Why Lockwood Should Sell A Portable TankTop
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
There’s some debate as to what Home’s best mini-game is. Personally, I think there’s no question: Lockwood’s TankTop.
Seriously, how can anyone not enjoy this game? It’s simple, easy to learn, ridiculously addictive, and still an impressive presentation which ties into the overall Sodium universe. It’s the party piece of the Blaster’s Paradise estate, and unlike a lot of Home’s mini-games, it doesn’t feel like it was nailed together over a lunch break on a budget that even a vending machine would laugh at.
So that’s when it occurred to me: Lockwood needs to sell this game as an active item.
(Okay, okay, we know that Lockwood’s already stated that there are no further development plans with the Sodium universe at the moment. Blah, blah. This is a wishlist article.)
There’s been a real trend towards allowing users to enjoy experiences in any estate they own. Juggernaut’s various Essence items, which offer controllable weather patterns. LOOT’s portable EOD and Radio. The list goes on. It’s a foregone conclusion that if Hellfire ever made a portable zero-G simulator, it would still sell in respectable numbers. And who wouldn’t want a portable TankTop? At this point, I doubt it would hurt Blaster’s Paradise sales. And since the game has already been created, a lot of the cost is already sunk.
Granted, it’s not as easy as flipping a switch with the Home Development Kit and shazam, you get TankTop in a box. But it can’t be impossible, or even prohibitively expensive at this point. So let’s look at how this could be done to maximize sales.
This VIP lounge would be a lot more fun with public TankTop…
The first step would be to install, assuming sufficient memory is available, a public TankTop in the Sodium Hub’s VIP lounge. Right now, there’s no bloody reason to go into that lounge; there are no games up there, no music or dance floors, and utterly nothing to do except sit on the cushions and pretend you’re Race Bannon. So why not put a public-access TankTop in there? Since the VIP lounge requires a five-dollar investment to enter, it might be an incentive for some of Home’s newer users to explore SodiumOne. Or, taking it one step further, the public game would only be available to those users who purchase upgraded weapons for SodiumOne.
The next question would be whether to sell the game conventionally, or sell it via the Gift Machine. Lockwood’s done an amazing job of creating their own commerce system that neatly bypasses the mall, the Navigator and anything else that might lead users to spend time looking at competing products. So imagine being able to gift someone an entire mini-game, or acquire it yourself via an alternate account. As Lockwood tokens are already a perennial sales leader in Home, I can currently see no potential downside to this approach.
Granted, as this is a wishlist article, let’s take it one step further:
What if TankTop 2.0 was a two-player game?
HearItWow has often pointed out that a major part of the psychological thrill of Home is that it somewhat replicates the excitement of the video arcades we all used to enjoy thirty years ago. And he’s right. For all the community outcry over turning Home into a gaming platform, the truth is that it did help to create mini-communities within Home, fostering a greater level of social interaction.
HSM Editor SealWyf inspects TankTop 1.0
So what about personal estates? From what I’ve been able to piece together over the years, the average number of users per estate is quite low. Yes, there are socialites amongst us who may be statistical outliers, but overall, it appears that estate owners don’t tend to entertain large numbers of people. What’s needed, then, are attractions which will entertain multiple users within a space — and a two-player co-op version of TankTop could do just the trick.
Imagine, for a moment, having a good friend over to one of your estates. Chances are, if you’ve gone this far, then that user holds some level of personal significance for you. Thus, co-op gaming would be an excellent way of spending time with a friend. Further, if Lockwood indeed created a portable TankTop, it would serve as an excellent “gateway” game, serving as a reminder for people to revisit a Sodium universe which at this point has gone quite some time without a major content update.
Personally, one of the barometers I’ve always used for whether or not a Home mini-game is truly awesome is whether or not it could survive and monetize outside of Home. Indeed, I’d love to see Lockwood experiment with offering a scaled-up version of TankTop (or even SodiumOne itself) as a self-contained PSN title. It would further monetize an already successful game, and introduce a Home-related experience to gamers who might have never set foot in Home.
But, most of all, I’m just really enamored with the idea of a two-player co-op TankTop that I could play in any personal estate. That’s worth some money.
December 28th, 2012 by NorseGamer | 4 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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I’d like to second the motion.
Tank Top is one of the few reasons I still occasionally visit Blaster’s Paradise. I do love that space, but with all the other content in Home these days, I let most of my personal estates lie fallow. If I could drop a copy of Tank Top in the middle of one of my more frequently-visited spaces, or even in a clubhouse, it would be win. For instance, wouldn’t it look epic on top of the jellyfish tank in the LOOT Space Station?
Or, Lockwood could sell an upgrade to make the original game in Blaster’s Paradise a two-player game, while retaining the ability to play it solo. That might be more practical, since that is one BIG game table, and most apartments don’t have room for it.
The Loot space station is one of the few places it’d fit I’d say, but it would look damn cool in there. Maybe if they scaled it down then?
I like this idea but since I’m not a massive fan of top-down shooters I cant say I’d be too bothered if LKWD made it happen. But it gives me an idea, that shoulda been the final prize from the Midway! Sorry, I confused you there, I’ll explain…
The last prize for beating the HARDEST levels of every single Midway fairground mini game is always an ugly, only-fit-for-storage jacket right? Well, what if you won the game itself as the final prize, that you could place in any personal estate? I’m not sure how easy ( or hard) that would be to implement but it’d be pretty nice. You’d only be playing for fun ( no prizes) because it’d be free to play, but I’d say after spending however much it costs to win at final prize level you’d probably have paid for the right to play for free indefinitely anyway. And you could have your own private fairground! Provided you were good enough.
I love that mini game and I love the idea. I dont spend that much time in my Blaster Paradise but I rarely miss a week, and there is some bragging messages going back and forth with some of my friends.
Not entirely sure the table is big enough for a two player game thou. If theres one I really wished we could play in coop it’s Sodium1.
Sodium 1 and the Tank top (Blaster Paradise)are among the best value on home. They both are on my recommanded list for new homies.
I like the idea of making them a psn game. I can totally picture myself playing that on a Vita on the go… if I had one
Yes! The tank top shooter is one of the best games in Home.
Making something like that co-op would knock it out of the park.
Thinking about the old arcade where you and your friends stood around watching each other play games that you could actually watch them play was cool. These days co-op is the way people play.
Very nice list item there Norse!!!