Quite the Holiday Hullabaloo
by Estim20, HSM team writer
Every year, Sony honors the winter season by decorating Home in festive ornaments and good, old-fashioned digital snow. It’s their way of letting people know that since they are at Home for the holidays, why not spend it with them? After all, how much fun can your in-laws really be, especially when they’re trying to get you to drink too much eggnog?
Naturally Christmas isn’t unique to Sony, but they do try to give it some Sony style. Being a global corporation, they are visible to an outstanding number of people. As such, if they’re going all out for the holidays, it’s best to make it memorable. I remember the first time I logged into Home, for example, if for one reason: it was Holiday Season 2009. Like many new PlayStation 3 owners, I saw the baby-blue icon on the XMB and decided to log in, excited to see what wonders awaited me. Naturally, given it was still Christmas, it greeted me with appropriate seasonal cheer and (later) brought in the New Year Home Style.
All the same, since then, Home celebrated Christmas twice more, if my math is correct, proving that what pulls people together are snow, free rewards and time off. For those of you who felt I unceremoniously removed “food” from that list, I’m glad to report avatars still don’t require sustenance (or air, for that matter, but that’s beside the point) so “food” is a non-factor. In fact, with a world populated by digital representations of users, Sony knew it had to hold our attention through other means, notably recreating the holiday cheer as best they could, with or without festive meals – although they managed to draw that in as well (can you say cranberries?).
It worked well, fantastically well you might say. “Home for the Holidays” is a tradition Sony won’t let die and for good reason, beyond conjuring up the concept of Zombie (or Frankenstein’s) Santa. People celebrate the holidays in real life, so why not adapt and let them celebrate it digitally? I vaguely remember my first Christmas on Home, thanks in large part to the far more memorable holiday events for 2010 and 2011. Last year’s Winter Wonderland was phenomenally well-designed and atmospheric, what with Santa’s personal cottage and drunken elves asking for your help in setting up the decorations – in their defense, they did make fantastic punch that year.
Back then, we still reveled in Central Plaza, decked out then in enough snow to warrant a ski lodge and Sasquatch. That alone developed into a Sony Tradition, reaching its creative tentacles farther than just Christmas. Halloween provided us with two visits minimum from the Gourd King, for example; a massive, spinning pumpkin that would make the Peanuts gang call shenanigans. It sat in the only body of water massive enough to satiate its needs, oddly enough: the Pool Formerly Known as Saucer Pop.
Of course Saucer Pop has since disappeared, along with its host, Central Plaza. The reason being: Sony introduced far more interactivity and a new mission statement into Home, along with community updates. Sodium, Aurora and Xi all proved how much the community wanted involvement and gaming. As a result, 2011 proved an incredible year for both, culminating in the release of both the Hub and update 1.6 (1.6.1 if you include the patch). Plenty has been said so far about the Hub, so let’s focus on what this means for the holidays.
2011 marks the Hub’s first Christmas – it’s like celebrating a new puppy’s first Christmas, with no risk of it chewing the sofa cushions. It also marked the Hub’s first Thanksgiving, where we chased turkeys across Pier Park, but this isn’t about catching our dinner. The Hub needed something for its first Christmas that relished Home’s updates, reinforcing what Home now allowed. It needed to use the quest system, last seen when the Hub first started a scant few months ago, if it really wanted to remind us of what Home can do.
And Christmas it gave us, to their word. Is it worth the journey and what does say about Home? Well, let’s take a look through said journey from start to finish and figure out whether it’s truly a Very Hub Christmas.
First Steps
You begin your quest logging into Home. I normally refrain from including such a step because it’s generally an unspoken truth: how can you expect to enjoy Home’s Christmas events without logging into it first? However, I made an exception here because it’s worth mentioning.
Under most circumstances, when you log into Home, you aren’t immediately loaded into any spaces. This is accepted practice for Home; it’s so much the norm that it is noteworthy when you are loaded into a space first. Case in point: Uncharted 3, parked in the Adventure District, was where you started for a few weeks leading up to the game’s release. It worked towards advertising Drake’s third chapter in archaeological pursuits and people even got to dress as the man if they preordered through Home.
