Recently, on 'Home' I've been playing some of the mini games on offer out in the public spaces, some were just fun to pass the time, and others are so good you would think could sell really well on hard copy alone. The Sodium One space, wasn't just a game it was an 'experience' And Novus Prime for me was a smart update on 'Asteroids' (If any of you can remember THAT far back)

And then I have come across some 'Pay' to 'play' mini games. The Midway Games give you real sense of challenge for your buck and similar to a Coin Op, may not last, but will leave you wanting more. Through these games you recieve awards, a shirt to wear, or a shiny new ornament to place in your private space as an incentive. (But the more cynical of you will be think that its not quite 'free' as you did pay for some of these games to begin with) some of these games 'are' free to play for a set amount of period, but be prepared for a long wait..

Why? Because young Children and Teens play Playstation too. I am aware that the adults are the powerful entity in that we can spend more, but the pay to play system may be off putting to the younger gamer and thus render most games out of reach for him or her to play. Sony could lose a sizeable margin of this particular gamer audience.

So HomeStation Magazine is asking YOU on what you think on paying for Mini Games out on Home. Is it necessarily a good thing?

Will you want to buy the Full game that an independant developer or Sony are promoting through home?

Your views are very important and the best views and opinions will make it into the next issue of the magazine.

(re-posted, paraphrased, and expanded from Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/HomeStation-Magazine-HSM/163998130299327)

I have spent QUITE A BIT of money in Home and don't regret a bit of it. For the most part I see it as trying out the free demo of a game, then buying it (for a really low price usually) if I like it. All in all, the "try it out, pay a bit more if you like it (i.e., the first one is free)" structure is a good one for me.

Granted, the multiplayer components are varied. There are games that compare your scores to others in the game and in the surrounding space, a la Sodium 1. There's others that have you playing simultaneously with others, like Novus Prime and Dragon's Green. While still others have more of a community type space surrounding the mostly single player experience, like The Midway. Different developers, including SONY, are trying different ways to bring games to the community and vice versa. I would like to see more co-op type games and such, but I believe that's one of the issues SONY is going to address with the new Home engine they showed this year at GDC. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/03/01/playstation-home-to-add-suite-of-new-developer-tools-and-tech-with-version-1-5/

And as for this being out of reach for a younger crowd, don't forget that part of your EULA states that you're 18 or over (at least for the NA PSN). SONY, from what I could gather from their instructions on setting up Sub-Accounts and Master-Accounts, expects the owner of the PS3 to be a responsible adult (ha!). As such, if there is to be anyone under the age of 18 using the system, the responsible adult would set up a SUB-Account with spending limits on the Sub-Account's access to the Master-Account's wallet. SONY also mentions, repeatedly, that if you do not have a credit card, or choose not to use one, pre-loaded cards can be purchased at participating retailers using your tender of choice. Which, by the way, was quite popular at GameStop when I worked there (definitely past tense).

I was enamored with Home the first day I heard about it. I'm still waiting for the TV and stereo equipment I can use to share content from my hard drive with friends in Home, all while reclining in my thermonuclear powered jacuzzi on Mars, but I'm still hopeful. Home has definitely proven to be an ever changing place, even if it's an ever-changing-at-a-snail's-pace place, and I'm having plenty of fun while I'm there.