E3 and PlayStation Home
By Gideon, HSM team writer
It may be hard to believe that this will be the fifth E3 that will host PlayStation Home. Sony’s persistent world has had a less than stellar E3 showing over the past few years. But if the nature of Home is considered, it’s easy to see why.
E3 is usually reserved for grand announcements of future plans, while Home is developed in incremental improvements. Since Home is in a perpetual state of flux, it would be hard to mount impressive, crowd pleasing displays of inbound content on a trade show floor. For a strong Home showing at past E3’s, Sony would have had to show what Home has done, rather than what it will do.
That could change this year. For the first time, the possible release lineup for PlayStation Home is strong and diverse enough to draw attention from gamers not currently in Home. Before guessing wildly at what E3 2012 could hold, it’s worth looking at what the E3’s of Home’s past have offered.
E3 2007
Home was first officially announced in early 2007, making that year’s E3 the first to host the program. The Home of 2007 was full of promise and big high-concept ideas. Not all of the ideas have panned out, and the core focus of Home has changed considerably. This was the first of two pre-public beta E3 showings. This video includes a few notable features, such as dance moves no longer available, and a never-released personal space.
Thanks to PSHomeFan for preserving a bit of history.
E3 2008
The next year saw an increase in Home activity, with the closed beta in full swing. By this time people had been in Home for quite a while, and the foundations of the PlayStation Home community were being laid. Sony announced and showed a couple of things prematurely. The RC boats game never saw a release in the public beta, and Nike, unfortunately, has yet to have a showing in PlayStation Home.
This was also the E3 that gave the world a look at the first Central Plaza revamp; there would be only one other before CP became a thing of Home’s past. It was a shame that this version of CP was replaced when Home went Public. It was a large and inviting space that was much more suited for event hosting, user and advertiser, than the final version.
Thanks to Kazkioken for hosting this Ogilvy report.
E3 2009
The first post-public release E3 was an unfortunate one for Home. Sony was squarely focused on PlayStation Move, and was quite single-minded in their showcase. If Sony was to be believed at E3 2009, PlayStation Move was the future of the PlayStation Brand, and not the moderately used peripheral it has become.
Unfortunately, Xi was already well under way by the time E3 came around, so there was no opportunity to properly parade the ARG in front of the gaming world to draw in players before it was released. There was fevered exaltation within Home surrounding Xi, while Sony concerned itself mostly with what could now be considered to be the Great Motion Control Gimmick. Sony did have a small showing for Home at E3 2009, which simply highlighted a few of its core features.
This interview was brought to you by OgilvyGroup01.
E3 2010
2010 was the first year that E3 was celebrated and held virtually within PlayStation Home itself. With the release of the E3 booth, Home players were able to navigate and experience a digital representation of the Sony’s physical E3 presence. While, as before, E3 didn’t include any significant announcements for Home, the E3 booth event was impressive in its own right, and gave Home players something to be quite excited about. The virtual E3 booth saw herds of players anxiously packing into the space to try to get their hands on one of the coveted and limited codes given out for the event, continuing the tradition from the year before. Even with the lack of Home-related announcements at the actual conference, this E3 is widely considered to be the most successful Home E3 event to date.
Credit goes to HairBrained Ideas for this video.
E3 2011
To many, the E3 2011 showing within PlayStation Home was somewhat of a letdown. This year’s E3 saw a promising showing of Scribble Shooter (a warmly anticipated game that had previously been announced, sans publisher) in PlayStation Home. It seemed as if the arcade cabinet capability within Home would finally host hotly anticipated games that would catch the attention of those outside. Since then, the cabinets have hosted only a few retro style games that garnered scant attention from non-Home players. Gone were the hopes of playing the TMNT arcade game in Home with three friends.
This E3 also saw a revamp of the virtual space from 2010. The digital E3 booth was recycled with a few alterations to host the PS Vita virtual items. It was also noted that the decorative pamphlets that were strewn about the E3 2011 space bore the logo from the 2010 E3.
