PS3@Home beta begins

I don't see Home as a cash cow. I see it as a value-added service.
Just like free online. These are used to push hardware, which in turn
pushes software.

You buy a PS3 in part because it offers free online gaming and free
Home. You start chatting with your Home buddies, who are raving about
some niche game you've never heard of. So you go out and buy it.
Social networks are a much more effective means of advertising
software than almost anything else developers can do.

On a sad note, I was disappointed not to be chosen for the first wave
of Home Beta testing. I probably should have lied on my Underground
profile and said I play 40 hours per week instead of 10.

--
Bill Cable - Steelers Fan & Star Wars Collector
http://CreatureCantina.com <----- funny!
cable@creaturecantina.com

Bill Cable <billcable@gmail.com> wrote in news:1178588352.720683.76870
@h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:


> On a sad note, I was disappointed not to be chosen for the first wave
> of Home Beta testing. I probably should have lied on my Underground
> profile and said I play 40 hours per week instead of 10.
>
> --
> Bill Cable - Steelers Fan & Star Wars Collector
> http://CreatureCantina.com <----- funny!
> cable@creaturecantina.com

Your not missing much, a bunch of people standing around, some dancing,
staring at Spiderman3 trailers on the wall. It also crashes, a lot,
requiring a full power off/on cycle to fix. I thought it was going to be
great but the novelty wears off pretty quick.

"Paul C." <Paul_C_NB@yahoo.canospam> wrote in message
news:Xns9929F386CAA9Exxxxttttyyyyxxxxx@66.250.146. 207...
> Bill Cable <billcable@gmail.com> wrote in news:1178588352.720683.76870
> @h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>> On a sad note, I was disappointed not to be chosen for the first wave
>> of Home Beta testing. I probably should have lied on my Underground
>> profile and said I play 40 hours per week instead of 10.
>>
>> --
>> Bill Cable - Steelers Fan & Star Wars Collector
>> http://CreatureCantina.com <----- funny!
>> cable@creaturecantina.com
>
> Your not missing much, a bunch of people standing around, some dancing,
> staring at Spiderman3 trailers on the wall. It also crashes, a lot,
> requiring a full power off/on cycle to fix. I thought it was going to be
> great but the novelty wears off pretty quick.

the trials and tribulations of being a beta tester. I wish i could complain
about being the first to play it. JERK!

"Paul C." <Paul_C_NB@yahoo.canospam> wrote in message
news:Xns9929F386CAA9Exxxxttttyyyyxxxxx@66.250.146. 207...
> Bill Cable <billcable@gmail.com> wrote in news:1178588352.720683.76870
> @h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
>
>
> > On a sad note, I was disappointed not to be chosen for the first wave
> > of Home Beta testing. I probably should have lied on my Underground
> > profile and said I play 40 hours per week instead of 10.
> >
> > --
> > Bill Cable - Steelers Fan & Star Wars Collector
> > http://CreatureCantina.com <----- funny!
> > cable@creaturecantina.com
>
> Your not missing much, a bunch of people standing around, some dancing,
> staring at Spiderman3 trailers on the wall. It also crashes, a lot,
> requiring a full power off/on cycle to fix. I thought it was going to be
> great but the novelty wears off pretty quick.

So once again, bilgemerk's latest "Halo killer" turns out to be a dud.

In alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 Bill Cable <billcable@gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't see Home as a cash cow. I see it as a value-added service.
> Just like free online. These are used to push hardware, which in turn
> pushes software.

I guess, but I don't see the value-add here.

I personally have zero interest in setting up a virtual apartment with my
trophies, and even LESS interest in seeing someone else's
apartment/trohpies. I also have a hard time understanding who would be
interested, outside of an attention starved 10 year old.

I might have some interest in some of the casual online games, such as
Pool, but I really don't like the idea of having to walk my avatar down
the street to the virtual pool hall. Does this mean I also have to march
my virtual prescense over to the virtual movie theater to watch a movie
trailer? Yeah, the idea sounds sort of neat - an attempt at an immersive,
instinctual interface and all that. However I'd be more happy with just a
web menu.

> You buy a PS3 in part because it offers free online gaming and free
> Home. You start chatting with your Home buddies, who are raving about
> some niche game you've never heard of. So you go out and buy it.
> Social networks are a much more effective means of advertising
> software than almost anything else developers can do.

I agree about the social network thing, but honestly, how many people chat
with their buddies/opponents about games while playing online? I really
don't see Home turning into some sort of 3d chatroom that's going to be
worth using for more than 5 minutes just so you can say "yeah, I tried it."

If I was really interested in such a thing, there's plenty of other
systems available now for the PC, and many of them are free. Why would I
want to buy a $600 console to use as a set-top client for Sony's own
re-implementation?

I'm sure that eventually there'll be so fans who will spend hours and hours
on Home, just wandering around and chatting. Though this brings up my other
point as to how exactly is this supposed to be a source of revenue for Sony.
Since access is free, the only thing Sony could do would be to sell ad space.
However that probably won't make a lot of money, and if there are too many
ads, it'll drive what few fans Home had away.

