by Susan, HSM team writer

” In the end, it’s not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away.”

–Shing Xiong

I often say I don’t have a favorite anything, but I do favor a lot of things. Splitting hairs would be one of them.  After reviewing the massive inventory I’d acquired over the course of the past year — rewarded and purchased — and after being asked to describe my favorite items that were released in 2013 for PlayStation Home, I decided to ad-lib the guidelines and create a different list of “favorite” items for the year of 2013.

One of the writing assignments that was introduced a while ago to the writers here at HSM was to write about why we don’t play — or why we avoid — certain games on Home. In 2013, the PlayStation Home game I avoided the most was nDreams’ Aurora. I actually may have only played a few minutes of it, if even that, and that was back when it first debuted. I honestly can’t explain why I haven’t gone back and followed up on it. I do know it has a lot of Home rewards and I see friends visiting there all the time.  Aurora will be moving over to my 2014 bucket list. I give an Honorable Mention to Ubisoft’s Abstergo Labs. I  just don’t play tower-defense games because I suck at them. I played the game just to get the reward, but now with the portable LOOT EOD,  that TV is in storage.

When it comes to my Home wardrobe, there are a couple items that rarely get changed out for something else. In 2013 the PlayStation Home wardrobe items I used the most was Lockwood’s Double Eyebrow ring and the EA Black Poker Table winner Diamond Bracelet. The hairstyle I select for my avatar is chosen by whether or not it covers up my brow piercing and I never change the jewelry in my left ear.

I have come across less than five people in Home wearing any type of eyebrow piercing: one wore a single ring and another was a glowing stud, and never have I seen any women wearing them in any of the regions of Home. Guess that means I’m a rebel. The EA Diamond Bracelet, meanwhile, took a lot of blood, sweet and tears to finally acquire, and since I don’t use many hand items from my inventory, this item has become a mainstay since its acquisition. Honorable Mention to Lockwood Silver Chain and Red Nail Varnish combo: we finally have the choice of red nail polish, and since acquiring them, it has been the main item used to replace the EA Diamond Bracelet.

I own a lot of personal companions and LMO’s; I don’t know why, but maybe because of all the dance moves/poses available now. Traditionally I don’t use them except for one. In 2013 the PlayStation Home Inventory item I used the most was the Sodium/Lockwood Gold Robo Cobra. This was a reward item from the 2012 E3 festivities going on in PlayStation Home at the time. The cats and dog companions I have are cute and cuddly, the “wild animals” aren’t my thing even though I have acquired a white tiger, but for me the cobra companion has the disposition a Home companion should have. And, like the EA Diamond Poker Bracelet, it isn’t available any more. Honorable Mention goes to the Drey/Lockwood Supermodel Poses/Wistful. With these poses I get to stand with the attitude of someone of my stature.

Updates would be much appreciated.

It kills me every time I hear people complain how bored they are in Home. I don’t get it.  With so many types of entertainment available I find it nearly impossible to get to a point where I would be bored in Home. Between the games that are free to play, the public spaces where you can hang out and make new friends or to our personal spaces where we can bring our new found friends, there’s no shortage of activities. In 2013 the PlayStation Home game I played the most was Lockwood’s Sodium 2. The smell of  jet fuel, combined with fear, sometimes for me becomes an intoxicant I could not stop abusing — and with free access to the Sodium2 hovercraft I get an overdose of it almost daily. I am only 20 mph behind the number ten all-time leaderboard for land speed record holder-and I have been for almost a year. I pay for that addiction by hustling drinks two nights a week at the Sodium Universe’s watering hole, Scorpio’s, and by destroying robots out at the Salt Shooter public game. Honorable Mention goes to the old sport of people watching.  I can sit for hours, listening to music in the various public spaces, watching the social interactions that occur and seemingly repeat daily at all levels of intellect.

In 2013, the PlayStation Home public space I spent the most time in was Sony’s Pier Park. At first when it was released I wasn’t overly thrilled with it. I felt it needed more: http://www.hsmagazine.net/2011/11/homes-pier-park-and-sportswalk-it-aint-no-coney-island/. I have changed that opinion, obviously, as it too has changed with the times and different seasons. It is now the public space I have been doing all my people watching in — at least, a majority of it. I am still disappointed by the lack of visibility while sitting in the Ferris Wheel gondola, but I sit at “my spot” and people-watch while I complete real world work on my laptop and use the music at the park as background noise. Once in a while I might acknowledge someone if I happen to be looking up at the screen, and I have met some nice people there who became friends over the course of time. I still think it needs more carnival games and vendors, like what you see at Acorn Park or at Midway.

Home’s High Makamaka gathering spot

I throw out a shout out to Sony’s Club X7 as the Honorable Mention. While one developer might be emptying my purse faster than others it is at X7 where I begin to make my accountant squeamish.  Every Monday and Wednesday mornings I pay a visit to those dreamy bartenders and get an early chance to examine and purchase items soon to be released to all the public. I enjoy the privileges I receive for being a Club X7 member, yet you won’t find me playing FLIRT or grooving on the dance floor – you’ll find me instead up in the VIP section, as I can hear the music just fine there.

