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[Wollan]

I thought you guys were following this as close as me. :x
The info has been available since the announcement of the service that the current state of affairs is that it's very much manual right now.

Q: Can you enter, say, MotorStorm™ quickly through Home without
having to travel to the specific MotorStorm™ lobby?
A: Currently, users can find each other in Home, and then arrange to go
off and play MotorStorm at the same time. Eventually, users will be
able to meet in Home and seamlessly launch into a game of
MotorStorm™. Similarly, users will be able to exit to Home directly from
the game.

So you can 'launch the game' right now as in booting it up the normal way from within Home but there's no current hooks that will place you in a specific server or multiplayer game. They are however working on getting that aspect up:

Q: Will there be additional TRCs for games plugging into Home? When
will these TRCs be released?
There will have to be base TRCs for Trophies and Matchmaking before the
service hits the XMB™. Others will come online as they are needed.

Basically it seems like the hooks for that will be there in time for launch in October. Just not the Beta from day one.

 

[Doctor_No]

Here's a new column from Watch Impress, written by Goto Hiroshige on Home.


http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2007/0313/kaigai343.htm

Has some interesting points and comments in the column; most interesting it recalls some old J. Allard comments and his his like of the novel Snow Crash and recalls his vision of the "Metaverse"; virtual reality-based Internet. Fascinating discussion on how Sony and MS are taking different roads in their respective online services.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.06/xbox_pr.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse

 

[Lynn]

you wont be able to launch games from home in the beta thats coming up ..but it'll be there for launch.

Got a link that confirms it will be there for launch? Either way, why would you want to launch a game from inside Home? Home is just a Social Network. Any added game features can be done better and faster in the XMB.

Sony needs to start working on the core features of PSN. Without a unified friends list it will always be inferior to Live.

 

[Wollan]

Sony needs to start working on the core features of PSN. Without a unified friends list it will always be inferior to Live.

Give it a week. The friendlist with in game messaging will be available by pressing the PS button. This will be added next week (alongside XMB background downloading for example).

Regarding Home matchmaking, read the post at the top of this page.

 

[Brofist]

Got a link that confirms it will be there for launch? Either way, why would you want to launch a game from inside Home? Home is just a Social Network. Any added game features can be done better and faster in the XMB.

Sony needs to start working on the core features of PSN. Without a unified friends list it will always be inferior to Live.

Why is there the assumption that because of Home we wont see anymore XMB functionality added. Anything that can be added in Home certainly should be able to be added in a XMB function. I don't think they will force people to use Home every time turning on the PS3.

 

[Lynn]

Give it a week. The friendlist with in game messaging will be available by pressing the PS button. This will be added next week (alongside XMB background downloading for example).

Regarding Home matchmaking, read the post at the top of this page.

Will we also get custom soundtracks? How about streaming media from my PC to my PS3? Thanks in advance.

 

[Gadeus]

Give it a week. The friendlist with in game messaging will be available by pressing the PS button. This will be added next week (alongside XMB background downloading for example).

Regarding Home matchmaking, read the post at the top of this page.

Has this been confirmed? I haven't really seen any information on the upcoming update.

 

[Wollan]

Will we also get custom soundtracks? How about streaming media from my PC to my PS3? Thanks in advance.

Store media directly to your PS3 HDD instead. Custom soundtracks hasn't been mentioned and most likely won't be there (for quite a while if ever). Nothing is stopping games from implementing it individually though.

Has this been confirmed? I haven't really seen any information on the upcoming update.

All signs point to yes. No concrete info has been given by Sony on what the patch will contain (expect from a Phil Harrison interview in December) but recently developers like Julian.E from Factor 5 have reconfirmed that in game messaging is coming now and so on.

 

[bishoptl]

There are specific answers to the questions you're asking, but it's up to Sony as to when that information is going to be released. BTW, custom soundtracks as currently implemented are totally borked. It was much more sensible on the original Xbox.

 

[sun-drop]

Either way, why would you want to launch a game from inside Home? Home is just a Social Network...

i think the abilty to group your friends in a apartment or lobby inside home and then launch every1 into a game - togeather - is KEY.

other wise this really is just the sims.

i think the whole point of Home is to meet and make freinds in this social environment ..and then go game togeather. i doubt very much sony would even think of launching home on the public without this feature.

 

[gofreak]

I thought you guys were following this as close as me. :x
The info has been available since the announcement of the service that the current state of affairs is that it's very much manual right now.



