by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer

We’ve had another incredible year in SCEA Home. We’ve seen new public spaces from some of our favorite developers, and remarkable updates to these spaces, also. Fewer personal spaces were released than last year, but there was a greater variety of styles, bundles, features, and prices. As always, there were matching furniture sets, some of which were offered as rewards with the purchase of the estates; and a plethora of clothing items for the ladies and for the guys. There was also a multitude of dance packs to choose from; musical items, some of which you could play; incredible ways to change your avatar; and many companions, locomotions, active items and still more.

Trying to decide on one or two favorites in each category is hard, but what follows are my personal choices for the best items of 2013. I’m sure you have your own favorites.

Private spaces: Though this personal space wasn’t offered for sale until the end of November, I’ll bet Granzella’s City by the Bay Loft: Window to the World was a best-seller. The second city selected for their “Window to the World” line of personal estates is my hometown of San Francisco. Even if it wasn’t, with 72 fantastic rewards, multiple controls such as diurnal, lighting and music, great views, and a cable car ride, this would still be my favorite this year.

Just before the release of this space, Lockwood released another unique space, Abbey Hill Cottage, that’s also a top choice of mine. This English cottage from the Napoleonic Era has a lot of extras, like matching reward furniture items; beautiful bucolic views; a two-story cottage with a large front yard and a huge rear garden; and a path where you can walk through the woods. You can pick up additional furniture, clothing, locomotions, and companions to match, also in the Lockwood store and gift machine. There is even a Winter version available, with different rewards and clothing, where you can skate on the frozen stream.

Furniture: I love buying furniture in bundles, especially when they match the theme of an estate. However, one of my favorite sets this year was Lockwood’s Drey Noir set, which was introduced without a personal estate. This 13-piece set has some really stylish items, reminiscent of the 1940’s. You can create your own retro newspaper office or detective’s office or use these items individually in other spaces. The book shelves being full is a real furniture slot saver, by the way.

Granzella’s Built-in Kitchen 5-piece Set is also one of my favorite bundles. This five-piece set for just under $2.00 is not just a great bargain, but a really well-done bundle. The items offer upper cupboards as well as counters, which was a much needed addition to our kitchens. The pieces also fit tightly together which is just how it should be.

Clothes:  Every time I have to go into my wardrobe storage I pray for a core update to alleviate some of the stress I feel trying to find a specific item. Even though this makes me want to cut down on my shopping for clothing items, I still can’t resist some articles, especially if they’re yellow. One purchase I’m especially happy with is the Broad Brimmed Hats from O-Two. These items are head accessories, not head/hair items and they fit over many of the hairstyles in my collection. I love to wear these hats with a lot of different outfits, especially the yellow hat with VEEMEE’s Element – Rascal Dress that has a sunflower print. I also love my yellow Rainbow Galoshes from Toylogic. The name says it all – galoshes on your feet and a rainbow over your head.

Musical Item: I love theme-specific items, and nDreams offers that to us musically. Their BoxBeats line now has eight different musical and sound themes from “Relax” to “Horror” with stops at Rock, Dance, Classical and Nature. There’s something in this collection to suit almost every estate and mood. If you’re looking for something that takes up less space, they also offer BoxBeats Minis in several of the themes and in bundles at a nice savings.

Companion:  This category has almost been replaced by locomotions, gestures, and animations, since they all require the use of the “My Inventory” tab under “Personal” when you hit the start button. And, frankly, these other items are newer, more exciting, and more fun than companions. With all the “animal avatars” being offered, you can even be the companion.

Locomotion: nDreams offered a lot of new dance packs this year and five of them were ultra or mega-bundle dance packs, which are a great savings. These motion-captured dances are the smoothest, best looking dances on Home. They’re also unique dances that are fun to watch. I couldn’t pick a favorite dance or even bundle from all of them; they’re all so great.

Sony doesn’t make anywhere near the content that they used to, but every now and then, they come out with an item or two. One of the funniest LMO’s I’ve ever seen is Sony’s Shrink Potion. I laugh every time I run with this adorable locomotion and when I see other people running with it. The swaying and waving animation when you’re not running is cool too.

Active Item: Another small bundle of unique items that I love, love, love is nDreams’ Weather Cubes. These are a set of three cubes that sells for just under $3.00 and this is a great price for the ability to add weather control to our spaces. The items themselves are a grate to catch the rain falling at a slant, a swirl of leaves over two colorful piles of leaves and snow softly falling over six snow piles of various sizes and shapes. As these items change the weather in a small area and this allows you to make your spaces look more natural, without any “indoor weather”.

Public space with game:  We’ve been wanting a public park in Home for a long time. This year in May, VEEMEE provided it for us by way of their Acorn Meadows Park. Then they went on the update this space’s theme four different times for us, to celebrate the holidays. The race tasks here are simple, but fun and there is a great variety of them. They are also updated as VEEMEE makes additional changes to the park, such as adding helicopters, boats, and skateboards. Even when you’re not racing, the park is a great place just to be, especially with friends.

Freebie:  I would have to say that the 72 reward items from the City of the Bay Loft are probably my favorite free items from 2013. Yes, free – because the price of this beautiful and customizable space would be a bargain even without them. These furnishings allow you to decorate the yard in a huge variety of ways and the interior as a store with a cafe. There are so many of these rewards, that you can use them in a variety of spaces without repeating the use of any of them.

I’m not going to list any “honorable mention” items because if I did my list would at least quadruple, if not more. It was a banner year for Home as the 3D social medium that we all enjoy. I’m glad Home is still with us, and will be for a while. It’s been a fun part of my life for years and I hope it has been fun for you, too.

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