Harrison: Home is "brilliantly realised"

By Johnny Minkley Published 5 December, 2008

Online world will be "very successful".

Atari president and former Sony studio boss Phil Harrison has heaped praise on PlayStation Home, telling Eurogamer that his former company has "brilliantly realised their ambitions".

Harrison, speaking earlier this week at the Atari Live event, revealed that he was on the beta for the PS3 virtual world, and predicted that Sony "will have a very successful platform" with the project that was created under his stewardship.

Sony has said the open beta for the ambitious network service will launch this year.

Harrison, who joined Atari in March after leaving his high-profile position as PlayStation creative lead, also revealed he had been playing around with the recently updated Xbox dashboard.

"I was quite impressed actually with some of the things that [Microsoft has] done," he said. "They're just scratching the surface of what the whole industry recognises is that customisation, socialisation and community platforms are going to be just as important as the games themselves."

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About Johnny Minkley

Eurogamer TV's Johnny Minkley is a veteran journalist with a lifelong passion for games and the games industry. He uses Twitter more than most people use air.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (76) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 3 years ago

    Harrison + home + hype = EG comments raging

  • kangarootoo #2 3 years ago

    "can i be the first and not the last to say

    CUNT"

    Your mother must be so proud of you.

  • DFawkes #3 3 years ago

    I agree with Kirly_Wombat, he does seem like he's being nice to everyone to ensure no bridges are burned.

    Home is quite nice, but it is only the beginning, and I could say the same for NXE. Both will go onwards and upwards, which will mostly be a good thing.

  • Eraysor #4 3 years ago

    It'll be as successful as that Google online world project, i.e. not at all. It certainly doesn't make me want to buy a PS3 in any way.

  • Triggerhappytel #5 3 years ago

    Yeah, at least he's not belittling other companies or saying how Atari are superior. He is a bit of a vocal bastard though, isn't he; seems to be a news story every other day relating to something he's said.

  • peteb #6 3 years ago

    You can take the boy out of Sony...

  • DrDamn #7 3 years ago

    @designerheadache
    "so much hate on here already for a man who is head and shoulders (literally) above the current Sony Bod"

    Are you mad? The guy who took over from Harrison has talked nothing but sense with due deference to mistakes they have made.

  • Shakey_Jake33 #8 3 years ago

    "the whole industry recognises is that customisation, socialisation and community platforms are going to be just as important as the games themselves."

    =(

  • Garulon #9 3 years ago

    Huh, his job appeared to be hyping the Sony Flop Machine beyond all logical rationality, slagging of Microsoft before slavishly copying them and lying to the press. Now he makes crossword puzzles with tits in. Why exactly are we listening to him?

  • Darren #10 3 years ago

    Home is brilliantly... unimpressive.

    Having had it since the closed beta for some months now all I can say is that it seems utterly pointless... pretty but ultimately irrelevant... plus it seems all too limited and, for me, got boring within 30 minutes. All the tedious loading between areas just sucks the life out of the experience too making the online world feel like the collection of "rooms" it so evident is.

    A bitter disappointment then in my book and one I doubt I'll ever return to. When you think how long it has been in development and how shallow and threadbare the whole beta seems it is even more depressing... what on earth have they been working on all this time? :?

    Good job that it is *free*.... bad that is uses 3 GB of my HDD space...

  • DrDamn #11 3 years ago

    Crossword puzzles with tits in? Why does nobody tell me about these things?

  • moggsy #12 3 years ago

    @ Darren

    Out of interest, how long does it take to initially load up? I assume you start off in your 'apartment'?

  • Fab4 #13 3 years ago

    Estranged parent proud of ofspring...who would have thunk it.

  • etherfiend #14 3 years ago

    "customisation, socialisation and community platforms are going to be just as important as the games themselves"

    Maybe I'm old or just plain unsociable. I've grown weary of MMOs and the dribble you have to put up with in every chat chnnel there, I don't want to particularly have to work with others to complete games or even play with/against them.

    In the rush to be sociable and make the whole world's activities easier to track and market to, they have forgotten about grumpy old men like me who just want to come in, boot up the console and play a game, alone with some scotch and get away from everything in a fantasy world of guns, cars, or whatever takes your fancy. I don't want to have a persistant online presence with 15 updates on my status an hour, nor a leaderboard showing that due to the fact I have a job and other responsibilities I'm never able to get into multiplayer games before the job seeker tards have mastered them. In the words of the internet numpty 'GEIF MOARE S1NGL3 PlAyA'.