Now, though, it’s the holiday season; we need to let everyone know the true meaning of the holidays, not Drake’s fantastic adventures in archaeology and women. It’s a time for family, for friends. It’s a time for love and getting together, sharing the holiday spirit with one another, for holiday specials that affirm the innate good in humanity. It’s time for . . .
Subtle.
. . . the Mall.
Yes, you begin in the Mall, specifically the first floor. That noise you hear is subtlety being siphoned out like air through a tire. In Sony’s defense, there is a quest tied to it, offering a reward for anyone who wishes to move about it but really, it is rather unusual to start us off here, isn’t it? Most of us didn’t need much prodding from a social network to buy anything; we already practically live in Home’s mall. It sticks out like a sore thumb, if a well-cleaned sore thumb.
Nevertheless: the Mall, as the journeyman will soon discover, is decorated as any decent mall would be this time of year. Stars, ribbons and Christmas music assault your sight and hearing, leaving the other three senses wondering if Sony will get to them shortly. Worry not, as smell-o-vision hasn’t caught on like 3DTVs have and if you really want to taste and touch Home, you can work that out between you and the television.
It looks fairly representative of malls in real life, though granted the Mall on Home isn’t quite as large as some physical malls. Colors are chosen well and it feels very much in the spirit of the holidays without going overboard. To that end, if it feels a bit sterile and too much like ‘theme park’ Christmas, it is supposed to be a mall, after all; the only thing missing is a booth where you can take your picture with Santa Claus, which would’ve been nice but not mandatory.
The Quest Begins
Walking in a winter wonderland, now with signs to guide the way.
So the abrupt entry into Mall wears off within the first few moments. You bask in the holiday cheer like the Hulk basking in the half-life of uranium and it’s now overstaying its welcome. So, like a proud Sherpa who realizes the mountain isn’t going to climb itself, you brush yourself off and say that Christmas isn’t going to celebrate itself. Naturally this leads you to one important question: How is Home celebrating Christmas this year?
The decorations aren’t all Home offers and this year it once again revives the public space Christmas event. If your first thought is to check the Quest Board, you’re in luck: two new Quests beckon you, just in time for Christmas. So you check it out and see what they require. Then it hits you: They want you to stick in the mall for a few more minutes.
Yes, it’s a holiday quest that requires you to stay in the Mall for a few extra moments as one of its requirements. Specifically, they want you to visit each store in the Mall in a particular order. This does serve the purpose of reminding people what stores and companies are supporting Home and sell wares for your avatar and personal space (or spaces). It also explains why they spawned you in the Mall in the first place, encouraging you to make that quest your first priority – plus hey, you have the elevators to send you between floors.
Again, it doesn’t take much to convince Home users as a whole to purchase anything, but it does work wonders for showing what stores you’ll find on Home. Even if not all stores are visible in the Mall, it encourages people to check what’s new and what’s popular. For people using Home for the first time, it works exponentially better and it does showcase the new visual ornamentations, letting them get some serous face time before they are removed.
Of course this could send the tried-and-true message of ‘buy more,’ but that I’m not worried about. What’s most peculiar about it is how they send you about the quest. The Quest Board is fine, it’s a great system and enough attention is drawn to it, but they designed the quest itself such that you don’t finish the first floor before finishing the second.
Imagine this: The quest mandates that you visit each and every store once, in the order it tells you. Fair enough, it makes it easier figuring out where you need to go and you won’t forget which store you’re on as easily. However, as massive a convenience that is, they don’t take it a step further and let you visit all the stores on the first floor first before moving on to the second.
It gets a bit monotonous when you need to load the first and second floors numerous times because it sends you back and forth so many times. For anyone with slow connections and/or prone to disconnects, this may become far more risky than it needs to be. There may be reasons why the stores are visited in the order they are, but it is generally beneficial and convenient to simply go in order and not vacillate travel between the two floors so often.
