Sony Further Details Home, Looks to October Launch

njkid1 writes "According to GameDaily, new details have been revealed about the Home service for the PlayStation 3. Not only will the advertising possibilities be 'limitless,' but the virtual community will also be able to serve as a bustling commerce hub. Transactions will eventually be able to take place within Home itself, and the company refers to the possibility of ticketing for virtual events like developer chats or game previews. At the same time, however, Sony said that advertising will be made 'palatable' so as not to drive away users. A Q&A at the official Sony site states that an October launch is planned (pdf) for the service." GameDaily also has an article looking at reactions from Microsoft and Nintendo on Sony's announcement.

hmm

[mastershake_phd]

Everything Ive heard from Sony about this so far sounds like they are marketing it as an advertising vehicle. I hope it has something to offer the players.

Kind of an Advertising Vehicle

[fistfullast33l]

Sony is not a communist organization. They need to make money to keep the shareholders happy. If they want something to be free to their users, they have to pay for it somehow. Advertising is the most obvious way. I don't think I'll mind the adverts as long as the service remains free. And they really won't want to charge for a service that is so core to their console especially after they've pledged to keep it free. I bet the cost of operating HOME outweighs the cost of a low subscription fee ala XBo

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[argent]

Sony is not a communist organization. They need to make money to keep the shareholders happy. If they want something to be free to their users, they have to pay for it somehow.

So don't make it free for everything. Charge people to buy an "apartment" or a customizable avatar if they don't want to wander around as "Ken" or "Barbie". Read some SF. I mean, True Names was written a quarter of a century ago, there's been hundreds of "virtual reality" novels and short stories since then, surely at least one of the

Users decide what they like

[LKM]

Sony is not a communist organization. They need to make money to keep the shareholders happy.

I think you're kind of missing the point of the criticism. Nobody thinks Sony should not be allowed to make money. However, I, as a customer, don't care about whether they make money or not. It does not influence my decisions. I evaluate their product based on whether I enjoy it. If it's an ad-filled piece of marketing, I will avoid it.

Not because I hate the fact that Sony makes money, but because it simply does

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[elrous0]

Sony doesn't need users. They can sell millions of consoles just based on the flowery scent of their own farts. Just ask them. They'll tell you.

-Eric

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[DrXym]

I hope it has something to offer the players.

Well yes it does. You get to roam public and private spaces, play the mini games, talk shit with other PS3 owners, make friends, form groups, congregate in special interest areas etc. Of course it's got advertising, but then it's free so what do you expect? The danger to Sony is that all of the above has to be attractive to players - it has to load fast and offer compelling functionality despite the ads. If it's just a hollow exercise halls in flogging billboar

Good to know...

[nigel_q]

... that the advertising possibilities are limitless. After all, that's why people buy the system, right? To be served unique and novel advertisements?

Not for Public Consumption

[fistfullast33l]

This document wasn't made for public consumption, although neither the summary nor the linked article state this. It was designed to pitch HOME to Developers and Publishers of games (note that the document's URL is "Third Party Relations.pdf" and on the SCE Developers website). If you want to get a business to sign onto something, you have to show them how to make money. That explains the hyped advertising talk.

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[pembo13]

Fair enough, but your comment doesn't seem to be a rebuttal to the poster to whom you replied. You imply that they are lying to the developers, or they are lying to the customers.

I never implied anything

[fistfullast33l]

I just wanted to say that you should take the document with a grain of salt...it's obviously been handed over to the marketing department to sell the product.

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[_egg]

Also from the document:
Q: Will consumers be bombarded with advertising?
Advertising is a core revenue source for the publishers who will have to put a
lot of resource and money into making the Home experience as fulfilling as it
will be. As an offset to having to pay for the basic online service, and being
able to enjoy the fundamental Home experience for free, some advertising is
entirely reasonable. Advertising will be kept to palatable levels however. It is
in no-one's interests to cause users to leave Home th

Home is Stupid

[Seumas]

Why is it so damn hard to just make a simple universal lobby/game-connectivity center within a console? I don't have to join some idiotic twelve-year-old-girl's fantasy three-dimensional The Sims world to jump into a game of CounterStrike or Civilization IV on my PC. Why do I have to do that on my consoles? This is seriously one of the most retarded ideas ever and it would cause me to lean toward turning on my 360 instead of my PS3 when I sit down on the sofa for a bit of gaming, just because I don't want to play "Second Life" just to get to my damned Company of Heroes.

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[DarkJC]

You don't have to launch home to play Company of Heroes. Just launch the game from the XMB...

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[DrXym]

Sony will have to get their priorities right Home will work if they get the balance. You claim it's a 12 year old girl's fantasy, but if Home allowed clans to set up meeting rooms, some idle amusements like small games, bowling, pool, movie trailers etc. and offered some form of integration with games, then I see no reason it couldn't work. Even allowing people to visit each other's rooms and talk shit would be an attraction to some.

Obviously if it were just some hollow, pointless affair that lived separa

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[Deaney]

Let's hope Sony know what they're doing.

Mod this up as funny!

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[IrquiM]

My suggestion is that you read a bit more about Home before making such statements.

And no, it's not only a 12 year-olds fantasy sim. All the girls will love it! Think about the possibilites of speed-dating! :D

Sign me up!

[gEvil (beta)]

Not only will the advertising possibilities be 'limitless,'

That does it for me right there. Sign me up!

I just don't get it

[eln]

I don't understand how this is supposed to be appealing. It appears to be basically a Second Life ripoff, except they've taken out most of the customization ability and replaced it with the ability to purchase someone else's customizations (unless you have a developers license).