    If community platforms interfere with much more of my gaming life I'll have nowhere to go where I can be alone and I'll have to drop consoles and computers for a truly pointless hobby like fishing or morris dancing!

  • moggsy #15 3 years ago

    @ etherfiend

    Ah, a man after my own heart ;-)

  • Eighthours #16 3 years ago

    "I was quite impressed actually with some of the things that [Microsoft has] done," he said. "They're just scratching the surface of what the whole industry recognises is that customisation, socialisation and community platforms are going to be just as important as the games themselves."

    Compare that to the "brilliantly realised their ambitions" part of the Sony stuff.

    Hilariously biased, still. At least Peter Moore tries to be open-handed over at EA.
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 11:43

  • Darren #17 3 years ago

    @moggsy - "@ Darren

    Out of interest, how long does it take to initially load up? I assume you start off in your 'apartment'?"

    Actually it doesn't take long to initially start up and it resumes from the place you quit it... or at least it appeared to the few times I've tried it.

    No, what is galling is that each new area you go to for the first time requires the data to be downloaded (around 10-50 MB) but even when it has done that you still have up to 10 second loading times between areas which makes the whole experience jarring. Why isn't it a seamless world? Walk through an open doorway of a building you can see into and the game loads. Enter your apartment the game loads. Exit apartment to the square, it loads. The whole thing feels limited by the PS3's hardware to be honest... even the framerate is pretty chuggy at times if there are other people onscreen too.

    I just wasn't impressed by it at all but I'm sure many people will be.

  • Darren #18 3 years ago

    P.S. Why the hell does Home use 3 GB of HDD space anyway... the initial file is around 85 MB and then there's five or six rooms in the beta of a max. of 50 MB each... that falls a long way short of 3 GB by my calculation. Sure the whole of Home might eventually consume 3 GB of space with the full version and all the different areas but why not show the space *used* rather the space *needed*? Most be annoying for people with limited HDD space really.

  • Beano #19 3 years ago

    @Darren : I got the beta and think it's promising and works well - but right now there is not enough content and areas to keep me interested.
    The success or failure of Home really depends on the amount of content in the "final" version and how often new content is added after that.

  • Beano #20 3 years ago

    "P.S. Why the hell does Home use 3 GB of HDD space anyway"

    Home reserve 3GB of HDD space to ensure that users doesn't suddenly get a "not enough disk space" error when entering a new area.

  • penhalion #21 3 years ago

    Home is brilliantly boring is what the article should say. Starting up home, then trying to organise a game with friends, then trying to get the game to sync correctly etc. etc. Home is a bloody nightmare. This is one occasion where I truly wish Sony had simply ripped off Microsoft's new avatar system and menus and said "To hell with the pretense, this is what works so we are using it with a few Sony only twists". I would have had far more respect for that than this nonsense about a virtual world, which (and anyone who is on the home beta like me will confirm this) simply makes playing games a much more convoluted process than it ever should be!

  • Farzlepot #22 3 years ago

    Why is Atari opining about everything all of a sudden? Shouldn't they be concentrating on their own problems and, y'know, not going bust, before they try to become the oracles of the industry?

  • Widge #23 3 years ago

    There isn't going to be a final version according to the comment I read earlier in the year. From what I understand, they are going to release it to all... and then continually bolt stuff onto it over time.

  • muscleblade #24 3 years ago

    I just hope MS doesnt try to copy this lackluster and pointless shit. I like the new dashboard on the 360 and the party system. The avatars i could do without though. I hope MS sticks to their own ideas and stay as the leader in the online service department.

  • WiseNail #25 3 years ago

    Had a look at Home through the recent Beta. The trouble was, as gaming is mainly a male hobby the whole thing had the feeling of a gloryfied gay bar (the number of blokes in muscle tops didn't help either). That combined with a lack of real content, killed any passing interest I had in this.

  • Beano #26 3 years ago

    @muscleblade : Have you even tried Home?

