C'MOOOON!

Written by: Kapow

Who the fuck are the designers behind Home? Really. I thought I already went through this shit when it was "snowing" in the Central Plaza. WHY are there very strong shadows and WHY is there bright sunlight reflecting off the ground???? I'll give them one thing, at least when you're looking up at the sky it looks like it's supposed to be raining (with dark clouds and what not). But that makes it even worse! Why bother filling up the sky with dark rain clouds, where the sun is literally not visible AT ALL, and still have these strong shadows and bright lighting? And yea, i know, there are shadows even when it's overcast outside, but these shadows are fucking dark, very visible shadows.

Not to mention the rain just looks like someone is holding their thumb over the end of a water hose and spraying it up in the air, where you get these huge drops plopping down onto the earth. And it doesn't even rain throughout the entire CP! If you go near the Yoda fountain, not even down the steps, just near it, and the rain suddenly stops. AND ANOTHER THING! The ambiance...WHAT THE FUCK?! Is all i can think of. Birds are still chirping like it's 4th of fucking July but wait, there's this loud, obnoxious...sound. I don't even know what to call it. Just..well, it sounds like a Really loud heater, like someone just turned the heat or AC on, and it sounds like your ear is right on top of the fucking vent. That's the best I can describe it. Well, no I can do better, how about, FUCKING LOUD ASS, UNNECESSARY, ANNOYING NOISE! Now, some of you might not be able to hear this ear rape that is going on in the CP if your TV's volume is low, but if you turn it up a little, you'll hear it. Hell, even if you leave your volume low, if you listen carefully, you can still hear it. I don't know if they where trying to make it sound like thunder oorr..I don't know. I really don't know. But obviously they couldn't even be bothered to add in a simple rain sound loop. C'MON!

And I won't bother adding in pictures or anything, just go into Home and into the Central Plaza and see and hear for yourself.

That's another thing, the load time for booting into Home. You think it's faster? Well I'm gunna lay some learnin' on you later today.

The State of Home? The Opinions of Home!

Jack Buser, the director of Home recently made a blog post, which we've covered here. I'd like to take this moment to highlight some of our favorite comments:

What I would like to know is when do we get the trophy room that was shown so long ago?

I’ve been buying Personal spaces this past week. IDK why, but it attracted me to be on PSHome more. Thanks guys, now I’m addicted :)

Jack Buser replied on February 22, 2010 at 1:57 pm:

Happy to hear it Jetup. We’re glad to have you with us! [editor's note: I'm sure you are glad to have someone funding your pockets.]

Lively conversation on the forums?

Hate to say it, but that just shows how out of touch you guys are. Have you REALLY been to the forums? People with opinions are driven out by your trolling HCVs, or shut down by Lithium staff. It’s “heavily controlled” conversation, not lively in any sense of the word. You can’t hear us, because we are moderated beyond belief. Some things we need to be respectfully frank about, but it just gets shoved to the side.

I’m curious Mr. Jack exactly what it is we have to look forward to? We’re constantly told for months on end “wait and something good will come,” and all we get are ridiculous dance offs and broken games. I’d like to know WHAT it is I’m looking forward to. I understand the gaming industry is packed with secrets, intellectual property rights, and non-disclosure agreements. But would it kill you to let us know what the status of the core update? Or when we can expect to not wait 10-30 minutes for bootup?

As for the “games” most are completely terrible. I wouldn’t use this as a bragging right. When they function, which is rare, most times the game is simply just duller then dirt.

My apologies for being brutally honest, but I’ve sunk HUNDRES of dollars into home, and it honestly hasn’t been worth it yet.

I don’t really care about new features, but please, PLEASE make sure you fix Home stability, load times when starting up, when using the wardrobe, loading new spaces, etc. Increasing the cache size feels useless right now so I reduced it back to 3gb and funnily enough, Home is now faster but can still use improvement.

Oh and let’s not forget the Central Plaza glitch which has been going on around the time 1.30 released.

Did Jack actually use the words “a renewed focos on OPEN DIALOGUE”?!!!

When have you ever focused on open dialogue?

