The Energon Pub

I just downloaded PlayStation Home because no one was making me pay for it. I ran around, I did some things, but above all, I formed a review:

So I made a guy who looked vaguely like me, and checked out my apartment; high up by the marina, the kind of apartment you don't get unless you have a huge movie or sports deal. Graphics are quite beautiful. But screw that, there's nothing to do here, so I head outside.

The Central Plaza is okay looking, but unless you want to talk to people, or dance to bad music, there's not much else. So I head to the mall...alright, I have to download it first? Hm. While waiting, I go to the bowling alley and...what, I have to download that too? C'mon!

So I download the theater, and see a couple of trailers after a loading screen. The trailer for the Astroboy movie, some other stuff...and I stop caring. I'm told the bowling alley is done, so I head there.

Wandering around a bit, I happened upon a pool table. I have trouble resisting pool tables, so of course I was in. I played a bit, until it turned multiplayer...what, I don't have the option of playing alone? If someone plays on the same table as me, he's not taken to a separate table? Screw that, I don't play with other people.

I notice an arcade, but there's a loading screen I don't want to have to wait for, so I go to bowl and...all the lanes are taken...all five of them. What? Did they expect so few people would go to one of five possible forms of entertainment? They really should have made a few more lanes.

So I go to the mall. I wanted to get some wacky junk for my apartment, because a million-billion dollar apartment like that just isn't complete without wacky junk covering ever cubic inch. Then the game game gets a bit choppy...alright, that could be better. I load up the store, which greatly resembles the Playstation Store, except the little pictures take a million years to load, so you have to guess when shopping.

And then the stuff costs real money...alright, it's 50¢ for clothing and furnishings, and $5 for a new house. Not bad, not bad, but I still need money.

So that's my story, my first experience with PSHome. It was not a spectacular one, but it came for free, so who am I to complain? But they hyped this up quite a bit and...well, it just didn't meet the expectations. It's pretty, and I'm a sucker for character customization, but with the load screens and forced-multiplayer, as well as having to pay real-people money for stuff, it really, really could use some refining.

Have you added me on PSN yet?

Counterpunch wrote:Have you added me on PSN yet?

No, I haven't added anyone. The only two multiplayer games I even have are GTAIV and Metal Gear Online.

I agree with your review. Its kinda neat but it seems its lacking a LOT of content! my wife likes it alot so I guess its at least getting some love!

I'm in the EU, so of course my Home experience absolutely sucks.

The US and Japan seem to be getting everything before us, and also our stuff is (by way of exchange rate) more expensive. The average price tag is 59p, which is almost a dollar.

Our Home Square Central Plaza place is much smaller and quite pathetic. We have one screen boasting the Red Bull area we've been promised for so long and never gotten, and another advertising the PSP with that god awful 'Whole World In Your Hands' song with trains of people doing the Running Man dance.

I've bought up the new Summer house apartment which is kinda pointless cos to furnish it, it'd cost so much more. And the little furniture I put in it ended up getting deleted for no reason after I reloaded the room, so I just had to rebuild the room. Cept I didn't wanna.

Now the Arcade thing. Yeah, you can play by yourself until someone comes along, but this is because of Sony's policy on getting people to get to know each other. It is, after all, a "Social Networking Platform". The other issue being that, as a spectator, you can watch the pool table and see the game in real time. Same goes for the bowling.

My other issue though, has to be with other people in Home. I know, I know, it's not Sony's fault or whatever but even so.

Now, if you're a female in Home, you're gonna get a lot of ****. I don't know about the US or Japan, but certainly in the EU, if you're female, you're gonna have goddam kids crowding around you asking you to drop your pants, flirting more subtly, or trying to be better than every other guy crowding around you, but still ultimately trying to rope himself an internet girlfriend. I have a couple of female friends on Home now, and it's impossible to talk to them in a public place for all the morons who stroll on in and just try to talk over you trying to get at her. I am absolutely not joking. Try it sometime, if it's the case in other regions. If you change to a female avatar and just stand there for a few minutes, just see how long before they literally start crowding around you.

In fact, I was messing around with a female avatar (proving the above point to a friend) and was walking around for a while and then suddenly this guy comes up to me and starts throwing all this abuse, calling me a stuck up bitch, etc etc. Apparently he'd been following me around the Home Plaza trying to get my attention, and was now infuriated that I hadn't responded to his right to make advances on me. I lol'd and told him it wasn't my fault he was so unremarkable I couldn't notice him. But that's what we're dealing with. People who think they have the RIGHT to interfere in your day to chat you up.

Unbelievable.

Also, there's the issue with people running around spouting racial slurs or other obscene language for no good reason, and dancing around people to simulate having sex with them.

On the flipside, Home is very pretty indeed. Graphically, it's quite nice. Sadly, it's populated with about 99% scum.

For those curious, the Home Plaza is the only major difference between regions. The arcade, apartment, mall, etc are identical on the inside.

I do see some potential in home. With some work it could really give Sony an edge over XBL with their PSN network. But <sigh> its really just like all their ideas. They release these great ideas before they are ready, and then never push them more.

I'm ready to see home really take off, and get more content on PSN. I want a rental service (such as net flicks) and I want more purchasable downloadable games. Maybe some PS2 games? I know the current PS3 models aren't BC with PS2 but that doesn't mean they can't just port PS2 games over to the PS3 hardware and put them on PSN.

When I first got my PS3 I thought all the stuff in the Playstation store was cool, but fast forward 8 months later, and its all still the same stuff!