Welcome HOME

So much for updating yesterday huh? Long story short, my day kinda went downhill after making that blog update. My afternoon at work became a torrential downpour of phone calls. Each trying my patience more than the last. And my trip home was tinged by minor chaos.

Suffice it to say, there was no spicy pasta for me last night.

All that out of the way, on to the fun stuff; PlayStation Home.


It's been almost 2 years since then president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison, first announced Home at the Game Developers Conference. Since then, Phil has gone on to Atari, and his pet project, Home, has gone forward without him.

The long and the short of Home is that is is a virtual world existing on the PlayStation network, where PS3 owners can chat, play and interact with each other in a shared space. Sounds great in theory. But in theory, communism works...



Unfortunately, Home is kinda sterile and barren right now; and has lots of unfulfilled potential. Right now there doesn't seem to be much noticeable community management outside of Sony organizing "dance parties" in Central Square (the main gathering spot in Home).

For example, one of Sony's biggest and best games this generation is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and there is a space dedicated to it in Home. The description of the area states that there are hidden areas to find in the Uncharted game space, but there are no instructions as to how to find them. And the location (based on the design of an early 20th century waterfront bar) is too small and cramped to accommodate more than, say, 20 people at a time. Unfortunately, in my brief time inside, there were easily 5 times that many. The virtual claustrophobia made it just plain annoying to stay too long.

That's not to say that Home is a total clusterfuck. Far from it. I always loved rearranging furniture in The Sims and Home offers a similar mechanic. And Sony has promised to integrate more features into Home in the future. And while they may be s l o w in updating their systems and network, they do get it done. So I'm hopeful that eventually, Home will be the user friendly hot spot that Sony has been touting it as. But I'm not holding my breath.


Christ, I'm tired tonight. That's all for now. Earlier tonight I place my first order for home delivery of groceries, so I'll comment on how that went tomorrow.