You removed voice chat from HOME, and then HEAVILY censored the crummy little voice chat you left us with.

You never respond to comments or participate on the blog (other than to post advertisements for crap that nobody ever requested).

The state of HOME is a sorry one yet you’d paint it otherwise? No mention of how buggy it is? This program crashes my PS3 constantly like nothing else! That kind of stuff doesn’t slide with other PS3 software and it sure shouldn’t with HOME. Who developed this thing anyway? I can’t imagine it was any real game developer as Sony studios alone have put out many great games on the PS3 with open worlds and minimal loading, yet HOME is a bunch of tiny rooms and still chugs. Is it running off of only 1 SPU or something? I try to enjoy it for what it is but it fights me tooth and nail every step of the way. The long loading, extreme slowdown and crashing needs to go. Then you can get back to selling non-existant things that are now costing as much as actual games (for example LocoRoco apartment and LocoRoco Cocoreccho share the same price).

Yeah please focus on a few updates that would improve the functionality of Home. We don’t need new spaces and costumes every update when you cannot go from space to space without a loading screen or downloading the space over and over again.

I have been a daily user of Home for almost a year, And a some what daily poster on the forums. This is the first time upper management has even stepped up to give us some feedback. I may be wrong, But it’s the first iv’e seen.

Unfortunately, almost every independent ps3 based project I’ve seen Sony put out has been filled with potential but lacking in execution and PS Home is no exception. I believe the developers working for you are somewhat short-sighted.

Wow Home is the longest BETA ever and seems to be getting very boring to use…

WILL HOME EVER COME OUT OF BETA?

LOADING TAKES FOREVER, IT TAKES LIKE 10MIN FROM THE MOMENT YOU PRESS X TO START TO THE MOMENT YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR CHARACTER.

Home lacks focus and as a result I have always felt awkward when using it.

I deleted Home long ago. i did it to get my 3GB back and because it had no appeal for me. I want DA GAMES!!! thats why i bought a PS3 early, only to get short changed in the memory dept. Believe me, if i had the HD space id glady stroll around Home a little, but a transfer at this point is a hassle and of course $$$$$$

Its been quite a while since the open beta started. Is Home ever going to stop being a beta?

Hm, how do I respond to something like this.. Well, more power to you and home.. Personally, I know everyone looks at me as a complainer, but sorry, I’m just trying to watch out for other people and I posted in the TRASHED ASS lithium forums my concerns on false advertising and paying for items you never get, but Lithium doesn’t appreciate comments like that. I’ll be glad when the day comes when Sony does their own forums, and ditches 3rd party forum idiots who don’t know what they are doing, other then destroying Sony’s Rep. But other then that, I enjoy home and I use it a lot, and I will continue to support home as much as I can, even though there are several issues in home that need to be addressed, like unstable connections, lag, and not to mention one of the biggest problems which is the favoritism among home mangers and certain users of the forums.

PS. People asking for TV’s and music, you might as well forget it, I personally don’t ever see that happening.. I mean look at the constant F13’s, the lag, network errors. No, this will never happen. I mean heck go to Mui Mui boat, see how long you can stay there before you crash.. or better yet how long it takes you to leave!

Here’s to homes future!

@ mr. jack buser

maybe you’ll answer me about what happened to the wizards den? the rest of your team won’t…

LMFAO @ Home. The first time I tried it, I got some weird Hard Drive error after home installed. Uninstalled it right away and after that I never touched it.

YAWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

HUGE waste of MILLIONS of development dollars. Not ONE of my PSN friends use home. EVER

There’s no point in asking any further qustions…Jack has already fulfilled his “Look at me listen” quota.

Now he’s back to ignoring the hell out of the PS3 community.

epic.

PS Home update, 2/18

Written by: Kapow

There seems to be a Lot of stuff coming in tomorrows update, of course, that's what I said last week too.

Anyways, here's a summary of what's to come in tomorrow's update:

• LocoRoco Public Space/ Cruise boat thing.

• MotorStorm Public Space (complete with an arcade game, "quests" and MotorStorm merch. this space looks to be the one everyone thought was going to be the big personal space with the stage and turntables and such. Nope, public space people.)

