So what is Home exactly? From a purely gaming standpoint it’s where you can boast success playing your favourite PS3 titles. Xbox Live lists gaming ‘Achievements’ as icons, alongside a stark numerical ‘Gamerscore’, but Home gives you a swanky 3D apartment to decorate with trophies represented as familiar in-game items or character statues.
This concept of your private online abode also allows for music and video content stored on the PS3 HDD to be shared with friends via virtual hi-fi or Bravia TV (your electrical goods are Sony branded of course). The same applies to photos that can be uploaded to appear framed on the wall, or artwork used for posters. Wallpaper designs are also exchangeable and Sony will provide themed examples via PlayStation Network. Impressive, but Sony’s bigger ambitions for Home begin from the Central Lobby where everybody meets to communicate via text or audio/video chat before heading off to enjoy the many virtual attractions. Public theatres screen the latest movies or TV shows, streamed via PlayStation Network. Online stores are represented as detailed 3D locations for high street brands, leading to probable big-money advertising viewed in the public areas and the likelihood of corporate sponsored events. Elsewhere game centres offer casual gaming along the lines of Xbox Live Arcade, and you can even go bowling or play Pool. User-generated content and services could also be offered in return for some form of payment, but whether this will eventually equate to real-world finance as with There.com and Second Life is not certain.
Finally, gadget freaks might be interested to know that Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) allows control over certain aspects of Home via the Remote Play functionality.
In simple terms Home is an interactive 3D environment where users can trawl all the latest entertainment media possible via PS3. Items such as furniture, clothing and other accessories can be user-generated but most content will be controlled by Sony. Although this has the benefit of exclusives from all the major game/music/movie studios it is at the expense of freedoms that Second Life and There.com presently enjoy.
Arguably the biggest boon of Home is that it will be offered free via PlayStation Network which now puts pressure on Microsoft to lift is £40 annual fee for Xbox Live Gold membership.
Second Opinion
My initial impression of Home when seeing it on the big screen was mixed - Phantasy Star Universe’s lobby, essentially - but it quickly became clear that this was something special. Most of the features have been discussed elsewhere, but the ability to create your own personalized media space, avatar and trophy (achievement) room looked even more impressive close-up. Yes, some of the features seemed to have been included purely for show-off potential – i.e. the ability to lob your TV around while the content keeps playing - but it was easy to get sucked in by the virtual cinema, arcade games and downloadable background scenery.
One issue was the feeling of dislocation that Home has from the rest of the system. Yes, meeting a friend and showing them your virtual batchelor pad is impressive – more so than you’d think – but what about if you want to go off and play Motorstorm or Resistance? Yup, you need to quit out, boot up the game, cross your fingers and hope for the best. Sony clearly realise this is an issue and Harrison confirmed a solution was in the works.
Likewise the trophy/achievement thing – which takes Live’s achievement points and throws in some ego-massaging trophy graphics - lacks the ability to backdate your achievements. Home isn’t due for release until October - how many people will be willing to replay Resistance or F1 Championship solely to get the trophies? When I quizzed Harrison on this he suggested that it was an issue but that there may be a way to do it with game saves etc. Sadly it just adds to the impression that Home was a belated design direction. Nevertheless Home was hugely impressive and I expect it to become integral to the whole PlayStation experience – though it may be PS4 before we see it properly integrated.
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