The Quest Continues: Pier Park
Good thing the wheel's winter-proof.
So, you completed your first Christmas quest and ready to leave the confines of the Mall. You meander over to the Quest Board to update your progress and check what’s remaining. You notice the Board contains one more quest for you and it proudly announces there is, in fact, a new winter space this year.
Much like last year, we are treated to a new winter space whose halls are decked with snow, ice and friendly winter-relevant creatures. Okay, maybe it’s not fair to lump ‘elves’ in the creature category, but it doesn’t matter much this year since we aren’t returning to the North Pole. We’re headed on a fanciful boat trip across the ocean to a new wonderland.
Reading the quest brings your attention (ideally) to the words “Pier Park.” Its inclusion of the Core space is accurate, as it is celebrating Christmas this year. Pier Park is a bit of a misdirect, though, if only in the sense that you won’t actually be in Pier Park for more than a few seconds. Of course, this raises the question: “Why mention it?”
To answer that question, Pier Park is celebrating Christmas this year with requisite snow and holiday lights. Look skyward and you’ll see a beautiful digital representation of the northern lights. Even the boat’s getting in the action and is accessible. Just be mindful when using the Ferris wheel, you don’t want to get stuck on its cold metal seats – it’s the second lesson we learn from A Christmas Story – after poking our eyes out with BB guns.
As for why you wind up there, it’s a simple matter: the boat parked behind the Ferris wheel is functional. Rather than being roped off as it was prior to Christmas, it serves a purpose and one that’s fairly intuitive: you will sail across the body of water it sits in towards a new area.
Off the Docks: Quite the Hullabaloo
Normally winter guides aren't so cheeky.
I must say this before we continue, to give you an idea of what you’ll be working with for the next few quest points. A talking snow bear will eventually ask you to find a penguin hidden in a barrel of illegal alcohol stuffed in a warehouse with battling mobs and federal agents. On top of that, you aren’t sure which barrel he’s in.
Let that sink in for a moment. Out of context it sounds like something that happens only when you’re basting your liver in beer. If that’s your first thought, let me just welcome you to Home. This is the holidays and you will be taking orders from a magical talking snowman and equally magical snow bear. The inclusion of the word “snow” is fair enough, but the word “beer” is where it snags the message.
The Hullaballoo lives up its namesake and presents you with snow sculptures, tasks from bewitched spokesmen and enough cameras to think you’re secretly paparazzi. It feels like a mountain holiday retreat somewhere in the Rockies, complete with public bath and hot tub for your avatars to warm up. Across the space are various cameras propped up near particular areas, a giant cup of cocoa, snowmen, snow bears and a lake with fishing for the nature buff in all of us.
When the first impression this glistening display of ice and snowflakes subsides, you will discover two methods of earning rewards. First off, as mentioned above, Sony stationed cameras near photo opportunities to free you from accessing your inventory. Along with pictures for holiday posterity, you earn snow globes (five in all, along with a stand to keep them organized), one for each camera you use. You only need to snap one picture and you’re golden – for these, anyhow.
In some parts of the United States, this qualifies as a breakfast serving.
Once your photo itch is scratched, check out the quest board proper to figure out who you need to talk to and for what reason. It’s here when the jolly camera shoot fades and you’re swept up in resolving the tension between a bear and his snowman rival. For three weeks this will be a second Home to you, if you desire to finish each step of the process and earn every reward these two offer you.
Most of the quests keep you in the Hullabaloo space’s confines, rarely diverting from that fact. The first week sent you out to Bootleggers, as the snow bear swears a penguin hides among the illegal hooch confiscated by the feds. Another sends you to the RC Races where you will race and modify an RC to your liking. The rest of the time in Hullabaloo, as stated, you will be in Hullabaloo until they feel you’re ready to go (or if you’re fed up with their demands and gallivant over to other wintery sights).