• LocoRoco Personal Space (I'm assuming it's the one from Japan. Yes, you did hear us correctly on that one. Good job.)

• "PlanetLand" Personal Space (yes, Planet...Land.)

• Starting tomorrow, February 18th, you can watch each episode of The Tester every week until season 1 ends. (Which, I guess, implies there's going to be a season 2.) Also pick up some, The Tester, virtual item each week, found in the theater and Central Plaza. Oh, and you watch it in the mall..that's right, the mall.

• Some new, but not really new, stores in the mall. Including: Lockwood Publishing, Loot, EA, (here's the new one) and Lucas Arts.

• Remember those flying saucer alien things? well they're back. Along with some Android things. It appears to be similar to Hamsters vs Humans dance off.

• And lastly, EA will be hosting an NHL 10 game launching event in the Central Plaza. The dummy accounts have Dev in the name so I will assume they will actually be some developers from the game.

No, but seriously, they named it Planet Land. Planet.Land. What?? What does that even mean, a land. . .filled with planets? Or space? Did they mean space? Like, that's what a Planet Land would be, fucking Space. Outer space. *SIGH*........make.believe..

PlanetLand!!

Click for more details on tomorrows update.

Breaking News

Written by: Kapow

All the bird crap and most of the clouds have cleared from the Central Plaza, now making your shadow semi-believable again. They've also replaced "set.dressing1" with a game called make.believe. I don't really know much about it yet.
Also, if you were looking forward getting your picture taken in the photo booth located in the mall, don't bother. Much like everything else, you have to wait in line. Which sucks even more when everyone in the entire space is trying to get their picture taken. The event lasts 4 days, so good luck.



[Update] It appears that not everyone gets the same clues in the make.believe game. My clue happened to be "5 easy pieces".

Personal Observation

I'm unsure if other folks do this as well, but I won't use Home with my TV unmuted. The sounds of the menu are irritating, the music anywhere you go is usually a 10 second looping clip, or a really horrible song. It makes me want to swing a chain into my face and knock myself out. If the Central Plaza music is annoying, why not escape to Scorpios @ Sodium One and listen to that horrid loop for an hour. Although after hanging out at Sodium, it will be a welcome relief from listening to Vickie's 5 different helpful hints. I want to take a powerdrill to that bitches' face. I remember once I went into my wardrobe at the same time a Vickie clip played. I'm unsure if it was related, but Home crashed. But not a normal freeze up we've come to adore. It somehow got the audio clup on loop. So here I am, waiting to see if eventually my wardrobe will open, and all I'm getting is

Make sure to stop by Scorpios and make your friends our most refreshing drinks!
Make sure to stop by Scorpios and make your friends our most refreshing drinks!
Make sure to stop by Scorpios and make your friends our most refreshing drinks!
Make sure to stop by Scorpios and make your friends our most refreshing drinks!
Make sure to stop by Scorpios and make your friends our most refreshing drinks!
Make sure to stop by Scorpios and make your friends our most refreshing drinks!

Shortly after backing my car over my PS3 it occurred to me, there are no normal sounds in Home. No footsteps, no laughter when your avatar laughs, no clapping when they clap. Hell, I'd settle for a quick avatar fart then the ear raping music at Singstar.

I hate the audio at home. I wish there was an audio clip of vickie saying "Do your part for health and safety, mute your television before you go into vomiting seizures"

Central Plaza Laziness

Written by: Kapow

Has anyone ever noticed that, even though there are gray clouds covering the whole sky in the Central Plaza, there are still shadows everywhere? (Also, if you angle your camera looking up to the sky while a fully UN-loaded avatar is in front of your camera, you can see through the clouds.)






How about the blinding reflection of sun light off the tiles that wrap around the Central Plaza?
Or the fact that it only snows when you stop moving?



And what the fuck is with the big piles of bird shit everywhere?
Yea, i know it's supposed to be piles of snow, but if that's what they're supposed to be, why are they completely flat and have a green tint? And if it is cold enough for snow to stick to the ground throughout the Central Plaza:

1. Why does the snow disappear 6ft before it hits the ground?
2. Why is there not even the slightest bit of frost on any of the water?

