Details on what Home will do.

The40Watt · #1 31-07-2008, 08:45

Sony have been talking about Home and they are trying to make it clear that it is not a social network. I'm surprised as I thought that is exactly what it was supposed to be. Instead it sounds more like a really fancy game lobby to help set up big multiplayer games. Handy for groups of friends or clans.

Link

Quote:

Opening the Develop Online day of the Develop in Brighton conference, SCEE's Darren Cairns and Liam Wickham made clear the intention behind Sony's upcoming Home virtual world.

While often described as a social network for the PlayStation 3, Cairns and Wickham said: "Home is not a social network - it's focused on games. It's a visual representation of the PlayStation community."

The focus of the talk - and, indeed, seemingly the new focus in Home itself - was on the game launching capabilities, essentially serving as grand-scale party forming and lobby facility for PlayStation 3 games.

Describing the workflow of getting game launching to work, the SCEE staff explained that developers can use the Home Development Kit to author a Game Launch Object which gets submitted to servers and is downloaded by clients looking to launch a game.

Through Lua scripting, developers can bring the game setup options - such as number of public player slots and choice of map / game rules - into Home itself.

Based on the selections, the Game Launch Object writes out XML files with session details and players. The console then resets and loads into the game (either stored on the HDD or on Blu-Ray), which reads the XML file and launches directly into the multiplayer game. Once play has finished, control can be yielded back to Home for post-match discussion.

Regarding the roll-out of the service, they mentioned that the closed beta would be expanding imminently and that open beta is still scheduled to roll out this year. The recently-added PSN trophies will be supported in player profiles, but the large-scale 3D trophies and trophy room demonstrated at Sony's 2007 Game Developers Conference keynote.

StokolaN · #2 31-07-2008, 11:09

TBH.. it sounds a bit meh these days.. Also i think Duke Nukem Forever will be out before it!

cow moolester · #3 31-07-2008, 15:04

Honestly the final release won't be out till 2009! Ridiculous!

The40Watt · #4 15-09-2008, 18:20

Here is a new video about Home. It still really appealing to me but I'm sure I'll download it when it arrives.

StokolaN · #5 15-09-2008, 20:41

yeah ill probably get it myself. But at the rate things are going i'll be playing duke nukem forever before Home :P

StillWinter · #6 16-09-2008, 01:10

Home looks nice,.. but.. it seems to be a platform for advertising..

i would have thought gamers want to play and chat, watch a movie and chat etc. not stand and stare at some new outfit or video clip. I can see where sonys going but most gamers are PC chatroom addicts. Personally ill stick with XBL and its live chat and vid ( should i need it )

brim4brim · #7 16-09-2008, 09:25

3D user interfaces rarely work TBH. They are too complicated and confusing for users.

Sony seem to be aiming Home at a niche of a niche. First the console targets hardcore gamers and now hardcord gamers who can handle an unintuitive 3D interface.

I presume you can still use the 2D version in which case, what purpose does home serve? Its an experiment to see can at least the hardcore audience handle this kind of interface.

The problem at Sony is the tech team are running the show instead of the business department on the home project at least. People that think this is what everyone wants because it looks cool.

The40Watt · #8 16-09-2008, 09:52

I own the PS3 to play games and watch Blu-ray movies. I want to just go to the XMB menu and select game or movie. I don't feel the need to enter home and walk my avatar into the living room to achieve the same thing. It just feels like too much hassle.

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