Which Developers are Tops in the World of Home?
by cjmp, HSM team writer
At least every two months, there will always be a Home developer that will step up its game and rule the world of Home. For example: last year, Hellfire won best game in Home (Home Tycoon) and best locomotion (SpeedWings) at the AlphaZone Awards, while Lockwood ended up taking the award for best developer of 2012 in Home. By the time I’m done writing this, you’ll see my pick of who’s the best developer in PlayStation Home.
Lockwood, nDreams and Konami are arguably the deepest developers in home in terms of quantities of content. Then you have smaller developers who put out great products, but don’t have a high quantity of items like JAM! Games or Codeglue, for example. Although they don’t have as many items as the developers I mentioned, they still put out great products, such as the sleek and beautiful race cars for your apartments from Game Mechanics or the exciting new DIY racing game from Codeglue.
Hellfire games is what I would call a medium-sized developer – again going back to quantity. But despite that, Hellfire ended up having a dominant year in Home last year and has been quiet so far this year, mainly having sales in Home Tycoon every now and then (which is understandable, since they’ve been working on releasing Home Tycoon in Japan). Hellfire also has to get some credit for being the first developer to bring locomotions to the North American version of Home although nDreams was right there when they released the running and flying locomotions and then released the extremely popular BMX bikes.
Heavy Water was very quiet later in 2012 after starting off fairly smoothly, bringing in the deep and mini game filled Avalon Keep space, as well as the popular Emo Ray vs Intergalactic Teddy Bears. Heavy Water is one of the original and powerful Home developers, and as soon as they give us locomotions, then they will sky rocket back in the top ranks. What locomotions could Heavy Water come up with? It will be very interesting to see.
Hot new developer Atom Republic burst onto the scene when they released the Cowboy Dance Moves pack which became a hit especially since it was reminiscent of the Gangnam Style dances (I have the Cowboy Dance Moves and they are hilarious, they move so fast!). At first, they weren’t selling as quickly, but shortly afterwards it was being seen everywhere. Then eventually Atom Republic came up with more great dance packs as well as locomotions and cool biker jackets and boots. They are quickly becoming one of the top developers in Home, despite the fact that they also are a smaller developer. They have brought things into Home that has never been seen before, like the huge Exomech robot locomotions or the the Rad Petz as well as bringing sound to locomotions. They also feature the mega popular Party Dance pack that includes the Shuffle, which is widely seen throughout Home. Atom Republic only look to get bigger and bigger as time goes by – if they keep selling at the rate they are.
VEEMEE has quickly charged back towards the top after starting out 2012 on a quiet note until later in the year they started to charge back up and their success continues into 2013. Since late last yea,r they have released a ton of great items into Home including HGL (Home Grown Laboratory), a new map for No Man’s Land, bike locomotions their Go! line of locomotions, and the new Grow Home item where you can grow your own plants. From the looks of things, I have a feeling VEEMEE isn’t done yet. We shall see if they continue this flow.
Popular developer nDreams has released its share of new items as well, giving us car locomotions for the first time in Home history. Aurora received a big update, and another first in Home has showed itself thanks to nDreams, the introduction of Choppers – and yes they are very slick. Overall, nDreams looks like they will keep their consistency going. They also have released many dance move packs as well.
Defeating demons
Granzella, arguably the most popular developer within the Home community, also had a great 2012-2013, releasing new weapons for the spirit hunting game, as well as adding a soccer locomotions and soccer outfits to its deep repertoire. They also brought in Home fan favorite, the mini bike, and have updated the Edo space and Southern Hideaway spaces numerous times, keeping them fresh. Granzella also did a great job with the Valentine event at Southern Hideaway and the Ogre Extermination event at Edo (I loved the music in both of those, too) and featured tons of great rewards.
Lockwood, arguably the most powerful developer and arguably the deepest was voted the top developer of 2012 by AlphaZone4 (like I mentioned above). Lockwood never comes short of success it seems like, and they look to continue their strong trend even more going forward. The horses were a major hit for the developer and were a first in Home. They also featured another major hit when the Super Powers locomotions came out, specifically the Flame Flight and Master of Rock choices (I’ve seen those the most). Lockwood does a great job of having a mix of items to choose from, whether it’s sports outfits or clean suits, Lockwood has offered a lot for fans so far.
