Juggernaut’s Winter Adventure Pack, and Why You Should Buy It
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
We’re at the point where Home’s had four years of open beta. And this presents a real problem:
If you’re a Home developer, how do you come up with holiday-themed virtual commodities that people will still want to buy?
Seriously. This isn’t 2008, when everyone had exactly the same four items to enjoy. We’re at a point where the virtual marketplace has been absolutely saturated with commodities, and Home’s inability to let consumers delete virtual furniture creates a psychological incentive to not purchase something unless it really is hotly desired. To make a go of it this year with holiday-themed goods, a developer would really have to think outside the box.
Good thing we have Juggernaut Games, which doesn’t even know where the box is.
No, seriously. I was about to go into a long-winded paragraph full of obscure analogies about what Juggernaut’s brainstorming sessions must look like, but I think I can sum it up much more eloquently:
Right, let’s take a look at the Juggernaut Winter Adventure Pack, and point out the highlights.
1.) Cozy avatars.
Yeah, you saw the same shot I did. A male avatar sitting in a chair, with a female avatar snuggled up close to him, sitting on the arm of the chair. Here’s a commodity that deepens the social experience of Home, allowing for greater emotional intimacy between users. Don’t lie to me and pretend you’re too cool for school; you’re going to buy it. So am I. A Home with more of these simple touches and less of that insipid Weird Wear crap is a better Home for all of us.
2.) Snowball fights.
Is this an interactive mini-game for two avatars, with built-in collision detection? Or is it just a carefully staged shot with two avatars independently utilizing the same snowball-throwing animation? Who the hell cares? The point is that you can throw snowballs. Bring it.
3.) A customizable Christmas tree.
Smart. Three tree styles to pick from, plus thirteen ornaments and lights? And all compressed down into only seven memory slots? That’s a hit. Having a customizable Christmas tree adds a wonderful, personalized touch to a Home estate or clubhouse. Somebody thunk up a good one there.
4.) A customizable snowman.
Again, the brilliance of this is that it’s not just an active item — it’s an interactive item. And interactivity makes Home feel less static. It gives the user something to do, and helps the user personalize and customize their Home experience. These touches are incredibly important in making Home feel like an immersive virtual reality experience. I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about the snowman, except it’s only three memory slots. Three. For something you can interact with and customize. That’s a great deal.
5.) The Festive Table.
A visual metaphor for Juggernaut Games: small, innovative and somehow disproportionately armed.
This is really brilliant. A basic table-and-chairs setup, for six people, that only takes up four furniture slots. Run through that math again: seven pieces of furniture which, as a unit, only take up four slots.
That’s some TARDIS witchcraft right there, that is.
It gets better. Since the color scheme can be altered by the owner, it means that this piece of furniture can be tailored to a variety of settings and themes. Which, of course, means that it has far more applicable uses than just part of the holiday pack.
This is, quite frankly, one of the most useful pieces of furniture ever created for Home. It should have its own ad campaign, rather than being lumped in with the rest of this pack. I’m not kidding.
Are there other commodities in the Winter Adventure Pack? Absolutely. But while they’re cute and potentially interesting, they’re not attention-grabbing. The five commodities listed above, however, are truly significant.
Most developers would frankly be doing good to come up with one or two of those items, and bundle up the rest of the tchotchke to go with it. Juggernaut came out with five. And what’s weird is how consistently they keep coming up with innovative stuff that’s outside the box. Seriously, what the hell kind of energy drinks are they on over there?
I don’t know what Home 2013’s Christmas commodities are going to look like, but I do know that Juggernaut has raised the bar for everyone else. Again.
December 11th, 2012 by NorseGamer | 7 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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They sure have raised that bar! And I’m very glad to see it for one. Another bunch of must-haves for recreating that Christmas feel.
The Capitan just looked at me and said “We’re gonna need a bigger wallet”…
I usually dont like bundles. But Juggernaut’s got me with their steampunck and I almost bought the nautilus too. They have very few items you can’t like and are real bundles price, not just a $1.00 discount.
As far as winter goes… not sure
I have the real deal and over years it kinda loose the magic!
This is one I have been waiting for since it was announced last week. I am definitely grabbing this up!
I don’t really get to decorate much in real life because of where I live, so this lets me get into it without all the clean up mess afterwards. And I agree, that table is a must have and I hope it is the direction that furniture is taking to add those much needed slots, just like Game Mechanics has with their pieces. Kudos to Juggernaut once again!
That table-for-six is totally moving into my VIP Penthouse Suite. Immediately.
Some of us are going to have to wait for our Christmas PSN card, so unfair!
I cannot recommend this bundle strongly enough. It’s one of the best packages to be released in Home ever.
You can make some truly terrifying snowmen with that customizable item, and you can control every single ornament on the tree.
There’s even a very funny little bonus if you try to drink two cups of cocoa too quickly. Juggernaut has put out some of the best Home Christmas content ever. It’s a must-have for the festive-minded.