PlayStation Home is – if you’ll excuse my Swahili – F!@#ing pointless. Sony’s attempt at replicating Second Life ranks only slightly above Xbox Live Avatars on the list of “completely useless things added to consoles this generation that serve as a great way to fleece consumers of their money.†The biggest problem with Home, aside from the idiots who harass female avatars, is that it’s so disconnected from the rest of the console’s function.
That looks set to change, as Home will be receiving a significant upgrade – Bringing it just that little bit closer to what Sony had envisioned for the service.
The most important new feature in PlayStation home 1.3 is Universal Game Launching. While the game launching feature was available in a few select titles (such as Street Fighter IV, Resistance 2, Far Cry 2 and Motorstorm), it’ll now be available for all PS3 games, meaning you can hook up with friends in Home and start a game without having to exit the application. One major benefit of Xbox Live is that just about everything is integrated into the system and it’s changes like this that bring the free PSN ever closer to Xbox Live’s subscription service. It still doesn’t mean I’ll ever use Home, but it’s nice to know the functionality is there.
You can expect Home 1.3 to be available some time next month.
Aside from a few bug fixes and tweaks, the rest of home’s additions continue the tradition of being largely useless. Read up on those over at the Official PlayStation Blog
Last Updated: August 20, 2009
Bobtons
August 20, 2009 at 16:34
lol Geoff you really hate the PS3 huh?
Geoff
August 20, 2009 at 18:11
Not at all, I think it’s a lovely machine. I rather dislike Home though.
As I said in the article, I think Xbox Live Avatars are even MORE stupid.
Q121
August 21, 2009 at 08:18
My avatar is not stupid….. yours is…… haha
To be dead honest I would love to be able to turn avatars off.
When I show non gamer friends what my xbox can do…. they think its a joke cause I have a lil man there
Ozzy
August 21, 2009 at 09:19
i agree those avatars are the pits. they could have been so much different with well crafted arty avatars but m$ decided to give us everybody golf characters. wasted opportunity.
Goose ZA
August 21, 2009 at 09:45
Maybe you should write to Sony and tell them your ideas about Home revolutionising the adult entertainment industry?
eXp
August 21, 2009 at 09:53
You know you can make them taller, right? :whistle:
Same
August 21, 2009 at 11:06
Hey that “little (wom)man” is an accurate depiction of me 😛 I’m actually for the whole avatar thing. Yes, it’s rather pointless and just so long as you’re not wasting your money on avatar clothes, I guess rather harmless.
But yeah, I was left red faced, when one of my old varsity mates came to play gears with me. He spotted my little dude on the dashboard, and practically pissed himself.