Home is where the gamers aren't.

When Playstation Home was officially announced back in the first quarter of 2007, console owners across the globe reacted with, "Meh..." And that was completely understandable. There just wasn't much about walking around a virtual world that sounded fun. Sure, it sounded interesting, but the biggest question gamers had concerning Home was, "Why?"

And now Home is out on Beta with limited options and functionality. Those who were interested in seeing what the fuss over Home was about are now mostly gone. There are a few stragglers still in there, but if you're interested in using your Playstation for something with a little action, Home doesn't offer much. So what is the big deal? What would attract some gamers to Home and save it from what seems to be certain destruction?

The best way to answer these questions is to first see why Home doesn't work. And CGReviews has three problems and solutions that'll bring it back, right after the break.

[PenisaurisDix]

The graphics look nice but in order to do anything like get clothes or furniture you have to pay. You have to pay for anything that you allows to customize your experience ?

Where is a picture uploader ? Furniture maker ? There's nothing to do in Home. Yeah, I can visit the bar in Uncharted or fly a toy plane.

I usually entertain myself by making the sexiest female avatar and then move her belly out to be as big as possible, and then I dance in the middle of the courtyard and text "I am your baby momma" until people start LOLing.

[GrandTheftZamboni]

You don't have to pay to get clothes or furniture.

[TreborRversed]

Thing people aren't relising is it is still in the BETA stages meaning things are still being worked on

Every time I go on to check it out it is usually packed out.

Lets reserve judgment for the proper release after the beta. If its still crap then, I will just forget about it, but then again Sony always deliver, even if we do have to wait a bloody long time lol heres looking at you GT5 :)

[xbollox]

lol

[SoapShoes]

"There are a few stragglers still in there."

Is that why whenever I go there are people everywhere? It's not my cup of tea, but obviously people do like it.

[FPShooter]

Its always packed full. now with the war hawk area its gonna be even more. I dont care for it myself but alot of gamers do.

[40cal]

I like HOME, think its great. While I have not logged in for about 2 or 3 weeks I know that it is there to use whenever I want to. And really just waiting on the EA space. Oh, and Killzone 2 is the only thing getting played on my PS3 right now.

[ThanatosDMC]

There's actually a lot of women in home... and im not talking about those shemales. I call them out that they're not women, next thing you know, i get an invite for them to verbally talk to me. Then i apologize.

[Megaton]

I think it's complete garbage, and an utter waste of Sony's time, money, and manpower. That being said, there are always lots of people in there when I login to check out new additions. The only time I saw it with one or two other people on was during the closed beta in the wee hours of the morning.

[StephanieBBB]

nuff said.

[Jerk120]

Home beta!, home beta!

EXCUSES!, EXCUSES!

HOME SUCKS JUST LIKE SUCKZONE 2 SUCKS.

ACCEPT IT.

So much suck only exists on Suckstation 3 and if you dislike that your console sucks and that Killzone 2 sucks and that home sucks then go get yourself a 360 that doesn't suck and sell that piece of crap.

[Tarasque]

OK it is packed full, anytime i log in i see no more than 75-100 people tops. And there is roughly how many PS3's sold?, it was never popular to begin with so no reason to beat a dead horse. It could be something of use but it will take alot of updates and weekly add in's to keep it even remotely useful. I mean everything in home is cool for the first time but it wears off real quick, i mean i did the red bull air race like 3 times and i haven't been there since.

[Megaton]

That whole "LEAVE HOME ALOOONE! IT'S A BETA!" argument is really flawed. It was in beta for over a year before this more recent "beta". Sony claims it's still called a beta because it's going to continue to evolve. MMO's also continue to evolve in a nearly never ending fashion. The only difference is that they drop the beta tag. It's beta in name only at this point.

Oh and I know I'm beating the troll hive with a stick by attacking Home, but frankly I hate to think about how much better the PS3's interface could be right now had they used their Home resources on that instead of the 3D, desperate teen virgin-filled, strip mall we've got now.

[-EvoAnubis-]

Your comment makes no sense. You're acting like the firmware team and the Home team are one and the same, and by focusing on one, they're ignoring the other, but the people working on these things aren't even on the same continent, let alone the same team.

[Megaton]

You really think that those resources wouldn't be allocated somewhere else within Sony's PlayStation sector if Home didn't even exist?

[-EvoAnubis-]

Sure I do. It's Sony London, the same group that does most of the R&D for Sony, like all the EyeToy stuff last-gen. It doesn't mean they'd be doing firmware, though, so your argument is still flawed.

