Playstation Home is Coming
By Eric Swain • Sep 7th, 2008 • Category: Art, Game Design, Game Engines, Recent Posts, ReviewsGreat news for PS3 users has been announced. Martijn Van der Meulen, a producer on Home, a project that will allow a free Second Life like environment for players to socialize in, told game journalists that it is 100% certain to be released before this calendar year is up. Van der Meulen has also assured us that the service will remain free and will not change its status at any point in the future, even the far future.
A number of other features were talked about. Everyone will be given their own studio apartment that they can customize as they wish. Further things like clothing, furniture and other assorted knickknacks can be unlocked through they player of normal games, an added bonus.
There will also be public areas. Most notable was the Playstation Event space that was shown off. Here you and other Home users can watch live streaming conferences and even talk with developers directly.
Whether you use the service or not, doesn’t matter. If you don’t care about it, do recognize that as a business decision it is very important for both the company and the players. Sony will be able to see wall space and billboards that they can easily add in for advertisement dollars. It wont be any more intrusive than walking down the street in real life and, even though they have promised to keep the PSN network free, these dollars will allow them to keep that promise without unwarranted expense. On the player’s side of things, Home will give developers further details to consider when designing and programming their games, just as trophies will do. The importance is it is an incentive for developers to take greater care in designing their games. I wont say they always will, but if it influences even one game to be better because of it, it is a worthwhile venture.
If you are a PS3 owner, you do not have use it, but do respect what it is. It is not mandatory to enjoy your PS3 or online play. It is simply another option given to you, with possible unseen benefits.
Invites to the Home beta have been sent out and is now open. I sadly did not get invited, so no insider insight from me.
Eric Swain is a senior at Boston University, majoring in English and Creative Writing and has spent significant time studying story structure and theory in the mediums of books, film and video games. His articles offer unique perspective on deep game development and design through his eclectic prose.
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