Kotaku
While Home for the PlayStation 3 may have generated plenty of buzz for Sony at last year's Game Developers Conference, its late arrival and the setting in of reality may have made it put a damper on the hype surrounding the service. We've had our doubts that Home may ultimately be nothing more than a prettier Second Life, a glorified 3D chat room, one that only makes getting to the games we actually want to play a bit of a chore. But we've recently learned some very interesting things about how three first-party published games will take advantage of Home's features that have us very excited.
One of the first games expected to shine in one of Home's series of game portals is Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man. Resistance is said to provide Home visitors with an interesting room to explore, one that will let PlayStation 3 owners visit unseen areas of the game and tap into bonus content in the form of "intercepted" radio communications between European and U.S. forces.
These hidden transmissions will help to flesh out the Resistance story, giving players a better understanding of the game's conflict. We hear that Home avatars will have free roam of unpopulated levels, not unlike a virtual Resistance museum.
As interesting as these plans are to Resistance fans like us, they're not as impressive as what we've heard about what Home in store for Warhawk and Uncharted. Stay tuned.
Comments
Cliffhanger!
Home is the only force that can get me to buy a PS3.
Oh man, now I'm excited. Though way to leave us hanging with the "but that's nothing..." bit at the end there. Don't worry. I'm tuned.
Well, that's nice indeed...
uhh cool?
dun Dun DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN(etiger)
Wow... This coupled with that MGS4 bundle.. I need to get a PS3.
Yeah, this is cool... BUT GIVE IT TO ME ALREADY!!!! PLEASE! AND HURRY! Any news on a date yet?
McWhertor, do you know that you're supposedly able to watch videos (and listen to music, watch photos, etc) of the person's appartment when you're inside? I'd say it's more than a "chat room."
Interesting , yet I reckon they could think of a few more things. Hopefully the trophies (if there is any for Resistance) can somehow integrate into it's online play. Like an item of clothing or a medal.
you have a show room for your warhawk? Annnnd you can put any of the secret items u found in uncharted around ur home space.
Colour me unimpressed with the prospect of finishing a game and then having to wait over a year for the release of another piece of software (not a sequel) to understand the story.
I'm still hoping that they will follow through with the feature that would allow you to join a game from Home. Get all your friends together in Home, then decide what game to play.
Leave it to Insomniac to make the best utilization of it though. They really go the extra mile.
Damnit, Now I'll have to go buy Resistance and Uncharted! Stupid FPS and that PS3 controller!
ok, if home manages to add replay value to previous titles like resistance, warhawk, and my precious, precious uncharted, im quickly growing to like it.
Yeah i had my concerns too but that is actually a good effing idea.
@Torgen thinks AAA means "Costs $60": did you even play resistance? it wasnt mulholland drive, man.
I'm glad that Home was delayed then. Hell if they can work our the kinks and give me a good product, I'll take it.
I still say we should get ready for Mystery Porn Theater 3000 (now with vibration).
New machinima indeed.
Eventualy everyone will accept me as the shining light that leads the way.
NOW everyone must buy a PS3 for it is the future and the 360 is the past, i hope we all agree, yes, good!
Sony, stop focusing on Killzone and feed us Resistance... Everyone likes Resistance more than Killzone anyways.
@slomo788: Oh, I know. I am aware!</costanza>
@TriFF51: A showroom for a Warhawk or Nemesis would be great! Or a little RC Warhawk that you can fly around in the open areas?
Something related to the PS3 is worth a crap? Oh boy, MGS4! Awww..tricked again. Soon....soon...
@Torgen thinks AAA means "Costs $60": uh...alrighty then. Story seemed pretty straight forward. I thought the Home content was just additional details to "flesh out" the story...
---------------------------------------------------
anyways, I'm all over it. I'm going Home for sure.
@Aex: Personally I use the Splitfish for it. No sixasses for me
@Part-Time-Viking: ...but they haven't fed us any Killzone 2 at all since before the holiday season. Neo-Cyber Punk Nazis!!!! How can you go wrong with...
Nevermind.
