What Would Home Life be Like on the PS4, Plus a Quick Trip Down Memory Lane
by cjmp, HSM team writer
When I first discovered Home back in 2008, I was like “What in the world is this?!” It kind of came out of nowhere, so I had no idea what I was going to get myself into. When I first loaded it up, it took a while, but then when it finished it, I was taken to an avatar customizing screen, and at this point I was like “Oo, interesting!” Next thing I know, I was customizing my avatar. But I had a very limited amount of clothing to choose from, so I went with the blue shirt with the white sleeves. And then I was taken to an apartment known as the Harbour Studio. Then I was given a tutorial, and as I’m in the apartment, I’m amazed at the freedom that my character has but was also laughing at the way he was jogging.
When the tutorial finished, I was free to go outside. And then I was in an outdoor area known as Central Plaza, and I saw other characters running around, and I wasn’t sure if they were real people or just CPU. But I figured out they were actual people when I noticed their PSN ID’s above their characters’ heads. I was starting to get excited because the place was big, and I was really interested to see what was offered. And I saw a dance floor that played music. That’s where I discovered the now legendary “Dance” button.
I was dancing on the stage with the music with my generic clothing, and so was everyone else — so just remember, we were all noobs too. So don’t rip on newer players. Let’s face it — we all sucked at Home life when we first started. And now that we are all experienced, does that give us the right to knock the newer people who actually want to enjoy Home? No. If anything, we should help them if they have any questions about the spaces, the games or Home in general. We are a community, after all. Like, if someone asks you where you got your outfit, you tell them. Don’t make something up and not give them the logical answer. But a lot of times, I think people don’t say where they got their items when asked because a lot of people don’t say “Thank You” afterwards, but instead give the dreaded “K” answer.
Anyway, I noticed that there were more places other than Central Plaza. There was a Bowling Alley, a Mall, and a Movie Theater. The Bowling Alley featured a fun bowling game and a few arcade cabinets and a fun pool game. It kept me playing for a a while, and was perfect for gaming at night with the atmosphere. I then checked out the Movie Theater which I first thought featured real movies, but was game trailers instead. But I was still waiting for the movie to start. Which, of course, it didn’t. So after checking out the other screens in the theater and different trailers, I went to the Mall, and I assumed there were new clothing items for avatars to get, but didn’t realize that you had to spend actual money to get a virtual shirt. But since PSN gives us free online gaming, I soon understood why things in this new virtual world cost real money. The Mall also had a game of Chess and a video screen.
Why am I taking a trip back to memory lane? Because with the release of the PS4 later this year, anything is possible with PlayStation Home.
Will it stay? Will it go? Will it shut off the Home servers on the PS3 so they can stay focused on the PS4?
In a brilliant piece by Burbie52, she mentioned that with Doctor Who and Harry Potter being featured in Home, it seems unlikely that they would get rid of it with these juggernaut franchises hitting the “Free Flight” (a term I created, meaning “free to do whatever you like”) virtual world. And I couldn’t agree more. It’s like the radio industry — why waste your time sending your resume and demo tape out to a station that is going down the drain unless you plan on being the hero to bring that radio station back to glory (Good Luck!). So if Home was really going away, then there is absolutely no reason to even bother with it if you’re a major company.
But the other question is, what if Home was featured on the PS4? Would it appear on the new console’s release date? Would it appear later? How popular will Home be by then? I assume they would have to keep the PS3 graphics for Home if they did in fact put it on the PS4, so there wouldn’t be a mixture of graphics that could possibly crash the server. I feel that Home life on the PS4 will be the same, except maybe with some brand new spaces that are dedicated to PS4 owners. That would be interesting. Again, I can’t see the PS4’s powerful graphics being featured in Home unless Sony plans on shutting down the PS3’s Home servers. Then the graphics could be added on. But that wouldn’t be fair to people that still only own a PS3.
So who knows where Home stands when it comes to the PS4? But one thing’s for sure — Home will still be going strong on the PS3, at least. There are too many gamers and developers that dedicated themselves to Home, and without Home, some of the hard working developers within the companies will lose their jobs and we definitely don’t want to see that. Not to mention some of the companies are Home-only developers, so without Home, those companies will be gone or moving in new directions, which can be tough. Except for a company like Digital Leisure, which makes games outside of Home, but has gained a tremendous amount of success through their Casino space in Home.
