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Home is outdated, says Microsoft exec News
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Robert Purchese
Microsoft bigwig Aaron Greenberg has questioned whether PlayStation Home isn't a bit outdated nowadays.
"What Home to me feels like is Second Life for hardcore gamers. It doesn't feel like it broadens the experience and invites people in," Greenberg told Kotaku.
"When they unveiled it, it seemed innovative. I think what's happened is now here we are a couple of years later and we feel beyond that.
"It feels like 2005 tech in 2008. I'm not sure that's what people want," he said.
Greenberg added that, at least in his mind, there is still a "huge gap" between the quality offered by Xbox Live to that of Home. He swatted away the possibility of an XBL subscription price cut by observing that many are "willing to pay for the premium experience".
Aaron Greenberg's criticism of PlayStation Home comes days after EA founder Trip Hawkins said the service was unsure of its target audience. He argued that following the Second Life route would take Home away from the mass market being captured so successfully by the likes of Nintendo and even Xbox Live Arcade.
The open beta for PlayStation Home kicks off today ahead of a full launch sometime next year. Game clients can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store, and the only charges involved are for micro-transactions when buying some new virtual clothes.
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Poster
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No baiting, but why is Live constantly touted as if its the second coming? I admit I have never used it extensively, but what makes it so much better than PSN?
Genuine question and I would prefer genuine (objective) answers. Also Greenberg, comment on your own shit or keep your mouth closed. No such thing as bad publicity. |
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Moonprince
11/12/08 @ 08:43
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mcbi4kh2 - I'd say Live creates a better sense of community or maybe another way to put that is it creates a community for you and your friends to interact within. The communication tools and options therein are somewhat better also.
Overall though - not a great amount of difference. |
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SleepyMagpie
11/12/08 @ 08:46
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For once I'm actually agreeing with the corporate paid-to-liers - Sony this generation is clueless as to it's target audience.
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It's apparently relevant enough to be concerned about it... Idiot.
Having entered the beta version once or twice, I can see its appeal once it gets more refined. As it is (was?) there's pretty much nothing to do, everyone looks alike and it takes way too long to go from one place to the next. But I like the real life look for the avatars, more attractive than Live avatars (but I should mention I really hate Rare's art style in general, they're not as bad as Tecmo but pretty damn close) though not as charming as the Mii's |
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SleepyMagpie
11/12/08 @ 08:54
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How the heck do you get from Rare's art to Tecmo's? You mean the little player ninjas and whatnots in the lobbies of DOA4?
*grins wryly* |
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BonzoBanana
11/12/08 @ 08:55
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I think Microsoft operate in a reverse way. They launched a console in 2005 with horrendous, truly staggering poor reliability and build quality. Yet only now are 360s appearing with the jasper chipset that have a chance of operating within normal reliability tolerances. Assuming the jasper 360s are reliable that is. Theres something to be said for producing something that is stable and usable and not having to write off huge sums of money in repair costs. I just find it hard to read comments from Microsoft critical of anything while they manufacture products to a unbelievable low standard. I've overclocked my pcs in the past to extremely fast speeds compared to the original specs of the components and those tweaked pcs have been a darn site more reliable than my 360s.
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influenceuk
11/12/08 @ 08:56
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The MS Avatars are not exactly groudbreaking now are they. It seems MS did not have time to rip off the Home idea, so they went for the easier Mii/iTunes route.
And just because they never thought of producing something like it, does not mean its a bad idea, or rubbish! MS need to pull their heads our of their backsides, and see the faults with their system and fix them. Rather than comment on anyone else's content! Then again the same goes for other companies, stop commenting on thing you think are crap, and sort out your own mess first!! |
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will find out later once the beta is up to download, but from what i've seen so far it's an evolution of Secondlife adding elements of facebook. It's far more user friendly then SL and in the long run looks like it will have more to do in the way of the minigames etc.
Facebooks strength shows that comunity networking with little minigames is very popular right and once you get lots of people on board the advertising revenuse can end up insane! It's not going to be an overnight success but Home could evolve into a huge thing. Personal estimate is that it wont get trully big until the PS4 when the PS3's down to PS2 type prices keeping PS3 going well into the PS4 generation. |
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muscleblade
11/12/08 @ 08:58
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"But it is free isn't it. Does that count for anything? "
Not in my book. I dont think its free btw - more like included in the PS3 price. I rather pay for the best service availaible anyway. But thats me of course. Live is way to cheap imo. |
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SleepyMagpie
11/12/08 @ 08:59
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Well, Sony are doing over EQII that way, apparently you can buy your +10 halberd of dorkiness through microtransactions now too, you don't have to camp it out! Previously you could only buy what other players were selling..?