Thanks to AspireX2 for uploading this video.
E3 2012
As with previous years, there are high hopes for E3 2012. This is the premier event for developers to show the world what they have brewing. Although the offerings for PlayStation Home have been slim in E3s past, perhaps this will be the year that Sony comes out with a strong showing in support of the Home players, developers and community as a whole. This is, after all, the one venue that Sony could use to really broaden the user base of Home by exposing throngs of gamers to the likes of Sodium One and Two, Novus Prime, Aurora, Cutthroats, the Midways, the Casino, and the currently-in-beta No Man’s Land.
Sony needs to get more people to use this program. Hey... Does this guy look Castiel from Supernatural to you?
One of Sony’s greatest challenges with Home is getting its programs exposure outside the Home community. And E3 is a near nuclear-size media bomb of radiation-level exposure. Every gamer who follows any kind of gaming news will be watching E3 to see what they will be playing for the next year. If enough bravado is put behind Home, Sony could make an impression on the gaming community and show that Home is the best place for gamers to experience the future of gaming. And, almost all of Home can be explored for an entry fee of absolutely nothing.
Home’s lineup is stronger than it’s ever been before. And Sony’s embrace of the forward-looking freemium model for most Home games should play well in the frothy percolation of the gaming industry. This impressive collection of games currently and soon to be on Home has been created in large part by nearly-exclusive Home developers.
The exposure of E3 could be infinitely beneficial to the developers reliant on Home for their bread, butter and mead. Just as some of these developers rely on Home as the foundation on which they can build their visions, they may also rely on Sony to give their product exposure. Trade show booths at large-scale venues such as E3 might be beyond their budgets. Sony could easily host a booth for Home so developers like Heavy Water and BIGYAMA can have a presence at the biggest gaming event of the year.
Sony will need to show more than the latest Home fashions to bring in new customers.
While it’s easy to establish the need for Home to have a strong showing at E3, it’s harder to pin down exactly what could be displayed. Much of Home runs on a model of sustainability. Periodic upgrades for games, additional features for existing titles and avatar wearables aren’t exactly the jaw dropping surprises or attention-grabbing announcements to draw the lustful gaze of gamers away from the larger triple-A showings surrounding them.
What could Sony announce and show at E3 that would not only give the Home community what they have been wanting, but will also draw in a new generation of Home gamers? It’s time for some wild speculation!
No Man’s Land
Since the beta is currently underway, it would be surprising if No Man’s Land missed E3 altogether. This game, which takes place in a futuristic post-apocalyptic setting (a favorite among game developers), is a third-person cover-based shooter. While this particular genre has yet to see the light of day in Home, it is has a strong showing on full-scale disk based games.
With Bootleggers proving that real time shooting action can be achieved within Home, it’s no surprise to see more action games being released. Unfortunately, the oft-used post-nuclear American wasteland setting gives No Man’s Land a feeling of “been there, done that”. Can No Man’s Land stand up to the gameplay of titles such as Uncharted 3 and Max Payne 3 while delivering a fresh and unique gaming experience? Hopefully we will see more of this new IP from VEEMEE at E3.
This comes straight from the digital maw of SCEA Blog!
Mercia
One genre many PlayStation Home users wish the service would emulate more is MMORPGs. In these wildly popular online games, avatars are given quests and earn experience points to build the might and legacy of their characters. Mercia, while not a MMORPG, is a multiplayer Home based action RPG (MHARPG?) set in a unique fantasy setting that is more Conan than King Arthur. It has yet to be seen if the multiplayer aspects of this title will be real time or more like those of other PlayStation Home multiplayer games. Whatever the multiplayer design, this is another game that looks to push the envelope of what is available on Home. Fingers crossed for an E3 showing of this one.
Kind of makes me want a metal golden owl. Strange.