The whole idea of a "virtual community" sounds great on paper, but this looks like they're basically trying to create a virtual shopping mall. But if I want to shop online, I'll use google or amazon or something like that and find what I need a lot quicker. Why would I want to make my little avatar walk down some virtual hallway to get to the virtual store I want to virtually buy shit from? Isn't that just a waste of time? People need to stop trying to make "virtual communities" look like the real world, and start designing them to take advantage of the strengths the online world has over the real world.

Sony wants this to be a new and revolutionary vehicle for advertising. But for advertising to be effective, you need people to look at the advertisements. If all people get from this is a place to go look at advertisements, they won't stick around for very long. And giving them some private "apartment" where they can change the color of the walls just isn't going to hold anyone's interest for long.

Re:I just don't get it

[HappySqurriel]

I don't understand how this is supposed to be appealing. It appears to be basically a Second Life ripoff, except they've taken out most of the customization ability and replaced it with the ability to purchase someone else's customizations (unless you have a developers license).

The whole idea of a "virtual community" sounds great on paper, but this looks like they're basically trying to create a virtual shopping mall. But if I want to shop online, I'll use google or amazon or something like that and find what I need a lot quicker. Why would I want to make my little avatar walk down some virtual hallway to get to the virtual store I want to virtually buy shit from? Isn't that just a waste of time? People need to stop trying to make "virtual communities" look like the real world, and start designing them to take advantage of the strengths the online world has over the real world.

Sony wants this to be a new and revolutionary vehicle for advertising. But for advertising to be effective, you need people to look at the advertisements. If all people get from this is a place to go look at advertisements, they won't stick around for very long. And giving them some private "apartment" where they can change the color of the walls just isn't going to hold anyone's interest for long.

Well, I know it is not designed to appeal to me ...

I suspect they're trying to aim this service at the Casual or Non-gamer market but what they fail to realize is that no casual gamer will spend $500 for a gaming system ...

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[IrquiM]

No we won't... actually we'll put up alot more!

got my new 42" LCD yesterday.... $2000, the PS3 in Norway, close to $1000 (9 days left!!!!), already got 2 games and an extra six-axis for $200+++...

already "spent" $3200 - and you can count the games I've played the last 6 months apart from Buzz, guitarhero and Singstar on one finger!

Just say it out loud: Europeans are too filthy rich!

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[_xeno_]

It appears to be basically a Second Life ripoff, except they've taken out most of the customization ability and replaced it with the ability to purchase someone else's customizations (unless you have a developers license).

You've missed one part, the reason I've taken to calling it "PlayStation Second Live": it also adds in the Xbox Live matchmaking features into a Second Life-like environment.

Now either this is the world's worst idea (ever tried to form a group in an MMORPG using only local chat?), or t

Remember the first online stores? 3D doesn't work.

[LKM]

I pretty much agree with what you're writing.

When the Internet first started to become popular, people always expected things to become threedimensional. Boo.com allowed users to show 3D versions of their wares. VRML was supposed to replace HTML and turn the Internet into some kind of 3D cyberspace. Everyone thought file browsers would become 3D - remember Jurassic Park? Apple had this weird 3D web browser (I think it was called Soap or something). And Apple, always trying to be the innovator, even gave ou

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[gEvil (beta)]

verbs = details and looks

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[darkrowan]

Details.... and Looks, I think...

Sounds good but...

[EvilGoodGuy]

Shouldn't they just have delayed the PS3 launch till October, when the selling point of the game was released? Microsoft released the 360 before many headline games so that they would have the console marketshare. Would have been nice to have a reason to buy the PS3 when it came out, not a year later.

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[drinkypoo]

Would have been nice to have a reason to buy the PS3 when it came out, not a year later.

Microsoft released the Xbox 360 so early it forced the other players to hurry up and get their consoles on the market.

Nintendo could survive being later to market than Xbox because they have by far the cheapest offering in this generation. Sony has the most expensive. They couldn't be expensive AND late.

Remind me to reconfigure my firewall

[AmiMoJo]

ads.sony.com -> 127.0.0.1

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[tepples]

So you're blocking connections to Sony's ad server. Watch your attempt to log on to the game server fail because the ad server serves a key part of the authentication.

I'm looking forward to it!

[dannycim]

Why poo-poo something that's going to be free and optional? Don't like it? Don't have to use it.

Heck, item creation http://youtube.com/watch?v=a91ZzOMEwYY [youtube.com] looks like it's going to be easy and fun. Here's another video in real-time: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nuoOosTdFiY [youtube.com]

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[_xeno_]

You do realize that the videos you linked to are for LittleBigPlanet, which is most certainly not free (but definitely is optional, as it's a game), and not for PlayStation Second Live, right?

Sorry, "PlayStation Home" - it's just so similar to both Second Life and Xbox Live, I get it confused...

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[dannycim]

I was just pointing out that cooperative games inside of the Playstation Home umbrella will be fun, as the editor video shows.

I dunno. Sony's preparing a decent online service and everyone's complaining. I smell fanboyism.

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[rbarreira]

Maybe it's because Sony has been screwing over its customers in many ways in the recent past. Their rootkit fiasco is, in my opinion, more than enough reason to try to fuck them in the ass by making them look bad in front of prospective customers.

It's not like we have to lie anyway, Sony is shooting itself in the foot enough to make it easy to criticize them.

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[MoriaOrc]

Little Big Planet looks like it has some real potential.

This article, though, is about PlayStation Home [engadget.com], which seems something like XBox Live (especially marketplace and achievements) meets Miis, with shiny graphics and a public chat lobby.