(Contributors: Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)
We continue our countdown of the Top 21 News Stories of 2008, with #14 - #7, starting now. If you missed the first part of our countdown featuring David Chapman, James Fudge and ECA President Hal Halpin, you can check it out right here.
Last Thursday, we reported on Sony adding a new patch to its Home service, which added facial hair to the avatar options while disabling the service’s voice chat capabilities. Apparently, a weekend of silence was more than enough though, as Sony has released a brand new patch to the Home beta, giving users back their collective voice … with a few conditions.
Ostensibly, the voice feature was originally dropped due to the strain the feature was putting of the service. Of course, the decision to yank the feature was probably helped by the fact that much of the chatter going on in Home was of the juvenile smack talk/pickup line variety. Now that the voice chat feature has been re-established, players will be able to go back to hitting on each other, but only in the comforts of their personal spaces and clubhouses. So, you’ll have to actually convince someone to come back to your place before you can try to talk them into “coming to your place”.
By clicking on their PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation Network column of XMB, Home users will be automatically prompted to update to 1.05. Users who are online with PlayStation Home will need to log-off and click on PlayStation Home icon for the update to register.
To say that PlayStation Home has had a lukewarm launch would probably be one of the biggest understatements of the year. The PS3’s social networking service has been plagued with server crashes, stripped features, and even reports of widespread hacking. Sony seems to be scrambling to fix things, though, as a post on the PlayStation blog is reporting that the service will be undergoing another round of maintenance today to try and fix some of the issues.
The new update, moving things up from v1.03 to v 1.04, is supposed to address “the difficulty some people are having accessing PlayStation Home due to the high demand for the service”. It also looks like Sony thinks some of the issues may be stemming from the chatter going on in Home, as the voice chat feature on the service is being “temporarily suspended”. Who knew that that smack talk and cybersex could take up so much bandwidth? Well … who besides more than three quarters of the people who ever go into virtual worlds? (Second Life anyone?)
To make up for the temporary case of laryngitis on Home, the new update will add give players something extra in their avatar closets: beards. While the selection is extremely limited, and you still can’t create the “Mirror, Mirror” style evil twin of your Home persona to blame for all your actions, there’s a nice big set of muttonchops and even a full beard/moustache combo that would do Santa proud. If nothing else, this should bring a little more diversity to the appearance of the Home population. The fairer sex, though, is out of luck. With no new additions to the female avatar toolbox, it looks like the Bearded Lady will have to be content to stick with her carnival act.
While I’m not sure the proper etiquette regarding just how long we’re supposed to keep the word “New” in Microsoft’s “New Xbox Experience”, it’s still got plenty of new and shiny left on it after less than a month since its launch. So, just how much of an effect HAS the NXE had on the overall Xbox LIVE numbers? Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb has the answers. Posting on his official blog, Hryb tossed out a few interesting XBL stats to wrap up the year and the post-NXE Xbox LIVE era:
From the blog:
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After all the hype, the hoopla, and the building anticipation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. finally announced that its PlayStation Home Beta service will be available to all PS3 users around the world this week. Starting tomorrow, PS3 owners will be able to download the 3D service, creating and customizing their own unique avatars while exploring Sony’s virtual community in real time and chatting things up with friends and strangers through text or voice chat.
Users will also be able to play mini-games, watch videos, and attend special events hosted by Sony or any of its partners. Home will also let users create their own communities by using the “Club” feature to create clubs with other Home users who share the same interests.
According to CVG, who taps into a questionable news report from a UK newspaper The Sunday Times, Sony’s Home will launch on Dec. 17. The virtual world space, which has been compared (much to the chagrin of Sony) to Second Life, lets users create a virtual space of their own complete with themed decor, trophies and other baubles. Home also lets you enter into public areas where you can find other players to chat with or play against in a relaxed setting.
The Sunday Times report may just be a confused moment on the part of the writer, or maybe even wishful thinking; gamers are expecting an open beta, as opposed to the final version of Sony’s special product so soon. Still, the Home beta is in the hands of hundreds of thousands of gamers now, so maybe it is ready for wide distribution. The official word so far from Sony is no word at all: “No comment.” We’ll keep you posted.
Sony’s virtual ‘Home’ away from home hasn’t even officially opened to the public yet, and it’s already looking like the neighborhood is getting zoned for commercial use. According to a report this morning on UK-based marketing website BrandRepublic, energy drink manufacturer Red bull has become the first brand to build a presence in PlayStation Home. While game companies have promised to have their own presence in the virtual PS3 community, Red Bull is the first non-gaming company to announce a brand partnership with Sony.
The Red Bull brand will be showcase on a new tropical island built in Home, which will feature an airplane racing game based on Red Bull’s real world Red Bull Air Race series. Read the rest of this entry »