So you can 'launch the game' right now as in booting it up the normal way from within Home

I don't think that's explicit, in fact I'd assume for now that means agreeing to go off and play Motorstorm at the same time - i.e. exiting home and booting up Motorstorm in the normal way, and then meeting your friends you just saw in home in there.

 

[TTP]

ops

 

[sun-drop]

We've been working on it for a long time. In fact, it started on PS2. It was something we were developing in London initially to be a 3D lobby for a multiplayer game.

Then we thought, 'Hang on a second, we could make a 3D lobby that would solve multiple games,'

any1 else think home may have started out as a online feature for the getaway ??

 

[Lynn]

Store media directly to your PS3 HDD instead.

No thanks. PC to PS3 streaming is a must. I have way more than 60 gigs of Music, Pictures and Video stored on serveral PC around the house. This is a killer feature that Sony needs to do.

 

[Lynn]

i think the abilty to group your friends in a apartment or lobby inside home and then launch every1 into a game - togeather - is KEY.

Why? That is so much slower than doing it from the XMB. Sony seems to be taking simple functions and making them cumbersome for no good reason.

 

[mckmas8808]

Got a link that confirms it will be there for launch? Either way, why would you want to launch a game from inside Home? Home is just a Social Network. Any added game features can be done better and faster in the XMB.

Sony needs to start working on the core features of PSN. Without a unified friends list it will always be inferior to Live.

It does have a unified friends list. They just need to make it work with every game.

 

[mckmas8808]

No thanks. PC to PS3 streaming is a must. I have way more than 60 gigs of Music, Pictures and Video stored on serveral PC around the house. This is a killer feature that Sony needs to do.

This is something that Sony never has to do imo.

 

[RuGalz]

There are specific answers to the questions you're asking, but it's up to Sony as to when that information is going to be released. BTW, custom soundtracks as currently implemented are totally borked. It was much more sensible on the original Xbox.

Probably due the fact that MS has patented a lot of stuff already IMO.

 

[sun-drop]

Why? That is so much slower than doing it from the XMB. Sony seems to be taking simple functions and making them cumbersome for no good reason.

you will still be able to do it via the XMB ..the point of home is the social aspect ..it's the gathering of those people in your apartment/space ... chatting ..playing games..hell maybe watching some in progress live gaming on your apartments 'tv' before you all jump in yr selves.

it's a deluxe lobby system ...it's what home was born of in the 1st place ...a online game lobby.


and ...it encourages interaction with new people, thats what the public spaces are for ... instead of just a name in a list ...you have a 3d representation of a person .maybe hanging out in a area of interest that you find your self in ....maybe your both in the theater waching a trailer for a movie you both like...u see them there.you say hi ...la de da ... new addition to yr freinds list that was created not from simply in game interation.

home is about conectiong people and being part of a community --- rather than a simple way of communication with your existing friend list.

 

[Bloodwake]

Basically, this is one of the more awesome things I've ever seen in quite a while.

The PS3 is still way too ****ing expensive. I mean, it's $599. It's like a punch in the nuts.

However, with HOME, it's like the same hand that punched you in the nuts reached up and gives you a handjob.

 

[Mustaphadamus]

Basically, this is one of the more awesome things I've ever seen in quite a while.

The PS3 is still way too ****ing expensive. I mean, it's $599. It's like a punch in the nuts.

However, with HOME, it's like the same hand that punched you in the nuts reached up and gives you a handjob.

PS3 upfront is expensive yes, but you pay the SAME amount over time with the 360 IF you have xbox live. In short one says here is the price up front and one nickles and dimes you. The average person has a hard time understanding long term costs it seems (or maybe because I have a degree in econ i look at these things).

 

[Steroyd]

Didn't know where to post this but here's the schedule for the 3rooms.

For those of you attending tonight, here’s the lowdown -

7pm: Arrival and drinks in bar

7.20pm: PS3 Multimedia Demonstration (by SCEUK representative)

7.50pm - 8.30pm: Phil Harrison with a GDC update & question-and-answer session

8.30pm - 10.30pm: Software playtesting on the first floor.

10.30pm: Close

Have fun.

http://threespeech.com/blog/index.php

I'm trying to picture doing all that inside Home that would be sweet.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Give it a week. The friendlist with in game messaging will be available by pressing the PS button. This will be added next week (alongside XMB background downloading for example).

Thank god I finally found somebody with the true inside scoop on the XMB enhancements. Will this in-game multitasking of the XMB allow cross-title invites? Will it work with existing titles? If I'm playing any old game and a friend messages/invites me, do I get an on-screen notification?

