Playstation Home open beta to launch tomorrow.

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: JoPh
i could care less. i have a playstation to play games. not to dumb social networking stuff.

You should probably stop playing games all together and go back to school and learn proper grammar.

 

[Baked]

Downloaded all the free things I can get my hands on at the mall last night. Tried to login this morning, but server was down. Got the D5027 error.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Baked
I tried browsing through the mall in closed beta for furniture and stuff, but most stores are not available. Maybe I'll try again tonight.

I went in there about 10:30 last night and downloaded everything that was available. However, none of the stuff was cool or original enough to even worry about having it after the open beta launches. Like I'll care if only closed beta participants have access to the generic black living room furniture.

Hey, at least it was all "free". I'm not sure what their plans are for purchasing stuff, since when I "bought" all that stuff last night, it stuck it in a Playstation Store-like shopping cart, complete with $0.00 price tags on everything. I guess if you want that super cool living room set, you're gonna have to pony up some cash for it.

I also downloaded another house for free, which is better than the default apartment by the pier IMO. I might hop in there tonight and see what stuff they've added for the open beta. I still haven't tried my hand at decorating my living quarters, so I may give that a whirl also.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Baked
Downloaded all the free things I can get my hands on at the mall last night. Tried to login this morning, but server was down. Got the D5027 error.

The servers were down from 5-7am EST to get them ready for the open beta. From what I've read, the open beta download will not go live until sometime later today (if it hasn't hit already).

 

[pennylane]

It would be cool if trophies you earned in games could get you free stuff in Home.

Gold trophy? Free HDTV. Silver? Free coffee table.

At least you'd get a semi-tangible benefit for getting the trophies.

 

[biggestmuff]

I've been on my PS3 for about an hour now. Looks like the PSN store keeps crashing. Some of the post in the PS Home blog advise that it's due to everyone checking the store for the Home update or that server maintenance is still occurring. Word is that Home will appear in the 'Network' column of the XMB.

 

[JoPh]

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five

Originally posted by: JoPh
i could care less. i have a playstation to play games. not to dumb social networking stuff.

You should probably stop playing games all together and go back to school and learn proper grammar.

its the internet. i dont need it.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
Word is that Home will appear in the 'Network' column of the XMB.

Ya, the launch point is put right above the Playstation Store icon.

 

[tatteredpotato]

It's up not btw, lots and lots of network errors though.

 

[biggestmuff]

I got tired of waiting. I rebooted and the Home icon magically appeared. Downloaded, installed and it keeps timing out when attempting to start Home; stuck for some time at the 'Initializing...' screen followed by a 'Request timed out' error window. Beta is right.

 

[erwos]

Well, to Sony's credit, it downloads real quick. Less to their credit, uh, it doesn't really work. On the plus side, I've finally wired up all my wired devices using the time I was spending watching the damn thing not work. Next: wrapping presents for Chanukah!

 

[Jules]

Im gonna be on in a few hours. If anyone wants to meet up and bowl or something my PSN ID is TheMagic_Man

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Jules
Im gonna be on in a few hours. If anyone wants to meet up and bowl or something my PSN ID is TheMagic_Man

Good luck getting a lane. That first night when they handed out all the closed beta invites about a month ago was very busy, and there wasn't an arcade, pool table, or lane open whatsoever. You'll have to kinda swoop in there and steal one if you want it.

 

[Baked]

Sony totally underestimated the amount of people who are interested in Home. It's totally packed and people can't login to Home. Even if you're in, it's real laggy. Can't say I didn't see this coming. When I login as a beta user, it takes a15-20 sec for things to load in public areas. When you go shopping, you have to wait for them to load. At the mall, everybody looks like aqua man.

Looks like Sony's putting all their man power into dealing w/ the Home launch 'cause it's almost 5PM here in the west coast and still no Thursday PSN update yet.