--
Win cash and giftcards just for clicking your mouse!
http://www.netwinner.com/?signupCode=amuro98

One of the revenue streams from Home will be from microtransactions.
$.50 to get a T-shirt. $1 to get a couch. That kind of stuff. I
know people pay good, real money for interactive objects in Second
Life, and there's that potential in Home. It has the potential of
working out to $50 per year if they provide the right content.

Reading some threads posted by Beta testers, Home has a lot of
potential, especially for clans. You can jump directly from Home into
a game with your entire clan. Then you can jump back to Home, then
into any other game. So instead of everyone hanging out in the XMB,
or playing games with random folks until your clan shows up, you can
all meet in a room in Home and jump in game once everyone arrives.

And I'm really liking what I'm reading about the voice chat in Home.
The audio is all location-based... the closer you are to another
chatter the louder they sound. So if you have five people sitting
around a table you can have a real conversation, even if there's a
hundred people in the room. It's really promising stuff.

--
Bill Cable - Steelers Fan & Star Wars Collector
http://CreatureCantina.com <----- funny!
cable@creaturecantina.com

In alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 Bill Cable <billcable@gmail.com> wrote:
> One of the revenue streams from Home will be from microtransactions.
> $.50 to get a T-shirt. $1 to get a couch. That kind of stuff. I
> know people pay good, real money for interactive objects in Second
> Life, and there's that potential in Home. It has the potential of
> working out to $50 per year if they provide the right content.

I thought about that too, but I really have problems seeing people spend
even $0.50 on something for Home.

If you could transfer your avatar into games, then this would make more
sense. Imagine buying Dante's coat for your character - only $1.25 - and
then popping into a game of Socom4 or whatever. Yeah, you'd stick out
like a sore thumb, but you'd look darn cool anyways!

> Reading some threads posted by Beta testers, Home has a lot of
> potential, especially for clans. You can jump directly from Home into
> a game with your entire clan. Then you can jump back to Home, then
> into any other game. So instead of everyone hanging out in the XMB,
> or playing games with random folks until your clan shows up, you can
> all meet in a room in Home and jump in game once everyone arrives.

Doesn't this assume that the game supports Home in the first place? And
from what I understand, that's not the case.

I think Sony could have had something really interesting with Home, but in
all honesty, they needed to have started working on this like 18-24 months
ago, so there'd be plenty of time to get all the developers to put Home
into their games - much how all 360 games are linked to Live in some way
or another.



--
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Bill Cable spake thusly:

> Reading some threads posted by Beta testers, Home has a lot of
> potential, especially for clans. You can jump directly from Home into
> a game with your entire clan. Then you can jump back to Home, then
> into any other game. So instead of everyone hanging out in the XMB,
> or playing games with random folks until your clan shows up, you can
> all meet in a room in Home and jump in game once everyone arrives.

That sounds a little more like it. In that case it basically becomes a
game lobby with avatars. It would be cool to hang around and chat while
waiting for everyone to show up for a game session. That feature alone
makes Home sound a lot more appealing. I hope there are shortcuts for
navigating the world and you don't have to "walk" to your buddy's
apartment. Surely there would be.

-Z-

In alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 Zackman <zackman@spamisevilearthling.net> wrote:

> That sounds a little more like it. In that case it basically becomes a
> game lobby with avatars. It would be cool to hang around and chat while
> waiting for everyone to show up for a game session. That feature alone
> makes Home sound a lot more appealing. I hope there are shortcuts for
> navigating the world and you don't have to "walk" to your buddy's
> apartment. Surely there would be.

Heh. Maybe Sony'll make you pay for them? Yes, for just $1, you can
add a shortcut slot, allowing you to teleport instantly to a specific
place on Home. You'd start out with 3 presets - your apartment, the store,
and the poolhall/bowling alley.

--
Win cash and giftcards just for clicking your mouse!
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On May 11, 8:18 pm, Zackman <zack...@SPAMISEVILearthling.net> wrote:
> That sounds a little more like it. In that case it basically becomes a
> game lobby with avatars. It would be cool to hang around and chat while
> waiting for everyone to show up for a game session. That feature alone
> makes Home sound a lot more appealing. I hope there are shortcuts for
> navigating the world and you don't have to "walk" to your buddy's
> apartment. Surely there would be.
>
> -Z-

I hear you actually can't walk to private apartments. You have to
teleport there after being invited. The large public areas are
interconnected, but even there you have the option of going to the
world map and teleporting.

What'll be interesting to see is just how many copies of the public
area they have to put out there. With three million potential people
who could be in Home, they can't all be going to the same movie
theater. So I gotta wonder if the numerous public lobbies will all be
generic and identical, or if they'll go with various themes.

--
Bill Cable - Steelers Fan & Star Wars Collector
http://CreatureCantina.com <----- funny!
cable@creaturecantina.com