Comments on: Home’s Social Expansion

By: Sony – It Only Does Social Networks? | HomeStation Magazine

Sony – It Only Does Social Networks? | HomeStation Magazine — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:04:35 +0000

[…] writer Gideon covered this aspect and how it could be a boon for Sony in an article of his (see Home’s Social Expansion, Issue 9, page 86) not too long […]

By: Gideon

Gideon — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:06:56 +0000

If they are… I might start using social media! LOL

By: johneboy1970

johneboy1970 — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 01:21:21 +0000

Indeed, ‘White Noise Syndrome’ can be a detriment to conversation, heh heh. I’m very optimistic about some of the changes we have coming down the pike…perhaps some of the points you brought up (all good ones I might add) may be addressed sooner than we expect. Fingers crossed :>

By: Gideon

Gideon — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:04:43 +0000

Thanks Johneboy. I actually had originally planned to include youtube streaming in this article but wanted to stay away from that subject matter because of the white noise it creates. Im sure as soon as some Sony employees start to hear about “video streaming in Home” their attention just checks out because they have heard it time and time and time and time again. lol. Great points though. Youtube would take care of the Video and Music streaming desires of the Home community, and Sony/PlayStation already has ties with Youtube so the concept doesn’t seem far fetched.

By: Gideon

Gideon — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:59:29 +0000

Use the navigator through the menupad at Harbor Studio to shop at the stores. The speed difference is insane!

By: Gideon

Gideon — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:58:17 +0000

I have taken IRL friends to Home. They usually say something like “I clicked on it once by accident” or “Oh so THIS is what that is. I was curious.” Home just seems to be hidden!

By: Gideon

Gideon — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:56:26 +0000

good points about facebook and smartphone. I think these functions would be optional. Some people don’t even have facebook.

Putting a Home app on the vita would be a good cross-promotion for Sony and if they dont have anything for Home on the Vita, I will be surprised.

By: Gideon

Gideon — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:51:29 +0000

And it was VERY hard for me not to respond to what you were saying with some of these concepts, spoiling the article. LOL

By: johneboy1970

johneboy1970 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:35:06 +0000

Brilliant ideas, Gideon. I agree that, in some ways, Home is a very much isolated experience when one takes in the larger WWW picture. Facebook is the monster it is, in part, due to how it has been integrated into just about every other part of the ‘net. Home would be served well if it allowed the inclusion of other social media as well as its own forums; considering that this would entail smaller modifications to the current system as opposed to a huge update the cost would be minimal -- on the other hand, the pay off could be huge.

If I may add one more notion: Many Home users would like to see the ability to play their own choice of music and videos in Home. I haven’t seen any official stance on why this hasn’t happened yet, but the general assumption is that there would be too much of a legal or bandwidth hassle to allow for streaming from the console itself. But if we could utilize a decent browser from, say, the Loot EOD or similar device we could access various music and video streaming sites which could then be viewed/listened to by anyone in our personal spaces. This would not only curtail the bandwidth problem a bit, but also the legal one, as the onus would be on the site being streamed from (like Youtube or Bandcamp) as opposed to Sony to make sure that content was legit.

Well done article, Gideon…lotsa food for thought.

By: anamri

anamri — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:37:55 +0000

Points I particularly like within this article are:
-smartphone app (awesome idea!)
-making all items in Mall available in PSN Store (I hate going to the mall because of the obscene lag and load times)
-forums integration on the XMB and/or Home (like you said a no-brainer)

Nice article!

By: Aeternitas33

Aeternitas33 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:16:33 +0000

Relocating the Home icon on the XMB is a good idea. Nor can I argue with making Home items available for purchase through the PSN store, or making PS.com available from within Home, as those are both ideas I’ve suggested myself. However, integration with Facebook and Twitter is not something I’d like to see. Facebook is not a secure application, not by any means. Few things irritate me more these days, than navigating to some website and being asked to sign in with my Facebook account. We shouldn’t need to have a Facebook account to use Home, and if we do have such an account, we shouldn’t have to disclose it to the people on our Friends Lists unless we wish to. Having Home available as a smartphone app is also something that I am leery of due to privacy concerns. I’d much rather see Home made available on the PS Vita.

By: Burbie52

Burbie52 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:40:52 +0000

I think you have hit the proverbial nail on the head Gideon. Much of what you said is so simple to implement and will make our home experiences so much more enjoyable. I think it is a shame that many people who come on the PS3 haven’t ever been into Home or even knew what it was, I have met a few playing RDR for example. When I convinced a couple of them to come in and check it out they walked around with me like kids in awe of what they saw there. These simple changes, especially the on about moving the icon on the XMB would help a great deal, and the idea of store integration there is a wonderful one too. Kudos on a well thought out article.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:27:11 +0000

This is the kind of stuff I was talking about when I said that if Home didn’t generate the kind of profits Sony was looking for it was from under-utilization.1 side benefit of adding these things is that it would make banning an account more effective as ppl would have more to lose,potentially.