by RadiumEyes, HSM team writer

As the year 2014 approaches, the world of Home seems limitless – I mean that metaphorically, of course, but the point remains: ever since its inception, Home grew exponentially, and 2013 may very be the banner year for released content so far.

What will 2014 hold? No one knows for certain, but if this year was any indication, the sheer amount of what you can do will rise even further; the inundation of items (both in terms of goods and personal spaces) from 1 January 2013 until now makes my head spin thinking about it, and it can certainly be overwhelming to wade through all that Home currently has to offer. We’ve seen places come and go (Irem springs to mind), but one fact apparently remained throughout the years – there will be new stuff. And among that new stuff will be particular items that appeal to various users on a personal level.

Gone, but not forgotten.

It’s amazing how much has changed since Home began; with another Christmas on the horizon and five years of open beta under its belt, the grand social platform for Sony’s seventh-generation console made some major leaps and bounds. As December is a time of reflection and hopes for the upcoming year, I will preface my own “top ten” list with a bit of reminiscing. Open beta didn’t have that much to offer, especially when compared to today – a few personal spaces were there, and Central Plaza became the hippest place to be (so to speak); Home’s incipient year as a publicly-available service was a more modest affair than we know it today, but it had that “it” factor that convinced millions of people to try it at least once. Anyone remember the days of Sully’s Bar, when the first Uncharted game was one of the Big Things on PS3? That little space has a lot of nostalgia, and after its removal, it feels like an old friend moved away.

Uncharted, of course, would appear two more times on Home, one each for the next two installments of the franchise. As of this writing, the Uncharted 3 Treasure Hunter space still exists, and can be accessed via the Navigator; the same can’t be said for many spaces, though, such as the Red Bull spots and (as mentioned earlier) Irem. But one can still see reminders of these places of yore – people still wear Irem-designed clothing, and Red Bull’s House of Skate lets one try your hand at skateboarding. We may not have similar spaces appear on Home, but that’s secondary to the service’s more important function as a social network for gamers both new and old; Home is where the heart is, to quote a famous aphorism from John McLeod.

With all that said, fast forward to December 2013, and a look back at what made it great. Compiling a “top ten” list of any sort will always be difficult – people have a lot to choose from, and their choices differ from others. With Home, 2013 offered so much that paring it all down to ten notable moments is daunting. But this is a personal list, and as such, it reflects my own thoughts on the previous year – and many things stood out as exemplary. Without further ado, enjoy my list. Please note, however, that I did not arrange these in the traditional “top ten order” – these are moments and items that, for me, reflect the best of Home.

Doctor Who. It’s been fifty years since the classic sci-fi series Doctor Who hit the airwaves, and its introduction to Home was one of celebration – for the first time, we could enter the Doctor’s famous TARDIS (forever stuck with the external disguise of a British police phone booth) and dress up as characters ranging from the Doctor himself to a Cyberman. Personally, I found the inclusion of K-9 to be particularly great; that loyal robotic dog went through many adventures with his human companion, and I have a soft spot for him. Hearing the Daleks is another nice detail – “EXTERMINATE!” became their most famous phrase, and one can hear it through the Dalek active items.

The Kikai Empire Event. If you know my penchant for anime, you knew this would get on the list – a grand event where users fought against a mighty alien empire threatening to destroy the Earth if their demands weren’t met. It brought the sentai team dynamic to Home, with various classes to choose from; Granzella already had the Great Edo of Nippon as a basis for the battles, but this brought a refreshingly new approach to the formula. It had an end goal, a major boss (in the form of the Emperor himself) and a city in peril as Kikai’s robotic hoard stomped through downtown. What made this work for me was seeing all the classic anime themes in action; anyone familiar with shows like Gatchaman will recognize the team set-up of the event, along with the specific roles one can take on as they battle the alien menace. A wonderfully-done spectacle for me, and one that I think will be remembered as one of the best Home events.

City by the Bay Loft. Another Granzella entry, this is a personal space, second in the “Window to the World” series (following Paris). This massive, four-story loft comes with 72 items to discover – an unprecedented amount for a single space; these items range from patio furniture to numerous potted plants, all specifically designed for decorating your new San Francisco home. In addition to that, the space has various interactive items at your disposal; one can change the background music, interior lighting and time of day (similar to spaces such as the Tea House), but this includes the ability to change the wallpaper, flooring and carpets for each room individually.

