Sony brainstorming with the Home community

by Jem Alexander { Dec 16th 2008 at 10:45AM }

Sony kept saying it, but we finally understand what they meant when they said that Home would be expanded "based on consumer feedback." A SCEE community manager, MusterBuster, started a thread on the European PlayStation forums, trying to figure out why people were congregating around the PSP-3000 adverts all the time. After learning that people enjoy dancing to the advert's music the thread quickly evolved into a discussion of how best to deliver more music to Home users.

Suggestions came in many forms, such as a jukebox (as can be found in the US Home Plaza), downloadable podcasts, or a live radio show. The latter seemed to elicit the biggest response, with suggestions including live DJs, gaming news segments and "PSN in" (rather than "phone in") competitions. We'd like to think that all of these ideas are now being discussed internally at SCEE. Hopefully we'll see something come of the discussion relatively soon (though, setting up a radio show won't happen overnight).

It's good to see Sony making the effort by initiating and partaking in discussion about what people want to see in Home. It's much better than invisibly watching Home users talking amongst themselves from the sidelines. If you have some ideas for Home, make yourself heard over at the European PlayStation forums.

Tags: consumer-feedback, europe, home

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Bagels PSN:WolfLogic @ Dec 16th 2008 10:55AM

People typically put the radio on through their headsets... n I danz 2 it.

Kattleox @ Dec 16th 2008 1:12PM

*echo-echo-vague expletive-static-echo*

klrNstnct:I luv NIN
liquidmajorzero:I have no headset.
liquidmajorzero:I have no keyboard.
liquidmajorzero:What country are you from?
ferrarikiller89:o no its a dude !
uberassassin:lol u got quincied

and all within ten seconds of popping up into Sully's Bar.

wingshot @ Dec 16th 2008 10:56AM

Hmm, PSN-ins eh? Sounds interesting, I'm glad that Sony is asking what the community's ideas are but the question of the day is if and when they will be implemented.

Off topic: I'm wearing your watch

mza49311 @ Dec 16th 2008 10:40PM

yeah, I see a lot of people broadcasting their own "stations" I'd like to see more video myself, rather than the same one on a loop, but it's understood why

Kspraydad @ Dec 16th 2008 10:58AM

Just stream Shoutcast in ala PSP.

Jerses @ Dec 16th 2008 11:08AM

stream is a dream (rime) in home. They dropped that feature and the video streaming...i think it was because of the servers and stuff ( but i think they can like...make a contract with youtube or something like the other games).

I will love to have a radio in my homeplace with my own internet radio stations. (if it cost like 1dll and came with like a tshirt).

Popfrogs @ Dec 16th 2008 1:19PM

Don't even need to go that far, just let people stream via in-game XMB music, route that audio to the voice channel. Problem solved.

Archon @ Dec 16th 2008 11:08AM

That sounds brilliant!

Gaucho @ Dec 16th 2008 11:18AM

I hope they come up with something else to do in home because I still don't really get it. Then again I might not be the target demographic. Still though. . . seems like a lot of work went into home and unless theres some greater purpose to having a place where random people meet to play virtual pool it just seems like wasted resources. at least that my opinion. But, who knows maybe Home will evolve into something else.

Jake @ Dec 16th 2008 11:19AM

lol didn't know people were doing that, made me laugh

what doesn't make me laugh is that i bought a psp3000 on sunday and the screen cracked inside the next day on first use, and sony said i have to pay another £56 to have it fixed

WTF :(

Roto13 @ Dec 16th 2008 2:54PM

WTF indeed. What's wrong with your warranty?

rgoff31 @ Dec 16th 2008 11:20AM

I've been submitting alot of ideas to the US Beta Feedback Forum thread.

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3home&thread.id=424301

They should offer 3-4 music stations in the plaza with a smaller music radius, but with different music at each station.

Martin hald @ Dec 16th 2008 11:24AM

What if they started out with making home more stable?
THEN talk about new additions!!
I'm might just piss myself in pure anger (yes, disgusting). I tried to log on for one hour. Either it tells me some error code or let me log on but then kicks me out and then tells me the error code!! It's the same s*** everytime i try!!

burgabunz @ Dec 16th 2008 11:46AM

country music only.

MadGerald @ Dec 16th 2008 11:48AM

I want to be able to setup my Depeche Mode clubhouse and pipe music into it so we can all have a little dance

Cody @ Dec 16th 2008 11:50AM

Sony should b nothing else except fixing server stability right now.
Nothing.

Nate @ Dec 16th 2008 12:02PM

How about letting any number of people play the damn games? What kind of a moron codes a video game in a multi-user online space that only one person can play?

How about having stuff in the shops that is free? How about having more variety in *everything*? There's like 5 shirts you can put on your guy. How hard is it to at least let me pick the *color* of what I'm wearing?

