Heavy Water: One of Home’s Edgier Developers
by Phoenix, HSM guest contributor
Heavy Water: who are they and what do they do in Home?
In real life, heavy water (more correctly known as deuterium oxide) enables the use of uranium as a fuel. Here on Home, they are known for video and online gaming content.
Heavy Water is a developer of consumer products. President/CCO and co-founder Matt McDonald and CEO Tammy McDonald are its head. They have been in the business of creating products, trans-media IP, for fourteen years. As one of the leaders of developers in the gaming industry, they have published a wide range of industry media for the world of gaming.
Among these gaming industry giants is none other then the Sony Network. According to their website, Heavy Water say that since its inception, they have established themselves as a first-rate content developer for the PlayStation Home environment, and they have had more released content to Home then any other developer to date.
Having heard they would be holding a Q&A session at one of the AlphaZone4 Expo parties, I went looking. I knew about Heavy Water’s work in tattoos and their Cherry-Bomb pin-up girls (not to my taste, but then I’m not a guy), but I was surprised to find some other things they were behind here on Home.
I attended the AlphaZone4 party at the Playground on a recent Friday night. It was a real treat. A Heavy Water spokesperson gave us a few little tidbits of information. They will be adding more tattoos for those of us that love their body art. Heavy Water will also be adding more skin colors to their line of pin-ups. There was even mention of a male counterpart to the pin-ups. No name for the hunky male pin-up as of yet; he’s still in the works. But rest assured ladies, he’s coming to Home. Perhaps he’ll be one of these sailor types with battleship tattoos on his biceps. Maybe he’ll be a 1940’s welder, sleeves rolled up, wearing a black leather apron.
We were also told there will be a new personal space coming from Heavy Water this summer. This piqued my interest. Perhaps within a period of only a few months, it will be arriving.
When asked what type of space it would be, the spokesperson replied he could not give away too much. Other then the existence of a new personal space coming from them. Upon being pressed, he did say it will be a direction change from futuristic homes. What could that mean? Here in Home it could mean just about anything. After all, Home is where the magic happens!
Most of the questions the audience had for Heavy Water were about body art, from tattoos and styles to piercings for our avatars. Heavy Water’s spokesperson explained the difficulty in making some of the tattoos the way Home residents want them. He explained why there have been few facial piercings as well for those interested. It had to do with the polygon count and the way the 3-D body movements stretch and maintain the form. They haven’t been able to keep the facial recognition on the avatars well enough to suit them.
Heavy Water wants their body art to have an authentic quality. They strive to give Home consumers the “fantasized expression” they seek in a world were it’s cool to be a full-bodied tattooed avatar in progress. He did say there will be more leg tattoos coming to Home in the future.
Here’s some random trivia that you might not have known: Heavy Water were the designers of the much-beloved (and now long gone) EA Sports Complex. But that’s not all. Heavy Water has delivered to Home several personal spaces in the past. The first was The Chamber Apartment; this was done in 2009. The Chamber Apartment was offered as a limited time promotional giveaway, and was one of the first estates in Home. It was a fantasy-inspired space with a living tree in the center, and four fire pits that would change into waterfalls if you walked over the special stone aside each pit. This space was commissioned by Sony for Home.
They followed the Chamber Apartment with what seems to have been a futuristic space called Infinity. In searching for this elusive space, all I found was a photo on Heavy Water’s website. It appears that this space was never released. Shame too, because it seemed to be very futuristic, quite serene and beautiful. If I am mistaken please let me know, as I would like to see this one.
The list of spaces they have developed and released are as follows; Dragon’s Den, Post-Apocalyptic Apartment, BioShock’s Rapture space, and Monkey Island. All of these are still available for purchase, with the exception of the Chamber and Infinity.
The HeavyStrike Cannon - Another fun little toy by Heavy Water
Heavy Water has also given Home residents some public game spaces. There is Top Spin 4 – a tennis game, and the Toyota Prius Solar Scramble. Upon successfully completing the scramble, you received a Sack Boy head piece for your avatar. Heavy Water also gave us those charming little creatures called “Heavy Peeps.” Sweet little characters with names like “Up Chuck” and “Scary Fairy.” Heavy Water does produce clothing in Home as well, and promises more to come. Many of the Home residents gathered there Friday will be eagerly watching the updates and daily messages. They will be waiting for the arrival of Heavy Water’s content with cash in hand.
I know I will. I want to see this new space. I want to see if it takes Home real estate in a new direction or an old one. I’m keen to see if Heavy Water is as progressive with their spaces as they were in the past with the concept and design.
Given all that can go into Home’s consumer products it is ultimately up to Sony what reaches the market here in Home. Hopefully there will be a healthy supply of Heavy Water for the community to drink for years to come.
April 4th, 2012 by Phoenix | 9 comments
Phoenix writes poetry and is a photography enthusiast, along with writing for HomeStation Magazine. She is currently studying for a BFA in Creative Writing and BA with concentration in Photography. psn ID phoenixstorm21
youtube.com/user/phoenixstorm21
Wow! We are truly touched here at Heavy Water with this great article. We are glad that people really loved having a Q&A session and we can’t wait to show you all what we have in store for 2012 and beyond!
Thank you, Phoenix and HomeStation Magazine for the article, Alphazone4 for the event, and the Home Community at large!
-HeavyMystik
Thanks for the Q & A guys, it was great! Keep up the good work. We here at HSM, appreciate all your efforts for us on Home.
I would gladly pay $10 for the Chamber Apartment. Just sayin’…
Lol,
I would too. Maybe we could try and induce Sony to release it again as an item for purchase. I have been in it and it is “fantastic”.
I can understand Sony’s reluctance to re-release it in that they want to protect the integrity of it being a “free exclusive”, but I doubt anyone who got it legitimately three years ago would really be upset if newer users, like myself, paid cash for the privilege.
It’d be pure profit, too. It’s not like they’d have to spend any money on research and design or anything.
Having met the Heavy Wayer crew, these are fun, edgy people. They are not boring corporate drones who were selling soda water last week and video games this week. They are the cool people who you look forward to talking with. You can see it in their projects. Their items in Home are projections of who they are in real life. They stay true to themselves and don’t compromise.
I hope they release an updated Chamber, but leave the old one as is. That way the original is still exclusive and they can release a new one. I would make the new one exclusive also. It is a tribute to them that people are still asking for it after so many other apartments have come out.
Heavy Water creates things that I want to own. I am looking forward to whatever comes next. They are quietly doing great things. I am glad they are getting some recognition.
I’d pay damn good money to get my hands on a Chamber Apartment, or something very similar to it. Since it’s not coming back, I can only second the notion to create an updated or enhanced version and sell it.
What I like about the idea of developing content for Home lies in what you mentioned about how Heavy Water’s items are a projection of whom they are. It’s similar to how Brandon Tartikoff once described his successful “strategy” for picking megahit TV shows: he simply greenlit the ones he personally liked, and to hell with focus groups and committee meetings.
Considering how the video game industry is moving the way of the film industry, Home seems one of the few opportunities where you can put something personal out there in front of a huge audience. Which makes it quite awesome.
True! True! That’s one of the reasons I’m still on home. I can be myself! I’m no quirkier then the next person. Lol
I’d pay for it either way. I can’t wait to see what they have coming this summer.