Skid_MacMarx Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 Sony has unveiled its upcoming Home online service, a virtual community users can explore with their own avatar, at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. The 3D world , which appears to be a cross between Second Life and Cyworld, will go live globally in the autumn. Sony says PlayStation 3 users will be able to interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share private content and build their own personal spaces in real time.In Home, each user is assigned an apartment which they can personalize with furniture, art and other items, and where they can invite others to join them to chat or view personal video, pictures and other digital media content stored on their hard drives. The community will be available as a free download from the PlayStation Network but items for use within the game will have a cost attached. It will launch directly from XrossMediaBar on the PS3. “This is a significant step forward in the area of user community services and emergent entertainment experiences,” promised Sony’s Izumi Kawanishi, “While the 3D graphics demonstrate the power of PS3 and the PlayStation Network, the most impressive feature in Home is the variety of ways in which multiple consumers, as well as our third-party partners, can experience the next generation of communication by interacting and sharing among each other. I feel strongly that this unique blend of community, user-generated content, collaboration and commerce will expand the future of computer entertainment.” http://avzombie.com/blog/2007/03/08/sony-u...-virtual-world/ http://caribjournal.com/2007/03/08/sony-br...-virtual-world/
sulimo Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 I have to say, from what I saw demonstrated, it looks like quite a good plan. Even if I personally don't have much interest in this kind of thing, I can see how much of a success things like the Sims, 2nd Life, You Tube and other things of this type have been. The game demonstration, Little Big Planet, was also quite impressive. I haven't been into platformers for years but this looks quite interesting. Firstly there's the coop model which seems quite novel for a game of this type and then there's the construction aspect which should extend replayibility quite a bit assuming a community gets behind it.
davep Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 looks kinda fun, and something that'll give the PS3 a boost hopefully. Theres a youtube vid which is downloadable showing a demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRb-mCsHQ0c ~2.5min
-Anthony- Posted March 10, 2007 Posted March 10, 2007 Looks very very cool. Love the idea of sharing movies / pictures / audio in your own space!
momaw Posted March 10, 2007 Posted March 10, 2007 If I wanted to play second life, I would play second life. I don't want all these hoops and crap just to play an online game with my mates.
Skid_MacMarx Posted March 10, 2007 Author Posted March 10, 2007 If I wanted to play second life, I would play second life. I don't want all these hoops and crap just to play an online game with my mates. I showed my boys the You Tube demo and they were quite impress with it..
Highjinx Posted March 10, 2007 Posted March 10, 2007 This could be fantastic for kids to get a study group together.
davep Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 If most users sign up and use it, potentially there are going to be 10 million+ people.... where will they all fit? :/ Are there going to be individual cities etc? In the demo with maybe 50 people it looked all happy and cool, but yer... maybe its been answered in the link, I should read it.
momaw Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 If most users sign up and use it, potentially there are going to be 10 million+ people.... where will they all fit? :/ Are there going to be individual cities etc? In the demo with maybe 50 people it looked all happy and cool, but yer... maybe its been answered in the link, I should read it. You think they think they could take on WoW? They are going to have massive server issues and subscription fees are inevitable.
Highjinx Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 You think they think they could take on WoW?They are going to have massive server issues and subscription fees are inevitable. There has been talk that virtual advertising, such as virtual billboards etc will pay for the service, keeping user subscriptions at bay. This could be huge!
momaw Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 There has been talk that virtual advertising, such as virtual billboards etc will pay for the service, keeping user subscriptions at bay. This could be huge! me thinks they have zero experience in an enterprise this big and complex and that they will find advertising doesn't cut it. Of course neither do I have experience doing this myself, but being a WOW player since day one, I have seen first hand the complex issues in maintaining a network and servers to suit a large population and while WoW has 9 million players worldwide now, they are looking at a much bigger service worldwide, with a population that will grow quicker than that of WoW. This is a massive undertaking and personally, I think no matter how prepared they think they are for the influx of users and the costs involved, they will probably still be overwhelmed.
Highjinx Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 me thinks they have zero experience in an enterprise this big and complex and that they will find advertising doesn't cut it. Of course neither do I have experience doing this myself, but being a WOW player since day one, I have seen first hand the complex issues in maintaining a network and servers to suit a large population and while WoW has 9 million players worldwide now, they are looking at a much bigger service worldwide, with a population that will grow quicker than that of WoW. This is a massive undertaking and personally, I think no matter how prepared they think they are for the influx of users and the costs involved, they will probably still be overwhelmed. Server shmerver, they will have a massive bank of PS3's interlinked to take of the whole biz...........
momaw Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 Server shmerver, they will have a massive bank of PS3's interlinked to take of the whole biz........... I understand your smilie, but it's less about processing power and more about storage and access speeds. They'd need a lot more 60gig ps3's then currently exist.
Highjinx Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 I understand your smilie, but it's less about processing power and more about storage and access speeds. They'd need a lot more 60gig ps3's then currently exist. That 60Gig Hard drive unit can be replaced with any drive you wish to use!
momaw Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 That 60Gig Hard drive unit can be replaced with any drive you wish to use! I know that, I think you are missing my point. guess the reality in this discussion is at an end.
Highjinx Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 I know that, I think you are missing my point. guess the reality in this discussion is at an end. I'm just kidding Mom!.........sure there will be costs to bear. At the end of the day the PS3 division is trying to make money, selling games and regarding PS3's, trying to bring cost down to a level where a subsidy is no longer nessasary. The more attractive they can make the whole package the more they can expect to sell......the closer to the ultimate goal. Re revenues of a like nature, look to Google, You Tube.
Skid_MacMarx Posted March 13, 2007 Author Posted March 13, 2007 Sony Announces New Info on PS3 Homeby Victor Dangelo on 13/03/2007 Sony has announced new information in regards to its upcoming PlayStation Home online network it has in place for the PlayStation 3 console. Sony made the revelation that the PS3 Home will be in closed beta from April until August with 15,000 lucky people being able to take place in the testing of the service. After the closed beta period from August to October the open beta will begin. This will allow some 50,000 or so users to try it out and stress test the servers and such while Sony irons out the final things. October will be the big month when PS3 Home releases for the PlayStation 3 console. Sony revealed new details stating that Home will be accessible on the PlayStation 3 only at first but over time it will expand and work with other networked devices. This will include mobile phones and the Sony PlayStation Portable. Sony stated that Home will be developed “continually” meaning that it will be constantly evolving and growing with new additions being added in all the time. There will be a constant growing variety of items one can use to make their avatars and customize their apartments in the game known as Home Spaces. http://ps3center.net/story-306.html
tom23 Posted March 14, 2007 Posted March 14, 2007 Sony keep trying, but this won't be enough to persuade fence sitters to drop $1k on a console. High quality games, and a lot of them are the only selling point. "Home" looks like garbage to me. If i want to speak to someone, I'll call or go seem them. Who wants to wander around on their tv, chatting to anonymous avatars? Lame. I much prefer live - easy and quick.
xr06t Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 i always liked the sims, and this doesn't seem to different i spose.. momaw is right.. if they think that 55000 people is going to stress their servers they are very wrong! wont get me rushing out to pay 1k for a console though.. Tom23 has a point too, we all already have lives, and mine is pretty full!! dont have time to muck around with other virtual people. still think its a cool idea
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