Home Challenges. This one seemed a long time coming, but the Challenges debuted in 2013; with the Activity Board inactive, having some fun activities felt rather empty. These new Challenges filled that vacancy, and to good effect; take what you will of the items offered through it, the feature opens up an avenue for social interaction and visiting spaces you may not have known about. The first season offered Castle Durrant as the prize in the uppermost tier, while the current has a Greek temple as the ultimate reward; Sony seems more present now, thanks to the Challenges, after Home showed the power of third-party developers; its importance lies within the social aspect, as well as the gaming potential. Home now offers in-service tasks for the aspiring adventurer to complete, and its arrival couldn’t have been at a better time.

Summer with Flowers Blooming Home. O-Two got into the act relatively recently, with peakvox being their most notable product, but this summer house stands out for its tranquility and reminiscences of a summer vacation spent with friends. Outside, you can see sunflowers and fields stretch to eternity; in the distance appears to be a greenhouse or two. Once you step into the house, its rustic charm washes over you; it’s like visiting an old haunt again, a place you knew about from your childhood. It’s a home away from the bustling crowd, where one goes to relax after a year of work, school, or anything else that rankled you.

HomeStation Magazine is Published in HPG’s News Reader. In Europe, at least, with slated expansion into North America next year; this ranks as the crowning achievement of HSM’s trials and hard work. I would be remiss to exclude it from this list, as this represents what a dedicated group of people can achieve if they really worked together. HSM is a group effort, after all, and having the publication appear on Home itself became this year’s hallmark for us. Nothing says “success” quite like seeing articles published by the architects of Home themselves inside the application, and in combination with the HSM Channel on LOOT’s EOD, there is no longer any question as to which Home media group has the greatest potential audience reach.

Prehistoric Valley. Lockwood, one of Home’s greatest developers, produced this personal space, available through its Gift Machine; as one might expect, it involves creatures that lived long before humanity arrived on the scene (with the sole exception of the mammoth, which early human societies hunted). Prehistoric Valley appears here because it shows off Lockwood’s magnificent attention to detail, and the sheer work they put into it; the space is vast in scope, with numerous dinosaurs roaming about for you to watch from a safe distance. The sheer magnitude of the Valley would be enough to make me enjoy it, but Lockwood went the extra mile to make the place vibrant – you really do feel like you’re in a living, breathing space, inhabiting the same world as the dinosaurs that once dominated the Earth millions of years ago.

SeaClyff Retreat: Game Mechanics, I salute you – you made SeaClyff one of the greatest personal spaces ever, and no amount of complaints about the price tag will ever change that. That functioning shower is icing on the cake – most spaces don’t even have a built-in shower, let alone one that actually works. The sliding doors, the view of the ocean and the numerous interactive elements make this place such a wonderful experience, and it shows off how hard Game Mechanics worked upon it; SeaClyff truly represents how incredible a space can be, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. My hat’s off to the developers for bringing us this retreat.

Secret Peace-Keeping Base, Yuma Café. Another of Granzella’s spaces, this one came about as part of the Kikai Empire event – it looks like an unassuming little café, but the back room contains the secret headquarters of the resistance against the Kikai. The music in the base section made me reminisce on the numerous theme songs that played in anime action sequences; you know you’re going to fight the good fight when you hear something like that. The emergency button adds to the detail; you get the impression that someone could really use this as a base of operations, what with the elevator (reminiscent of Voltron and other shows) and the monitors. Vigilant sentai heroes would find a welcome home here, and that’s where the space shines – Granzella’s work has this sparkle to it, steeped in pop culture and history, and the Yuma Café reflects classic anime conventions.

Galaxy Express and Captain Harlock. SCEA Home received its first line of outfits based on specific anime characters this year, and they are classics – the protagonists (and antagonists) of Galaxy Express 999 and Captain Harlock. Now people can dress up as Harlock, Kei Yuki, Maetel, or several other characters from these iconic Leiji Matsumoto franchises; seeing them represented in Home was a pleasant surprise for me, and it gave me hope of possible other anime-specific outfits in the future. In fact, my very first article for HSM happens to be a wishlist, outlining two shows I wished to see make the transition to Home; as an anime fan, this one particularly excited me, and I love how they integrated the designs into the Home infrastructure. Hopefully, more anime content will come in the future, but seeing Harlock and Maetel in action on Home made for a great introduction.

Share