 

[Queasy]

That always amazed me about how these kind of launches continually have problems despite the past history of problem launches. After the problems with launches of just about every MMORPG and even Live last year, you'd think companies would say something along the lines of, "Ok let's take our estimate of the amount of capacity we are going to need and double it."

 

[Queasy]

MTV Multiplayer asks some questions about Home. No questions about furries, prostitution, and flying penises a la Second Life though.

PlayStation 3?s free virtual-world service Home is finally going to be available to all system owners today. To build interest, Sony reps were available to talk to the press about what?s going to be in this Home open beta.

But in the great tradition of hyping an upcoming game-related project ? even one just hours away from release ? they were vague about some key things and full of teases.

Here?s what I found out about money, rewards, music, cursing and some other key issues surrounding Home:

I asked about micro-transactions in Home, expecting that many items will be on sale for gamers to buy today. I wanted to know what they would be and how much they?ll cost.

Answer via Jack Buser, Sony Computer Entertainment of America Home director, who assured me that Home users won?t need to buy anything, but? ?If you have some remainder of money laying around in your wallet, you may want to go and buy that cool pair of jeans that you love to rock in the real world so you can rock it in the world of PlayStation Home and really have that avatar represent you? The idea is that this stuff is priced so that people will want to buy it. We are definitely not pricing this stuff so people will have to think twice about buying a virtual item to represent themselves.?

I wanted to know why today?s launch is classified as a ?beta? if it?s going to be open to everyone. And when would a full launch occur?

Answer via a Sony spokesperson: ?It?s still classified as a beta because it is a continuously evolving service. Rather than a static release, or even an initial release with one or two patches, PlayStation Home will be dynamic and growing. As Jack has mentioned, areas will be added/removed/modified depending on community feedback, popularity and other factors. As an Open Beta, SCE has the liberty to experiment and cater to these requests. As for what will change from open beta to an official full launch, that will depend on where Home stands at the time.?

I was curious about what kind of rewards gamers might unlock in Home based on the games they?ve played.

Answer via Buser: ?You could imagine that certain games are going to unlock certain rewards in PlayStation Home. These rewards could be very much like the virtual items that you buy inside of the store. But you?re rewarded with these things based on your activity in a game or even in your activity in-world. And you?ll see some of these rewards present on day one and can do certain things in PlayStation Home and suddenly ? bu, bu, bah! - you have some new article of clothing or some new piece of furniture that you didn?t have before. Some of these things are going to be obvious. Some of these things are not going to be so obvious. That?s part of the fun of PlayStation Home. A lot of these rewards you?re going to have to go in and discover.?

I was wondering if Sony was going to tell us how many people can be in a given ?shard? of Home. And how would users in different shards of Home meet up?

Answer via Sony PR: ?We aren?t detailing how many people can be placed in each ?instance? as we call it, as this is something that can definitely change as the service evolves. Every instance supports enough people that it won?t ever feel empty or quiet, but won?t be so crowded as to affect performance? which leads into your next question.

?Yes, each instance has enough of a buffer to allow you to invite friends to the same space you are in.?

I needed to know: What about cursing and other M-rated behavior? If I can hear what anyone is saying in Home through their headset as soon as my avatar approaches theirs, how is Home going to be guarded from griefing and other colorful behavior?

Answer via Sony PR: ?In public spaces, PlayStation Home follows the same rules and guidelines as the PlayStation Network with regard to age stipulations and acceptable behavior, and uses all the same age controls as the PlayStation 3 system software. Private spaces are not monitored or restricted, although users can still report abuses and violations. As an open beta, the specific terms of moderation and the ability to specify options for each users Home experience are all subject to change.?

I was curious about which game-based spaces will be available today.

Answer via Buser: ?[There will be] ?Far Cry 2? and ?Uncharted? Home spaces [today]? These are spaces where the online community based around these games can go, meet one another, strategize about the games. There will be secrets in these places where you can learn more about the games?. We?re going to have an interactive map in the ?Far Cry 2' space that allows a group of people to talk about strategy and plan out their games together.?