I think that's what I read. Anyone wanna start the bid for Kaz Hirai's polaroids (transferred to UMD's of course) of "the good old days"? |
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squarejawhero
11/12/08 @ 09:00
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...
/thinks Home looks dull /can't believe people take it seriously |
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"How the heck do you get from Rare's art to Tecmo's? You mean the little player ninjas and whatnots in the lobbies of DOA4?"
While completely different they're both (IMO) terrible art styles. Strictly personal of course but they're bland, uninspired, plasticky. Hard to put to words as should be clear by now but I just can't stand the look of them. ;) |
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SleepyMagpie
11/12/08 @ 09:05
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I see Les. Well, in Tecmo's defence, they're following a japanese anime/manga tradition with pretty solid foundations.. Do the big-eyed, pneumatic Tecmo deformees look slightly plasticky and soul-less? Yeah, I'll give you that too.
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squarejawhero
11/12/08 @ 09:05
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Just read on the forums it's not free - premium content like clubhouses cost.
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seasidebaz
11/12/08 @ 09:08
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I WOULD pay for a "premium" service, but I'm not going to. I really can't be bothered to pay to get my demos a week early, especially when they are so unbelievably shit at the moment.
LIVE isn't that much better than PSN. They both allow multiplayer, they are both just as reliable (for me, anyway) and they both allow me to chat with my friends. I agree with the bit about XBLA appealing to the Wii lot though, they both contain far more shovelware and pure shit than I thought possible...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/12/08 @ 09:09
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youhavenomail
11/12/08 @ 09:12
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Wii also seems a bit outdated, but it's giving MS a good kicking. What's his point exactly apart from coming across like the rep of a concenred company?
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Negotiator
11/12/08 @ 09:16
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Once again a MSoft guy tells it like it is, straight talking, no bullshit, love it.
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the_dudefather
11/12/08 @ 09:20
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'You fight like a dairy farmer' a Sony exec was quoted as saying this morning
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"I see Les. Well, in Tecmo's defence, they're following a japanese anime/manga tradition with pretty solid foundations."
True, but as long as it's not about robots, the anime/manga tradition (which I love) in general doesn't go too well with shiny next gen graphics IMO. Valkyria Chronicles is one of the few Japanese art style HD games that actually looks nice as far as I'm concerned (the Sailor Moon/Candy-type aesthetics of Eternal Sonata upset my stomach as well). Guess I just have a peculiar taste. But in general I'm of the opinion that the better the graphics become technology-wise, the less inspired and successful the art becomes. |
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But it is free isn't it. Does that count for anything?
It counts for everything. Personally, I don't see anything about Live that justifies paying a monthly fee and I think that the Playstation people have gotten the better end of the stick with PSN purely because of this. Furthermore, Home actually seems like a product it would make sense paying for. |
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I know everyone touts Live as the 2nd coming of online gaming. However have people ever wondered why both Niny and Sony were behing MS in adopting online gaming?
Japan as a society as far as i am aware dont really care about online gaming. MS are a software company and Sony are a hardware company and this is shown in the failure rate of the consoles and sales of games imo. However in 2 years Sony have done alot with there online model and even if you dont agree have to be applauded for actually caring unlike Nintendo. |
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SleepyMagpie
11/12/08 @ 09:35
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@Les: I LOVE manga/anime too, but you have to choose your choice parts indeed!
I absolutely love everything about Valkyria Chronicles, playing it now, and savouring it! And yes, even though I do like the game a bit, Eternal Sonata is a wee bit saccharine and twee. ^^ Well, anyhow, Home outdated or not - the GAMES are where is at, is what I say. |
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muscleblade
11/12/08 @ 09:39
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@Roamer
"Personally, I don't see anything about Live that justifies paying a monthly fee" Of course you dont - you dont own a 360. Idiot. |
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Anyone care to jump in with why Live is worth the cash as asked earlier? I had Live on my old Xbox so would appreciate an insight from someone who has Live360 and loves it. As far as I can see nowadays, the advantages are 1) cross game invites, 2) cross game chatting. To me 1) doesn't sound all that to get excited about where 2) sounds like a really good innovation and one I'd like to see on PS3.
I don't think there is the gulf in quality as there is perceived to be. |
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