Are you prepared for Wrath of the Lich King? WoW Insider has you covered!
Posts with tag Home

Home slated for November release as open beta

Posted May 12th 2008 8:00PM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: News

Before, SCEE's David Reeves talked about the new focus on Home and how they're aiming more toward the gamers and less toward the advertisers (or something along those lines). He promised an open beta this "autumn". Well, now we have to revise that statement by making it slightly more accurate. November.

The creative director for Home, Ron Festejo, said that the closed beta is expanding in July and an open beta is set for November. Open beta is simply a release date for an unfinished, possibly still buggy product. So, Home is due out this November with some kinks for us to find and them to work out -- they've had plenty of time, so we feel it'll be pretty much done by that time, though.

[via Play; thank you, Leigh!]

Home's non-gaming plan 'too ambitious,' admits SCEE's Reeves

Posted May 8th 2008 5:30PM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: News

It seems even Sony knows when to admit it bit off a little more than it could initially masticate. In a short discussion with CVG, Reeves admitted they've "realized that maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that ... in that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we're concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home, and attracting people who are into gaming in first -- instead of the Nike people, or Adidas people who are into fashion and not necessarily into gaming."

This is interesting because we've always heard how one of the futures of advertising may be within video games. Now Reeves and Sony see that perhaps focusing on that isn't the right approach -- you need to fill a store with people before you can sell anything, after all. Sony is now refocusing their strategy on things like Trophies and Home-to-game launching, so expect more of that when the open beta hits this year, another thing Reeves promises. The beta will come this autumn. For sure. We'll see.

EA Sports' Peter Moore 'wishes' for Home's release

Posted May 8th 2008 2:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: PlayStation Network

Waiting for the oft-delayed Home service has been frustrating for PlayStation fans worldwide. However, we were surprised to hear comments from former Xbox boxx Peter Moore, echoing the sentiments that many PS3 owners have. Currently president of EA Sports, Moore told Eurogamer.net "I just wish [Home] would ship ... I [previously] questioned it a little bit, whether I'd want to wander around there. Phil Harrison showed me a demo – it's very cool, but let's go already. And so I'm disappointed that it's been pushed back a little bit again."

Although Home was on display at PlayStation Day, Kaz Hirai reiterated that it would not be released until it's done. Some commenters have joked that Home would release after the notoriously delayed Duke Nukem Forever.

Many PS3 owners are counting on the release of Home to deliver an enhanced online experience on the PSN, one that rivals the for-pay Xbox Live service. Moore's comments are most likely very similar to the consensus from the development community as well -- people need Home to release, and soon. "I really hope it gets going and becomes that portal to the PlayStation Network and we can utilise it. But boy, I just wish we'd get going."

Home 'game spaces' being shown off later this month

Posted May 8th 2008 8:30AM by Jem Alexander
Filed under: News


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.

Home gets delayed again, open beta scheduled for Fall

Posted Apr 22nd 2008 1:25AM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: PlayStation Network


You're going to have to wait a little bit longer for Home. Sony's much-discussed online service debuted at GDC over a year ago, but it's still been restricted to a number of closed beta participants. According to a new press release by both SCEA and SCEE, the closed beta testing will continue through Summer, with an open beta finally available in the Fall.

"We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PLAYSTATION Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition."

It appears that more people will be invited into the closed beta. However, this recent delay of Home is continuing a disturbing trend of promises that are delivered late or not at all, such as in-game XMB and game invites -- these features are far more valuable than an online world to walk through. We're sure everyone will echo the same sentiment: it's been taking Sony much too long to deliver on these promises. Stay tuned for any new developments regarding the Home beta.

Gallery: Home

Home client downloadable via proxy exploit but servers are locked

Posted Apr 9th 2008 10:00AM by Jem Alexander
Filed under: News


It would appear that some members of the PS3news.com forums have discovered an updated Home via some proxy server shennanigans. The client is downloadable and can be installed, but doesn't connect to servers for various reasons. The interesting thing is that in the XMB the Home client's version number is listed as 1.00 -- the magic number we always assumed would be a release build.

We're not about to suggest that Home's open beta is imminent, but we can't help but feel that the evidence is piling up. Between this v1.00 client, the Warhawk patch allowing for Home game launching and the fact that SCEE promised us a "special update" when the PSN store redesign goes live, we're certainly intrigued. Either way, we'll find out in a week. If you want to download the client yourself (don't forget, it won't do anything except sit on your XMB looking pretty) then check out this forum thread for instructions.

