The LOOT Space Apartment
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
I’ve been waiting to talk about this for months.
For those of you who read “A Day Full of LOOT,” you’ll recall that back in the third quarter of 2011, HomeStation Magazine was invited to LOOT’s top-secret subterranean enclave near Kerguelen Atoll (also known as Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City), to preview some upcoming LOOT goodies that were going to be unleashed on the Home community. I had the opportunity to meet Beta76 from GamerIndepth, as well as DIRECTOR_ON_DUTY and members of his PSTalent team (CorisuCat, CocoBaby84 and Animus_Requiem), who were likewise in attendance. It was a remarkably fun day: touring Sony’s film studios, standing next to the ECTO-1 and the Black Beauty, watching Alex Trebek’s plastic surgeons defy the laws of entropy, and — of course — getting to see inside the LOOT offices.
Now, I have to admit: I wasn’t really prepared for what I saw. After a couple of years in Home, you start to get a sense of what you think is technologically possible and what’s pure fantasy. So I figured I’d see some cute new avatar outfits, maybe some ornaments or furniture items, and perhaps one or two innovations for Home filmmakers. I’d make polite small talk, nod my head and smile, and make a beeline for the nearest Olive Garden.
(Don’t look at me like that. When you live on an outer island in Polynesia, you crave chain restaurants. Shaddap, Grotto.)
What I wasn’t prepared for was what you now get to see: the LOOT Space Apartment.
Norse's inner monologue
You can’t imagine how awesome it is to sit in the LOOT office and have the LOOT guys give you a personalized showcase tour of something that is not only about to be released to the rest of Home, but something which is so indescribably cool that it takes all your willpower to try to look detached and stoic like Pierce Brosnan when your inner monologue is screaming “It’s over 9000!” at you.
Seriously, though: the LOOT Space Apartment. Its power level is over 9000.
HomeStation Magazine has written at length about the trend with personal estate innovation in Home, and in fact the absolute necessity for this to happen. Back when there were only one or two personal estates, you could get away with painting a pretty picture and charging five bucks for the privilege of decorating it. Today, however, there’s an enormous number of personal estates to choose from — and, complicating matters further, we have new clubhouses on the horizon. So a personal estate really needs to do something special in order to earn a healthy return on investment.
This is why the Space Apartment really does set a new standard. And I’m not saying that in the tired, cliched usage of that phrase. It really does set a new standard, and everyone else in Home damned well better keep up.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZBOo1Cjpws
Let’s get the technical rundown, courtesy of Sara Stephens, LOOT Production Coordinator:
Enjoy technology of the future with LOOT’s Space Apartment, a three-story apartment with expansive views of Earth, outer space and the LOOT™ Space Station. Watch jellyfish swim in the multi-level aquarium located in the center of the apartment. Relax in the aquatic meditation environment pool located on the bottom level.
This wonderful personal space is also equipped with highly advanced technology powered by its unique Space Apartment’s Remote Access (S.A.R.A.) system. With S.A.R.A. you can:
- View up to five different Twitter feeds on a news ticker;
"Yo dawg, we heard you like S.A.R.A., so we had Sara e-mail you about S.A.R.A. so you could ask Sara about S.A.R.A. while you look at photos of Sara via S.A.R.A."
- Search for photos on Flickr and display them on any or all of the 15 photo screens available throughout the space. Each photo screen even lets you set-up your own slideshows.
- Choose out of eight screen locations to view EOD content. LOOT EOD screens let you watch free full length movies and TV shows from Crackle, listen to live music radio from RadioIO and watch live events powered by Ustream and NASA TV.
- Also, with S.A.R.A, you can control your Space Apartment’s retractable ceiling, automated blinds and dynamic lighting options.
Thanks to S.A.R.A. you’re in complete control. Welcome to the home of the future!
Interestingly enough, that video doesn’t showcase what I personally think is one of the coolest features (although it does mention it) built into the space: the retractable roof. One of HSM’s longstanding criticisms of personal estates in Home (indeed, some public spaces as well) is that most of them feel awfully static. The more interactivity one can have with the environment, the more immersive the experience. Thus, when Danilo clicked a button and retracted the roof from the Space Apartment, I have to admit I had a crisis.
This is as close as hoomans will ever get to seeing an ecstatic Homeling. Brought to you by the Space Apartment.
How the hell am I supposed to criticize this thing? Generally speaking, reviewers like to find something to nitpick, especially when writing a review full of praise; it allows us to have that popped-collar street cred with the readers, yo. And like I said when I first wrote about the Space Apartment (albeit in a maddeningly indirect way) a few months ago, LOOT’s not paying me a dime for any of this. Those of you who read my initial review of the Amaterasu Yacht last year will recall that I didn’t exactly pull my punches when I bought the yacht expecting to enjoy a navigable personal estate, only to discover that such functionality had been removed.
(Ironically enough, the Amaterasu Yacht, since the introduction of day/night cycles and the “correction” of the harsh lighting contrasts, has become one of my favorite personal estates. That’s beside the point. Do not argue with Zathras.)
