PS3 Home Discussion

[CaptainZombie]

From IGN, closed Beta invites are going out today.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/907/907101p1.html

PlayStation Home Beta Happenings

September 2, 2008 - Quick -- check your e-mail because voucher codes for the PlayStation Home Beta are going out as your read this.

Yes, just moments ago I got an e-mail from PlayStation Underground with my unique voucher code to download the beta -- this opportunity, I think, is the result of downloading the Home theme from the PlayStation Store. I popped onto the PlayStation Network, downloaded the 85 MB file, and jumped into the application.

"Welcome new beta testers!" the message of the day says. "This week marks another major milestone for PlayStation Home. We will be admitting the next big wave of testers into the closed beta."

So, I know what I'm going to be doing the rest of the day. If you're lucky enough to make the beta cut, feel free to hit up my IGN apartment for a barbeque once I get it set up.

No invite for me, maybe I will get a chance to play this when the open beta goes live sometime next year. LOL!

[Blzer]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

I haven't received one... yet.

Doubt I will. Do you know how many people get them?

[CaptainZombie]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

I haven't received one... yet.

Doubt I will. Do you know how many people get them?

I have no clue, but here are some impressions from one guy that got in.

* The loadings are incredibly long. Both for the first boot up as for when you go from one area to another
* The engine isn't very good. It has slow downs and there aren't any real reflections at all. For a world this limited, you would expect something better.
* Talking around is more fun than I expected, having a lot of gestures and all that.
* I don't know the limit of people that can stay around there, but a few hours ago I was playing and we were about 20 people in the Sony Square (main area).
* The areas that aren't finished have the typical 'under construction' walls and all that, which gives it a pretty realistic style.
* You can have -at least- two houses full of furnitures and all that.
* If you have a friend in the American or Japanese beta, you can go there to visit them, so it's not fully 'region blocked'. Thanks god!.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

I haven't received one... yet.

Doubt I will. Do you know how many people get them?

I have no clue, but here are some impressions from one guy that got in.

* The loadings are incredibly long. Both for the first boot up as for when you go from one area to another.

* The engine isn't very good. It has slow downs and there aren't any real reflections at all. For a world this limited, you would expect something better.

* Talking around is more fun than I expected, having a lot of gestures and all that.

* I don't know the limit of people that can stay around there, but a few hours ago I was playing and we were about 20 people in the Sony Square (main area).

* The areas that aren't finished have the typical 'under construction' walls and all that, which gives it a pretty realistic style.

* You can have -at least- two houses full of furnitures and all that.

* If you have a friend in the American or Japanese beta, you can go there to visit them, so it's not fully 'region blocked'. Thanks god!.

*As of right now, mainly a virtual chat room. There are two big TV's on the Sony Square, one showing a KungFu Panda ad. and the other showing some PS3 news (LBP, SCIV, etc..).

*When I go online there are always some guys I know so we just go somewhere, stay there and talk about random stuff. Yesterday we went to the Games area and we were talking while playing bowling, it was fun. But other than that.

*Load times are around 30-40 seconds in the Japanese Home beta and that's because of server problems (it has nothing to do with loading from the HDD), so go wonder what will happen when the open beta comes out. It might be hell, unless they prepare new server (I guess they will). And no, it's not my connection's problem. A lot of people in the Japanese servers are having issues. Dunno about the American version.

*The engine isn't very good, as in, it has some huge invisible walls around some objects or areas of the city. Plus you can barely interact with stuff. Going around on GTAIV's city feels way more realistic, hahah.. Also, being as limited as it is, even if it's a beta they could have added more stuff like reflections, real time weather and day/night time, etc.. But they can still add those to the game (and before someone tells me it's not a game: I know it, but it shows up under 'games' in the XMB, so..)

*And I'm not sure I will use it much whenever the final version is released. It has good things such as being able to chat with a lot of people at the same time, but still, it takes a while to load and as of right now, accessing the XMB's friends list and sending an email takes FOREVER. I would say it takes even longer than from a lot of other titles.. So, I will wait until they show more things and meanwhile I will hang around in the Home Square until LBP is released (I won't touch any other game in months, after that, hahahaha)

[CS10029]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

Well thats disappointing. PSN will not catch up to Xbox Live this generation.

