Welcome to Digital Leisure’s Western Frontier
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
For months, Digital Leisure has been taunting us with glimpses of their new western-styled town public area. They had pictures posted for weeks with just a hint of the space, and there has been a huge amount of buzz generated about this new place in PlayStation Home. Now it has finally arrived and I was able to see it for the first time like many of you today.
First impressions are lasting ones. We all know this and if I had to go by mine, I would say that Digital Leisure has hit a home run with this space. The first thing that happens when you enter is you are given a choice of outfits. You have a head, body, legs and feet to choose to combine, or you can pick a random one for the computer to choose for you. Just know that whichever you choose you will receive those items as permanent rewards and you will be placed in that outfit upon reentering the space each time, at least 
until you get different clothing from the stores provided. There are wardrobe chests scattered around that allow you to change your outfits once you have more than one choice, a nice touch.
There is a gift machine near the entrance where you can send your friends gold, similar to the chip-buying system in the casino.
Panning for free gold
There is a great deal to do and explore in the town; you have a multitude of choices here. All of them cost gold though, which you can either purchase or earn by mining or completing games with a win.The first time you go into the mining area, which is a separate load, you are given the opportunity to pan for gold in the river which requires the use of the Sixaxis features of the PS3 controller to accomplish. How good you are at it determines the gold you acquire. The same is true of the mine itself where you use a free pickaxe for the first round of button matching fun, after which you have to pay to play (a $0.99 charge for a pickaxe that lasts twelve hours or seven pickaxes for $4.99). I was able to play the gold panning only once, so I assume it is something you have to come back each day to play for free as there is no mention of cost here.
Some of the other games in town require gold to play — gold which you can accumulate slowly for free or purchase in a variety of bundles from the bank in town. The amount of gold required varies from 200 to 500 gold per game session. The games that cost are the Showdown (a gunfight game), the Shooting Gallery and the Stagecoach race. You win gold and credits if you get good at these games; if you lose, it costs you. These credits are able to be used for trading things with other people in the Trading post in town which range from clothing to furniture items.
Saloon games
The trading system is a unique concept in Home; in it you pick an item you want and then you look for other people who want to trade you for an item of equal, less or more value. You don’t have to know the person involved you just have to agree to the trade. If you trade with a friend you can get a reward though. The trading post itself is a game and has tiers of achievement.
There are several areas in town to walk around and into. There is the Saloon where you will find the five-finger filet game as well as Liars’ Dice and blackjack which plays much the same as the game in the casino. All of them will cost you gold eventually to play after your free trials.
Free personal space
There is a drop-down menu supplied using the L2 button that shows you what you have tried or looked at during your visit. Finishing it by trying everything in the space earns you a reward from the Mayor in the town of a small personal space called the Campsite. You are given free gold to start your first time here, much like the Casino, and many of the things being done here are replications of the way the Casino works. There is even a leveling system that earns you a huge variety of rewards.
This space is going to be a huge hit with Home users, especially those reward hunters amongst us who need to succeed in getting every reward in Home. There is much to see and do and all of it will take a great deal of time and energy to complete, as well as a bit of cash. So get your cowboy or cowgirl on and go to the Western Frontier of Red Rock Springs and enjoy one of the most innovative new spaces in Home!
November 21st, 2013 by Burbie52 | 8 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
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I agree, they did a fantastic job and I hope there will be more to do (and more to win jn the coming months).
Do you know how does the pickaxe work ? a pickaxe lasts 12 hours, but it’s 12 hours when you’re in the space, or is it lost 12 hours after you bought it ?
It’s 12 hrs real time after your first use of the pickaxe.
Thanks ! Hope they’ll change that.
The trade counter is a great idea lost on the idiots using it thinking that I’m going to trade a 60 coin hat for a 2000 coin companion. Apart from the usual home server issues where I lost money on the stagecraft race due to being kicked. I also lost an item I traded it was there when I went back it had gone. Apart from that seemed well put together, might be a bit too commercial to be a great space. And by that I mean there isn’t enough stuff to do for users that don’t want to spend money on home, where the true legendary spaces have something that bring all users back time after time
Sure, free gold can be accumulated through panning and mining but both activities are so abysmally boring with meager payouts. Given the pathetic gold-to-token conversion rate for items, I wouldn’t expect to get much out of this space without spending a fistful of dollars.
Some of the rewards are nice enough but I don’t plan to spend the excessive time or money required to earn them. And that’s fine. I have no problem simply riding off into the sunset.
It’s a space for players, not a shop. So sad to read that. PS Home is a virtual community, a video game. Playing video games is about fun, and if you don’t have the time don’t blame Sony nor Digital Leisure. That’s what this space is about.
I spend $0, I earned 12,000 gold the first day, and still have 11,000 with many rewards + a free personal space + western outfit. I will buy some pickaxes later if they change they ket us using 12 hours in game time.
No one blames anyone, it’s an opinion. Id rather play the rest of games I play on home because Western frontier is boring when you got no gold and returns are not good enough. It’s a fixed fairground attraction if you want to win the big cuddly toy you need to spend more than its worth to get it. Not in money terms but in time as well. Where I feel playing the bulk of the other games I play on home are more enjoyable and give me a better return on my time. The point is as soon as you have to buy up-rated parts in the stagecoach racing that 11000 will buy you one part, so you spent loads of time in there and you can’t even up-rate your stagecoach fully. And currently as you can be mismatched racing an up-rated stagecoach it’s not worth playing.
I did about 20 stagecoach races and was never mismatched with someone who has an upgraded cart, maybe they modified that? (I know because my cart is not modified and I mostly won).
Of course everyone has a different opinion, but DL did a good job so far and now they are working to enhance the space and make it bugs free.