Wait, I had fun in Home??

Well, we all know that Home is forever going to be in a beta form. I don't think Sony even knows what they want Home to be at this point and the word beta always gives a product an excuse of just sucking, it seems. At least Sony thinks so because they're obviously still funding it and to my surprise, so are other companies.

Well today I decided to delve into the world of Home and see what new excitement it had to offer. I did hear about the new apartment you could grab for free this week and thought I would see what all this talk about Xi was about. Now that stuff wasn't too exciting but, I did however find something in Home that I thought was step in the right direction. Looking through the new locations that were available, I noticed that an area for Siren was available and to my surprise, the Siren area was actually pretty enjoyable. What made it fun was the Ward of Despair mini-game that pit you with 4 other players to make it out of an hospital within 5 minutes while collecting items throughout the hospital. What makes it interesting is that they have zombies that pop out that you have to avoid and of course if you get hit by them, then your done. Apparently your supposed to get new costumes or something if you collect all the items or something but all I got was a shirt... I'm sure there's more to it, I just have to go back and play it again. Still though, what amazed me most is that I had fun in Home.

Siren was the only area I was able to visit but it seems like Sony is heading the right direction with Home. Now all they need to do is just keep adding games like that because it actually gives you something to do. I know Sony said they have a bunch of stuff in store for Home later this year and hopefully it will be more areas like the Siren location because it actually makes Home, dare I say it, fun.

Travis (MWG)

My rant on Home….

Ok, so I booted up my PS3 the other day just to, you know…..play some games. During my time navigating the XMB I ran across the Home icon. Then I thought, wth, let's see what's new in the world of Home. After Home got done with all the downloading and loading, I appeared in my apartment. I ran around a couple minutes then ventured into the outside area to see what was going on with other PS3 users. It took me no more then 10 seconds to realize how much a waste of time Home is. Maybe it's just me, but it irritates me to think about the time I wasted getting Home up and running. I could have been playing something else. I understand that Home is supposed to be some kind of social networking hub where you can meet new people to get your game on with, but I would much rather just meet people online through an actual game. I could see myself liking Home if I was into chat rooms and such, but not as a gamer. Then again, these are just my thoughts about it. You very well could be a gamer, enjoy Home, and understand what the purpose is, but for some reason I cannot.

Another thing that gets me is just how much time and money Sony has put into getting Home up and running. I can't remember the initial amount but I know that when I heard about it, I thought, "Home must be something really groundbreaking if there willing to put that much effort into it." Everybody was talking about it and it was getting great recognition about how it was supposed to be the next great thing to come to gaming since Live. I'm not going to hide it either, I thought Home was going to be all sorts of awesome, but that feeling was short-lived after the open beta rolled out. It seems to me that it will always be an open beta too, because Sony is afraid to admit that Home is broken and doesn't work like they had hoped. It just makes you wish that Sony put the time and money into a new IP or actual try to put more support towards 3rd parties or something. I don't know, I just think that where Sony is standing right now financially, they could have put their resources somewhere else. Sony claims that they have made $1 million off of Home so far and that they have gotten a hold of all of these endorsements from different companies, but how far will it take them? I don't mean to sound so bitter about the matter, but Home could have been something we could have lived without, in my opinion.

What is everybody else's take on Home? It almost seems like it doesn't get brought up anymore. To tell you the truth I almost forgot about it until I just happen to stumble across it the other day. I don't know, maybe Home will turn out to be something great, but right now, in my opinion, it's a complete waste of time. Maybe someone that uses it often can take me on a tour and show me what is so great about it or something and maybe I will change my mind. Until then though, I'm sorry to say it, my thoughts are down on Home.

////End rant////

Travis (MWG)