    Personaly I find Home far more interesting than NXE's avatar gimmick... now THAT'S a pointless feature :o

  • Beano #27 3 years ago

    "the whole thing had the feeling of a gloryfied gay bar (the number of blokes in muscle tops didn't help either)."

    LOL... I agree completely.. it's actually a bit creepy at times :D

  • Dizzy #28 3 years ago

    "Furthermore, as more games become available through Home, that aspect will become more and more important to the overall experience"

    Yeah.. in the future it will be worth it!!! The potential is there!

    Seriously.. don't you guys have other lines?

  • Dizzy #29 3 years ago

    "God forbid anyone try to make a new experience that you can have fun with that is free, eh? "

    Or they could have made a game with this money. Naaaaahhh that would be crazy!

  • Dizzy #30 3 years ago

    "How about this one: If you don't care why don't you leave? "

    No problemo.. welcome to /ignore.

    /waves

  • Rash' #31 3 years ago

    Beano, i agree, content will define how good an experience home is, sadly i don't see the breath of content needed to make it good available anytime soon. Home is a supremely ambitious project. one that will need the ps3's life span to achieve it's potential. it's promise to me is alluring, but sony are a long way from delivering on that promise.

  • Rash' #32 3 years ago

    widge, they're going to bolt stuff on because they know they can't deliver a grand release with everything as they imagine. Sony, have a long way to go with this one, so i'm not expecting an immediate impact from them in the online space.

  • Rash' #33 3 years ago

    Dizzy and farticus, Sony have the most first party games in development. what are you two smoking? (and if it's good can i have some?!)

  • StooMonster #34 3 years ago

    "customisation, socialisation and community platforms are going to be just as important as the games themselves"

    Instead on concentrating on the crap, can you please focus on the games ... and if not that, at least the delivery of them?

    Hey Atari -- why do you offer games on Steam to your American customers but do not allow Europeans to buy your back catalogue? Okay it's not the best back-catalogue in the industry, and I wouldn't buy all of it, but I resent being treated like a second class citizen by you.

  • moggsy #35 3 years ago

    I like MS's solution - the NXE. It has lots of content which is pretty easy to access.

    I fear (and I haven't used it yet so I'm just going off what others have said) that Home is a glorified chat room which just makes it difficult to access content. I don't want to talk to random strangers on my way to checking out a new game trailer for example.

    On the 360 I don't even need to use the controller - I can just use my Harmony remote to turn the console on and then navigate the content. Sony are in danger of overcomplicating things. I remain open minded at the moment though.

  • Rash' #36 3 years ago

    farticus, i don't get you. explain?

  • JYM60 #37 3 years ago

    Good comments. Would slit throat again.

  • el_pollo_diablo #38 3 years ago

    I always quite liked Phil Harrison. He always struck me as someone who actually plays games.

  • Garulon #39 3 years ago

    "I always quite liked Phil Harrison. He always struck me as someone who actually plays games. "

    Yeah, he's a gamer alright. OTOH he's quite the lying cockhead, some of the lies were no doubt imposed on him but I have real trouble after his E3 2005 claims that everything in those pre-rendered videos "was done on Playstation 3" in not questioning anything that comes out of his bleachy slit-mouth.

  • NotSoSlim #40 3 years ago

    Bitching about Home when it free and optional. Dont like it dont use it.

    Simple facts are its limited now just like the PS3 userbase...expand the userbase and Home will expand and whether we like it not become integral to the Playstation brands future. Including handhelds, yea it may be a glorified chatroom but if done right could be a great thing to use for games that require clans to work properly.

    Sony are not forcing you to use it. Its a option..also it may seem like a waste of money now but Sony will make the money back 20x over if the userbase expands in sales of item and sponsorships. Just look at the devs supporting it.

  • Les #41 3 years ago

    Home might be more appealing once every gamer has a keyboard (real thing or that clip-on thing). If you're restricted tojust a controller communication is too difficult.

  • Rash' #42 3 years ago

    farticus, i still don't get your point. home hasn't impacted 1st party development resources, as sony is the strongest of all three, inspite of home.

  • kangarootoo #43 3 years ago

    @Les

    It supports bluetooth headset communication too I think.

  • Garulon #44 3 years ago

    "Bitching about Home when it free and optional. Dont like it dont use it."