The quests are easy to follow and for the most part don’t require much from the players. Well over half the objectives across the available quests fall under “go-over-here-then-wear-this-over-here-and/or-take-a-picture.” The three notable exceptions are game-related, one of which requires you to master the fishing pole. The other two tie to Core space games, which means you can simply jump aboard the yacht and find your way to them without requiring the Navigator. If this trend continues into the third week, it remains to be seen at the time of this writing.
Also, as with Pier Park and the Mall, the Hullabaloo is well-designed and provides necessary atmosphere for a holiday quest. The fact that you’re basically settling a mutual confrontation between two snow-based mammals, if the trailer is accepted as canonical, weakens the experience a bit (or heightens it if you find it invigorating, granted) but overall it’s more than an acceptable Christmas space. It’s incredibly cheerful and decked to the nines with all the holiday trimmings, as if we’re in a winter retreat in Colorado.
Rewards
After all is said and done, how handsomely do they reward your efforts? After all, you hopefully made progress towards patching up a fractured friendship. The two spokesmen (bear?) better be appreciative, right?
Appreciative they are – they hand you various items over the course of your trip, not to mention what you find for the various cameras scattered about. First thing first: you will earn five snow globes and decorative stands to compliment, one snow globe for each camera in Hullabaloo you use. If there’s any good reason to celebrate the 100 item limit, this is the one time.
A majority of the remaining event items are avatar items, ranging from handheld candy canes and polar boots to ice hair and a sports jersey that will jazz up your ensemble during a fanciful game of poker. These gain some face time due to the fact you will wear them to fulfill a quest objective. Overall, they’re diverse and beat the typical allotted t-shirts people associated with event rewards.
What remains I wouldn’t doubt are the most discussed items on the list: three winter-appropriate companions. If one person is responsible for bringing up companions during a fortuitous brainstorming session, they should be paid extra. Each part adds a unique companion to your inventory and in order they are a penguin (who I swear looks like a fowl version of Don Corleone), a polar bear with balloons and a white tiger with a blue Christmas hat. These are fantastic items to offer for anyone hoping to get a companion without browsing the Sidekicks store and each are adorable to no end.
Overall Impressions
The theek weeks paint a warm – if slightly mixed – picture for the Hullabaloo’s tenure and the Mall quest. On the one hand, the Mall quests cover an introduction to the various shops that could’ve been implemented early on. With the Hub changing what we know about Home on some fundamental level, it would’ve helped neophytes prior to the holiday season. Plus, the Mall quests are, when you get down to it, the equivalent of fetch quests: find the items and report to the quest board for your next objectives.
On the other hand, the Mall quests do on some level embody the spirit of the season. Sony is offering free items, which they were prior to the holidays ironically, and they figured might as well make a quest out of it. The Hullabaloo is a welcome addition to the Christmas tradition, following in the footsteps of last year’s Winter Wonderland, if with Santa replaced by snow creatures that question your grasp of the veil that is reality.
It’s nice to see not only a redecorated Pier Park and Mall, but also a separate space connected to the Core spaces. It means people can seamlessly transition from one place to the other without requiring a trip to the Navigator. This should help immersion tremendously, feeling like as much of a realistic stroll as Home can provide without being a sandbox-style open world.
The quests are ultimately varied though most of them are some variation of ‘wear this and go here,’ which makes those that avoid that mold stand out more. They fulfill their duty well, if a bit monotonous depending on one’s tolerance for the types of quests. If I had to point out a black sheep of the family, I would choose Bootleggers. This choice has nothing to do with the quality of the game; it’s fun (especially if you enjoy crating around moonshine) and it is a well-designed FPS for Home. What it does, though, is force players into participating in a multiplayer game, one with limited space available and lacking an option to create a room (which is likely due to the amount of strain this would cause). The fishing game had the better idea of being a single player game, reducing the risk of people spoiling the fun and interfering with objectives.
The worst aspect of it, though, is the occasional hiccup when finishing up quests. Sometimes the space fails to recognize you earned an item, requiring you to leave the space or clear your cache before it registers. This creates unexpected annoyances, though there are means of forcing the space to recognize your efforts and continue to the next quest point.