Dust514
Home has already seen an initial offering from Dust 514. This E.V.E. Online interconnected Massively Multiplayer Fist Person Shooter held a streaming of its official unveiling in May. PlayStation Home players who visited the venue were treated to a PlayStation Home shirt that showed their support of the game. Hopefully that arena won’t be the last Home sees of Dust 514.
Since Dust 514 was shown in Home, there will be some Home users who will take a loyalist’s interest in this new title, based solely on it being briefly part of their community. Simply announcing and showing a video of Dust 514 within Home, and then offering nothing more in the way of content, could feel manipulative. It might seem as if the developers, CCP, were exploiting Home as a source of early adopters of a game that would have otherwise had absolutely no connection to the community.
Considering the interconnectivity CCP is going to achieve between Dust 514 and E.V.E Online, it would be nice to see robust communication between Home and Dust 514. A public recruitment space with live updates of the ongoing war in the E.V.E universe would be a welcome addition to Home, and mini-games that provided rewards for use within Dust 514 would definitely bring gamers into Sony’s exclusive world. Even a release of Dust 514 themed armor, weapons and/or personal space would be better than nothing.
Could these be outfits in Home? Better be!
Steampunk Space
It’s been over two years since Veronica Belmont interviewed Katherine de Leon about the “Victorian futuristic industrial game world that really marks a new era in social gaming in PlayStation Home.” One must wonder if this new era has come and gone, or if it is still on the horizon. While this project was likely scrapped long ago, many Home players would appreciate information from Sony regarding its release or demise. Of course, it probably wouldn’t be wise to hold our breaths waiting for a project update.
Shout out to our sister (mother?) site, AlphaZone4.
Xi Follow Up
The wildly popular, and nostalgically remembered Xi marked an interesting time in Home. The fledging program was widely untested when Xi was released, and many believed the ARG was a crystal-ball look into the future of Home content. Xi was a landmark game, in more ways than one. Thus far, Home has failed to live up to the promise it showed. While game-spaces such as Aurora go a long way in Home, no current program has attracted the energized attention Xi did.
Unfortunately, there has yet to be a successor, spiritual or otherwise, to this landmark Alternate Reality Game. Delivering another ARG the caliber of Xi would be a much-needed shot in the arm for PlayStation Home outreach. If it were to integrate social media sources, it would possibly draw in an even larger audience than the original. While a Xi sequel isn’t expected at E3, it would be welcomed with wide arms ending in fists of cash.
Alphazone4, as a testament to the popularity of Xi, got its beginnings during the Xi event!
PS Vita
With the PS Vita still within its first year of life, many gamers have yet to give the handheld a chance. There is no doubt that Sony will have a strong Vita showing at E3, but it is unknown if any of the content will be related to PlayStation Home. While the PS Vita and Home aren’t strangers (See E3 2011 above), the relation between the two is shallow at best. With content relegated to a limited EU public space and a few avatar items, Home has been used as a vehicle for advertisement rather than a tool to directly drive unit sales.
Releasing Home interconnectivity for the PS Vita would be a sure-fire way for Sony to sell hardware units to the eager and willing Home community. Whether it be the full content of Home on the portable device, limited access to personal spaces and certain games, or simply a chat applet that allows users to join the conversation without entering the robust world of Home, any kind of Home connectivity would be a welcome addition to the already impressive slate of features that are hosted on the PS Vita.
When will this happen? Take our money, PLEASE!
Move Support
The PlayStation Move, rightly thought to be a gimmick along the lines of the Eye Toy on the PlayStation 2, is likely to have at least a limited showing at E3 through support of a game or two. Could PlayStation Home be one of the games that gains Move support in an effort to broaden the Move install base? Probably not, but hey, this is the time for wild speculation.
PS Move will likely not see more involvement with Home than it already has. As with the Vita, the Move had a public space and some avatar-wearable items, and that was about it. Home’s Move potential will remain lost, since it was used solely as a virtual three dimensional billboard, and will likely never be anything more.