Besides, you're letting the fact that YOU personally don't like Home cloud your judgement. Sony has made more than a million dollars on Home already, so they are seeing success with it. Hundreds of thousands of people are in Home worldwide at any given moment, and simply because you aren't one of them doesn't make it bad.

As for me, I've been in contests in Home, I've won prizes, including free games, in Home, I've talked in small groups with developers who happened to be there just kicking back . . . it's a lot of fun. If you don't agree, don't use it; that's not an issue.

[Eddie20101]

Some of these people don't even know how it works. Each instance of a space hold around sixty people, once one is full then a new instance of the space opens till it is full, and then another opens, this is done to keep lag down and the framrate up. Spaces are different areas in home, such as the movie theatre, gamer lounge, Warhawk space.

When I'm in Home it's usual full of people(or Avatars), and thats in every space, except for the Farcry 2 space. Now when I was in the closed beta sometimes it was like a ghost town but since its been open beta it's pretty busy, so theres lots of people who do enjoy it.

[Sharpshell]

My GF loves home, which makes sense I guess, I like exploring the rooms for about 30 seconds but the only real fun i had was beating this dude at chess back in the beta to this beta lol.

I want home to be like an alternative XMB where even in games if you hit the home button on your controller you would see the home world in gray and stuff would be going on, and I wanted it to be where you launch games from like like find friend and invite him. But after playing it I realize that the load times would be GOD AWFUL for that kind of Nonsense. But at the very least our Home avatars could replace our current ones and be somewhat animated, while we are at it can we have the ability to voice chat with our friends while we are playing diffrent games please?

I guess thats what I really wanted, if my bddy and I went to the same palce in Home and he played Fallout 3 and I played K2 but we left our chat set to Home we coudl talk. In fact the system might save all the other K2 players in the world who have to listen to us talk to each other online

[Boink]

I love how the first bunch of comments say the article is crap, it's always full, but rarely use it themselves...

[Blitzed]

Are you an idiot or just a full time troll? Not everyone that logs into Home is placed in the same server space.

[Tarasque]

/\/\/\/\/\
So how in the h3ll do you know how many people is really on then? Why are we even having this conversation then if nobody knows cause it creates multiple spaces.

[Socomer 1979]

Home is always packed & the number 1 important reason of why we go into home is to PARTY ! LETS DANCE !

2nd most important reason of why home is packed is because we like to bullsh!t in there. Its a freaking chatroom in real time.
if you want to talk about games and check out profiles to compare trophies and looking for a clan. Home is for you. I go in there to tell a few jokes and get the ball rollin. Im sorry you havent had a chance to meet me but thats youre unlucky.

[Blackcanary]

In Europe Home is packed with people everyday so yeah this is crap.

[DJ]

It's surprisingly relaxing to log on to for half an hour or so after getting off of work.

[-EvoAnubis-]

This guy doesn't even have a clue what he's talking about. Home is packed, 24/7, in every region that I visit. Events happen in Home weekly, both planned and unplanned, and it's great. Yeah, it could use more features, but those'll come in time. It's progressing just fine.

[Rhezin]

I saw you in there. keep preachin brotha!

[swiftshot93]

lol I love playstation and I'm a huge PS fan, but HOME is boring as hell. It changed nothing. I'll probably go to it when the RE5 space is up, but thats it.

[DJ]

Home isn't for everyone since it's just a social network. But hopefully Sony figures out how to attract those who aren't currently interested in Home (such as yourself) by either restructuring it or putting more emphasis on gaming within the application.

I think a big problem is that we're used to games where we can physically interact with the environments, jump over obstacles, etc. It'd be nice to select the Call of Duty room (for example) and play FPS rounds with your avatar against other people's avatars.

[Eddie20101]

Home is not a game, its a place to meet people, make new friends and to hopefully play purchased games with them online. That is it's main purpose.

That said theres a few games like bowling, pool, arcade games, and mini games, it also has movie trailers and game trailers that change about once a week. theres also advertising spaces and game specific spaces.

I don't understand why some people look at it like a game.

[mrkeith]

i left after they took the mic option out. that was the best part.

[maniacmayhem]

I usually go in and stand on a ledge and type insane stuff like:

"I love the spinach monster."

"Please buy my teeth!"

"Release my hands from my wrists!"

Then I log out. Wicked good times!