The Hammies react to the Space Apartment
Seriously, though, what am I supposed to nitpick with the Space Apartment? That it doesn’t have phasers? That Jessica Chobot doesn’t pop out holding a can of whipped cream? For god’s sake, this new estate is simply the top of the tree right now. Multiple EOD screens that appear and disappear? Fifteen picture frames that let you display tons of pics from Flickr? Live radio music from RadioIO? This estate is SO far beyond anything else like it in Home that it honestly feels like it arrived from somewhere in Home’s future.
Okay, I found something to nitpick: because this estate is the new measuring stick for Home — no, really, it is, in the same way that all cars must currently be measured against the Ferrari 458 — will this effectively produce downward pressure on sales of other estates? The Home community is well known for its financial pusillanimity, after all. But even I know I’m reaching with this nitpick; the reality is that LOOT has raised the bar, and this will force other developers to innovate and catch up. Ultimately, we all win from this.
Let’s look at it this way: is the real measure of a Home personal estate’s success measured more by who would want to buy it, or who wouldn’t want to buy it?
Example. The Anime Apartment. Lovely space. Not my cup of tea. And it doesn’t offer anything special, really, to overcome my aesthetic dislike of it. Thus, I don’t own it. Conversely, I absolutely love the Waterfall Terrace and the Log Cabin. However, there are some folks in Home (read: communists) who don’t own the Log Cabin because it doesn’t aesthetically appeal to them. Some personal estates manage to offer features which overcome any aesthetic quibbles; certainly LOOT’s own EOD technology is a good example of this. But I honestly can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t want to own the Space Apartment. If nothing else, there’s just so much unique functionality built into the place that it’s worth owning it just for those features. And, beyond that, it’s an amazingly pleasing environment to be in.
I rarely go so far as to say that something in Home is a “must buy” — mileage varies so wildly in Home that there are very few commodities which meet with near-universal acclaim — but here’s the truth: buy the LOOT Space Apartment. Buy it now. Buy it or your girlfriend will leave you, your teachers will flunk you, your boss will not give you that promotion you’ve asked for, and your local news station will run a story on what a chav you are. Kristin Scott Thomas will look at you disapprovingly. Neither Morrigan nor Leliana will play tent olympics with you. Your precious Legend of Dragoon save file will mysteriously disappear. Sephiroth will kill Aerith, use a Phoenix Down just to get your hopes up, and then kill her AGAIN to teach you a lesson.
So: on the assumption you actually want to be part of the Cool Kids Club, buy the Space Apartment, and step into the future of Home with LOOT.
- Flickr photo slideshows
- Retractable roof
- Multiple EOD screens
- RadioIO
- My head just exploded
- None.
December 15th, 2011 by NorseGamer | 11 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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Agreed… This is by far the most awesome personal space there is! A must have!
Man,I’ll buy this apartment just because the last thing I want is to have Kristin Scott Thomas looking at me the way you describe! So, will it be released in Europe one day?
I’ll definitely buy this personal space because IT’S OVER 9000!!!!
S.A.R.A. <-- I see LOOT’s inside joke. I am greatly amused.
Seriously though, Sara is a wonderful lady, and the whole LOOT team have done a remarkable job to put themselves at the forefront when it comes to pushing what is *technologically* possible in Home.
In all, I’m going to have to say that this past update has to be one of the best -- if not *the* best -- Home has seen all year.
OMG love it!
Well, sad to say, I’ve found something to criticize, though hopefully it will be remedied in the near future. One of the aspects of this space that got me really excited was the Flickr connectivity, as I have over 2500 photos on Flickr and have been practicing photography for 20 years. So you can imagine the frustration and heartbreak when I typed my Flickr username into S.A.R.A. and was promptly informed that there no results would be forthcoming. I typed in every variation I could think of, every email address associated with my Flickr account, and still…nothing.
Next I tried to find something--anything--for troubleshooting the space and its system. More nothing.
If anyone has any suggestions, I’d really appreciate it. The Flickr connectivity was one of the main reasons I plunked down $10 for this space, stunning though it is. Help, pretty please! {:(
Hey kozfear,
We are glad to hear you are enjoying the Space Apartment. We are also happy to report there is a solution to this issue. When searching for a username which contains multiple words, please replace the spaces with plus signs. So ‘k oz fear’ becomes ‘k+oz+fear’. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we are planning an update in the near future which will handle this automatically. Happy Holidays!!
Sincerely,
LOOT
I love the new LOOT space and automatically went to making it a bridge. Complete with transporter room. I hope everyone who got this space will enjoy it as much as I have. I have been invited to write an article on what I have done to it, maybe to inspire Paramount to get onboard and give us sliding doors and phasers packages. We will see. Terra_Cide please contact me about the mentor program . Keara suggested this.I have signed up to HSM and would certainly need help. Thanks Godz
Terra, Norse and all other Star Trek fans, you really have to see what Godzprototype did with that space!!! I asked him to take some pics, write 1200 words on how he created this thing, where he got all the items he put together, and then hit the Submit button to see if you can use it. He is concerned about writing it as an article, but if someone could take some time to mentor him, this could be a big hit.
@Godzprototype -- I’ll be more than happy to get in touch with you about the mentor program once I get back home from vacation.
This space will be MINE! YOU HEAR ME??? MINE MINE MINE BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!