[Altimus]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

I've read mixed impressions so far on it.

I'm still looking forward to it though as the whole trophy room/YouTube video feature should be awesome.

I just pray Sony is smart and gets enough servers for this come release. The last thing they want is to release something that was delayed by over a year and have it crash release day. The media will eat that up.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

I've read mixed impressions so far on it.

I'm still looking forward to it though as the whole trophy room/YouTube video feature should be awesome.

I just pray Sony is smart and gets enough servers for this come release. The last thing they want is to release something that was delayed by over a year and have it crash release day. The media will eat that up.

I agree, hopefully they get this thing running right.

[Rawdeal28]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

no invite for me either

[callmetaternuts]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

No invite, but im very curious to see what its about. Those impressions above seem more negative than positive.........

[SqueakyD]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

Hey guys, I was invited to the closed beta back in April 07 as part of the "Gamer Advisory Panel" program by Sony... I'm not sure how I got qualified for that, but anyways that's that. To be honest, there's an NDA (gag-order) that was supposed to be agreed upon for all the testers... I'm not suprised this much info has come out, though.

Anyways I really hope to see you guys on board soon. Could use some more sports gamers in there. G'luck and keep trying!

[CaptainZombie]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

Hey guys, I was invited to the closed beta back in April 07 as part of the "Gamer Advisory Panel" program by Sony... I'm not sure how I got qualified for that, but anyways that's that. To be honest, there's an NDA (gag-order) that was supposed to be agreed upon for all the testers... I'm not suprised this much info has come out, though.

Anyways I really hope to see you guys on board soon. Could use some more sports gamers in there. G'luck and keep trying!

Squaky, can you give us some quick thoughts on your experience so far?

[SqueakyD]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

Squaky, can you give us some quick thoughts on your experience so far?

there's an NDA (gag-order) that was supposed to be agreed upon for all the testers...

Okay! This is going to be the most legal-sidestepping text I've ever written. Bear with me, folks!

So in these online experiences, there are built in games. Like GTA4, there's bowling and billiards that you can play with other people like with your date or with your friends. Trashtalking while playing is good too! There are also arcade games (in GTA4), which resemble online flash puzzle games that are easy to pick up and play, but seem to be extremely mediocre in quality.

Has anyone played Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds for the PS3? If so, have you been in any of the online lobbies? You can chat via text, or audio... and you can do a ton of moves (like anger or sadness)... There's a weird thing where I can do a disco dance with my feet, but if I am sad I would put my hands to my face, but I'd still be dancing w/ my feet. Must be a weird bug in me... Anyways, from there you can launch any online (golf) game with other people, but I haven't been able to try that because no one else wanted to play a round (of golf) w/ me.

I don't like jogging, because it takes too long to get place to place. However, if I look into my PSP I can look up a map and find a faster way to get from place to place w/o having to trek across a courtyard for a long time.

Man, what's up with the advertising in video games? Like in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. There are billboards, video screens and movie posters of related games and films everywhere but in your home.

I think it's pretty cool that you can hang up any frame in your house, and put pictures of anything you have in it from your hard drive. For example, I had a wall lined with classic rock album covers that I downloaded from wikipedia. People can come over and check them out too. No two houses are decorated the same!

I'm pretty content with the options to chat and text on the XMB, however. It is a free download... but I think other people would dig an online second-life experience more than I would.

I plead the fifth.

[Altimus]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

IGN Preview is up: they like it.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/907/907231p1.html

For a product that's not even on the market yet and will be free when it does debut, PlayStation Home looks like it could actually be pretty cool -- that is if I don't get banned for acting like a jackass and asking people if they watch To Catch a Predator.

Actual Home Conversation…
Me: Dude, you ever hear of To Catch a Predator?
Dude: Catch predators?
Me: Or am I one? The world may never know.
Dude walks away

[Altimus]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

New video of Home.

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<embed src="http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/d51d01b9" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" name="viddler" width="437" height="266"></object>

[DickDalewood]

Re: PS3 Home Discussion

New video of Home.

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<embed src="http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/d51d01b9" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" name="viddler" width="437" height="266"></object>

Where's the vid?