Though it was up and down more than an acrophobic yo-yo last night, I had a few good chances to log into the new Playstation 3 Home, SCEA’s new virtual world for Playstation 3 owners. It would be natural to see this as an answer to Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience, but it really isn’t. NXE is just a reskinning of the old UI, with avatars and groups. Home is a world.
It’s an absolutely gorgeous world, too. My harbor apartment reminded me so much of Monterey that I felt incredibly homesick. The Central Plaza that serves as a hub for Home was clean, elegant, and high-tech, like a modern theme park.
Which, now that I think of it, would be a better description for Home. It’s a theme park.
I ran around and started all the shops downloading — you download the areas you visit the first time you try to enter, and you can download in the background. The Bowling Alley loaded first, so I accepted Home’s offer to teleport me there when it had finished loading, and there it was.
Just like in real bowling alleys, I headed for the game room first. I played a penguin-themed Arkanoid clone for awhile, but if they really wanted to sell me, they’d have arcade games like Xevious or Galaga or Omega Race or Star Wars. Maybe they do.
I got bored with Arkanoid after awhile and got in line for a bowling game. When my turn came up, Home waited fifteen seconds for other people to join in, and off we went.
The bowling game looks very, very good. The play itself is horrible. You might expect, in a bowling game, to set the direction, speed, and curve to your ball. You can set all these things in Home’s bowling, too. Each one, though, is a mini game. A ghost track for your ball waves quickly side to side like a windshield wiped; hit X at the correct spot to set your direction, if you’re lucky. Force is a gauge that jumps up and down; again, hit X. Curve is the same thing. I can see why they did it — if you could easily do the same throw every frame, you’d just do that every time, and all games would be nothing but strikes.
I guess I like the Wii’s bowling better.
I haven’t been to the other places I downloaded — the Theater and the Mall. There are also special worlds for people who play certain games, like Far Cry 2. I don’t know if these game-specific worlds serve as lobbies for their games, but I imagine they do. Still waiting for the Rock Band one 🙂
The avatars, unfortunately, are not the best, and here I have to give the nod to Microsoft’s NXE. NXE avatars may not be the most accurate or lifelike, but at least they look reasonably attractive. My avatar, the closest I could come to one that looked vaguely like me, looks nothing like me. And that sweat-stained tank top needs washing.
I haven’t been sold on the idea of Home because it doesn’t fill a need I have. I have a hard drive FULL of games more fun than bowling.
But if they put accurate ports of classic arcarde games in the arcade, heck yeah, I’d play.
Home requires that you play with Controller 1. On my PS3, the first two controllers are allocated to Rock Band instruments. Once I unplugged those and restarted the controller, I had no problems. But. That was my clue as to why the Valkyrie Chronicles demo would never start for me — it ALSO required Controller 1. So I went straight to the demo and fell in love. Valkyrie Chronicles is AWESOME!
If, after you start a game, you hold down the PS button to get the “Quit” menu, there’s a Controller Options setting where you can re-assign the controller to whatever number you want (generally, to 1).
I’ve ranted about Home on my blog (http://dragonchasers.com/2008/12/11/no-place-like-home/ ) but generally speaking, I’m right there with you. The avatars are ugly, and there’s just no point to it (for me).
Valkyrie Chronicles is at the top of my holiday list… I’m crossing my fingers I get it! 🙂
Doh! i totally forgot HOME launched. Ever since I started playing LoTRO, I’ve been neglecting my poor, new console. Just got “Dark Knight” on Blu-Ray, so with that and HOME, I have two good reasons to spend time with my PS3 with weekend! = )
Oh my, the mention of Galaga brings back fond memories of my childhood and summer nights spent in our air-conditioned living room, where my father and I would stay up late and play the game together.
Hmm, maybe should fire up the PS3 and have a look, assuming it is available here.
Sony needs to work on getting better functionality out of it’s xmb rather than a virtual world that no one has any real reason to go back to.
And not to be petty, it’s Valkyria Chronicles. 🙂
That’s pretty petty >< I just love tactical RPGs. Not sure about the war theme, and it's clear I'm not using the units best yet (I found out accidentally how good the shock troops are at keeping the enemy pinned down and that scouts really need to be going BEHIND enemy lines, just like the intro text SAID to). Anyway!
I like your wizards you guys !
so see you later so bye !