    Wow, that's (a) so amazingly fascist and (b) utterly dunderheaded. Home isn't just a waste of our time or Sony's time, it's also a waste of every thirdparty developer's time to comply with that monstrosity's demands. PS3 game sales are in the toilet, it's only getting thirdparty titles now because it's still cost effective to port 360 titles. Home's either gonna sit there and make PS3 development more expensive, or (if by some miracle Sony don't make Home support mandatory) it's gonna be ignored. Hope Sony have a "tumbleweed" mesh they can use...

  • kangarootoo #45 3 years ago

    @Darren

    "P.S. Why the hell does Home use 3 GB of HDD space anyway... the initial file is around 85 MB and then there's five or six rooms in the beta of a max. of 50 MB each... that falls a long way short of 3 GB by my calculation"

    That might be a TRC thing, where each game has to fence off the full amount of disc space it plans on using for its files, even if it hasn't written them all yet.

  • NotSoSlim #46 3 years ago

    @ Garulon

    PS3 game sales in the toilet?? Simple reason no marketing nothing more. MS market the hell out of there games Sony dont. You only now are getting LBP ads.

    Also home support is a option that developers are choosing to accept or decline. Also with these hard times finacially it will be another avenue to make money like the stup DLC exclusive deal companies are making.

    Stand by what i said at this point it optional and sure Sony may change that but as of now if you dont like it, dont use it.

  • Dizzy #47 3 years ago

    >patching visual studio 2008

    What? Service pack 1 has been out for ages. Did you just install 2008? It is almost 2009 m8 :)

    >The reason for this is almost certainly an inability to just focus on what gamers are shouting for: Game development. Not social networks or weather channels, just game development.

    The Home team should have worked on improving the SDK instead probably.

  • Rash' #48 3 years ago

    farticus, no i'm saying if home mean't sony weren't delivering substantially on the games then you have a point with your original rant about focusing on the games, but as sony are delivering more first party content than the other two you original rant was unnecessary. what you're ranting about now is different. what you're arguing now is that sony should never have bothered with home and instead focussed those resources on more games. that's another unnecessary argument.
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 14:54

  • Les #49 3 years ago

    "It supports bluetooth headset communication too I think."

    I know, but for me at least, the hurdle of actually using a headset for comms in Home is bigger than using just text. Maybe it's a matter of getting used to though.

  • juuken #50 3 years ago

    People bitching about something that's free and you don't have to use it. People bitching about the Home beta when this is just the beginning. Did Facebook or MYSpace started out popular? No, because the people made it popular. I've seen plenty of people in the Home Beta chatting with their friends, playing chess, or just exploring.

    What a fucked up world we live in, where we bash a company to freakin' death over something that's free.

    You don't see the potential but others do. You don't see the potential? Then DON'T USE IT!

    Thank you and have a miserable day.
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 15:10

  • Rash' #51 3 years ago

    farticus, how can you possibly substantiate that claim???

  • theindustrialone #52 3 years ago

    "They're just scratching the surface of what the whole industry recognises is that customisation, socialisation and community platforms are going to be just as important as the games themselves."

    Talk about a backhanded compliment.

  • Garulon #53 3 years ago

    "You don't see the potential but others do. You don't see the potential? Then DON'T USE IT!"

    So if you're tottering around on your own in a completely empty virtual world you'd be perfectly OK with that?

  • cyber_nicco #54 3 years ago

    Home looks somewhat interesting to me, but I feel like it has just taken too long to radically impact PS3 sales. Of course, that doesn't take away from it (however it is and whenever it is) as a product, I just think Sony has hurt themselves by it taking so long to actually come to market.

    Who knows?

  • cyber_nicco #55 3 years ago

    I'm with you, Etherfiend.

    Ironically, however, I will be sending you a Live! friend request...

  • kangarootoo #56 3 years ago

    @Garulon

    "So if you're tottering around on your own in a completely empty virtual world you'd be perfectly OK with that?"

    Total strawman, and pretty much irrelevant unless you and juuken are the only two people on the planet.

  • stevetuck #57 3 years ago

    wonder how much a new hairdo is gonna cost, Also is it gonna be multipul servers? because those tiny areas are gonna lag soooooo much with 4million people in them
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 18:50

  • T4RG4 #58 3 years ago

    At the moment I cannot see Home appealing to anyone I care to play games with.

