Cold Lodgings
by Phoenix, HSM team writer
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or so the saying goes. Well, that seems to be the case sometimes in the virtual world as well.
Remember the Frozen Peak Palace? Of course you do. It was that big, blue, frozen personal space that we were offered a look at as an open house in 2011. Well, the Frozen Peak Palace is now available in SCEE Home for purchase. It comes with a frozen piece of art for your walls and a fireplace complete with flickering blue flame. The Palace was also one of the few newer spaces back then that had a gift machine to its credit. The furniture — namely the bed — was one of the first interactive beds to hit Home. Your head almost hits the pillow, just like on all the other beds for purchase. There are eleven wall slots for decorating, and an ice throne for sharing from the gift machine.
Why is it not for purchase in SCEA Home? Well, because we gave it a cold shoulder when we first set eyes on it. It seems the populace in NA Home did not appreciate the relaxing blue glow of the space, or the subtle snowfall outside in the dimly lit landscape. We found it bleak and bland. We found it too cookie-cutter in design and composition. Was it that we were too young in our personal space taste, too greedy in our desire for innovation, or unaccustomed to the winter hotels around the world that have the same or smaller structure? Is 
European taste a bit more refined or adventurous enough to see something special in this space?
I was one that hoped this space would return after it failed in the preliminary popularity contest. I had envisioned winter-themed parties there. Nowadays, with the winter adventure package Juggernaut created, I am even more disappointed that there is no release date for North America.
Snowball fights, snowman winter dances, a home for the penguins, the polar bears, snowy owls, reindeer…oh, so many of the wintry-themed items now in Home could have a perfect space. This would be the perfect party place to show off all the sweater fashions from VEEMEE, Granzella, Lockwood and everyone else that has created winter raiments. A fashion show in this space would be worth the chill. The many Christmas trees and items collected would have a permanent home; just imagine the sparkle. The Lockwood frozen fountain would be a stunningly fabulous ice feature here, to break up the pervading blue.
From what I can see, the palace has not changed in either design or interactivity. It is still the same icy blue space it was. So why there and not here?
It has to do with taste and bottom-line results, most likely. Oh sure, there are a few personal space flops here in the NA region that still made it onto the market. But when this space was shown it 
received a resounding “no way” from the visitors to the space. Many of the other spaces never had an open house run. They just show up for sale and find a niche or not. If consumer feedback statistics showed this to be a flop beforehand, why would Sony bother releasing it?
Personally, I think many were hoping if they booed it enough Sony would revamp it, adding some more pop and pizzazz.
That didn’t happen. It has the same features and roughly the same price equivalent. I personally think too it has to do with the region itself. Here in the NA region we associate the structure with perhaps Christmas, or just cold and boring, while the EU region and other parts of the world may not. For EU users the space is more familiar as a winter resort. It is closer to the frozen destinations in places like Sweden, Greenland, ski resorts that some may have actually visited.
Would this personal space receive a different popularity score, were it to have another showing in SCEA Home today? I think it would. To my way of thinking, an open house is not a bad thing — but it can be a deceptive thing, in that some tastes change. New people come in that might find a treasure in what others did not. Some may not have even noticed it there on the Navigator. Given the new influx of Home users and the newer items mentioned, I think this Frozen Peak Palace would do as well as many other estates in the market — maybe even better than some. It is not so big that it would be a problem to decorate, as some have shown to be. It is not as flawed with glitches as many are proving to be. As for interactivity, well, as I’ve said: it was one created in the infancy of interactive personal spaces. Now with all the interactive items available, it doesn’t really have to be interactive itself.
(It’s also the one place to ice skate without ruining the floors. Just saying.)
In this era of technical innovation and buggy personal spaces, the Frozen Peak Palace might be the perfect place to unwind and enjoy the calming flicker of the blue flame, while listening to the wind coming off the dimly lit landscape while it blows snow in over the open balcony. No glitching or lagging worries while you unpack that hot chocolate machine and watch your penguins frolic and play.
July 29th, 2013 by Phoenix | 8 comments
Phoenix writes poetry and is a photography enthusiast, along with writing for HomeStation Magazine. She is currently studying for a BFA in Creative Writing and BA with concentration in Photography. psn ID phoenixstorm21
youtube.com/user/phoenixstorm21
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Living in snow country and having seen snow statues and enterable ice castles (which doesn’t make me an expert), I found it interesting. The Frozen Ice Palace seems older than 2012 year though. An almost forgotten memory… till now.
I agree that some booed it hoping for change, for improvement. I did. As I recall, I did not like the outside view from the balcony and through windows at all even though it might have been realistic.
Also, having no place to go outside was a super grand issue with me. Had it some kind of outside to walk around, it might have been a nice place.
It just did not look right. Today? Maybe I could throw a Loot radio in it with 50s 60s tunes or 60s pop and it might be doable. I’d need pork and beans and hot dogs though.
This was one of the funniest open houses I have ever been to. People were wondering around going…is this it? This space reminds me of the cookie cutter box phase of development that thankfully didn’t last long. Thanks for the trip down memory lane PHX!
I wouldn’t buy this if it did come to Home. If I want a Christmas space I will spend $5 and buy the Winter Villa we already have. The main drawback I remember about this space was the total lack of color variations. All blue and looking like a box just doesn’t make many people happy anymore. We have moved beyond this a long while ago since the developers were given better tools to work with.
This wouldn’t sell here but I bet they might try anyway at some point, hopefully at a reduced price.
Nice article Phoenix.
The things you can do with a fairly solid color in an editor. I liked this space at the open house.
Add LOOT spotlights and a light fog. It could have been interesting here NA!
I thought about this space as I made my first machinima. I envisioned using it if it ever returned. I am having ideas still. lol
I remember this place, came and went real fast. I went and to me, and my 2 cents, it was very uninteresting in the deco realm. The blue was overwhelming and the thought that one would have to use other lights meant that I was slaved to do just that, where other places are ready made with the lights less overwhelming. This place did suffer greatly also from the thought that it was a diorama box, just a cube with an overhang. With what we have today, this just does not stand out against the newer more techo savvy places we have gotten since…great article though.
I seem to recall that this space was introduced to North America with the concept of soliciting Community feedback. Supposedly, SCEA were going to use the feedback to modify the space before offering it for sale.
Maybe the feedback was too overwhelmingly negative.
Maybe the changes that people wanted were cost prohibitive.
Maybe SCEA just got lazy and decided to shelve the whole project.
A bit perplexing that it would suddenly show up in EU like this with nary a change from the NA open house.
One of the things about this space is how weird your eyes go when you eventually leave lol.
I’m still not sure why, but when I saw this in EU I just went for it! Even though I have the Winter Vacation space which is much better for the Christmas season, I still wanted to see how all my collected wintery items would sit in here. And the verdict? Not too badly!
The penguins seem happier there than they do on the deck of my Winter villa, and all my christmas trees have agreed that they feel more at home there too lol.
Maybe that assaulting blue is doing my brain more harm than I know…