[E3 2008] Home
It's been a good year and a half since we got a public look at Home, so what's changed? Plenty.
Published: July 20, 2008
[E3 2008] Home
It's been a good year and a half since we got a public look at Home, so what's changed? Plenty.
A lot can happen in a year, and even more in a year and a half. That's how long it's been since the initial reveal of Home at the Game Developers Conference in early 2007. Coupled with the announcement of LittleBigPlanet, it represented, in a very real way, a shift for Sony from the well-documented foibles of their 2006 press conferences through to the PS3s launch and kick-started the groundswell of momentum that's carried the system in to an incredibly solid 2008.
Unfortunately, while LittleBigPlanet has managed to stay the industry darling it became during that first unveiling, the buzz surrounding Home has died off considerably. Part of it might be the complete dearth of information surrounding the project, but more likely it's the fact that, in all honesty, not a whole lot has been happening -- at least not as far as the limited pool of beta testers are concerned.
That doesn't mean that progress isn't being made, though. A while back, information was leaked about what some of Sony's first- and second-party developers were working on for Home, specifically their takes on the idea of HomeSpaces, developer-created environments that provide game-themed areas for Home users to check things out. As we finally got a chance to see with our own eyes, the HomeSpaces for Warhawk and Uncharted and how they worked into the overall Home experience.
Uncharted's HomeSpace was a slick little bar painted in rich, lush orange-ish sunlight. Shafts poured in from "outside" to splash across the walls of bar while denizens inside chatted. More interestingly, though, the bar served as sort of a game within a game; tucked into the back of the bar was a simple little 8-bit-looking arcade game. The graphics were simple and blocky, of course, though they moved with a fluidity that betrayed the 8-bit feel just a little. All the same, finishing the game, which is apparently fairly easy, gives players a clue, which leads to something else in the HomeSpace, effectively creating a mini-treasure hunt. Treasures and artifacts that can be collected in the game to unlock bonuses (and, we're hoping, trophies once the patch hits), can be viewed in more detail by flicking through the objects scattered around the bar.
The HomeSpace for Warhawk was equally interesting. Hewn from the same militaristic motif as the game proper, the slightly claustrophobic entrance to the area, bordered on either side by monitors that showed trailers of the latest expansion pack for the game on the left and information kiosks on the right gave way to a more open area that even had skylights to make the area seem a little more airy. Also tucked into the back of this area is a literal sandbox that can be used to load up levels from the game and then, using Home's ability to do voice or text chat, can allow teams to meet up and coordinate plans of attack for certain parts of the map. Given the level of cooperation needed for high-level Warhawk play these days, it actually sounds like an incredibly useful little resource.
Both HomeSpaces exhibited a keen attention to detail that meshed perfectly with the overhauled central meeting area, now completely outdoors and featuring plenty of little touches to allow some basic interaction; near a little watery lagoon, RC controls for little boats could be accessed, and once fully fleshed out, objects in the water should allow people to make their own little impromptu races around the area. Also added but not quite completely fleshed out was a jukebox system that would allow people to vote on a bank of tracks and then socialize while they... uh... danced? Okay, so the idea didn't exactly grab us, but more options (there was also talk of doing more stuff like chess and checkers as a quick walk-up-and-play offering) rather than just standing around are always nice.
It's been a good year and a half since we got a public look at Home, so what's changed? Plenty.
A lot can happen in a year, and even more in a year and a half. That's how long it's been since the initial reveal of Home at the Game Developers Conference in early 2007. Coupled with the announcement of LittleBigPlanet, it represented, in a very real way, a shift for Sony from the well-documented foibles of their 2006 press conferences through to the PS3s launch and kick-started the groundswell of momentum that's carried the system in to an incredibly solid 2008.
Unfortunately, while LittleBigPlanet has managed to stay the industry darling it became during that first unveiling, the buzz surrounding Home has died off considerably. Part of it might be the complete dearth of information surrounding the project, but more likely it's the fact that, in all honesty, not a whole lot has been happening -- at least not as far as the limited pool of beta testers are concerned.
That doesn't mean that progress isn't being made, though. A while back, information was leaked about what some of Sony's first- and second-party developers were working on for Home, specifically their takes on the idea of HomeSpaces, developer-created environments that provide game-themed areas for Home users to check things out. As we finally got a chance to see with our own eyes, the HomeSpaces for Warhawk and Uncharted and how they worked into the overall Home experience.
Uncharted's HomeSpace was a slick little bar painted in rich, lush orange-ish sunlight. Shafts poured in from "outside" to splash across the walls of bar while denizens inside chatted. More interestingly, though, the bar served as sort of a game within a game; tucked into the back of the bar was a simple little 8-bit-looking arcade game. The graphics were simple and blocky, of course, though they moved with a fluidity that betrayed the 8-bit feel just a little. All the same, finishing the game, which is apparently fairly easy, gives players a clue, which leads to something else in the HomeSpace, effectively creating a mini-treasure hunt. Treasures and artifacts that can be collected in the game to unlock bonuses (and, we're hoping, trophies once the patch hits), can be viewed in more detail by flicking through the objects scattered around the bar.
The HomeSpace for Warhawk was equally interesting. Hewn from the same militaristic motif as the game proper, the slightly claustrophobic entrance to the area, bordered on either side by monitors that showed trailers of the latest expansion pack for the game on the left and information kiosks on the right gave way to a more open area that even had skylights to make the area seem a little more airy. Also tucked into the back of this area is a literal sandbox that can be used to load up levels from the game and then, using Home's ability to do voice or text chat, can allow teams to meet up and coordinate plans of attack for certain parts of the map. Given the level of cooperation needed for high-level Warhawk play these days, it actually sounds like an incredibly useful little resource.
Both HomeSpaces exhibited a keen attention to detail that meshed perfectly with the overhauled central meeting area, now completely outdoors and featuring plenty of little touches to allow some basic interaction; near a little watery lagoon, RC controls for little boats could be accessed, and once fully fleshed out, objects in the water should allow people to make their own little impromptu races around the area. Also added but not quite completely fleshed out was a jukebox system that would allow people to vote on a bank of tracks and then socialize while they... uh... danced? Okay, so the idea didn't exactly grab us, but more options (there was also talk of doing more stuff like chess and checkers as a quick walk-up-and-play offering) rather than just standing around are always nice.