Steinberg hints at a few upcoming PS3 features

Posted Apr 6th 2008 4:00AM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: Interviews, News

Scott Steinberg seems to be in a PR overhaul lately, popping up in several interviews. This latest installment has what some would call a challenge to the competition, but we won't focus on that flamebait comment. He talks about how Sony hasn't had a big keynote speech this year yet -- he feels the Blu-ray victory is good enough for now. We're personally expecting a big one at E3. He hints also that movie and music download services may be coming soon -- perhaps also to be covered at our expected E3 speech?

Big name titles, he says, will keep momentum going for the PS3 this year, but he also mentions the possibility of more downloadable PS-One and PS2 games on the PlayStation Store. Steinberg says there are "on-going sessions" to get more third-party titles up on the store, so who knows, before the end of the year we might have a much more impressive library than we do now. Maybe it'll almost rival the insane selection available on the Japanese store.

Speaking of games, there's no open Home beta now because Sony has set the bar so very high, they don't want any more people to see it until it meets their standards to get into the public eye. We'd like to see more PS-One and PS2 games on the store, and an open beta for Home would be nice. We'll see what happens this year!

Home looks to get another visual revamp

Posted Mar 18th 2008 1:30PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: PlayStation Network


A recent survey released to Home beta participants asks what they'd like the Home Square to look like. The Square is the area which connects the various parts of Home. It's already received one significant redesign over the life of the beta, and it looks like another one is forthcoming.

The survey offers a number of visual options, from a city center (D), to something a bit more alien (I). Looks like the results of this survey will help the Home team create something that Home users can really get into.

[Thanks, Joe!]

User-generated tools for Home may be "Holy Grail"

Posted Mar 12th 2008 11:30PM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: News

We know that Home is going to be a pretty big push for in-game advertisements. Maybe not so much a push, but a testing ground for what will and will not fly with gamers. But user-generated content and the tools provided to the regular ol' gamer will be the Holy Grail, says creative director Ron Festejo. These tools to assist us in creating original content will be sparse at first, but over time, he hopes to provide everyone with more involving tools.

Of course, there's going to be lots of moderation with this type of thing. We don't need someone wearing shirts with phallic symbols all over them. We'll also be given tools to report and self-moderate this type of thing. Home is probably going to take a lot of lessons from LittleBigPlanet when it comes to what and how heavily to moderate user-generated content. Will you use tools to customize your Home experience?

Home presentation to be given at OGC next friday

Posted Mar 6th 2008 12:30PM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: News

The Online Game and Community service conference is coming up and it appears that Home will make an appearance. Maybe not as a playable title, but the subject of a lecture on the 14th of March, according to this cleverly translated BBA site. It would appear the senior producer of the Home project, Riyouzi Akagawa will talk in detail about the community aspects of the virtual world and how services will be provided.

Of course, we'll keep our ears to the ground on the 14th so we can detect the tremors of this news when the speech begins. Until then, we'll just dream about what will be said.

New high quality pics and vids of Home

Posted Feb 28th 2008 8:30PM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: Videos and Screenshots

There's nothing quite like a nice big post about Home. We miss Home, especially all the good food that we get when we visit there. Oh, Home doesn't cook for you? That's a shame. You should ask it nicely instead of sitting around like a loaf and watching TV all day. Clean some dishes, rake some leaves. Or check out these new high-res captures from the latest build of Home, along with a handful of very high-quality videos. We can't exactly slap the videos up here, so we'll have to refer you to their source. Trust us -- they're worth your time. Same with the giant screenshots.

[Thanks, Borman!]

Home integration for Resistance, Uncharted & Warhawk sounds awesome

Posted Feb 27th 2008 7:40PM by Jem Alexander
Filed under: News

There's been a lot of Home news recently, which is fine by us. We're happy to learn anything that makes the service appear to be more than just a Second Life clone. If what Kotaku says is true, then Home will be much, much more than that. Their sources have revealed to them exactly what Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Incognito have planned for Home integration and it sounds totally awesome.

Both Uncharted and Resistance will allow you to explore empty levels from the game as your Home avatar (hopefully, with your friends - that would make it extra cool). Resistance will also have a game-space in which we'll be able to explore unseen areas of the game as well as listen to extra content from the game in the form of "intercepted radio transmissions" which will expand on the storyline.

Uncharted is pegged to have a Contra-style 2D side-scrolling shooter based on the game, available in its gamespace. Warhawk, on the other hand, will feature full game launching from within Home and a "war room" which will allow players to draw out battle plans on a virtual sandbox map of the level. If this all comes true, then Home will be even better than we ever imagined. Sony is apparently using these games to show third parties and other developers the potential of the service. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this will all come true.