LOOT created something that I (as well as others) have been dreaming of in Home, a radio that plays live music! You can also listen to talk radio as well, which is nice especially if you want to keep up with the news in the world and include humor, like a lot of sports talk shows provide. One of the best parts is about LOOT’s awesome radio is that you can get a free radio if you want to try it out and LOOT is known for having freebies hidden in their store. The radio is definitely high quality and Radioio does a great job of providing great content to LOOT’s radios. Also, as we all know, LOOT brought in the legendary Doctor Who series into Home, which was a major deal considering the BBC is the largest broadcasting company in the world, and has had major success over the years.
Konami also continues to stay consistent on providing great content for Home fans, bringing in motorcycles, new outfits from their Anime series and raver items and the once extremely popular K-Pop Dance animations. They also are expecting many more locomotions coming out soon as well, so stay tuned!
Well, it’s about that time I make my decision on who I think is the best developer in Home. All of these developers are incredible and do a great job, but I have to go with nDreams. Their combination of having outer-worldly and back down to earth content is what makes them great. From the choppers, to the updated version of Aurora, nDreams is one of those developers that you’ll never know what they’ll pull next.
One of the many reasons why nDreams gets my vote as #1 Home developer.
My runner-ups are Lockwood and Granzella, as I can’t get enough of how well both of these developers have done. Lockwood has been great since the beginning, and Granzella just keeps getting better and deeper as time goes on; they did an amazing job with both the Ogre Extermination event and the Valentine’s day event.
All of these Home developers are terrific and I know you all can’t wait to see what they pull out of the hat next! Write in the comments on who YOU think is the best!
April 25th, 2013 by cjmp | 5 comments
cjmp is a former team writer for HomeStation Magazine. He has been in Home since the Open Beta was released back in 2008. And yes, he remembers the days where there were only 4 spaces and open mics in public spaces! He graduated college with a degree in Radio, Television and Online Media. He's a huge sports and gaming fan and hosts as well as produces a golf radio show on SportsTownChicago.com and has interviewed the likes of Scott Walker from Golf Channel and Michael Wilbon of ESPN. He's a proud citizen of Chicago,IL. Feel free to check out his website at gpgolfreport.com !
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My middle finger to Konami for refusing to release items in Asia.
Where’s Juggernaut and Digital Leisure? I’ll put them both ahead of Lockwood and Granzella. Lockwood and Granzella do have their positives, but also have about the same number of negatives with them which drops them from my ranks.
Tosh, That’s right! I totally respect Juggernaut and am as big of a fan of them as anyone. They put out great items at great prices and that’s what’s special about them. Thanks for bringing them up! Digital Liesure, they have done a great job with the Casino, and have a brighter future going forward.
Jayson, I’m sure they will release items in Asia soon! I honestly thought for sure they were going to release items in Asia before anywhere else.
Personally, I believe you can’t really rate any particular developer as Home’s best, simply because they vary so wildly in terms of style. It’s a bit like comparing a European supercar with an Asian supercar; they’re both brilliant, but they’re very different experiences — and it really does come down to personal preference.
Now, granted, that doesn’t invalidate anyone’s preferences. And on a sufficiently large scale, that consumer insight can be extremely valuable. AlphaZone 4’s annual developer awards, for instance, represent a large enough statistical sample as to provide some very interesting insights into Home consumer sentiment.
The one thing that’s really cool, though, is just how passionate and engaged every Home developer is with it. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know a lot of the people from most of Home’s major development houses, and there’s just a shared enthusiasm there that’s remarkable to be a part of.
I totally agree Norse, each developer has their own style and creativity and that’s waht makes Home beautiful. And yea, you can totally tell that each developer loves what they do and that’s the passsion that keeps Home going strong. It’s truly a great thing to see and the excitment of new developers like Atom Republic is amazing. The fact that more and more developers are showing interest in Home is what’s going to keep Home up for a loongg time.