Push Square talks to the developers of Home Tycoon about the growth and development of Sony's free-to-play social network. Do you still visit the virtual world? How would you like to see it grow?
An excerpt from the article: "If you haven’t set foot in PlayStation Home since the virtual world’s initial roll-out, you may be surprised by the current state of the social platform. The free-to-play destination has erupted with activity over the past 12 months, prompting a location that’s both bursting with content and brimming with life. The catalyst for that transition has been a greater emphasis on interactive content. The days of empty cross-promotional spaces are long gone, usurped by the more engaging integration of fully-fledged games."
Hellfire Games has launched the first downloadable content (DLC) pack for the PlayStation Home exclusive Home Tycoon, a free-to-play videogame within the PlayStation 3’s virtual space. Players can bring Halloween home with the new Halloween Building Pack in Home Tycoon via the in-game store.
Cynella does an experiment to see just how far she can get in Home Tycoon without spending money. Home Tycoon is a game available in PlayStation Home.
Push Square: "PlayStation Home has grown exponentially over the past six months with the release of innovative free-to-play experiences like Mercia: Fractured Realms and Bootleggers ’29 – but Home Tycoon developer Hellfire Games believes there’s still plenty of potential for the social platform to expand."
HOME itself has been growing without anyone realizing it. And it's starting to draw more support as Toylogic just started making stuff for HOME.
The games have gotten more advanced as time went on. The only problem I have with HOME (and will probably always have) is the fact that the trophy room and the streaming from your HDD isn't there.
Having things like the Crackle apartment is nice and the portable tvs you can bring anywhere with crackle on it are nice too. But nothing will be better than streaming directly from your drive (personal opinion).
some of those ideas will come out for PS+ members. It is interesting how there are not yet any members only spaces.
Pretty much any new features added to PSN are being tiered towards the + members and so i would expect sony to have a similar approach when it comes to Home as well.
Just think about exclusive spaces that the regular free members can't get access to. Sony could make them really worth while as just another perk to being a paid member.
I actually think there already is a PlayStation Plus exclusive VIP lounge in Home, but it's not all that exciting. I personally think the virtual world should focus on its free-to-play nature, and invite as many members to experience its content as possible.
Perks for Plus subscribers would be nice though. Perhaps you could get access to exclusive Gold items if you're a subscriber, or something?
Hopefully people start paying more attention. I'm really impressed with some of the more recent stuff being added to the platform. Obviously, it's never going to replace the Uncharteds and God of Wars of the world -- but as a nice social distraction, I really enjoy Home.
I like to go on home when I don't feel like really getting into a serious gaming session, when I don't feel like trying very hard. There is always something new to check out.
I tried to like Home but what killed it for me was the loading time when you leave certain areas.
Wish it was just one big open world and integrated to the XMB so I can just click somewhere and I am in Home..
Unfortunately, that is still a problem -- but it has definitely improved. I'm not quite sure how they could make it much quicker, though. It's just a limitation of the technology.
Perhaps Sony's acquisition of Gaikai could be leveraged to improve this for PS4?
Gaikai + Home = 1 second loading times. Would be amazing. That is my only reason for not playing with Home much. If loading times were shorter it would be amazing.
I think that is Home makes the PS4 transition it can be really great with lower loading times and more innovation.
I'm assuming they'll carry Home over to the PS4? Otherwise all this investment in it's pretty pointless...
I imagine so. Apparently it's extremely profitable, and it's still very popular amongst a specific demographic. It wouldn't make sense to just scrap it.
i was a closed beta tester of ps home before it opened to public. I have seen many changes over the past couple of years.
recently i have been on and off lately.. still many people used it. one of the room usually overcrowded. PS Home still popular.
