New multiplayer game launches in Home

By Ellie Gibson Published 17 December, 2009

Sodium One to encourage social interaction.

Sony has launched Sodium One, a new multiplayer online game space, in PlayStation Home.

Having accessed Sodium One from the World map, you'll be "transported to a futuristic, action-packed social gaming environment". Here interstellar travel, galactic colonisation, inexhaustible energy and advanced AI are par for the course, along with the ability to travel between quantum realities, apparently.

Your first mission is to check in with AI character Vickie. Then it's a matter of battling through multiplayer levels, earning rewards and credits to redeem within the game. Expect "objective-based meta-games, full arcade-style games and community events".

The first section of the game, titled Salt Shooter, sees you using tanks to hunt down self-replacing robots. The first five levels are free but extra levels and virtual items can be purchased, with prices ranging from €0.99 to €4.99.

If you'd rather just hang out there's the Sodium Hub, where you can "become a bartender and serve virtual drinks to friends". You can also customise your Home avatar with Sodium One gear.

"As we pass the one year anniversary of PlayStation Home, it is clear that the platform has evolved beyond recognition," said Sony marketing man Darren Cairns.

"Sodium One not only leverages the power of PS3 to deliver a truly unique, and visually stunning gaming experience, but is also a perfect example of how social interaction and gaming can combine in a way that cannot be replicated on any other platform."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • xentar #1 2 years ago

    heh, is this really a reason t instal Home? Not for me I am affraid. Not with Monsters vs Pets running great on my laptop :)

  • PrivateJoker #2 2 years ago

    I think Sony are heading in the right direction with Home now. Adding online gaming worlds and rooms with game areas has been an excellent idea. I know it's not to everyone's tastes but it's certainly unique (in console gaming) and applaudable.

  • noobjob #3 2 years ago

    "but is also a perfect example of how social interaction and gaming can combine in a way that cannot be replicated on any other platform"
    except a pc of course lol.........

  • Pedrolot #4 2 years ago

    Yeah, things are looking up for Home. I still have it installed and wonder on afew times a year to see whats new. It's usually packed.

    Id like to know when it shakes off the Beta stage though??

  • doulema #5 2 years ago

    If home wasn't a microtransaction money sucker which also sucks on top of it since everything costs in there then I might as well be interested in their shit. For now it stays a cheap ass Second Life copy without the good bits. Virtual sex.

    If they cared for interaction of gamers /games and not promoting just the PS3 they would manage to give basics just like conference and calls in all games when PS3 cant do that. I don't think I rather log out of my game, go in Home , hang out & make calls.. We do have a life out of gaming. Thats why Sony fails to implement the basics already offered from competitors.

  • Gurgeh #6 2 years ago

    "Id like to know when it shakes off the Beta stage though?? "

    When they start charging for their online services

    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/sony-dis cusses-monthly-online-fees_3
    ]http://ww w.eurogamer.net/articles/sony-d...[/link]

  • Arwin #7 2 years ago

    "If home wasn't a microtransaction money sucker"

    Yeah, you're clearly a Home expert. I've got tonnes of stuff, none of which I payed for. The only purchaseable item I own is an apartment and some decorations that I got for free back when Home wasn't a public beta yet. By far the majority of stuff in Home is free and hardly anything costs any money.

  • elephant_stone #8 2 years ago

    Is this another SCEA exclusive?

  • Murton #9 2 years ago

    elephant_stone: HOME is available in Europe but there are huge differences in the level of content. It seems that just about every major games release gets a dedicated HOME space in the US for launch but in Europe we get little and what we do get we tend to get a little later than the Americans do. It has improved a lot since the beginning but I'd wager there will always be content that is exclusive to America on the PS3, the sad truth is that the games industry still sees Europe as something of a risk compared to the American and Japanese markets.

  • chubster2010 #10 2 years ago

    Looks promising. Good see Home taking another baby step forward.

  • Ryze #11 2 years ago

    Lots of loading, downloading, updating and waiting involved, with a crap game tacked on, then?

  • freakzilla #12 2 years ago

    What HOME should've looked like. I'm not too hopeful, the load times are jsut mind boggling.

  • toy_brain #13 2 years ago

    Well I tried it (seriously, am I the only one in this comments thread that actually TRIED the damn game?), and its not bad.
    For a game that launches and runs within the Home engine it runs very smoothly. It's also nice and responsive, simple to understand, perhaps a tad basic (but I've only played the first 4 levels so perhaps things change up later in the payed content) and with a nice little upgrade hook to get you thinking "oooh, I wonder what other cool stuff I could tack onto my hovercraft-thingy in the full version".

    The game space seems a little sparsely-populated right now, but its not like Sony bothered their arses to advertise it AT ALL, so there is a chance things could pick up.

    I havent had a decent reason to visit Home since Xi ran its course, perhaps this will be it....

  • chubster2010 #14 2 years ago

    Nice little game...plays like a cross between Geometry Wars, Mech Warrior and Star Fox.... Good stuff.

    A great little addition to Home.

  • Bennicus #15 2 years ago

    You guys who tried it, how was the "serving virtual drinks to friends" bit? Can you also serve virtual drinks to NPCs if all your friends are off playing MW2, and in fact don't even own PS3s?

  • FogHeart #16 2 years ago

    A virtual drink. The last thing I want to see when I want to get virtually drunk.

  • bing #17 2 years ago

    @ Arwin

    Yeah, you're clearly a Home expert. I've got tonnes of stuff, none of which I payed for. The only purchaseable item I own is an apartment and some decorations that I got for free back when Home wasn't a public beta yet. By far the majority of stuff in Home is free and hardly anything costs any money.

    You paid real money for a virtual home in a game, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

  • kimchibaka #18 2 years ago

    I use my PS3 daily, but have zero interest in Home after the 'limited public beta' in Europe. It seemed to offer little, and actually offered even less - (wanna play bowling? Stand here in a queue and watch the guy avatars try to hit on the 'girls' ad infinitum until you never get in to a game, then go quit and actually PLAY something).

    Have they actually delivered anything worth even booting up the damn thing yet? They've been talking Home since, what, 2007? Is it even worth loading??

  • Slipstream #19 2 years ago

    Wahh! Sony should remind more people why we even installed it to our X-Media bar to begin with...it just seems so bothersome, namely due to god awful loading/connection phase. A shame really because on paper the whole idea was sound.
    Which reminds me that this project was still in its beta stage when I last checked like, a month ago.

  • chubster2010 #20 2 years ago

    + 1 for " I've got tonnes of stuff, none of which I payed for."

    Yes, you can spend a lot of money on little nic-naks in Home if you want, but there's loads of freebe's. I've not spent a single penny in it.

    @ Kim....

    re 'Have they actually delivered anything worth even booting up the damn thing yet? '

    Have you actually booted it up to find out? No? Well...you can't really complain too much then can you!
    Edited by 1 at 18/12/09 @ 10:34

  • jefranklin18 #21 2 years ago

    Does sounds as if it will be interesting and its good to see Home getting more content. Will have to give it a try over Xmas.

    Wonder how many people will dress their avatars in Star Trek costumes?