Taking A Cruise to Nowhere
by Susan, HSM team writer
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain
A new year begins with PlayStation Home. Last year we witnessed a vast quantity of very creative and conceptual developer content released, not only for purchase for ourselves, but also as gifts and rewards for our friends.. The community, with all of its consumers, has now begun to not so quietly murmur about what might be the endgame concerning this virtual environment — which, so far has been exclusive to the PS3. No plans for any future beyond the PS3 have, to date, been announced.
This week in PlayStation Home we will see the first scheduled maintenance of the new year and with that comes the newest commodities to spew forth from the people we obscurely view as our virtual gods: the Home developer teams. The LMO Luxury Hammock from nDreams looks quite relaxing, and their Inferno Apartment will be something I shall give a look-see at. We now have snowmobiles from Atomic Republic and Premium Helicopters at Hellfire Games’ Tycoon game, but what really caught my eye was in SCEE Home: Sony’s Paradise at Sea clubhouse.
Lockwood’s Dream Yacht- A best buy.
My first yacht on Home was Sony’s Santorini Yacht; it was basic and nothing fancy. It was acquired during my fam days and I used it as the location to interrogate new recruits wishing to join the fam or hold high-level top-secret meetings. Ah, those days. When it was time to grow up, I replaced it with LOOT’s Sunset Yacht, which included their Entertainment on Demand video screen. I now could watch videos produced by the Home community, or, if so desired, choose from a selection of movies available from Crackle. When the EOD became portable I began to incorporate those screens into the final design packages of my ever-expanding Lockwood Dream series yacht collection.
So it seems that Sony is deciding to re-enter into the foray of boating with a yacht called the Paradise at Sea. To be honest, I didn’t have any expectations — and as a writer, I was going to try to remain objective during my look-around. But after living on the Lockwood Dream Yacht for a while, let’s just say that it had some pretty big shoes to fill. I am always on the market for a semi-furnished and well priced yacht, and I was thinking of adding this to my fleet of other luxury boats. It seemed like it would fit just nicely along the dock and next to the ferris wheel at Pier Park.
Currently there is an open house for this space in the SCEE region, and I was amazed at how fast it loaded — especially when I saw how many people were in it. It has been released as both an apartment and a clubhouse, both of which cost the same at £3.19. They also offer some associated furniture which consists of four pieces at £2.29 and they have a super Mega Bundle which gives you everything at £6.49, or a little over $8.50 in American money. I have no foreknowledge of when or if it will be getting released in SCEA Home.
How many bartenders are needed to work this?
Standing at the bow and looking back, it gives the initial impression of being a big yacht — but just turn your head to the left and you will see one of its sister ships a few hundred yards away, and how…well, squatty the boat looks. I can’t really think of another word to use.
At the front of the ship you will find a steaming hot tub which can hold a lot of people, and aft of that is a swimming pool were there is a shallow end and a deep end. Kinda neat. There is no active swimming, nor is there a dive board, and I guess both are aesthetically okay — but nothing to write home about. While out there, if you turn up your volume on your TV, you can hear the ocean waves that sound like there is a beach nearby or the ship is moving along the water — both which are not true, and I do hear seagulls, but I can’t seem to find them anywhere up in the sky.
Access to the inside of the ship is achieved by walking past ten-foot windows and through an entrance with French-style doors that remain open. On both sides of the yacht you will find small little gathering areas with a window view to the outside. At the back wall it has four elevator doors which don’t allow you to travel to any other levels of the ship, and in the middle of it all is a nicely lit and well stocked bar with stools in the public space for you to sit on. You can walk behind the bar, and of course it had people playing bartender. I was happy to oblige them.
And that’s it.
After looking around and seeing everything it has to offer, it left me with a meh impression. Besides the the bar in the middle of the ship, nothing about is remarkable when compared to the LOOT or Lockwood Yachts. It is nice that it is facing the sunset and you can watch as clouds stroll by in front of the sun. No diurnal controls, no sea life or other boats to watch in the ocean or any birds or planes to try to shoot down with my LOOT Forsaken Planet turret. I say it is just a mediocre view — at best.
Rich Girls Of Home clubhouse
Inside, there is nothing for me that makes this place an “apartment,” and it reminds me of a place where to have a party more than a place to hang your hat. But if I wanted a nightclub environment, for just a little over nine euros I would grab nDreams’ Ultimate Nightclub bundle before choosing this as a venue. For almost the same price as the Paradise at Sea space I could purchase the LOOT yacht, view movies and play with the environmental controls, all the while it is actually sailing the waters of PlayStation Home. And for just a few more dineros an option to choose the Lockwood Dream yacht with its magnificent scenery and free rewards would be a better buy.
Nothing about Sony’s Paradise at Sea says buy me, in my opinion. Maybe the price for some is sufficient enticement, but like I said: the LOOT Sunset Yacht is a way better selection if money is holding you back from getting a Lockwood Dream Yacht. If you must have a boat and money is no object, then I suggest you take a look at Sony’s Diamond Beach Private Yacht.
There’s a larger issue at work here, one which is a bit delicate to bring up: a growing sense that SCEA and SCEE are both clearing the shelves, so to speak, and simply publishing whatever projects were at or near completion from some time ago — either as stand-alone commodities or as rewards for the new Challenges system. Frankly, if true, this doesn’t bode well for Home. It is odd to think that a new content release actually lowers buying confidence in Home’s future, but that’s exactly what’s happening.
I will pass on this yacht purchase because there isn’t anything about it that pops out at me. For those looking to enter into the yachting market with no frills, this would make a suitable purchase — but I might suggest shopping around first.
- Relaxing ocean sounds.
- Visually appealing bar.
- Hot tub and pool.
- It's boring.
- No sea life.
- No owner or guest rewards.
- No place to make a bedroom or living room.
January 10th, 2014 by Susan | 4 comments
Susan is a team writer for HomeStation Magazine, co-founder of the award winning media group-AvatardProductions, a PlayStation MVP and a Home Guide. PSNID SCEA/xx96791DEATHxx-SCEE/oXx_EnIgMa_xXo. An avid PlayStation Home user, she is most often found setting land speed records at the Sodium 2 velocity racetracks, sitting at the Pier Park or playing with the R/C vehicles at Acorn Meadows Park.
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Agreed. I took one look at this awhile back and said no thanks. I own the Dream Yacht and the Sunset as well and both of them outshine this one with their added ambiance and function. I think you may be right about Sony just throwing out apartments that were never released before as this is so old feeling when it is measured against recent releases. The technology is old hat, probably from over a year ago.
I couldn’t agree more. There are several “unpublished” spaces where a few of the community members have been able to get it’s hands on and the 3 I have seen so far have about the same “meh” wow factor. It should be interesting to see what comes forth this year from the Home development teams- And thinking on that has me wondering why now are we getting snow mobiles since winter has been here for a couple months?
I was similarly unimpressed by this yacht. The deck is a pale imitation of the Desert Haven space and the inside looks like the concourse of the Casino. Paradise at Sea, indeed. There is nothing aside from the surrounding water that even makes you feel like you’re on a boat.
It’s funny that Sony went from publishing a slew of boring big-box spaces to publishing no spaces at all. Now, as you said, they appear to be clearing out all their B-sides for people who just buy everything.
I think if they are clearing out the shelves the prices should reflect that to. $2.99 would a better price point IMO.