These details are crucial, and you obviously know what's going on. Tell us!

 

[Jim]

Why? That is so much slower than doing it from the XMB. Sony seems to be taking simple functions and making them cumbersome for no good reason.

From the GDC, Phil Harrison claimed, as reported by IGN:

Just about everything you can do in Home can also be done through the cross media bar. It just won't look as cool.

 

[Oni Jazar]

nm

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Probably due the fact that MS has patented a lot of stuff already IMO.

I think he means that it is screwed up on the Xbox 360. Music just keeps playing, independent of what's happening in game.

 

[mckmas8808]

Thank god I finally found somebody with the true inside scoop on the XMB enhancements. Will this in-game multitasking of the XMB allow cross-title invites? Will it work with existing titles? If I'm playing any old game and a friend messages/invites me, do I get an on-screen notification?

These details are crucial, and you obviously know what's going on. Tell us!

I told you that same information yesterday. He's read the same information that I have.

 

[Beer Monkey]

I told you that same information yesterday. He's read the same information that I have.

Well that's a buzzkill.

Wollan, stop throwing out this 'multitasking' update in response to people's questions about when PSN will get Live features. Depending on the details, this could be anything from awesome to useless, and if you don't know the details you are just building unrealistic expectations.

 

[mckmas8808]

Well that's a buzzkill.

Wollan, stop throwing out this 'multitasking' update in response to people's questions about when PSN will get Live features. Depending on the details, this could be anything from awesome to useless, and if you don't know the details you are just building unrealistic expectations.

Do you think the multi-tasking update could be as good as Live's invite system?

 

[Beer Monkey]

Do you think the multi-tasking update could be as good as Live's invite system?

I think if they put a fraction of the money into it that they are putting into Home it could be. Along with it they also have to force the devs to play along (and provide them SDK code and support) and that's where I'm more skeptical.

Ideally this can be done and even older games can be patched to fit into it. I know they have the resources but I don't know if they have the will.

 

[TTP]

I think if they put a fraction of the money into it that they are putting into Home it could be. Along with it they also have to force the devs to play along (and provide them SDK code and support) and that's where I'm more skeptical.

Ideally this can be done and even older games can be patched to fit into it. I know they have the resources but I don't know if they have the will.

I'm not so sure devs have necessarely to patch their games. The whole invitation procedure could be handled "transparently" to the gamecode by the OS. And I think the reason most games don't have a from game to XMB invitation feature have to do with this. Arent those matchmaking programs available on PC completely "disjointed" fron the games themselves. Don't they allow you to invite people in a given game even if that game doesnt have an ivite feature?

 

[Mustaphadamus]

No thanks. PC to PS3 streaming is a must. I have way more than 60 gigs of Music, Pictures and Video stored on serveral PC around the house. This is a killer feature that Sony needs to do.

+1 on this

 

[Beer Monkey]

I'm not so sure devs have necessarely to patch their games. The whole invitation procedure could be handled "transparently" to the gamecode by the OS.

So all of the existing games have been coded to pause/suspend themselves appropriately when the user jumps to a multitasked XMB? The games are coded to handle an "I'm exiting the game to go accept an invite in another title" type of system message? Really?

 

[TTP]

So all of the existing games have been coded to pause/suspend themselves appropriately when the user jumps to a multitasked XMB? The games are coded to handle an "I'm exiting the game to go accept an invite in another title" type of system message? Really?

Maybe they wont pause. Some games dont pause on the 360 either when you hit the Guide button (FN3 is one of them). PS3 games do pause tho when you keep pressed the PS button to bring up the Quit Game menu, so the OS can easly use that command to force the game pause and bring up the XMB.

Games might not be necessarely coded to handle an "I'm exiting the game to go accept an invite in another title" type of message but the OS can do that by basically run a string of commands already available in it like "Quit Game" and new ones like "Print: Please insert [game name] disc" so the user changes the disc. Upon doing so, I'm clueless about how the OS could push you into the lobby the invite originated from.

But at least it seems possible to send/receive/accept invites on a purely OS level.

 

[Mustaphadamus]

not sure if anyone shared this yet, forgive me if it was

link

 

[Beer Monkey]

Hey, you were editing your post while I was replying, no fair.

Arent those matchmaking programs available on PC completely "disjointed" fron the games themselves. Don't they allow you to invite people in a given game even if that game doesnt have an ivite feature?