Is there voice chat available? I haven't hooked up a headset, but that would seem to be something that makes the most sense in this day and age. Proximity based voice chat seems like a no-brainer.

moo083 @ Dec 16th 2008 12:04PM

I agree with all of that. yeah...

and I believe it does have proximity based voice chat.

Christian @ Dec 16th 2008 12:49PM

Free clothing and further customisation is supposed to come with the actual release of Home. Remember this is still meant as a limited functionality beta.

Roto13 @ Dec 16th 2008 2:56PM

Protip: You can win new clothes from the arcade games.

My Homie looks like an Echochrome character. :P

bigpurps @ Dec 16th 2008 11:58AM

wow here's a surprise sony servers don't work right away !!! Socom servers sucked when it came out , LBP servers sucked when it came out. Now HOME servers don't work properly?? i say as a question 'cause i haven't been back on home since the first day of the closed beta, don't have an urge to virtual dance i guess.

Br4v0 @ Dec 16th 2008 12:08PM

I had this idea the other day.

When they put in pictures for hanging up in your live space, you should be able to buy an empty frame, and then if you have a PSEye (or even any image on your hdd, i guess) you could take a "family portrait," so to speak.

That would be cool, and I am sure it's probably been discussed somewhere.

d stapes @ Dec 16th 2008 12:23PM

i was finally able to get into HOME last night. i had to send away for a new tv because the old one broke and my ps3 was still set for HDMI so i couldn't dl it at launch...sorry ramblings.

i think i am on the cusp of sony's target demographic. i'm a 25 year old female with enough disposable income to buy the damn thing in the first place and games to go with it. i only have a couple, literally, friends. i was really looking forward to getting out there and meeting peeps to add, but the whole set up seems convoluted. i don't want to play second life to bump into people who may or may not have the games i have and may or may not even want to be my friend. perhaps if i were younger i would be more into it simply because i remember having more down time. i got bored with it and got off until my inner fangirl told me to give it another shot. of course, i was unable to log on.

idk, i'll give it another shot but...it kinda seems like a huge waste of space and time.

psn: pokeystaples

Canilash @ Dec 16th 2008 2:52PM

Psst: You can make your PS3 auto-configure its video output.
Turn off your PS3 with the back switch.
Hold the front power button.
Turn it on in the back while still holding the front button.
Hold until the beep.
Your PS3 will choose the correct video output.

D Stapes @ Dec 16th 2008 2:59PM

you are awesome!

MCX @ Dec 16th 2008 3:04PM

I wish there was a way for us to select the games we have and see what others have with out having to always list them out. Similar to Playfire.com but within home. Not sure if home offers you the ablity to do some net surfin while in home... if not that would be cool too.

j.howlett @ Dec 16th 2008 12:19PM

those sound like good ideas. i sometimes log on and just listen to the music and watch the conversations go on around me. it's funny when people are talking like no one else can hear them.

ali_D @ Dec 16th 2008 12:42PM

nevermind about live radios yes in public place we want in-game music from our hdd it now saw music not yet automatic in a while why say that if no music yet we should b able 2 listen watch stuff & remember open beta just started last week we will get more add on.

hm @ Dec 16th 2008 1:22PM

what?

Barry32171 @ Dec 16th 2008 1:13PM

IMHO, it seems like Sony is banking too much on the users to generate interest and content. There needs to be more events, at different times of the day, in order for the most amount of participation. Not everyone can meet on the times they've had previously. Also, I agree about the arcade, pool, and bowling games. There needs to be a way more people can enjoy these. I was in closed beta, and still have not been able to bowl... Let alone, still not played all of the arcade games. Pool is fun, however.

Sony needs to realize, we PS3 gamers are not looking for Second Life, but for more.

Jem @ Dec 16th 2008 1:18PM

Third life?

Popfrogs @ Dec 16th 2008 1:20PM

"it seems like Sony is banking too much on the users to generate interest and content"

Yeah it's a really weird situation. Users can't provide any content without tools, Home is nothing like LBP. Users are 100% tied to whatever Sony hands them.

stacy daniels @ Dec 16th 2008 1:59PM

they need to fix that camera when moving ya sofa around, get rid of the daceing, need to get the game launching ready, tv & pic frames in, radio stations sounds cool.

Chris @ Dec 16th 2008 1:59PM

I'm curious to see how content is going to be developed by people other than Sony. Is there a set of tools for making things like in Second Life? Are there going to be people other than Sony selling things in Home?

And as for the whole radio thing, does anybody else want stuff other than music? As a budding radio journalist, I tend to have my local NPR station going in the background when I'm playing anything on my ps3, so being able to "tune in" while in home would be a major plus for me. Anybody else agree?