If Sony makes accomplishments,trophys and some sort of Home inter activity required for each game released(something similar to Microsofts cert program)and I can really see myself using the PSN more and more than I do over Live.
i'm hoping it's (for warhawk) where you can go into a room with your clan members and devise stratergy where only guys can interact with each other and go from there. that would be cool with the kotaku clan for warhawk. As for uncharted...mmm...maybe something along the lines launching the game from home where, but before you do, you can change Nathan clothes or something. i'm speculating. I think home has a lot of potential for stuff like what i mentioned.
@TheIrishNinja: Ha!
Home sounds awesome. I might be tempted to get a PS3 next christmas...
@Part-Time-Viking: Related to Techno Viking at all? Tell him I said hi.
@Black-Dog-Howls: Still, something tells me that Sony will be placing more hype on Killzone than on Resistance 2...
For me, nothing will make Home interesting. I actually love the PS3, but there is a great chance that Home will crash and burn. I'm sure there are a few cell-phone texting tweens who will piss their drawers over this crap, but just make good games and a nice interface for your console, instead.
Exciting...
...sort of.
So you can take your Home avatar and start walking around the games levels? Pretty slick feature (I dig that kinda stuff). I wonder if a room full of Home avatars could enter a level together? If so then I foresee lots of impromptu "hide and seek" matches.
As usual, Insomniac is on top of it.
@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: My point is that this is content that could exist without Home, and has existed in the past without Home. It used to be on the disc as a reward for beating the game or finding hidden McGuffins. So maybe you don't have to walk around in Second Life to play your games, but if you have to walk around in Second Life to see their bonus content, is that somehow better?
LittleBigPlanet is probably going to rock out with Home interactive material
So, where's the exciting part? :)
As an owner of both consoles (PS3 & 360), I really can't wait to see the loyal Sony fans faces when they learn that Home only comes with the basics and it will cost to add to it and/or enjoy the ads that will be involed. I will past on joining the Home area and just stick with single player games for the PS3 and do the multi-player games on the 360 and just pay $50 a year for a gold subscribtion. I wonder how many Sony fans actually know that you only have to pay for the gold subscription to play online but all the downloads like demos, trailers, movies and add-on content is free with the standard free silver account.
So instead of playing Resistance 2 to discover unseen areas of the game and bonus content, I can dick around in Home? Cool!
@scotty:
If that is the case then Matt Damon says "Scotty doesn't know. Scotty's gotta go!"
PS3 is fantastic with or without Home. All systems have their own merits.
@Part-Time-Viking: Probably not. Gut feeling is that they'll pimp Insomniac and R2 in order to get people off Gears2 thoughts.
@Sherlock_the_Barbarian: I second this, I love my PS3 and play it more than my other consoles, but I doubt that Home will make the splash that Sony wants it too. It'll be nice from the community standpoint for jumping into games and such, but the feature aspect itself (making the avatar, dressing your e-abode)just doesn't do much for me. I'll try it out, it will be free after all, but I won't bank on it.
"As interesting as these plans are to Resistance fans like us, they're not as impressive as what we've heard about what Home in store for Warhawk and Uncharted"
Stop taunting me damnit!
Anywhoo...this sounds like an extremely cool feature,itd be even better if they threw in some directors commentary ala Half Life.
Ok, this is how home could be awesome: If home was like WoW and gaining items = achievements so questing = gaming. XBL has a Metascore. Home should be a Metagame.
@Black-Dog-Howls: That is a solid point, I keep forgetting about Gears2 because of how insignificant that teaser was.
R2 or Gears2... I'll take my R2 please.
Hah, they're the only three games I have. Genji doesn't count (it was a gift...).
@bigd7387: i have absolutely no interest in most of the things you can get for free with a silver account. i just want to play my games online without the hassle of paying to sign up and making sure it doesnt expire. i just see Home as a nice bonus if i choose to toy with it.
@Torgen thinks AAA means "Costs $60": well, you figure Insomniac didn't have to add any additional content at all for Home. They could have saved it all for R2. I guess it's a case of looking at the glass half empty or half full. I see it as a developer going the extra mile to support features they didn't have to in a game that released over a year before Home debuted. It also gives a glimpse of what Home can provide. Can't see how this is a bad thing but...okay...whatever.