pay, we don't, so Sony doesn't NEED it to compete, they've already found other ways to level the playing field. Home is the game-changer, the way to take the lead.

JAH75157 @ May 8th 2008 1:26PM

That's where you are wrong Sony does need to compete with the competition, that's the nature of capitalism. I hate xbox with a passion, but they are the competition, and if we had better online capabilities, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE FREE, we'd have better sales. and with better sales, we would also have more developers making exclusives. it would be better for the ps3 all around.

Hell i'd be happy with just in game xmb.

Da @ May 8th 2008 7:05PM

If you hate the Xbox so much, why do you want Sony to model the PS3 after it?

sibbor @ May 8th 2008 10:59AM

This is fucking great =D!

I certainly hope that Sony pushes the game developers to include support for HOME already... launching games like Warhawk, MotorStorm and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue via Home just isn't enough...

And for XMB Trophies *THUMBS UP*... I do really hope that Sony get game invitation trough the XMB too...

JAH75157 @ May 8th 2008 11:15AM

ThinkIcouldburn @ May 8th 2008 11:07AM

"Home will never be fully functional"

That made me chuckle quite a bit.

Why didn't they just release this a year ago and have that mindset? Yeah the game is never going to be perfect and we're going to continue updating and upgrading it constantly. (Yeah right)

IF/When it does come out, we'll be lucky if it gets more then 2 updates.

HaloEleven @ May 8th 2008 11:28AM

I thought the same thing... What a poorly thought out answer. "Fully functional" doesn't exclude the ability to have a product roadmap. This smells like incompetent project management.

Devin @ May 8th 2008 12:06PM

Oh quit your whining people....the PS3 hasn't been out for what? a year and couple months....they will have this out by Xmas no doubt and with (what I would expect) all the features they promised from the start and maybe even more......

The sad part is what I'll be doing during summer....you'd think that summer would be another time that games/apps should debut since a majority of PS3 owners will be out of school, working a job (making $) and with more free time.....yet Xmas is the only time that console manufacturers want to debut things.....strange.....atleast Konami knows how important Summer is (MGS4's gonna sell crazy being the only real summer blockbuster)....

Captain Snazzypants @ May 8th 2008 1:23PM

Dolphis @ May 8th 2008 1:47PM

You know, Home and LBP were the reasons I got a PS3 at last years GDC.... Now, both have lost their cool factor. How about instead of trying to create this facebook-myspace-2nd life-hybrid, they work on in-game XMB and Music and be done with it. Yes, I'd still like to try out LBP and to an extend, Home, aswell, but I'm tired of playing online and not being able to invite friends or any of such. I know Sony is trying to go for this big "WOW" effect with Home and all that its suppose to offer, but if it keeps gettin pushed back, we'll never have that NOR in-game XMB and music. I'm really cheering for Sony, but sometimes... they make hard to =/