Pardon me if I don't get terribly enthusiastic about any idea of the XMB PN gaming stuff getting implemented like PC services, I'd rather see true universal integration a la Live.

I guess if older games had to be handled this way it wouldn't be so bad but at some point in the near future I'd like to see something where new games are fully integrated and aware of the process.

 

[Zoe]

PS3 games do pause tho when you keep pressed the PS button to bring up the Quit Game menu, so the OS can easly use that command to force the game pause and bring up the XMB.

Eh? Mainichi Issho doesn't pause.

 

[TTP]

Pardon me if I don't get terribly enthusiastic about any idea of the XMB PN gaming stuff getting implemented like PC services, I'd rather see true universal integration a la Live.

That was an example of how invites and matchmaking can be added to games by the OS without having ot patch them. At no point I assume you wont get an universal integration a la Live (which btw does what those PC programs I mentioned do).

I guess if older games had to be handled this way it wouldn't be so bad but at some point in the near future I'd like to see something where new games are fully integrated and aware of the process.

Aware or not, if it works it works. I still dont get why you assume "OS-dependant functionality" = "lack of integration". It's actually an example of total integration. Unless for integration you mean something like having a specific Invite option in the game you can select instead of calling the 360 blade. Which is something very fews 360 games have IIRC. Some PS3 games like RR7 have that kind on integration too.

The only aspect I can see that might necessarely need a patch is the Throphy system cos old games don't obviously have unlockable trophies in them, nor conditions to achieve them.

Eh? Mainichi Issho doesn't pause.

Doesnt pause when you bring up the Quit Game screen? That's new to me. How do you know that? Is there some kind of music going on in the BG while you stare at the Quit Game screen?

 

[Beer Monkey]

TTP,

If they can pull it off with the games being ignorant and the OS doing everything more power to them. I really don't care as long as the end functionality is the same.

By the end of this year I am expecting PSN to reach a point where no matter what PS3 game I am playing I will be able to tap the Home button and quickly get to an XMB screen where I can manage messaging and invites. I expect some kind of overlayed notification on-screen that lets me know when I receive an invitation or message, no matter what game I am playing. And if an invite is accepted, I expect a graceful transition between titles with little additional interaction required beyond 1) confirming to the current game that I wish to save and exit and 2) swapping discs if the destination game is disc-based.

If they can get there, I'll be thrilled. Ditto for Nintendo. If they don't get there this year, they just don't get it and hopefully they get a lot of criticism for spending untold millions on Home while not getting this basic functionality in place. Really, it should have been there last fall...

 

[Zoe]

Doesnt pause when you bring up the Quit Game screen? That's new to me. How do you know that? Is there some kind of music going on in the BG while you stare at the Quit Game screen?

Maybe it's just the way the game is set up, but the animations and music/sfx are continuous whether you're in the menu or the quit screen. There have been many a time where I bring up the screen to quit but then I hear Toro doing something I've never seen him do :O

Just checked the quiz game, and the timer does continue to run down as well.

 

[kaching]

If they can get there, I'll be thrilled. Ditto for Nintendo. If they don't get there this year, they just don't get it and hopefully they get a lot of criticism for spending untold millions on Home while not getting this basic functionality in place. Really, it should have been there last fall...

Why do you assume they don't get it when having less functionality than what you declare as "basic" isn't doing anything to hurt Wii sales, for example? It's selling faster than both the 360 and PS3 despite having weaker online gaming functionality than either of them at the moment. Even the 360, which has been attaching itself to the most hardcore of the console audience right now, still hasn't managed to get 30-40% of its installed userbase to bite on this "basic functionality", and that's 5 yrs into the XBL initiative.

It's far from proven that the majority of the console market really cares about extended matchmaking/community features, so what we're seeing is different approaches being taken to determine what they *are* most interested in. And isn't that what hardware competition is good for, after all? To allow us to see different approaches and make a choice as to which we prefer?

 

[Beer Monkey]

Why do you assume they don't get it when having less functionality than what you declare as "basic" isn't doing anything to hurt Wii sales, for example? It's selling faster than both the 360 and PS3 despite having weaker online gaming functionality than either of them at the moment. Even the 360, which has been attaching itself to the most hardcore of the console audience right now, still hasn't managed to get 30-40% of its installed userbase to bite on this "basic functionality", and that's 5 yrs into the XBL initiative.