[Tarasque]

Yeah sounds like great times...........shakes head

[NegativeCreepWA]

I always log on when something is added to check things out, but other than that I never have a reason or feel the need to boot it up.
I could see myself using it in the future when theirs more to do. Right now its just full of a bunch of horny teenagers trying to pick up on girls that are most likely 30 year old men. Its actually kind of funny in a pathetic way to see them try.

[TheMART]

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In Europe Home is packed with people everyday so yeah this is crap.
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DJ - 13 minutes ago

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3.1 - Same here in the U.S.
It's surprisingly relaxing to log on to for half an hour or so after getting off of work."

Ofcourse. With 21 mln. PS3's sold and free acces for PSN/Home, there will allways be some hundreds or thousands of morons walking around in a world that doesn't offer anything at all.

That doesn't mean its succesfull now is it?

Whats the percentage of people that have a PSN account that use home, now thats interesting.

I haven't logged into Home for 2 months now. Its dissapointing. Don't say its still in Beta, it could be in beta untill 2020, its announced at the beginning of 2007, we're at the beginning of 2009 and it still sucks. It sucks donkey balls period.

[ToastyMcNibbles]

if you dont like it thats your problem...just pretend it doesnt exist..simple as that...certain people like myself understand what the concept of home is...a place to socialize and meet people in a different way...youre an idiot if you think home is gonna remain the same way it is now in the next couple months or next year...thats the point of it being in a BETA...because its always gonna change and upgrade...if you dont wanna log in then dont simple as that...i respect your opinion of thinking home sucks but dont believe for one second that it'll stay in its current state

[TheMART]

Again the question:

How long may we say its in beta and it doesn't really bring something? 2 years? 4 years? 6 years? 10 years? Forever? So actually you're saying because it will upgrade forever, it can stay in beta forever. What I am saying is that it should provide more 2 years after its announcement. It does so little.

I just want to state I think its Slowny overpromising & underdelivering again.

Furthermore: socialize? By taking mic chat away? I bought a PSeye to use in LBP and to use the mic in home. Then Sony cut the mic talk... BUMMER

Again my question: with 20 mln. people ofcourse a couple of thousand people will be online, the real question is, what % of the PSN users are online daily, weekly, monthly etc.?

After 2 years I may for sure say it sucks donkey balls with the current offering online. Its just really sad. They'd better not announce it and kept it secret, then releasing it in 2010 with some real features.

[TreborRversed]

Bubbles up toast, completely agree

[ToastyMcNibbles]

i understand what youre saying mart..but heres my question...why do you care what the percentage is?...sony made a million smackers just off home alone according to them... so i guess the percentage of people being on is pretty good

[DERKADER]

I thought HOME was going to be the user interface that allowed you to launch games, start party chats, play movies etc. But it turns out its just a 3D chat room with some mini games. I can't wait till Sony scraps HOME so I can laugh. But who knows it has the potential be useful.

[ToastyMcNibbles]

home is great but we need some laser tag haha how awesome would that be?

[LeGenDx]

to make themself feel better?

[Up In Smoke]

so, home was never meant for real gamers, it was meant for casual or no life having people.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

Home isn't empty as these people think it is.

I may never go on Home, maybe to check up on things once in a while (don't have a keyboard hooked up to ps3, only comp) Home is still a good feature, and I always see people chatting in there.

[REALgamer]

But I never find a real reason to log in. =S

It all just feels a bit pointless, like I could be playing an actual game online but instead I'm wandering aimlessly around some (tiny) areas because it keeps trying to convince me I'm having fun...

When Home was announced I was expecting more a large open world - nothing like the scale of WoW or whatever but an actual world you could walk (drive?) around to maybe different towns and buy houses in them, or walk down to the beach and have a jet-ski race. Basically, a WORLD. Not some small 3D chat rooms.

[Trebius]

What youre asking for wouldnt be free.

[bizzyb0t]

I'm tired of defending Home. When it was just a concept, the pictures they released made Home seem like it was going to be EPIC WIN. Then they took out the open voice chat, added in the virtual stores all for the benefit of the teenyboppers. Now it feels lame and boring... I find myself wondering what the point is.

What happened to all the planned game spaces to organize and launch games with?

I log into Home once in a while but frankly, it feels gimmicky and makes me think it's some sort of lame attempt to be a marketing platform. I don't need my commercials in 3-D.

[-EvoAnubis-]

It'll be even more amusing around E3. Stay tuned, kiddies; you'll see what I mean.

