PlayStation Home (also marketed and referred to as Home ) is a community-based social gaming networking service developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London and Cambridge studios for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network (PSN). It is available directly from the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar. Membership is free, and only requires a PSN account. Home has been in development since early 2005 and started an open public beta test on December 11, 2008.
Home allows users to create a custom avatar, which can be made to suit the user's liking. Users can decorate their avatar's personal apartment ("HomeSpace") with default, bought, or won items. Users can travel throughout the Home world (except cross region) which is constantly updated by Sony and partners. Each part of the world is known as a space. Public spaces can just be for display, fun, or for meeting people. Home features many mini-games which can be single player or multiplayer. Users can shop for new items to express themselves more through their avatars or HomeSpace. Home features video screens in many places for advertising, but the main video content is shown at the theatre for entertainment. Home plays host to a variety of special events which range from prize-giving events to entertaining events. Users can also use Home to connect with friends and customise content. Upon installation, users can choose either 3, 5, 8, or 12 GB of hard disk space to reserve for Home.
History
PlayStation Home (or Home), originally named 'Hub', started as a 2D online lobby for the PlayStation 2 game, The Getaway: Black Monday . However, the online userbase for the PlayStation 2 was too small and the project was never completed before the release of the PlayStation 3, at which point the developers began porting code to the new platform. Phil Harrison, then president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, liked the idea of having a virtual 3D community hub for PlayStation gamers, and transferred the project to become PlayStation Home. In a 2007 keynote speech, Phil Harrison used the term "Game 3.0" to describe the service.
An online-based service had been the subject of speculation since the launch of the PlayStation Network. Sony had expressed interest in such a service, specifically trophies (known at the time as "entitlements") for first-party titles. PlayStation Home, as a feature, was first publicly mentioned in an interview with NG-Gamer. This was later detailed by Kotaku and finally confirmed by NG-Gamer. It was officially announced by Phil Harrison on March 7 , 2007 , during his keynote speech at the 2007 Game Developers Conference and was originally scheduled for a global public release in October 2007.
Home was delayed and expanded several times before initially releasing. Invitations to the closed beta were offered to winners of a weekly Warhawk online gaming event. Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., stated that "Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition". In July 2008, further invitations were sent to some Home XMB theme downloaders in Japan and North America. SCEE and SCEHK did the same, but without releasing a Home XMB theme. Users who purchased more than HK$60 or SG$12 worth of content in a single transaction over the PlayStation Store from August 29 to September 12, 2008 were also invited. In November 2008, SCEA invited annual Qore subscribers. After major version 1.0, invitations were sent worldwide.
The Open Beta test began on December 11, 2008. In June 2009, Peter Edwards, Director of Home for SCEE, reported that the number of users exceeded 7 million and that 80% of users are male aged 18–35. At TGS 2009, Kaz Hirai announced that Home has been downloaded by 8 million users. Jack Buser, Director of Home for SCEA, stated that, "we quite like the name 'open beta,' so you can expect us to stay in open beta for some time." In a Eurogamer interview with Peter Edwards on July 24, 2009, Edwards commented that the service will no longer be beta when it "represents a kind of final quality." On October 14, 2009, Jack Buser announced that "the vision of Home has evolved." He said that originally, they were building Home as a "social network for gamers", but it has now developed into a "game platform, first and foremost."
Operation
Home is in third person, users walk or jog in that way. Upon entering Home, users are greeted with the "Message of the Day"'. It contains administrative information such as upcoming updates, events, and event winners. The Message of the Day is updated daily.
User Interface
PlayStation Home has no HUD, however, all of Home’s features are available from the controller. The options are: Quick Chat, a Gestures menu, the Menu Pad, the Safe Screen, and in-game XMB. In time, users will be able to play music on their PlayStation 3 hard drive. Whether this will be private or can be heard by others will be determined by a complicated licensing issue that Sony must attempt to solve.
The "Menu Pad" – accessible by pressing Start; controls the user's avatar’s appearance – with the 'Wardrobe', decorations, where to travel (with the 'World Map'), settings, and other main options. The Menu Pad is shown in the user’s hands when in use. It has eleven options including a Help menu for beginners. The Menu Pad features an inventory, which has portable objects such as the “Bubble machine”. Soon after the version 1.3 patch, "Home Stuff" in the shopping complex, will have inventory items for purchase, which the user can use at any time. Added on October 9, 2009, users can use a camera that can take in-Home screen shots in either first or third person view and are saved to their PS3's HDD. Another new type of items that will be released are limited time items, like a shrinking potion; users can only use it a limited number of times and are able to acquire more uses of it by going to the original store the item was purchased from or from their Menu Pad. The "Safe Screen" is used for reporting, changing communication settings, and quick access to the user’s Personal Space and XMB friends list. This is accessed with the Select button.
The Menu Pad was introduced in version 1.0 and was formerly a “virtual PlayStation Portable” (vPSP), but was introduced to reorganise the menus and because of the addition of the in-game XMB feature, eliminating the need for the vPSP’s XMB. A SCEA public relations spokesperson explained that “We felt that PlayStation Home deserved its own navigation device, so we built a user interface that was dedicated to just that purpose.”
Communication
Users communicate in a variety of ways in Home. They are able to write text messages to each other using either a USB or Bluetooth keyboard or with a PlayStation 3 controller using the on-screen keyboard. These messages appear in speech bubbles over the avatar's head and in the 'chat log'. As of version 1.21, there are three modes of the chat log by clicking the left analog stick; normal, expanded, and minimized. Voice chat, with the use of a USB or Bluetooth headset is currently only available within personal spaces and clubs or by making a 'Phone call' to a specific user. The user can also perform gestures (or "e-motes") such as waving, nodding or dancing. As of version 1.10, some gestures can be performed whilst walking. A 'Quick chat' feature is also available. This library of short, predetermined phrases (such as "Hello" and "Where are you from?") can be accessed using a quick access menu.
Virtual economy
Although the service itself can be used free of charge, premium content is available to purchase from various stores in the shopping complex. Users browse and pay for items such as virtual clothing and furniture by accessing a shop and using its PlayStation Store interface. Items are paid for in real currency using funds from the user's PlayStation Network Wallet. Alongside content designed by SCE, real-world companies are also able to sell virtual goods through their own stores in Home. For example, Diesel and Ligne Roset are both represented in Home with their own stores where users can purchase virtual items based on their companies’ own clothing and furniture designs respectively.
Advertising is prominent in Home’s public spaces. Currently, this is primarily PlayStation focused although other video gaming-related brands are also represented. Sony currently streams most advertising from ‘their’ Home servers. Most advertising is targeted to specific regional audiences although it is also possible to target particular users.
One of the ways Sony has used advertising in Home is with pre-order bonuses for PS3 games.The first Home pre-order bonus was for the PS3 exclusive Killzone 2 . Users in the North American Home who pre-ordered Killzone 2 from Amazon.com received free I.S.A. and Helghast costumes for their avatar. Also, on February 16, 2009, if users located a Helghast soldier in the North American Home, they were granted access to the Killzone 2 demo . Another Amazon.com pre-order bonus occurred with the PS3 exclusive inFamous . Users in the North American Home who pre-ordered inFamous from Amazon.com received a Reaper costume for their avatar. Also, if users of the North American Home downloaded the demo of inFamous and beat it, users rece
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