Will all of us American PS3 users of Home be able to interact with PS3 owners from other territories?

Answer via Sony PR: ?In public, shared spaces users are group together by territory. SCEA users will see other SCEA users in the Central Plaza for example. However, you may invite friends from other territories (SCEE for example [Europe]) into personal spaces such as your apartment.?

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Jules
Im gonna be on in a few hours. If anyone wants to meet up and bowl or something my PSN ID is TheMagic_Man

Good luck getting a lane. That first night when they handed out all the closed beta invites about a month ago was very busy, and there wasn't an arcade, pool table, or lane open whatsoever. You'll have to kinda swoop in there and steal one if you want it.

I actually found a lane without trouble played for about 5 mins before i logged to watch the bears game.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Jules

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Jules
Im gonna be on in a few hours. If anyone wants to meet up and bowl or something my PSN ID is TheMagic_Man

Good luck getting a lane. That first night when they handed out all the closed beta invites about a month ago was very busy, and there wasn't an arcade, pool table, or lane open whatsoever. You'll have to kinda swoop in there and steal one if you want it.

I actually found a lane without trouble played for about 5 mins before i logged to watch the bears game.

Well damn you then. :laugh:

 

[NFS4]

Finally just played about 5 mins of bowling. This is actually pretty cool, although the music playing in the alley is annoying as hell.

 

[Baked]

Finally got in. Checked the shopping mall. Turns out the rumors are true, everything cost money now. Good thing I bought everything I can buy last night, for free. Thanks again for the heads up. :beer:

 

[pennylane]

How much does the stuff cost?

 

[erwos]

Sony has really got to lower the number of people allowed per room instance in some cases - the bowling alleys I visited were insanely crowded.

The apartment is pretty, but gives off a "trying-too-hard-to-be-trendy" Euro-vibe.

Still, I like the concept. The execution is just lacking (not even close to enough content). It feels as if they had a resource limitation and dumped it all into the engine.

 

[TKE899]

Seriously! I have never been one to bash Sony because I still believe they make a quality product, but how can they charge people for things in a virtual world? That is f'n asinine. There is no way in hell that I will ever i mean EVER pay even a dollar for a virtual piece of furniture for a virtual house in a virtual community. It just seems to me that this is the big S's way of nickel and diming people. I mean this doesn't even make sense. If its a virtual world then give people virtual jobs to have virtual services to make virtual money. Then charge virtual money for the things in the shopping mall. Does anyone else agree that this is just dumb?

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Originally posted by: TKE899
Seriously! I have never been one to bash Sony because I still believe they make a quality product, but how can they charge people for things in a virtual world? That is f'n asinine. There is no way in hell that I will ever i mean EVER pay even a dollar for a virtual piece of furniture for a virtual house in a virtual community. It just seems to me that this is the big S's way of nickel and diming people. I mean this doesn't even make sense. If its a virtual world then give people virtual jobs to have virtual services to make virtual money. Then charge virtual money for the things in the shopping mall. Does anyone else agree that this is just dumb?

I think you are over reacting. this is certainly nothing new. If you don't like...don't buy. I wouldn't buy anything but I also wouldn't get butthurt over it.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g

Originally posted by: TKE899
Seriously! I have never been one to bash Sony because I still believe they make a quality product, but how can they charge people for things in a virtual world? That is f'n asinine. There is no way in hell that I will ever i mean EVER pay even a dollar for a virtual piece of furniture for a virtual house in a virtual community. It just seems to me that this is the big S's way of nickel and diming people. I mean this doesn't even make sense. If its a virtual world then give people virtual jobs to have virtual services to make virtual money. Then charge virtual money for the things in the shopping mall. Does anyone else agree that this is just dumb?

I think you are over reacting. this is certainly nothing new. If you don't like...don't buy. I wouldn't buy anything but I also wouldn't get butthurt over it.

Ya, as long as I can log in for free, whatever. Give people their virtual world, and make money off the people who actually care about their e-peen.