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Too Late for PlayStation Home?

Friday, 05 Dec 2008 15:10
PlayStation Home Logo
Home sweet Home. PlayStation 3's great online innovation has seemingly come nowhere since Phil Harrison's reveal in 2007. The lanky and loveable Brit left Sony, leaving his replacements to nurture the PS3's online golden child alone.

Home's successive delays might be due to a "naive" vision, but with its imminent release around the corner, mightn't it be just a little bit late for Sony to go Home?

Unlike Garry Glitter, whose return was always premature, PlayStation Home should have gone the distance long ago. Originally in concept for the PlayStation 2, but denied because of technical limitations, the 3D online application has had a muted and extended Beta, slowly dousing the flames of hype that originally danced around it.

It's doubtful that its pending release and offer of free goodies (shouldn't it all be free?) will build the hype once again.

Indeed, the service could even be doomed. Being free (maybe that should be "free," due to nickle and diming), Home's goal is not to be immediately profitable, but to differentiate the PlayStation 3's online service from its competitors. Sony must penetrate the minds of the public and let them know; "Home is the shit."

To do this they need to surpass the gamer's view of Nintendo's Miis and the Xbox 360's avatars. And despite the latter struggling to be cool, PlayStation Home has more at stake. Its extras must be justified to the public, and will fail if it's viewed as a Second Life clone about dressing up a sad avatar to make you feel better about your own sad life.

No, Sony can only bring it home if they advertise the service as an extension of the PlayStation 3's great software library. The signs are hopeful with Warhawk, Uncharted and Resistance integrated spaces, but at every step Home mustn't be advertised as a stand-alone product.

Home must integrate itself into the PlayStation 3 and its software library's identity. The service needs more game spaces, more game products, and more video game avatars. So lets hope Sony's plans for expansion come true and before their big advertising campaign. Is it too late for Sony to get this message across? Does their previous advertising acumen give us hope? Or will the company rely on word of mouth, again?

To succeed, Home must be seen for what it is; an invisible platform for taking video games to another level. And not seen as a weird community for unsociable's to find their next date.

Do you think Sony's PlayStation Home will succeed in separating the PlayStation 3 from the competition? Watch a video of the PlayStation Home Beta and then express your thoughts in the comments section.

Patrick Steen



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    brendan () Posted: 12/27/2008 1:04:20 PM

  • David Macphail, Cupar/Scotland: Home's success all depends on third party support, IMO. I know a lot of people may disagree with me but in - game advertising in Home is CRUCIAL to it's success. Sony NEED the money generated from having advertisements splattered all over the place in order to keep this a free service. As long as it's free, it'll be successful. How much of an impact Home will have on the gaming community remains to be seen (Sony first need to advertise it as one of the PS3's main features, otherwise most consumers won't even know it exists) but that doesn't change the fact that neither Microsoft or Nintendo have any kind of service that can even come CLOSE to competing with Home. So yes, Home WILL seperate the PS3 from the competition, hopefully for the RIGHT reasons.

  • Brendan, Belfast: I am also in the Beta and the signs are promising. I was very impressed with what is available so far.The potential is massive! and it can only get better. Lets see what happens perhaps sonys sleeves are not as empty as most people think.

  • Paul Megara, Sicklerville, NJ: I am also in the Home beta and I was impressed the first day I played it. I had a blast creating my character then walking around my empty 'space' and finally I loved walking around the central plaze with other PS3 owners. But over the next day or two the hype the fun the excitment died and I mean it just fell flat. I know its in beta form and GOD HELP Sony's PS3 if Home releases anything like the beta form. Its Boring, there are not enough items to use the stores to buy these items are like your local Grocery store the day before the blizzard of the century arrives its empty. Sony needs to release Home soon they only have a few more days left in December to do so and when they do Home must be fully open meaning all the clothing, all the items and all the features that we're promised. If not then mark my words Home will die a slow and painful death from user apandement and bordom.

  • Nick: It's obvious that they need to start pimping their product alot better. More public demos, alot more advertising, and possibly more included in the hardware bundles. They do those three thing, I guarantee they'll end up almost neck and neck with their competition despite the price difference. There's just way too much out there for everyone to be pulled into using home as well as the console itself. They gotta add a voice to that quiet powerhouse.

  • Bob, Earth: If it's free, which I think it is, then it will do fine. Now, what would be cool is if they did the Mii type thing, where the character you create can play different games. Can you imagine creating your lifelike(maybe not) character, then having a game come along that lets you use that character in a first person shooter, a sports game and so on, I think it would be neat, if they can pull it off.

  • Sporiggers, WPG: What people don't realize that have knocked the delays of Home is that Sony has the potential to leapfrog what Live has done in 6 years. We're talking 2 years. NXE is great, but it's not even close to the complexity of Home. It's really not even close. NXE brags about a party system, but it's capped at 7 other friends? How about Home with 32 friends per party? How about rooms for games with 3D interactive maps for planning? You talk nickel and diming? How about NXE that costs $50 a year, STILL has $hitloads of advertising, and STILL is charging for themes, costumes, and so on. Considering Sony is doing everything for free, I think it's fine for them to have the SAME level of charging for extras JUST like NXE.

  • Patrick, Gamezine: Thanks for the comments folks. I am in the Home Beta, and I do see it's potential. My crux lies with Sony communicating that to the public, and whether it's too late for them to do so. I.E. The publics view of the PlayStation 3 might already be set in stone.

  • Mog, International: I can see why people who havn't experienced Home yet would seem a little naive about it, but I have been on the BETA now for quite some time and you can generaly see limitless possibility. I am especially looking forward to open BETA and full release as the current closed BETA is a tiny pin point on the virtual Home world, hey and I like the sound of some of the game and events from third party companies coming into the system soon. I for one am looking forward to the full release and especially seeing where home will lead over the next few years.

  • Lia, U.S: Home can be successful if Sony advertises it properly as an extension with the PS3. I'm in the beta and I see the potential. It's a socializing network. Facebook and MYSpace didn't become successful overnight. It took people to make it as successful as it is today.

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