  • Rash' #59 3 years ago

    farticus, don't see how irrational you're being? With that same argument you could argue MS didn't deliver enough games when developing Live. If MS had followed your logic you wouldn't have Live but possibly more games? It's a silly assumption, particularly when you consider how many games Sony have in development.

  • ozallez #60 3 years ago

    it could be great if integrated with other titles... how much of this would happen? The fifa clubs system would sit nicely, somewhere to wait before some 10v10 games, talk tactics, recruit like minded players, etc. Has great POTENTIAL but not much else just yet. Worth the space on my HDD to see how it all pans out

  • SAH1977 #61 3 years ago

    Home = the future!

    It's going to be huge!

  • TonCapone #62 3 years ago

    I'm sorry but I find it tedious and boring.
    Interesting for 1 hour maximum.

  • Bill Gates is Evil #63 3 years ago

    NXE rocks my socks off

  • HardCoreGamer999 #64 3 years ago

    i know ppl enrolled the beta , for fact its worthless until now. tedious and boring

  • drumbaby #65 3 years ago

    It's a test-bed that, when finished, will enhance social and gaming aspects of the PS3 experience. It'll be used by loads of people, but you won't have to use it if you don't want to.

    Once development on it has finished, Sony can sit back and watch it build into something great, and Farticus can sleep easy at night, happy that Sony dollars are now going towards games he probably isn't interested in either.

  • Garulon #66 3 years ago

    "but you won't have to use it if you don't want to."

    Isn't it needed for stuff like Parties though? On the 360 it's just a couple of menu clicks, on the PS3 you have to teleport to the party location and totter over there.

  • Les #67 3 years ago

    "farticus, don't see how irrational you're being?"

    That's a side effect of being irrational... ;)

  • Rash' #68 3 years ago

    farticus, i don't agree mate. you can't prove this "fact" and that's crucial.

  • Rash' #69 3 years ago

    Les, lol! true. i guess it's my frustration that blinds me from that logic

  • drumbaby #70 3 years ago

    Isn't NXE optional then?

  • drxym #71 3 years ago

    Home is NOT brilliantly realised. The concept is sound, but the realisation is sorely lacking. I say that as a beta tester and PS3 owner. From the moment of clicking the Home icon, I should be inside Home within 30 seconds. No more user agreements, clicks, or other distractions. Just bam I'm in my house. At the moment it takes over a minute and multiple clicks to achieve. On top of that, the zones are sterile and frankly boring. Gamers want clans and game related content. They want somewhere to hang out while waiting for a game and options for finding / launching games. Some boring bowling alleys and shopping malls are not going to cut it. Expecting people to pay for costumes or furniture is not going to cut it either.

    Visiting Home should be as natural as using the XMB. At the moment its like some other fairly irritating / boring experience. As Home is meant to be supported by ad revenue, this approach is just wrong. It should be accessible, intimate, personalized. The current implementation isn't any of those things. I do expect things to improve as zones are released, but the current beta is fairly duff. Stop with the sterile open spaces and start making clan lobbies and other interesting stuff. Otherwise Home will bomb hard.

  • BlackKraken #72 3 years ago

    Home will only succeed as a virtual world if everyone in it walks around with giant artificial penises and the economy is entirely based on risque lingerie.

  • Slipstream #73 3 years ago

    Home has looked impressive from the get go. Not a PS3 owner (yet) but I would love to see how these develops. and yeah, the NXE turned out much better than I expected, which is usually a nice surprise if you're not expecting much. =)

  • danodynamo #74 3 years ago

    So finaly picked up a PS3. Rather impressed with it. Not so much for the games but the blu-ray rocks and using it as an extender (like I do with my Xbox 360 ) is bang on. Cannot believe how quiet the thing is! The whole avator thing is a null issue. I have zero interest in them on the Wii or the 360 or this home thing on the PS3. To me games consoles are for playing games ( and the media).

    Both are fantastic pieces of kit. Lovin them both

  • seedaripper #75 3 years ago

    well to all the arseholes saying ' i dont like being sociable/ writing pointless snippets to strangers in an online world' etc...what the fuck are you writing on here for then?? i'm sorry but what a bunch of C U N T S

  • tnt_2008smum #76 3 years ago

    @zero_cool

    could you say that again? its hard to understand you with sonys cock in your mouth!!