Read - "How Resistance: Fall of Man makes Home really, really cool" @ Kotaku
Read - "How Uncharted: Drake's Fortune makes Home really, really cool" @ Kotaku
Read - "How Warhawk makes Home really, really cool" @ Kotaku

Sony throws open doors to in-game advertising initiative

Posted Feb 25th 2008 11:30PM by Nick Doerr
Filed under: PlayStation Network, Business, News

As the subject line indicates, Sony has opened up the PS3 to in-game advertisers. Many are expecting this move to ignite a battle between the three main advertisers that make their business off of in-game ads. The three big companies, Double Fusion, IGA, and AdScape, are able to strike deals with game publishers like EA or Ubisoft to get their junk into the PS3 games -- and, we expect, Home.

Don't worry, though. You won't get blasted by ads just yet -- this worry was one of the reasons why Sony wouldn't enter into an exclusive contract with one of the companies for advertising. A competitive model lets the companies play around with what works and what doesn't, "how to charge, what gamers will and will not put up with" and more. The article over at AdAge goes into the business and marketing side of the situation and really is a fascinating read for anyone who is in a related field.

GDC08: Sony details latest Home tools

Posted Feb 25th 2008 10:15PM by Jem Alexander
Filed under: News

The latest version of the Home Developer Kit was detailed at a GDC session last week and Joystiq has all the juicy details. Finally developers are able to create assets for Home, including trophies, games and environments. This is great news for everyone waiting for the Home open beta; the more content developers create, the sooner a populated and functioning service can be released to the public.

The Joystiq article also includes a good number of photos taken during the session. These show various aspects of Home that we may or may not have seen before. Included is a shot showing a stress test of the new Home Items feature, which allows people to use various objects within the world - in this instance we can see a large number of people dancing around their bubble machines. Speaking of the bubble machine, it was one of the added features in the new Home beta upgrade which goes live this week. Between the improved beta and the almost-fully-functional developer tools, it can't be too long until we finally see Home in the flesh. So to speak.

Home Beta gets a significant update next week

Posted Feb 21st 2008 2:15PM by Jem Alexander
Filed under: News

Wow, where to begin. We've just received an email detailing a huge update to the Home beta next week. The update will bring the version number to 0.8.3 (taking us ever closer to its release at v1.0.0) and the information comes from the beta message board on the official PlayStation site, so we're certain it's legit. There's a lot of stuff to go over, so we'll pick out the most interesting bits and paste the full patchlist after the break.

Improvements to the UI and graphics engine mean that Home will look much prettier and be more functional from here on out. You will be able to check who's online from your friends list as well as who is in Home right now. A bubble machine has been made available to all beta testers, to test the new "Home Items" system. Video streaming is now made possible too, so you don't have to wait for a video to download completely before watching it.

The most exciting part of the update is the unveiling of the Marketplace in the main square. The Marketplace is stocked with clothes and furniture as well as other, undisclosed, content. We can't wait to see what's there. Game launching is also now available, though it is currently limited. Games can be started within Home, however the party will not be automatically generated within the game. Also, players with different versions of a game (such as American or European) won't be able to start a game together. The patch notes clearly state, however, that this is only temporary and will be fixed before launch.

There's so much more included in the update, but we're running out of room! Check after the break to see the full patch list.

[Thanks John!]

Continue reading Home Beta gets a significant update next week

Next Page >

Advertisement

RESOURCES

Features
Contests and Giveaways (21)
Community (169)
Galleries (38)
Guides (9)
Hands-on (40)
Interviews (268)
Podcasts (22)
Polls and Surveys (74)
Rants (27)
Reviews (44)
Wallpapers (20)
News
Blu-ray (262)
Business (112)
Deals and Bargains (108)
Demos (66)
Downloads (87)
e-Distribution Games (165)
Firmware Updates (53)
Game Patches (89)
Hacks and Homebrew (24)
Hardware (61)
Multimedia (43)
New Releases (184)
News (996)
Peripherals (86)
PlayStation Network (240)
PlayStation Store (303)
Previews (509)
Rumors (389)
Videos and Screenshots (750)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

Sponsored Links

Featured Galleries

PixelJunk Monsters Encore
PixelJunk Eden
Mirror's Edge
Siren Blood Curse
PlayStation Day 2008
Buzz! Junior Jungle Party
MotorStorm Pacific Rift
Movement
World in Conflict

 

Most Commented On (14 days)

Recent Comments

Weblogs, Inc. Network

Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:

PS3 Fanboy
WOW Insider
Xbox 360 Fanboy
Nintendo Wii Fanboy
DS Fanboy
PSP Fanboy