[pixelsword]

so I think I already know what you mean. :)

[nwarelias]

i agree with you about home being boring. Most people just use it to flirt with guys that appear as girls, (i hate that). This is just a beta though. I cant wait till the trophy room, tv's, new houses, and all that they promised.

[ceedubya9]

Of all the things that I love about my PS3, HOME is the thing that I care about the least. But, HOME isn't for everyone, and there's more to the PS3 than just that application. Its just another bell an whistle, love it or hate it.

[randomwiz]

Every time I see a girl character, I see 15 guys around her. Well, now I don't see that many anymore, but when Home first came out, it was like that.

I don't know about you, but Home is always filled when I log on every WEEK. This article also goes wrong when it says that no one talks in Home... maybe its because they can't. I would hate to have people talking in public places because they always say stupid stuff, or play loud music in the background.

I like the point where he says no one talks on PSN. PSN may be free, and have equal features, but I will pay for XBL if I can talk to people.

HOME has impressed me in terms of technicality. Everything is so well laid out and clean. But that alone can't make me go on everyday.

Home has so much potential, but right now NOTHING!

[ElementX]

Home can lick my sack

[pixelsword]

I actually got a chance to fly the plane in Red Bull's area the last time I was there... it was like a PS1 game but it was still cool.

Sony needs to do one thing to get people in home...

...get the virtual trophy room online.

I would probably be there every time I get a medal.

[soul-sama]

we're all playing killzone.

[SSCOOLCHEA]

Home is always pack and full. what a fkn moron. another fkn bots thats jealous .... go give your avaturd a kiss

[PattyWacker]

honestly i applaud sony for trying to give gamers something new and innovative, but I only went on home the first day. It just seemed too thinned out and boring for me. Not much to do and way to many dudes dancing with eachother haha. Sony, stick to the great exclusive lineup, trust me thats enough.

[silverchode]

home is fvcking boring.

[JOEdANGEL]

I can see how home appeals to some people, and it's obviously not a failure, but it just doesn't grab me. A 3-D chatroom is a complete waste of time for me. Sure there are little games you can play, but having to wait for them really diminishes their appeal. When I play multiplayer games I usually play with people I know, or just jump into a game and play with whoever. Home was interesting for a day, but the lack of features ultimately turned me away from it.

[Mitch_Cumstein]

The bad thing about this whole mess is there is millions and millions of dollars being lost on this every day. Think of what Sony could do with that money if it weren't going to waste. They might actually be able to keep some of their exclusives from jumping ship.

[titntin]

I think this kind of thing is occurring because people had a fundamental misunderstanding of what home really is.
Its not about being a 'game' - its not about having action packed arcade fun, its an ambitious social networking tool. People go into home to meet and chat with others. They do this often whilst playing a simple game like the pool, but its basically an virtual online chat room with lots of toys.
The appeal of social networking is not universal, and I can understand the frustration of someone logging into home and expecting to find an adrenaline rush.
But it does have real appeal as a chat room and meeting space. I've enjoyed using it myself, but by far the biggest user of HOME is my wife, who uses it daily to chat with friends made in home. Its always busy - and often difficult to find a free pool table!

It will never manage to offer all things to all users, but as an ambitious social networking app, I think it works beautifully and allows a level of interaction among users that goes far beyond simply chat sessions, or message exchanging. As such, I hope they do continue to expand it and have the balls to push something with some vision. Its obvious this is a long term project and while it will never change 'gaming' it already is starting to change the way gamers can interact with each other, if they want too..

[dazzalfc]

I personally think Home has a vast amount of potential to be honest. Remember, this is the first time anyhting like this has been tried on a console, and i think Sony sometimes does not get the credit it deserves in at least trying something different. I'd rather Sony tried to innovate with its service and what it offers, than just stick to the 'same old' stuff.

At the moment, what Home now is just a drop in the ocean to what it will (hopefully) turn out to be. There isn't enough happening in there at the moment to justify me spending my time wondering about the Spaces, and support from Sony (at least in Europe, more content needs to flow to the likes of the shopping centre and theatre) is rather lackluster. Once Sony gets the content flowing and game launching sorted properly, then i'm sure i'll personally be using it more. I'd argue with anyone who says its never full though, each time i've logged in and gone into any space, its always been rather full of people, even though there is little to do at the moment

Having said that, some interesting spaces are starting to appear now, so i will be checking those out definitely.

[W-k]

i don't like home every time i walk up to some one and say hello they all say "f*** you" most of the time..the warhawk space is cool but i think they need more games like paintball or something and less rooms with nothing to do in them.