The State of PlayStation Home

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Hi Home Community,

As many of you know, 2009 was a big year for PlayStation Home. The millions of you that use PlayStation Home saw us transform from a 3D virtual world into a true social gaming platform with more than 50 spaces and over 100 games. One of the biggest highlights of the year was the launch of the popular Sodium One space, which has redefined what a social game can be by combining massive action, stunning graphics and social experiences in a way never done before. PlayStation Home has become a leader in the evolution of social games from simple 2D web games to immersive high-definition 3D experiences made possible by the tremendous horsepower of the PlayStation 3.

Home Sodium Store

As we start the new year, we are not slowing down. We are adding new spaces, community events and virtual items each and every week, with many of these updates based directly on your feedback. Last week marked an important milestone in our evolution with a new iteration of the Mall, which was heavily influenced by our community’s request to have a more streamlined shopping experience. The Mall now features stores from some of our closest partners, including Loot from Sony Pictures who brought us all of the awesome Ghostbusters gear, our friends at Lockwood – creators of Sodium, and of course EA Sports, who have been among the strongest supporters of PlayStation Home since the earliest days after launch. One new face to PlayStation Home is LucasArts, who brought both Star Wars and Indiana Jones to their new store in the PlayStation Home Mall. I for one will be rocking the Imperial Stormtrooper outfit for the foreseeable future.

Home EA Store Home LucasArts Store

Home Exclusives Store Home Loot Store

PlayStation Home is based on a “freemium” model, which allows you, our community to play games, meet friends, explore and discover rewards – all for free. In addition, there are opportunities to personalize your experience with virtual items that allow you to stand out from the crowd, or even play your favorite games in PlayStation Home better (thank you Stomper Boots!) Whether you buy virtual items or just play games and hang out, I would like to extend a huge “thank you” for your support from everyone on our team.

Home Team

With all that said, this is just the beginning of what we have in store for you. Many of our long time community members have been asking for features, fixes and content that we have been secretly hard at work on, and will be rolling out over time. Rest assured that we hear your requests loud and clear (I personally use Home and read the forums daily), and although we can’t deliver everything we’re asked for, we will compliment all of these new features and content with a renewed focus on open dialogue and service. Our Home Community Managers, along with myself, continue to work on addressing your questions regarding our direction for the next year, so stay tuned to the PlayStation Home forums for what is sure to be a lively conversation!

We have an incredible number of new surprises ahead, so if you’re not already a member of the PlayStation Home community, there has never been a better time to jump in and experience all of the fun.

Thank you Home Community. Keep being awesome.

Best,

Jack

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201 Comments

7 Author Replies

  • First time ever leaving a comment. I totally love home. I agree with some, the wait time for download is kinda weird. But I love the changes that are made all the time but sometimes its a bit weary. I love it otherwise. Its pretty awesome. I am happy with whatever you guys change and do to it. Pretty easy going here.. =-)

  • Awesome!! Thanks for the great info and communication. I know many of us are very excited about the way communication is improving between the community and the Home Staff and it is great to see. It is also great to see that we have been and are being heard and also that things will not be slowing down. I am sure 2010 will be an epic year for PlayStation Home and I and the Mrs are only to proud to be a part of it.

  • @135, oh you are so wrong on your opinion of Lithium and it’s mods! I never once used foul language on the board, nor trolled, or even SPAMMED! But I was banned for 4 days, because they said I spammed the forums, then when a member of my house hold entered into the forums, there were banned for 14 days, and I also got the ban for 14 days, because they said “I” was eluding my ban! Then when I contacted them through their RUDE support emails, it went PERM because I told them that I would be taken both Sony and Them to court! Lithium is clearly run buy noobish SCRUBS! and is why I hope within a years time Sony will do their own forums. The other member of the house hold, because of this, is now done with Sony.. and they are now enjoying their xbox! So thanks to LITHIUM and their stupidity, Sony just lost a customer! And will most likely lose me as well, if these problems with home and the PS3 system are not taken care of, and this includes the FAMOUS YLOD!

    So.. I urge you to set up a poll about Lithium and I’m sure the only ones who will say they are doing good are the ass kissers of home and the forums (and you know who you are).

  • @152 Umm.. communications have improved? Well this coming from the biggest BK of home with the managers and forums. That explalins it.

    @Jack, please if you can find away to deal with this favoritism between home managers, HVC’s forum mods, with some of the general home people and forum visitors, I’m sure most of us would appreciate it!

  • There’s no point in asking any further qustions…Jack has already fulfilled his “Look at me listen” quota.

