PlayStation HOME, Um... hm... Options

[Vitamin D]

So the official public beta went live yesterday I think it was? From what I've been playing, I can honestly say, I don't "get" it. Now to be fair, I only just wandered around by myself and played some bowling and other random stuff, but overall, it doesn't excuse the fact that it feels so... lifeless. It can also be argued that this is a great deal because PSN is free. That's fine, but I don't think many if anyone would drop money on this. In any case, maybe I'm jumping the gun here. Perhaps some of us can get together and I dunno... chat or something? That seems to be the extent of what you do. Outside of spending real money on that sweet new couch! Anyway though, I think we have some new Podcast content if nothing else haha.

[Crushinator]

Yeah, I got to try the beta a month back or so. Its just completely stupid. Its basically a virtual chat room with a constant barrage of sony advertising and microtransaction opportunities. There's no interactivity, or anything to "do" really aside from the cheap parlor games, which are sub newgrounds level diversions.

The "theaters" are also lame as hell, why would you want to virtually WALK to the theater, virtually SIT DOWN, and virtually WATCH the movie/trailer/commercial when you could more easily download the video on the PSN Store?

For all the hype that Sony seemed to be putting behind this, like its some revolutionary new way to connect or interact online, its really just pathetic. Its less ambitious or flexible than even something like Second Life. The characters have the "uncanny valley" look, where they are just too lifeless and a bit off-putting.

If you have a problem with people behaving like asswipes in an online game, give them NO GAME TO PLAY and watch them go hog wild. That's Home.

Can I uninstall it from the HDD and get those 7 gigs back?

Perhaps some of us can get together and I dunno... chat or something?

That is the crux of the problem, thats all we could do! AFAIK its not even like the parties on XBL where you can take your group into a game (like Resistance or MGS4 or whatever). You just type/talk to each other and do stupid emotes that look like humping till you get bored.

[AC9breaker]

Some of you may remember Parn from PSU/O. He had this to say about Home.

Aaaaaaaaand, I'm not impressed. It's fucking terrible.

So the initial download is 70 MB. I'm thinking that's kind of small, but so be it. I install it on the PS3. When I hit the character creation bit, I decide I'll make my likeness in said virtual world like I always do for any game. As I click different options, I notice something annoying... it's downloading the data as I go. So here I am, trying to go through all these clothes, accessories, facial types, whatever... and I have to wait about 8 seconds for each item to finish downloading. Stupid.

I grin and bear it, and create a character. Fine. So I get sent to my PSN Home apartment, and there's a tutorial running. Alright, cool. I eventually get to this bit where it tells me to go to the Central Plaza so I can meet other people. Righto. I click to go to the Central Plaza.

Oh neat, I have to download a 39 MB file. But hey, they give me the option of downloading it in the background! Wow Sony, I'm sooooooooo immersed in your virtual world. So I wait for it to download as I scarf down dinner.

Upon entering the Central Plaza, it becomes a major load fest as it downloads data on clothing and Lord knows what else for every single person in the immediate vicinity. It takes forever for it to load people in, and once a lot of folks are loaded in after several minutes, I decide to walk around. I reach this one side of a building that has what's supposed to be a movie trailer or something playing on the side. There's a problem though... it has to download. instead of a movie, you see a progress bar and the word "Downloading" atop a black box on the side of the building. Yay, more downloading, this is totally awesome. I thought this shit was supposed to stream? After waiting 2 minutes for it to finish, I get to watch spliced footage from the PS3 game Afrika in very low resolution.

Then, the final straw, as I see this on the screen:

Quote:
oobie1: anyone want to cyber???

I immediately shut Home off. It sucks complete fucking balls.

I'm probably gonna download it later tonight or tomorrow morning.