The social dialogue I witness on a daily basis in Home has to me become blatantly superficial and pathetically lacking in any substance as well as much needed moderation. The most commonly repeated phrase I saw in PlayStation Home in 2013 was, “Can I be your boyfriend/Will you be my girlfriend?”

In 2012 the phrase that held that honor was Will you join my fam, but for now Home is apparently evolving into the place to get hooked up with another avatar. I see people still getting asked to join a fam but not nearly as the amount of boys/teenagers/men I see making a beeline for any alone female and asking if they would go out with them-and usually just out of the blue.

As new public spaces emerge upon the Home scene, others must say goodbye to the community. The most-missed deleted public space for me on PlayStation Home in 2013 was Sony’s Central Plaza. Yes, this space was removed from public access in 2011, but it still remains the Home community’s most talked-about missed space. Every day held a new adventure there with the dance floor, access to your Harbour Studio and access the Bowling Alley and Movie Theater. It was THE social public space to be seen at.

Red Bull Air Race-We miss you!

I made so many friends there that I still see today.  Since its loss we have been given a variety of new parks and plazas, but the charm and ambiance will always be missed. Honorable Mention goes out to The Red Bull Air Race and the Flugtag beach. Maybe I am biased because I love the beach, but this one came with airplanes, too. This was the only space where the community could race/fly a plane in Home. The plane LMO’s are not the same thing.  This game was up there for me as is Sodium 2. The Flugtag beach was a neat place to hang out and throw parties. It had great music and awesome videos to watch on those big screens. We get stuck with The Godfather public space, but it seems the fun games have to go. I don’t know why these got clipped but I surely do miss them.

So when not in a public space, where do we hang out at? Our personal spaces. We spend hours decorating them with furniture and artifacts we got while in Home. For me, I don’t spend any time in them. I am one of those who owns things because I can. I possess many items which I haven’t used to this day, but ya never know when that time is needed. Our personal spaces have evolved from the early housing of the Harbour Studio to the latest housing like the LOOT Space Apartment. The personal space in PlayStation Home I spent the most time in 2013 was Game Mechanics’ SeaClyff Clubhouse Retreat. This space came about because of John Ardussi and his team responding to the feedback of the Home community, and the end result is nothing short of amazing. I can sit by the pool and listen to the ocean and watch the birds fly around; I wave to the boats as they sail by. Opening doors, a steaming hot tub, a flushing toilet and a hideaway staircase are just a few reasons this place is my top pick. Honorable Mention goes to Flashman Studios’ Enterprise-D Bridge personal space.

Set a course for quadrant PS4

Upon feedback from the community the company quickly repaired some issues that were prevalent in the bridge space; yes, I know, trekkies and nerds like me will probably be the only ones who care about this space, but the story for me is how a developer responded to the concerns of its consumers. With speed only matched by a Borg ship they dispatched their away team to rescue the damaged bridge space, updated it and sent it on its merry way — and they quietly snuck it in through a recent PSN update.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Wall Street and China might disagree upon that notion but it is everywhere in our society. The fashion industry is a great example. What is popular on a runway one day or in a magazine become next season’s clothing line release at Target. The item I used the most in PlayStation Home in 2013 from an update was Inspect. Because of this new feature, I have purchased so many items I missed previously or passed on before for whatever reason. The process to buy the items even seems faster than going to the store itself. Another plus is I don’t have to look to see where the items are from when asked; I just tell people to inspect me. Now if we could apply this concept to furniture items when in someone’s personal spaces…

Honorable Mention this time goes to not so much a Home item per se but what you see after you begin the Home login process: Home Platform Group’s News Viewer.  I came across this one day while logging into SCEE. It replaced the message of the day with a more interactive and visually appealing information board. You could get more information about what is going on in Home. HomeStation Magazine also became the first magazine to have its writers showcased on the SCEE News Viewer. Another nice feature to the SCEE News Viewer is there is no Magnus to make you hit the circle button on your controller after it opens up.

PlayStation Home isn’t a life so much as it is a lifestyle. To maintain the virtual elitist lifestyle I have become accustomed to, I need things: mansions, yachts, personal bodyguards,  race cars,VIP access, you name it I must have it. The PlayStation Home developer that I purchased the most items from in 2013 was Lockwood Publishing.

Ichiban !

To some this is no surprise, and honestly it wasn’t to me, either. Just look at the items that are on the top ten list above; the majority of them are from Lockwood. This might have something to do with the lack of content being released by other established Home developers. Lockwood Publishing has been consistently putting out the merchandise that I like.

I have no idea what’s coming next from the PlayStation Home development teams, but I will say that Santa made sure my accountant was happy. Happy Holidays and a safe new year. I hope to see you all in PlayStation Home in 2014.

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