It’s a shame really. Some interesting things could happen in Home with the Move.
JessiesGeneration gives us a thorough look at the Move in PlayStation Home.
Core Client Update
Around this time of year, many Home users, including the one writing this article, dream the impossible dream of a core client update. Within these fantastical visualizations, Home users see everything from new emotes and dance moves to full RPG features. Interconnectivity with other social media or outside chat applets has long been something Home could benefit from, and the gaming foundation of Home could always use a boost or two. Features such as Avatar Export or more robust game integration could help Home become more accepted by the gaming community at large. And increased stability and reliability of the platform would always be a welcome announcement. There’s no telling how many would-be Home users have been lost in the sea of error messages that have recently plagued Home’s shores.
Now THIS would be a Core update I could get behind! Iron Man Mark H! This really has nothing to do with E3, I just wanted a pic of Iron Man here. What a cool Home prize that was.
All of this is, of course, pure conjecture. But then again, the Home update for the week of E3 was shifted to June 7th, which is after Sony’s E3 conference. So you never know what might actually have up their sleeves. (announcement)
For those not fortunate enough to attend E3 in person, the 2012 Sony E3 event will begin four days of live broadcasting Monday, June 4th, at 5:30 PM Pacific Time on PlayStation Home, as well as many other outlets, such as the PS3 XMB. For now, the Home community eagerly awaits to see if Home finally gets the E3 coverage it so rightly deserves.
Make sure you return to HomeStation Magazine during and after E3 to see what we have to say about what was, and was not, announced during E3 2012 for PlayStation Home.
June 1st, 2012 by Gideon | 12 comments
Gideon is a team writer for HomeStation Magazine and likes cheese in all its forms. Whether it be block, slice, cream, wheel, log, string or aerosol, Gideon cant resist the pungent bitter taste of good cheese. Heck, he'll even take mediocre cheese, as long as its slapped between two pieces of whole wheat bread with a little bit of mustard.
Hey, Gideon!
Just a quick thank you for a great time travel article. You took me back to every Home E3 I attended. I remembered so much by reading this. I remembered the Sony blog needed a picture of the Home virtual booth and asked me if I had any. I grabbed a few and they used them in the blog. That was kind of cool.
I remembered so many people running around and talking and making friends. That has become a trend with E3 Home. very cool.
Anyways, Thanks for the great read. See you guys in Home/E3
In 2010 they released the Playground, the free HORSE Basketball game and the Playground Boombox at E3.
This year the booth sounds like it will be interesting. I hope there is something big to play with after.
Nice! Thanks Deuce. That just goes to show how awesome E3 2010 was!
My understanding is that the Steampunk space was being made by Qore, who went out of business. I am just connecting lots of disconnected dots here, but I am pretty sure that is true.
I hope there’s camera panning….
Steampunk, Qore? Nope.
duece, E3 will not disapoint this year in home.
Okay. Someone probably saw this and got confused: http://youtu.be/IGSjmOFZo7s.
Great read! GlassWalls confirmed the SteamPunk space is no longer being released. I think the community would LOVE that space, hopefully another developer will take over designing and releasing it.
He did? Bummer. Not surprised, but still bummer. Do you by chance remember where he confirmed its demise? Was it on the forum, PS Blog or some other place?
Yeah I am sorry to hear this space won’t be implemented too. It looked so promising, and it is something that Home would have really benefited from. We can only hope someone picks up a similar idea and runs with it, it would be a huge success.
I loved this nostalgic look through the E3 universe. I wasn’t here for much of it as I got my PS3 in December of 2009, so it was nice to see all of that. I lived the singers video! That was very well done, and the first time I have seen a live person and Home integrated like that, very cool!
I will be waiting with bated breath for the new E3 space next week, I love the fact they even do this for those who can’t go there. Great job Gideon as always and I look forward to your next piece.
Qore was never involved with Steampunk. Others were. it never was completed and is not ever going to be available unfortunately. E3 is just days away. enjoy.