So it will be very interesting to see where Home goes once the PS4 gets closer to launch. Who knows — if Home is on the PS4, then maybe we will see the rebirth of the legendary Central Plaza. How cool would that be? That could be a great way to celebrate the release of Home on the PS4! So be patient, my lovely children, and we shall see what the rest of the year shall bring in terms of PS4 features and the possibility of having a world in there that just started out with beanie hats, a dance floor and a bowling alley.
That virtual world is now the pinnacle of social gaming. Now that this world has grown up, will it have the historic chance of making the PS4 cutline of features? Or, despite our hopes, are we in Home’s final days? Time is the most precious thing ever right now. Let’s hope for the best, but let’s also enjoy Home while we have it. If nothing else, we can definitely expect it to change as the console evolves.
May 5th, 2013 by cjmp | 3 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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You’re right about the “nobody knows” situation, but there are a few things that might give us a small indication of what the possible moves are. First off Home’s architecture has its feet planted in the PS2 era, not only this, but the complexities of the PS3’s architecture also means porting it over to PS4 is near on an impossible task for many, many reasons. That might sound like bad news at first but when we consider Sony’s plans for Gaikai, it’s not too far-fetched that Home could be streamed to PS4 using this new service. So, while you’d be able to access Home via PS3/4, on PS4 the visuals would be unchanged.
The biggest problem I foresee Home facing is the PS4’s interface and its built-in social network components. Sony have geared the PS4 to be simple, streamlined and encouraging in this way -- they even built the new pad with its own “share” button. Sending texts, videos and allowing you to see other players on-screen in real-time at the touch of a button might just make Home and its social side all but obsolete. Why spend time waiting on strangers with no keyboard to slowly punch out messages in Home (after you get past the boot-up/loading screens) when you can jab a button and do instant “face time” on PS4.
I have no doubt that Home will last at *least* another 2 or 3 years after the PS4 hits shelves. The question now is, will the early PS4 adopters want to bother with Home?
For a long time I wished our current Home would make it to the PS4. I’m not too sure anymore. The platform is old and already strechted far beyond what it was originaly desing for. The PS4 will also be based on a different architecture so applying this PS2 application will only bring new problems and real time streaming of that magnitude will limit the potential userbase.
As it was stated here many times. New Home project have a short window to turn out a profit. There is a ton of new shinning things every week. As we can expect the current PSN and it’s PsHome to be online for at least a year after the release of PS4. Pottermore and Dr. Who Tardis will already be either a success or a failure in accountants book.
Seeing big franchise like that does give me hope thou. IT’s shows poeple beleive in the concept and that Sony is probably still doing it’s marketing work behind the curtains to sell the concept.
What would Pottermore look like with the new possibilities of the PS4? How about a full Dr. Who RPG within a fully fuctional Tardis? Sure I love my Home. But the future is ahead, not behind.
Now if someone could finnish that Cantina…
Hey guys, great comments! Krazy, it will definitley be interesting to see how early PS4 adopters will be with Home. Some people may find it boring while others including myself, yourself and Dr find Home fun. I think if people discover Home and discover the true suspense behind home then i think it will keep folks hungry for more because as we know, you never really know what’s going to happen in Home, the origional XI was a perfect example of this. Anytime you can “tease” users, it gets them coming back for more. As for face time, not everyone wants to do that. Some people just like to type and play games in home while they chat (Well I guess you can say goodbye to your high score). Dr, with Pottermore and Dr. Who in Home, you would think more users would come to Home not to mention other big name companies, books, TV series’, etc will be interested in giving Home a try themselves for marketing purposes. It’s like networking in the journalism buisness, one industry professional’s contact info can lead to a bigger industry pro’s info, and then eventually leading to a job. Same thing with this, Dr. Who and Pottermore opens wide open doors for any other major marketing powerhouses to make thier way in Home and that’s what great marketing is. As for that Cantina, I would eat the Taco Bell Cantina Bowl but it’s like $6.00 lol xD