    Now he’s back to ignoring the hell out of the PS3 community.

  • when i first played on home it was a bit plain i was expecting a lot more more sony! but i realise that nothing starts out being the shizznit :P. but now i see home is becoming AND will keep becoming…..LEGENDARY!!

  • The state of Home is Boringgggggggggg.. Where’S public voice chat, TVS, AND RADIOS, THAT PLAY OUR CONTENT FROM OUR HDD, THOSE ARE THE MOST FEATURES THAT WILL MAKE HOME, BECOME MORE OF A HOME.. FIX HOME, WITH ALL THESE SLOW LOADING. I Would like to see this surpirse you talking about, I can get excited until I see it, by talking its not cutting the cake, sorry.

  • @157 i Cant get excited until i see it with my eyes, by talking its not cutting it..

  • And when you said you cant deliver every thing we ask ?? what do you really mean. like what you cant deliver ??? the features we all want that was promised, it better be the features yall trying hard to give us.

  • and that lovely TROPHY ROOM, HALL OF FAME.

  • We have lots of great music related stuff for our personal spaces like disco tiles, disco lights, DJ kits, guitars, drums and such but something’s still missing…. THE MUSIC!

  • I would like more of a reason to visit home. I mean, I can meet all of my friends and get a game going, in the actual game instead of going through home.

  • Your welcome. Now, give girls more realistic hair options. Thanks.

  • The one thing I would love to see is auto login to HOME when you turn on your PS3. I think this would encourage more use and more users of the service. What betterway than to start up your system, and you are taken to your loft space in Paris. Keep up the great work.

  • Joanna_Dark

    Um, a little late, but thanks. My wife and I may check it out now.

  • I have been active on Home since Febuary of ’09 and, I must say, that Home has made my total experience so much better. I have involved myself in the forums & joined a club on Home called the Homelings. I have befriended many people all over Home & played many a game with them to boot. If you are not already aware, Home has spawned many unique organizations that can be found all over the web and the world. I’m sending you two giant thumbs up and look forward to this years improvements.

  • when will ea sports make a room for madden i would go to playstation home alot more. also when will playstation home allow music to be played and movies to be watched in your personal space.also it would be cool if you could buy song from rhapsody through you playstationnetwork or movie to be rented in the theater in playstation home i think it would be really cool almost like going to the movie. your friend dirtyrow the playstation god!!!!!!!!!!

  • we need tvs and radios still! thank you.

  • Ok then, I’d like to start here.

    “and although we can’t deliver everything we’re asked for, we will compliment all of these new features and content with a renewed focus on open dialogue and service.”

    With this open dialogue and since you did note that everything can’t be delivered, could you note some of the things that can’t be delivered? There was an earlier post on here asking about media being played through Home and they received the same bit. This would open the assumption that you all can’t deliver things like music and video streaming via Home. Would this be accurate?

    If it is, are there any plans to actually orient Home with these major selling points of the PS3? Particularly since Home as of late has become more garnered to casual users who’d love to see these features. These were key points in early interpetations of Home that showed major promise.

  • Btw, for open options for TVs and radios why not just add streamless items like these? Even if content owners could play their own content while in Home, that’s one more step toward the right type of integration with the PS3. I’ve suggested this multiple times on the forum but it seems to keep getting overlooked…

    Just think. If people have already purchased this content or already have this content, what type of actual legal stuff do you have to do? The content is already theirs and would only be being used by them, so I can’t possibly see how there’d be any legal issues there.

  • I think I speak for almost everyone when I say that Home has been a huge letdown experience from day one. At a time when all other “social games” are using open-world environments (Second Life, Uru Live…) Home is insisting on an obsolete and yesteryear engine architecture where all micro-spaces are totally unconnected and require unbearable loading times instead of a seamless loading structure.

    All in all, Home as of today is far removed from what was promised by Sony years ago. It’s especially frustrating when at the same time you have game engines like the ones from Uncharted, inFamous, Assassin’s Creed which demonstrate what the PS3 is capable of in terms of content streaming.

    Unless some drastic changes are presented in 2010, Home as en experiment is going to die a boring and lonely death.

  • @35

    i have NEVER used foul language. i find that entire comment onmy behavior to be devoid of any real point. i asked nicely, and because i am not considered on of the home “elite” (despite being here since closed beta, and spending hundreds of dollars on home) i get no reply. go look up ANY other post i’ve put up, i never say one foul word. i just want a single answer for the money i’ve invested in the home program, that’s all.