Oh and there is that whole bit about placing avatars in the Mall upon accessing Home. It’s a bit awkward loading a space automatically, removing the option of choosing your own starting location from the Navigator. The Uncharted 3 event caused this as well, though both served their function. They brought attention to a pivotal part of their respective events, though it would be nice to return to the Navigator.
In Summation
This is a fine First Hub Christmas event, even with its unsightly warts (which aren’t that unsightly in retrospect). The glitches may cause minor setbacks but they are temporary and don’t interfere too much with the experience. Overall, it’s a fine development and the rewards are welcome additions.
January 10th, 2012 by Estim20 | 5 comments
I loved the review Estim, very funny perspective as always. I loved the companions they gave us this time, they were a definite improvement over the turkey hat we got last year as a final reward, and some of the lesser ones like the customizable Christmas tree were nice too.
I agree totally on the Bootleggers being a bad choice as far as being a part of the quest. Many people I know haven’t finished any of the quests because of that space being in the first one. It is hard to complete it because if you are new at it, you end up battling people who have it down pat and just end up killed over and over again then get frustrated and leave.They need to rethink it next year.
nice article, BUT, in my opinion!
this year mr SONY became like SCROOGE! he kill the spirits of Xmas…
no santa, no elves, no magic…
yes we dont want sames area each xmas, but let the spirit of xmas alive, make us dream and hope a better world instead ask us to kill to obteins santarewards….
yes i m angry of the lack of imagination and generosity this year!
Thanks for the comment!
Sony has been typically generous during the holiday season, this past one no exception. We received three waves worth of free clothing, some of which I dare is creative. Take the icy hair for example -- I may not wear it year-round but it’s difficult to claim it isn’t anything but ‘unique.’ Plus we earned three quite adorable companions, including the aforementioned Don Penguin.
So in all honesty I wouldn’t call shenanigans on that fact. A lack of generosity wasn’t, to me at least, a fault of the Hullabaloo. Even if we don’t wear everything, it’s a fine Christmas haul.
The creativity point is a bit more difficult to tackle, not to mention subjective. I’m not one to say they needed to return Santa and his elven workshop as the winter extravaganza so long what they do choose works. To that end the designs are appropriately atmospheric and resemble what they should.
It helps especially for those of us who rarely see snow where we live (especially during Christmas, such as where I live). The idea of gallivanting in a winter wonderland with friends who may live in different countries, let alone timezones conjures up its own kind of holiday spirit. I imagine that’s part of the goal with this event, to bring people together.
And less we forget: a talking bear asks you to find a missing penguin in a barrel of booze. It may not be logical, but it is creative.
As for hoping for a better world, I’ll the Hullabaloo enjoys mixed messages. Aside from the penguin, the hosts enjoy being snarky. Can’t they just get along? Well, in fact I say they do. The ‘plot,’ such as it is, revolves around two creatures who hated each other at first. The advertising video even shows them enacting revenge against each other.
But by the end they patch things up, more or less. As cheesy as it is, it’s still a valid message. It is my opinion but underneath the simmering turmoil is a feel-good story, if told with people in a bear and snowman suit.
So all in all, to me it isn’t bad -- downright pleasant in fact.
i wasn’t talking abouts rewards when i use the word “generosity”!
i saw an area witn snow, not very well designed with hard rock musics hot tubes, an old fish game stolen from waterfall space,a yeti cave without yeti,sculpture
of a ps3 game with no link with Xmas…
it’s that generosity i wanna say! i dont care about rewards(my storage is full of “rewards”)… I mean,objectively compare the winterland of last year,if you don’t find a difference of “spirit” between it and the hullaballoo????
this year it seems the new”gamer” politics of the home lost his soul!
That’s my opinion!
The Winter Hullabaloo was a fun Quest UP UNTIL Bootleggers!I hate that game! But did enjoy the shopping quests(What girl doesn’t love shopping? ) And the Trophies are nice looking..the Shopping bag and Santa Hat were nice touches…