Sony: Home's Coming In 2008, Promise

[wraggster]

Home's been with us as a concept for quite some time now. Since early 2007, actually. And here we are, in August 2008, and it's still not out. Will it ever come out? Yes. Will it be out this year? If you'd have asked us that last week, we'd honestly have said "eh, probably not", but now, the prognosis is a little more up-beat. Martijn Van der Meulen, a member of Home's development team, has told IGN "it is a 100 percent guarantee that Home will be released by the end of this calendar year". 100%? Dude seems pretty certain. There's no wiggle room in 100%.

http://kotaku.com/5041182/sony-homes-coming-in-2008-promise

[F9zDark]

Yeah right. Sony cannot even get the ****ing beta done properly. 1 post wonders at the Official Boards get in the beta sooner than people who have been part of the underground since 2004...

Sure this will really launch any time soon...

[DPyro]

October is when the beta is suppose to be open to the public.

[Accordion]

Yeah right. Sony cannot even get the ****ing beta done properly. 1 post wonders at the Official Boards get in the beta sooner than people who have been part of the underground since 2004...

Sure this will really launch any time soon...

The Beta needs a wide range of different people to test its limits.
Uncommon users do uncommon things.

Meanwhile my sculpture attempts fail due to Home spaces being refitted upon entry, live physics both blessing and curse…

[My Home preview is coming…ive just been too busy to spend much time on the PS3]

[F9zDark]

The Beta needs a wide range of different people to test its limits.
Uncommon users do uncommon things.

Meanwhile my sculpture attempts fail due to Home spaces being refitted upon entry, live physics both blessing and curse…

[My Home preview is coming…ive just been too busy to spend much time on the PS3]

You're right, but considering that the vast majority of beta testers to date have been newbs to Sony's site (they sent out GAP invites the same day they sent out beta invites to people who hadn't been part of the underground for more than a week and who had 0 posts on the forums).

I have brought up this point many times on the official boards and those lucky few who were actually veterans of Sony's underground and GAP agreed with me: those that haven't shown their loyalty AREN'T loyal whatsoever and partake in the beta for a few days and drop it entirely.

You'd think Sony would have learned something when they'd see the Home beta servers dead for months on end and then when an update came out it'd be teeming for a day or two and then once again, dead.

Yeah, Sony needs many people from varying walks of life; but even members of the Beta from day one thought it was appalling that 90% of the new beta testers never once spent a moment on the official forums, nor were part of the Underground when Home was first announced...

[DPyro]

The beta invites are the same as the GAP invite, ie. completely random. I was lucky to get into GAP after 2 years of being in the Underground.

[F9zDark]

The beta invites are the same as the GAP invite, ie. completely random. I was lucky to get into GAP after 2 years of being in the Underground.

Then how is GAP important? How does that make GAP members any more important than other members? Gamer Advisory Panel shouldn't only consist of those who are CONFIRMED gamers by Sony; not some schmuck who just joined the underground. By this I mean the following requisites should be met:

-Registered owner of more than 1 Sony console
-Registered member of the Underground for more than 1 year
-Registered member of the forums with 100+ posts

I have beta tested a few MMOs in my day, and precedence has always been given to those that have SHOWN AN INTEREST (ie been part of the community long before the game was going live).

Said loyalty bought me a ticket to a private "rehearsal" for Uru Live (when it existed) as well as an invitation to the Closed Beta and Open beta.

My point is that, advisers aren't any good if they have no grasp for the material they are asked to advise on...

[jamotto]

My point is that, advisers aren't any good if they have no grasp for the material they are asked to advise on...

This is exactly who Sony is looking for though, they want people who are inexperienced and new to the whole MMO system.

[F9zDark]

This is exactly who Sony is looking for though, they want people who are inexperienced and new to the whole MMO system.

The thing is, my point wasn't entirely related to MMOs; in fact I only used MMOs because that's the extent of my Beta experience.

The point I was trying to make, and considering the obvious failure of Home's last year of beta testing, is that Sony didn't choose people who ARE qualified for the job; in fact it seems that Sony purposely tried getting people who are totally UNQUALIFIED for it.

Given that, probably, the vast majority of PS3 owners ARE PS2 owners there is no chance that "random" selection would have managed to choose all the people that JUST got onto the Sony Playstation bandwagon (which indicates that they probably didn't have a PS2, since Underground membership came standard with the PS2 network setup disc).

[jamotto]

The point I was trying to make, and considering the obvious failure of Home's last year of beta testing, is that Sony didn't choose people who ARE qualified for the job; in fact it seems that Sony purposely tried getting people who are totally UNQUALIFIED for it.