  • home is making sackboy very sad…
    “a face like a smacked bottom”

  • I would like public voice chat to return.

  • Can we please get multiplayer game lobbies within home? IE: Party/launch from home.

    Also, can we get playstation store items from the home mall.

  • Is there Night time in home? i’ve yet to see night, it’s always just day out.

  • Add the virtual trophy rooms that you promised way back in 2007, and the virtual tv’s and sterio systems too.

    So far Home is still a mediocre service that I have spent very little time in because it lacks some key fundamental features.

  • PlayStation Home needs to be more than selling overpriced virtual clothing and furniture.

    Thank you, Sodium One, for pointing in the right direction.

  • Sounds Great, But why can’t we get more info on the forums? If the HCM’s would make weekly appearences maybe the Home community would stop arguing with each other and give Sony and the staff some much deserved credit.

  • I only check Home every 2-3 months. I don’t know why – call it temporary insanity.

    Each time, there’s another 100MB of very slow downloads, followed by boredom again once inside.

    Life’s too short.

    Hope this isn’t taking any resources from Gran Turismo 5; if not, feel free to piddle in Home.

  • I noticed this post when there where no coments but i cant seem to coment from my ps3 anymore… Thnx 4 home, yhough i lost stuff, but the blog is backing up unless i missed somthing. I do think i’ve posted from my ps3 before, if i could do withought pc i would!!!

  • :O STAAAARR WAAAARRSSSSS….

  • Sounds GOOD! I <3 PS Home! I promise, I'd buy everything if I had the money :P

  • I’m glad that we are finaly getting some stuff we ask for, I always buy just about every new item that comes out for HOME, The BIGGEST smile came across my face when i saw the Storm Trooper costume, it was worth every penny I payed for it, I’m also happy to see price drops, Just kinda sad to see that most of it I already own, I’m a diehard HOME fan with, a few hundred dollars werth of stuff on my account. Just thank you for making a game werth my time, I love all the add-ons, keep up the great work.

  • I thought i would repost my question since no one may have noticed it. but is there night time in the game or is it just always day time? i have never seen night in the game. that would be pretty lame

  • What I want in home are more multiplayer games that use our avatars.

    Like a basic Paintball FPS with our avatars would be awesome. Look at Goldeneye64, that was awesome and more than ten years ago. PlayStation Home should be able to do something rad that has at least that level of gameplay.

  • It takes me 18 minutes to log into Home now, and the first three minutes are a totally black screen.

    The longest wait time is when ‘verifying purchased items’ occurs; I used to buy everything every week.

  • I enjoy the theater the most, they need to add something to the second floor like a game and video screen. It feels like wasted space up there.

  • @ 187
    agreed
    fps paintball style would be sweet
    it could be featured in the PS HOME STADIUM i proposed earlier on comments 145 to 147

  • I am a huge fan of playstation home. IDK what anyone says, as I live on locoisland these days. I just hope it stays free for I am faithful as well as my fam.

  • NO public voice chat. Who really talks to strangers.

  • Awww this is just makin me want to hurry up and go get a ps3 now

  • Really proud of you all. You really revolutionized gaming online in so many great ways, and the best part it is free. I love the game and am proud of everyone behing the desing team. Thank you for PS home! But by the way .. will we see this hitting on the PSP console in the future?

  • I hate complaining about something i play for free but i think this game lack to many things that could make Home a sucessful game i won’t lose time saying them since ppl have said most of what i was thinking already but now as home is it, have nothing for me that make me want to return to the game often.

  • Dear PS3 Home crew,

    Got my machine a couple weeks ago, and have been hooked on home.

    My2cents: It seems to me, that the people who don’t care for the games like to dance and socialize. The problem is, the place available for that are rather lacking.
    My idea is this: A Home network club that features streaming internet music. I know there are many internet site, that feature struggling dj’s who would kill for the exposure. I think this would give home a whole new edge, and a feature like never before. Ask any home user, and i guarantee they will say there sick of the same music.

    ty

    JC

  • In addition, we could really use some new dance moves.
    The Twist
    The Moon walk
    and how about some raver liquid stuff?

  • Thank You jack & playstation home staff for doing everything so far. i only have one question when are you releasing the 3D trophy room?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZY2vwlh5-g

  • i have a club called blessed disciples, and i was wondering if there was anyway to get a video on the screen in the club. also, yal should get a gran turismo space (just a thought)

  • yea night time would be cool, they should make it night time when its night time in real life. ohh yea rain too. rain makes it more realistic. and wind.

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