:lol

OK, I know this is GAF it all, but saying that somebody doesn't 'get it' (in this case 'it' is how to do online gaming right) is not the same thing as equating to sales, ZOMG D00MED, or 'going third party... :lol :lol :lol

It's far from proven that the majority of the console market really cares about extended matchmaking/community features, so what we're seeing is different approaches being taken to determine what they *are* most interested in. And isn't that what hardware competition is good for, after all? To allow us to see different approaches and make a choice as to which we prefer?

Yeah, whatever, but some things work in an interface and some things just don't. Just as Windows and OSX have many things in common with how interfaces work, we will see common interfaces in online solutions. Stuff like on screen notification when you receive a message or invite is so natural that we don't just see it on LIVE, we see it in apps like instant messengers and email clients. Sony and Nintendo can dick around all they want, but at some point we are going to see such features in their online community interfaces, because frankly nothing else makes a damned bit of sense.

 

[Wollan]

Wollan, stop throwing out this 'multitasking' update in response to people's questions about when PSN will get Live features. Depending on the details, this could be anything from awesome to useless, and if you don't know the details you are just building unrealistic expectations.

Stop posting in Home threads. You go around saying you will never use it, call it crap and so forth. But still you can't help yourself from posting in these threads. You're clearly allergic to it and at the same time addicted to it for some reason. Also, if you've read my posts you will have seen me pointing to In game text messaging and XMB background downloading specifically.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

Sony is taking the online console experience to the next level, while MS is stuck back in the stone-age with a cumbersome menu based interface for XBL. The announcement of Home probably has Microsoft running in circles back in Redmond trying to figure out what they can do to compete with Sony with this generation.

 

[RubxQub]

Sony is taking the online console experience to the next level, while MS is stuck back in the stone-age with a cumbersome menu based interface for XBL. The announcement of Home probably has Microsoft running in circles in Redmond trying to figure out what they can do to compete with Sony with this generation.

 

[TTP]

I dont really understand why you choose that avatar image you got there :lol

edit: beated. But he cheated.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Stop posting in Home threads. You go around saying you will never use it, call it crap and so forth. But still you can't help yourself from posting in these threads.

The thread might be titled 'Home', but it evolved to (logically) include XMB extensions and I'm not the only person talking about it. Talk of such is well within the topic.

Besides, it's not a 'worship' thread, critical analysis is and should always be welcome.

 

[TTP]

Maybe it's just the way the game is set up, but the animations and music/sfx are continuous whether you're in the menu or the quit screen. There have been many a time where I bring up the screen to quit but then I hear Toro doing something I've never seen him do :O

Just checked the quiz game, and the timer does continue to run down as well.

Damn you are right.

I just double checked and games DO NOT pause when bringing up the Quit Game screen. Tried both PSN and disc based ones. Damn, how come was I so sure about it working like the Home button on the PSP? Should quit the drugs I guess.

Sorry for the misinformation.

 

[kaching]

:lol

OK, I know this is GAF it all, but saying that somebody doesn't 'get it' (in this case 'it' is how to do online gaming right) is not the same thing as equating to sales, ZOMG D00MED, or 'going third party... :lol :lol :lol

Less LOLs, more reading comprehension, beermonkey. Just because somebody doesn't do something exactly the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't get it. They can 'get it' that that's what you want while they can also 'get it' that the majority of the marketplace doesn't necessarily care, which was the point of my examples. As such, putting priority on trying something different vs. simply achieving parity with a competitor to appeal to a minority of customers who are perfectly happy with what they've got by all accounts (and for $200 less, LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLamirite) isn't a matter of not getting it.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Less LOLs, more reading comprehension, beermonkey. Just because somebody doesn't do something exactly the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't get it. They can 'get it' that that's what you want while they can also 'get it' that the majority of the marketplace doesn't necessarily care, which was the point of my examples. As such, putting priority on trying something different vs. simply achieving parity with a competitor to appeal to a minority of customers who are perfectly happy with what they've got by all accounts (and for $200 less, LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLamirite) isn't a matter of not getting it.

Wait and see what happens over the next few years, and we'll see who is right.

The types of functions that I describe will end up on all the systems. Maybe not soon enough to suit guys like me, who own all the consoles and all the handhelds and who are frustrated at the current so-so online on most of them, but it will happen none the less.

And it's not about the way that I want them, it's about what works. Nobody is running out and making a new competitor to ICQ/AIM/etc that doesn't have on-screen notifications, because it doesn't make a damned bit of sense. Ultimately, all the gaming systems are going to do what makes sense as well.