Home delayed... Again.

[justjohn]

People are LIVID on the Playstation boards. They just need to release it and get it done with. At this point, something is better than nothing.

http://www.us.playstation.com/News/PressReleases/468

April 22, 2008


Open Beta Service Scheduled For Fall 2008Print





Tokyo, April 22, 2008About PLAYSTATIONHomeAbout Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

[Chernabog]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

Dear lord are you KIDDING ME?!?! What are they trying to do, submit a FINAL version of an evolving online community program? Can't we at least just run around with our avatars and chat with other people in our virtual homes? It isn't that hard to program. The graphics and game world and whatnot were done last summer! They can just update with additional features as they go along.

This was supposed to be released in Fall of 2007 for pete's sake. They could have programmed an actual MMORPG by this point (and there is no "game" to home).


Bad sony. Bad bad bad.

[sir clinksalot]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

That kinda sucks. It was supposed to be out when???

Then again, if they released a mediocre product they would be hearing it too.

[SoCal]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

Some people are just ot right in the head.... I mean really.... if they put out a version with bugs and not 100% you would hear peole bitching about how it sucks and was not ready. And if they put it off while they fix it you see people still bitch about it. I guess some people just like to bitch for the heck of it. A public beta is going to be out soon, so be happy with that mmmkay? And in this gamng age LOTS of stuff gets pushed back and back and back. Smash Brothers? GT5? GTA? HELLO????? Take a pill people.. if this bothers you THAT bad go outside and play, look up at the sun and try to figre out what they big bright thing is up in the sky is.

[justjohn]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

Soon is fall 2008?

BTW, a game launching with bugs is a pretty common thing nowadays. People are used to it now.

[Chernabog]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

Soon is fall 2008?

BTW, a game launching with bugs is a pretty common thing nowadays. People are used to it now.

They don't have to launch it with bugs per se (and any bugs for a NON GAME.. or a game.... could of course be corrected in a patch). I just think that Sony is either being TOO ambitious for the home launch, or their programmers/project manager need to get their heads out of their butts.

To make an avatar and have a game world with your own toon running around -- that should be Home 1.0. That doesn't mean that home is "bugged" -- that would just mean it launches without all the features enabled. Then later on, they add more stuff.

Though I don't see what is taking such a long time on this, considering there isn't any "game" element, class balancing element (i.e. in an MMORPG), etc. It's just avatars walking around pretty scenery, for pete's sake.

And SoCalDude, take a pill, I'm not losing sleep over this it's just disappointing when I downloaded the Home video demo like last September (which said it would launch in 2007), and then it keeps getting pushed back -- for something that seems REALLY cool and would really help bring the Ps3 full circle community-wise (even if all it ever ends up being is avatars walking around scenery).

[justjohn]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

You're right, if Sony was willing release Blu-Ray with an incomplete standard at launch, whats the big deal with releasing Home without all of the features enabled?

You really have to go to the playstation boards, Sony has really pissed off their core market now.

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board?board.id=ps3home

[Chernabog]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

You're right, if Sony was willing release Blu-Ray with an incomplete standard at launch, whats the big deal with releasing Home without all of the features enabled?

Yeah people are annoyed on the boards :-\

I just don't see how releasing Home with only part of its features enabled is any different than, like, 100% of the MMORPGS out there from the last 10 years. You start with a little area and expand.

Yes, it didn't work with DCA, but that's a different story

[justjohn]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

I just realized, the open beta for Home has been delayed...

We still have no idea when Home will actually be released.

[Chernabog]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

I just realized, the open beta for Home has been delayed...

Yeah the original closed beta took place in April 2007.

For comparison, a game like Lord of the Rings Online (way WAY more complicated than Home), the original closed beta was September 2006, open beta March 2007, and game launch in April 2007.

[justjohn]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

Finally somebody speaks out. The reason Home is delayed is because they weren't working on game integration, just getting the sponsors to pay for the service.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=188622

Sony was being too ambitious with the non-gaming applications of Home and delayed the project to focus on gaming, SCEE president David Reeves has told CVG.

In a brief interview at the recent PlayStation Day event in London, Reeves admitted that Sony wants to make sure the gaming parts of the service, like trophies and Home-to-game launching, are ready before it goes public.

"It is definitely coming out in autumn," assured Reeves. "Whether that's October or November, I don't precisely know, but it is an open beta."

"We've realised that maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that," he went on to confess.

"In that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we're concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home, and attracting people who are into gaming in first - instead of the Nike people, or Adidas people who are into fashion and not necessarily into gaming."

Reeves also spoke of the diminishing importance of platform exclusives from third parties, as first-party games become more prominent. "We did Buzz, we're doing LittleBigPlanet, Killzone, and there are obviously others that we're developing. We're becoming less dependent on third parties."

But, he added, Sony will seize exclusivity opportunities for games that attract new customers.

"It's got to be something that catches our eye and we think will bring new consumers into the industry. We can't keep recycling consumers from one iteration of PlayStation or Wii to another. We've got to gather up new people as we go through the years," he said.

Now they are saying open beta in October or November. I don't think I'm going to hold my breath...

[justjohn]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

EA wishes it would ship as well

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/05/08/moore-on-playstation-home-i-just-wish-it-would-ship

Now settled in at his presidential position with EA Sports, Peter Moore is back to his old tricks of making remarks about the competition. Speaking on the delays of PlayStation Home, Moore dressed up his "excitement" with numerous remarks underscoring his wish that the online service would actually ship. GamesIndustry reports that Moore was previously skeptical of Home but has warmed up to the idea despite the delays. "Phil Harrison showed me a demo–it's very cool, but let's go already. And so I'm disappointed that it's been pushed back a little bit again," said Moore. "But I really hope it gets going and becomes that portal to the PlayStation Network and we can utilize it. But boy, I just wish we'd get going."
Moore's remarks echo the sentiments of others regarding Home. Originally unveiled at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, the service was expected to launch later that year but was ultimately pushed back to Spring and then Fall of 2008. Developer promises of Home implementation in games followed the announcement but have slowly gone quiet as the product has been pushed back.
Home is currently scheduled to land this fall; Sony president Kaz Hirai noted that it "needs a little bit more time before it's ready for the wider public." Sony has been gaining momentum steadily over the last eight months, and the fact that the company wants to ensure its products are the best they can be before release is a good thing.

[justjohn]

Re: Home delayed... Again.

holy crap...

http://kotaku.com/5025942/tretton-explains-the-long-road-to-home

"I think we are going in a bit of a different direction in Home," he said. "We made a line in the sand (about not releasing Home yet) and made a strategic decision on home. It's a road we are going to go down."

A major reason behind the delayed release now is that the company needs to fill the space they've created, Tretton said.

"I would rather ship it two years from now and have it populated by a lot of neat stuff and be competitive than open something that is a ghost town," he said. "The shell is there but we need to get the real destinations from the third party publishers and the Nikes of the world."
"It's like you open a mall and they're only two stores in it."