Now, some might say that it's simply asking to much from the Home developers and some might say it's just plain laziness. Well if they are this lazy, I guess it would be asking a lot of them, huh.

(and I didn't even mention the countless glitches that have been around since the closed beta)

Sometimes there's Justice!

Once in a while, something good will come of a Home malfunction. Such as the music located on the stage in Central Plaza halting. The list will build and build, but I've yet to see it get fixed without jumping to another instance of Central Plaza.

Now if there was only a way to mute that damn Legion trailer that plays OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER. I have never wanted an old lady to kick the bucket so badly.

Home's Terrible Support. How bad is it? 10 unanswered posts.

I decided I was going to go on an adventure to the PlayStation®Home Support. See if I could dig through there and find some answers to WHY things don't get accomplished. I decided to pick 10 different support posts that should have been answered, that have not. This is what I found: (all references to pages are pages by the default settings)

First is this post, 6th Lure Is Broken!!! (When will this be fixed): At this point the topic is a little more then 28 hours old and two pages.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Secondly this post, user from quebec redirect to european server: Currently this post is four days old, the person posting claims that the issue had been going on since Thursday the 7th. Three pages.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Third, How do I get missing ITEMS?: As of this point, this post is a week old. 2 pages long. The person posting it even says:

First, since SONY has like NO CUSTOMER SERVICE at for home, and PM's GO UNANSWERED how do you get items you are missing?

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

I decided to stop picking on the new posts. I mean, a week isn't forever. I went back through the pages to page five. Surely things here had to be answered. Unanswered post four, Central Plaza FREEZES,,,needs Maintenance!!!: This post was posted 1 month 6 days ago.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Page 6 of the forum, post number five, Why does my Ghostbusters StayPuft shirt look all screwed up?: posted 11 days ago

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Page 13 had this gem, number six in my count, MAKES ME SICK!: posted 18 days ago.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Page 13 also had this post, number seven, Why is it I have yet to get support for my missing paid item?: posted 2 months ago. 3 pages long. To quote:

I've called Sony Support 3 times since Home's 1.32 update and they told me that they can not refund my money for my missing "Female Do-rag". They told me that I have to contact the Home Managers or the Home Moderators to either get my money back or to restore my missing item. I've PM Locust Star 2 times and I've PM Cydonia and Glasswalls at least once. I've even sent an email through the support form and not one person from Sony replied to my problem. What the hell kind of support is this company is running. I haven't even got a reply that someone is going to look into my problem. It seems that the people who run home can only ban people from home or provide service that will line their pockets with more money. I'm very disappointed in the service from this company it makes me not want to purchase anything from the Playstation network anymore seeing how they can not provide technical support for my purchased products from the service.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Number 8, from page 15, Over-moderation (Directed at forum staff): This was actually replied to. It was given a half assed reply. (The admin asks that if your post is deleted to take it up with the mod who deleted it. How is that possible of THE POST IS MISSING? Astounding.)

LAME RESPONSE FROM STAFF

Page 16, unanswered post number nine, I DID NOT GET THE TURKEY STATUE, CP lag crashed me!!! HELP : Posted 21 days ago.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

And finally #10, Lost and Found!: This post is for support for missing or broken items. It is six pages long. It has been going for two months. It is full of tons of folks who paid for things they didn't receive or that don't work.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Tune in later as I continue to expose the support forums lack of support, and the lame duck job that the home team is doing.

Roll out the welcome wagon!

I just started this and the complaints are already coming. According to tips passed along, a handful of people witnessed a HCV (Home Community Volunteer) ignore and mock a newbie, then proceeded to take pictures with his friends. Name of ChronosViper. This is one of the things I stated in my blog opening. Members of the home leadership aren't doing their job. According to source ChronosViper was wearing his "Home Guide" shirt and chatting with his friends. The newbie approached asking how to get back to the Central Plaza. He was laughed at and ignored, as ChronosViper and his friends went into the Sodium One lounge where he could not follow. Passerbys eventually helped the newbie return to the central plaza.