Given that, probably, the vast majority of PS3 owners ARE PS2 owners there is no chance that "random" selection would have managed to choose all the people that JUST got onto the Sony Playstation bandwagon (which indicates that they probably didn't have a PS2, since Underground membership came standard with the PS2 network setup disc).

Exactly! Sony does not want those people who have been with the Playstation brand since the beginning. Home is not for keeping people who are currently loyal to the Playstation brand to stay that way. Home is for people who have either not had a Playstation at all or are very new to the Playstation brand and thus on the wall about the brand name.

Ok, another way of thinking of what Home is. Exclusive games used to be used to bring new people from other consoles to the Playstation. The age of exclusive games in nearly over, Sony NEEDS to find something to take their place, Home is the new age exclusive. Having people who have been gaming on the playstation all their life as beta testers will not answer their question of what is needed to bring new people over to the Playstation brand.

[pibs]

Private Betas are usually a joke anyways, they should release it as a public beta and have the community build the experience from there.

If Sony is really trying to get people that have no clue what Home is to participate in the beta, then they are complete idiots! why? because those people could careless and will not report bugs, improvements, etc..... and what we are left with is a unpolished piece of turd.

Anyways I really hope it comes out in 08 either way so we can judge the final thing.

[Ultima Chocochu]

It's been announced for 08' quite some time, so I don't see why it won't(well I do actually, but I am quite sure they will release it this year).
And I must add to that, Sony is giving you this for free, and trying to make it so it doesn't screw something up on your PS3, and since it's free...Why complain?

[Accordion]

Then how is GAP important? How does that make GAP members any more important than other members? Gamer Advisory Panel shouldn't only consist of those who are CONFIRMED gamers by Sony; not some schmuck who just joined the underground. By this I mean the following requisites should be met:

-Registered owner of more than 1 Sony console
-Registered member of the Underground for more than 1 year
-Registered member of the forums with 100+ posts

I have beta tested a few MMOs in my day, and precedence has always been given to those that have SHOWN AN INTEREST (ie been part of the community long before the game was going live).

Said loyalty bought me a ticket to a private "rehearsal" for Uru Live (when it existed) as well as an invitation to the Closed Beta and Open beta.

My point is that, advisers aren't any good if they have no grasp for the material they are asked to advise on...

Now now, stop being so bitter.

Why is it so important that a user fills empty criteria?
A PS3 user is a PS3 user, simple as. No more.
Perhaps bitter fanboy's are not who SCE is looking for

Home is for PS3 users, Home is not for a dedicated, loyal few, it is for everyone. That must factor into the beta process.

Home is quite a large step above its peers graphically, i would think that developing the infrastructure behind the app is a very large job. Filling the servers with independents is no bad idea.

[F9zDark]

Exactly! Sony does not want those people who have been with the Playstation brand since the beginning. Home is not for keeping people who are currently loyal to the Playstation brand to stay that way. Home is for people who have either not had a Playstation at all or are very new to the Playstation brand and thus on the wall about the brand name.

Ok, another way of thinking of what Home is. Exclusive games used to be used to bring new people from other consoles to the Playstation. The age of exclusive games in nearly over, Sony NEEDS to find something to take their place, Home is the new age exclusive. Having people who have been gaming on the playstation all their life as beta testers will not answer their question of what is needed to bring new people over to the Playstation brand.

Problem is, betas just as often turn people off to a game/service/etc as they do get people to jump on.

Sony would be stupid to pick all the people who JUST got a PS3 because these are the people they want to IMPRESS with a well tailored finished product...

A loyal customer is far more willing to test properly, know what to look for (perhaps from past beta tests) and be willing to accept its beta issues as it "being beta" and know that these problems will be fixed.


Now now, stop being so bitter.

Why is it so important that a user fills empty criteria?
A PS3 user is a PS3 user, simple as. No more.
Perhaps bitter fanboy's are not who SCE is looking for

Home is for PS3 users, Home is not for a dedicated, loyal few, it is for everyone. That must factor into the beta process.

Home is quite a large step above its peers graphically, i would think that developing the infrastructure behind the app is a very large job. Filling the servers with independents is no bad idea.

My problem is, that for the past year, Home beta testers have shared non-NDA breaking information on the forums, and basically what it surmised to was the fact that NO ONE tested the ****ing thing.

That's why it isn't finished; unqualified people were too happy about "I got into the Home beta!!!111" rather than actually doing their damn job.

MMOs usually don't invite beta participants who haven't been part of the community or have an impressive beta track record. If Sony followed the same simple guidelines we'd all be in Home by now.

I am also bitter of the fact that people are willy nilly invited into GAP with little, to nothing warranting said invitation.

If Hugh Hefner picked any girl off the street to pose in Playboy, would being a Playboy bunny be as prestigious as it is?