A Feast For The Eyes – Thanksgiving In Home
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
Every year, Sony puts time, money and lot of effort into bringing us updated public spaces during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and this year was no exception. Wednesday’s update had a lot of new things in it. Like many of the updates we have been getting lately, an avalanche of new content came into Home, including a few upgrades to existing games and spaces. But actually I have to say that this Thanksgiving, they have really outdone themselves this year. I love the Pier Park upgrade!
As this years holidays were approaching, I was wondering what they would do; would it be the same old pumpkin spinning in the center of a public space, begging for coins to be chucked into his mouth? Or would Sony up the ante this year and give us something new and different?
Thankfully it was the later, and the Pier Park is totally transformed.
They added a golden tone to the atmosphere, giving it a feeling like an autumn sunset, replete with trees and all the trappings you might put outside your own house this time of the year. Pumpkins, dried corn stalks, and harvest gourds are in abundance here, either set up in little stands made of burlap tents or adorning the posts scattered about. There are apples and ears of corn in wooden bins as well inside the tents. It reminds me of a harvest festival in a country town. The banners are still draped across the expanse of the space, but the new orange sunset changes their colors a bit.
The ground is strewn with straw and leaves that have fallen from the large tree in the space, even the dance floor has them. The biggest change you will notice though is the boat and water. Because you are now on the side of a river not the ocean, and the boat is a river barge not a yacht. I felt as though I had been transported to the side of the Mississippi, or one of its large tributaries. There are small boats tied up at a dock and the long pier near the barge. Long reeds blow in a wind and the beautiful multicolored autumn trees blanket the opposite river bank. The space has a definite southern feel to it, and this adds a great deal to the ambiance of the area. The only thing that detracts from the feel are the anomalous, still-present palm trees from the old Pier Park.
Upon arrival, you are given several reward items; some are useful, like the cornucopia, turkey, candied yams and pecan pie, they also gave us an old-fashioned candle and sign ornament and a weird looking crow. They give you a set of stocks, like the ones seen here which can be used to decorate the new Avalon Dungeon; the Avalon courtyard would be perfect for that, actually.
There are two mini games here, and they are connected in a way. You are asked to run all over the space looking for floating bags of ingredients to stock the nearby table with a Thanksgiving feast in ‘The Big Cookout’. There are several ingredients to be found – sixteen in all – to complete your feast of pecan pie, turkey, yams and the one thing no Thanksgiving dinner would be complete without: green bean casserole. These things spawn at random times in random sequence and places. Once you collect all the ingredients, you make these dishes, and they appear to you on the table. Accomplishing this task helps to keep the other game here in “working order” according to the instructions.
This other game is the Witch Race. They have decided to include a Salem Witch trials theme in here through this game and the stocks scattered about the place. The Witch Race is played by use of a ball tossing game, similar to the ones you could find in most old gaming arcades. There are rounded slots with holes to try for, each of varying worth. If you play, you get a pilgrim hat reward with short hair and winning the race garners you a hat with either long hair for guys or pigtails for girls.
Your Thanksgiving feast
There are several atmospheric sounds floating through the space, depending on where you are. Near the water, you hear the lapping of the river on its banks; near the games, you get a witches cackle and music with a definite country twang to it. When getting out to the dance floor you get the dance music and near the big screen the commercials blare at you. There are even some nice quiet zones built in with the sounds of birds and seagulls in them. The barriers are very tight; no overlap and this is a very cool thing ,as we have all experienced what it is like when things overlap in a cacophony of sounds.
This update is a wonderful new experience for Home and I am glad they have given it to us, even if it is only for a season. This revision of the Pier is a lot more realistic than any of the previous ones done in the past three years I have been in Home. I am glad they are veering away from the cartoon like Pumpkin King to this great place right out of the “real” world. Way to go Sony!
- Great scenery change
- Fun mini games
- Cool rewards, especially for newcomers.
- Sounds are well done
- Palm trees could have been taken out.
November 15th, 2012 by Burbie52 | 4 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
I’m loving this public space. I’ve always been a sucker for serene settings like this and this year’s update is no exception to my love for the scenery. The games are pretty good but overall, Sony did a fantastic job on this.
Great read, Burbs.
I love the idea that they made up a space for T-day, but two things really bother me to distraction there. one is the Yellow Water- what the heck -That is just scary- either there is a nuclear power plant upstream or someone really big went to the bathroom. Two is the witch- at first it was just hilarious- some friends and I cackled right along with the Witch but after a while I wanted to steer clear of the vicinity of the game because of the cackling. But the games are cute and fun and I love the atmosphere that was created around the games. It makes me want to take a hay ride. Thank you for the article Burbie -as always it was very informative and well written.
A hey ride eh!? I’m not sure what one of those are, but sounds like fun! ; )
I was really impressed with the Thanksgiving colonial theme for Pier Park. The change of color and items gifted for that olde town colonial feel were amazing.
What I wasn’t thrilled with was their use of the Witch Race. Yes, I admit I have some personal bias being a witch myself. I also recognize the base theme of the game was within the colonial feeling and beliefs of witches. That being said, they could have just as easily used clucking turkeys running to get their heads chopped off for dinner then they did cackling witches being prodded forward by a pitched fork holding man into the fires. And in the end the turkeys would have been a better theme fit and more appropriate than their burning of witches.