The Couch Mercenaries



				Wanna Go Home?
				Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

				by Chops Suey
















				It looks as though we may finally be getting our hands on PlayStation Home in the near
				future. This week, Sony announced that Qore annual subscribers will get access to the
				elusive closed-beta that has been running since April 2007.

				So now that we have a release date, only one question is left unanswered: Does anyone
				still care?

				The Home Hype-Train was at its biggest right after it was announced in early 2007. Sony
				was finally going to transform the lackluster online community of the PS3 into a full 3D
				world in which gamers could get together to discuss and play games, watch movies, listen
				to music, all with the help of a cute “Second Life”-type avatar you could design however
				you wanted.
							--------------------
				But once the smoke cleared, a line was drawn into the sand. On one side: the optimists,			The Mercs
				people who loved the idea of “living” in this persistent world, inviting friends over to their			Chops-Suey
				apartment to watch a flick or play some pinball and meet new friends to play online PS3			(Webmaster)
				games with. On the other side: the pessimists, folks who have no need for this whatsoever,			BigSmooth8
				feeling that Sony is wasting tons of money it should be putting into new games. These are			(Podcast Manager)
				also the same people who think Sony doesn’t even offer half the features Microsoft does			Highclass 1979
				with its Live service and should probably focus on giving us those before they start			(Graphics)
				working on some quasi-land for gamers to hang out in.			GothicMike
							(Entertainment)
				After countless delays and tons of screenshots I can tell you that I fall somewhere in
				between. I don’t think Home will be the equivalent of a “PUSH TO SAVE CONSOLE”			The Recruits
				button, but I also think the naysayers are missing what Home may be able to bring to this			Murphys Law
				generation of gaming.			(TCM Ambassador)
							B1gBadDaddy
				One of the first features Sony was touting early after Home was announced was the idea			(Retro Corner)
				of visiting in-game worlds from some of your favorite titles, using the example of			F and A Eternal
				Uncharted. Gamers would be able to leave their homes and travel to actual in-game			(Editor in Chief)
				locations from the title and, with their avatars, go through the levels looking for easter eggs			Weediman
				and other secrets they may not have had time to explore when playing the actual game.			(Community Manager)
				A friend of yours could actually take you to the exact spot where you keep dying and			Yodathe3rd
				show you what he did to get through all of the baddies.			(Community Manager)
							PDPizzle
				Now this feature seems cool to me, though it is not an “oh my God, this is the greatest			(Sports and Music)
				thing to ever happen in gaming” cool, but still a fun way to hang out with friends and			Mcl0v1n
				explore levels. What gets me really excited about this is what it could evolve into.			(Writer)
				Uncharted has been out for a year, so the idea of trekking around the terrain isn’t mind			Maximum F3ar
				blowing, but if Home picks up and becomes the great marketing tool Sony is predicting it			(Writer)
				will be, could you imagine game areas becoming available before the game actually ships.

				How would a huge God of War fanboy, like myself, feel visiting the full HD depths of
				Hades a full month before the game comes out? Think of your favorite series, or a game
				you’re dying to play. Wouldn’t you love to be able to visit locations from those games
				weeks before it hits shelves? How about walking through the streets of GTA V or the
				fields of Call of Duty 6, chatting with the same people you will be teaming up with to kick
				some ass in multiplayer once the game is ready? All of this would be free. The gamers are
				happy because they get to see a little piece of the pie and publishers get access to huge
				number of gamers to sell their title to.

				With multiplayer being such a big part of the gaming community this generation, how about
				the announcement that Warhawk will have its own planning room, a huge locale with
				working sandbox/maps that allow a team to plan their attack before games? This idea
				would work for any multiplayer shooter, giving a team or clan the option to create
				strategies to take on their enemies. Imagine laying out a great plan and then at the push of
				a button, the whole team is able to enter a map and actually test their plan to perfection
				until they’re ready to launch the game and take it to the competition.

				Gamers everywhere flock to the internet during the big gamer conferences each year to
				see what gets announced. Not being able to attend the show themselves, they hit up the
				big sites hoping to get all the info and trailers that only the few are able to see every year.
				This year Sony set up an exact replica of their TGS (Tokyo Game Show) gamer booth
				on Home, allowing players to navigate their avatars through the booth to view game trailers
				of next year’s hot releases. What if other developers follow suit? Would it be possible
				one day for gamers to actually have access to the same game demos for two or three
				days and experience the fun from the comfort of their homes? Unfortunately, booth babes
				are not included.

				Truth is, all of this is mostly wishful thinking. I don’t know what will happen with Home. It
				might become all of those things and more and then again, it might actually crash and burn
				within the first year and get canned by Sony. Either way, even though I feel a tad burned
				by the fact that Sony waited til after the October 29th deadline to let us know that we
				had to be a Qore annual subscriber to get into the beta, I`m still anxious to test out the
				waters for myself. Since it’s a free service, I really don’t have anything to lose.

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